MATT COSTA @ Le National

By Jessica Hemmerich - On The Rocks - 02/28/2008

I have to admit that I was a bit concerned at the potential energy level, or lack thereof, that there could be at a Matt Costa concert. I mean, yeah, he makes great music, but it’s the kind of music you listen to when the night is winding down, not getting started. He is, after all, signed to Jack Johnson’s label, Brushfire. However, by his fourth song, “Yellow Taxi,” it was clear that this was going to be a great show by the support the crowd was giving him. He chose to play songs not only from his most recent album, Unfamiliar Faces, which was released in October, but also from his 2006 debut album, Songs We Sing.

Costa came on stage with his high-waisted brown slacks, his brown and orange plaid shirt and his acoustic guitar. and I thought that somehow I had been time-warped back to the ‘70s. When the background lights began swirling and whirling all retro-like, I was just waiting for him to whip out his hippies. Unfortunately, the hippies never came. For those of you who don’t know, Costa’s music brings together different decades of music by resembling at the same time Bob Dylan, the Beatles, Oasis and Beck.

As I mentioned, the show really got started when Costa sang “Yellow Taxi,” but when he positioned himself at his keyboard, you could feel the anticipation in the room. Something good was coming. Sure enough “Mr. Pitiful”, ironically one of his most upbeat songs, got the crowd clapping along. Not only is he very talented on vocals, guitar and keyboard, but he also strapped on his harmonica to sing “Cigarette Eyes” for his adoring fans, telling them that he “does not condone smoking cigarettes out of [their] eyes.” After a few low-key songs, Costa played “Sunshine” and didn’t even need to finish it off -- the crowd did it for him. They knew the lyrics as well as he did. When he played “Miss Magnolia” and his five-man band took out their tambourines, I once again expected the hippies to come a-frolicking, and once again, my expectations were not met.

Costa finished off his show with “Emergency Call” to the sound of an ecstatically satisfied crowd. He and his band left the stage but, when the cheers just didn’t die down, Costa came out alone to play a very intimate version of “Astair” for his audience. He then invited his band back and after thanking everyone, including the blinding orange light, they played one last song, “Sweet Thursday.” I must admit, it really was a pretty sweet Thursday night.

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