Matt Nathanson

Monday's Matt Nathanson concert was an absolute blast thanks to the Blue Note, the awesome performances and everyone who attended with such enthusiasm.



The show opened with the gorgeous, Cleveland-native Kate Voegele. Voegele sang a fairly short set with some decent original songs as well as a beautiful rendition of "Hallelujia," which I did think did justice to the original song. Her music is acoustic guitar-centric, with her drumming sitting on top of his drum while playing (must have been a bongo). Voegele's vocals are rich and powerful, yet smooth and unstrained. She sounds like a girl who came out of the womb with an amazing voice and didn't need much vocal training. A few male DM Steer Co. members fell under her spell and couldn't help but buy her album and attempt some flirting after her set.


The second opener was Cary Brothers, who sings the ballad "Blue Eyes" from the ever-popular Garden State soundtrack. The rest of Brothers' songs fit the same ballad style as "Blue Eyes" but perhaps with less catchy lyrics and melodies. His sound was soothing, but borderline sleep-inducing by that point in the night.



Then finally came Matt Nathanson, the dirty-mouthed headliner everyone was there for. When I say "dirty-mouthed" I definitely mean it. Every song was proceeded by some dialogue or banter or a story -- all laced with as many F-bombs as he could fit in. Aside from that, he did a great job of keeping us engaged and drawing us in to each song. His music includes a good mix of acoustic, electric and bass guitar, upbeat songs and slower ones and great vocals. His most famous song, "Laid," from the classy American Wedding soundtrack was also the shortest, but that didn't hurt his set at all. I was pleasantly surprised with his music and proceeded to hit up Limewire after the concert and add it to my iTunes collection. I was also very entertained by his squirmy way of moving around while he sings and strums his guitar. He almost looks like a cartoon character.

All in all, it was a great time and the DM Steer Co. is extremely happy with the number of participants who showed up and showed support! If you thought the concert was fun, just wait for all the fun we have in store for you on Nov. 2 at DM!