Matt Nathanson Concert

Katrina and I attended a Matt Nathanson concert on Monday night in Eugene. We had hoped out friends would join us, but it ended up being a fun date night with just the two of us.

We arrived in Eugene around 7pm and had to spend about 10 minutes finding WOW Hall. We finally found it because we saw a tour bus parked on the street. We had a good laugh when we saw the hall. WOW Hall is a small building. Its more like a dance hall. I expected to see people lined up at the door, but there was no line.

We parked and went on in. When we entered, we were a bit shocked. What a small place. Like I said, it was like a small dance hall. There must have been 50 people inside. No seats, just an open floor with bench seating along the outer walls. While we were sitting waiting for the show to begin I noticed a familiar face walk across the hall. It was Paul Doucette from The Break and Repair Method (more famously from Matchbox 20). Here he was just strolling across the hall before the show. You would have to pay the big bucks to even get close to him or the other MB20 members at their arena shows.

The Break and Repair Method came on at 8pm and played for 30 min. We were able to stand up front right up against the stage! There were still only about 50 people there.

Next up was Jessie Bailyn. Her band was good and she had a pretty good voice, but she didn't do enough for me to buy her CD and listen to her all the time. She ended up playing for about 45 minutes to about 100 people.

After her set I caught sight of Paul Doucette standing near the CD/Tshirt booth. I quickly walked over and bought his CD and had him sign it. He was very cool and it was great meeting him since MB20 is my all time favorite band.

At 10 pm Matt Nathanson came on and played to about 200 people. Wow! What a great show. We were still right up front. Matt rocked the place and interacted with the crowd all the way through the show. He even played quite a few requests from the audience. He ended up playing until almost midnight.

Overall, we had a fantastic time in a small intimate venue that allowed us to get up close and personal with the bands. All this and only $12 for the ticket.