An Evening with Rob Thomas - Seattle Concert Review

Rob Thomas might be best known as the primary songwriter and lead singer of the highly successful Matchbox 20, but he also has a thriving solo career. Outside the band, he's released two chart-topping albums. The first, Something to Be, hit number one on the Billboard Album Charts shortly after its 2005 release and was certified platinum in the United States and Canada. It sold enough copies to be declared double-platinum in Australia. Cradlesong, which he's currently touring to support, peaked at number three in the US.

Thomas has also collaborated with the likes of Mick Jagger and Willie Nelson. In 1999, Smooth, which he wrote and recorded with Carlos Santana went to number one. His song, Little Wonders, appears on the soundtrack for the animated Disney movie, Meet the Robinsons.

Since 1996, Matchbox 20 has released four albums, selling in excess of 45 million copies.

The Cradlesong Tour has been selling out venues all over the country and will move to Australia beginning in February. Recently, the tour made a stop at the WaMu Theater in Seattle, Washington.

Carolina Liar got the evening started. The band, based in LA, originated in Sweden, but lead singer Chad Wolf is originally from Charleston, South Carolina. Their 2008 major-label release, Coming to Terms, has thus-far spawned two singles. One, Show Me What I'm Looking For, was featured in FOX Sport's commercials for the 2009 MLB All-Star Game. They performed an impressive-sounding set which included songs primarily from their debut album.

Next up was OneRepublic, formed in 2002 by high school friends Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins. Their debut album, Dreaming out Loud, features the single, Apologize, which reached number one in sixteen countries. It was also the biggest radio airplay hit in the history of the Top 40, reaching 10,331 plays in one week. That record was broken by Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love, which was co-written by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder. The song also spent twenty-five consecutive weeks in the Billboard Top Ten, which was the longest stay since the collaboration of Santana and Rob Thomas.

Tedder displayed an incredible vocal range and is backed by very talented musicians, including Brent Kutzle who plays bass guitar and cello. Kutzle made a cameo appearance in the 2008 Jessica Alba film, The Eye, where he is seen playing cello in an orchestra.

Tedder invited Carolina Liar back onstage to perform Tears for Fears' Shout. OneRepublic's second album is expected in early November.

Though the opening bands were well received, especially OneRepublic, it was clear the capacity crowd had come out to see Rob Thomas. He started the two-hour set with Fire on the Mountain, a song that depicts struggle and destruction with the foundation of a haunting beat. Thomas has said the song was inspired by a non-fiction book by Dave Eggers, who co-wrote the screenplay for the recently released movie, Where the Wild Things Are.

The pre-show meet and greet with fan club members had been postponed until after the show so Thomas could deal with an emergency involving one of his dogs. He introduced the song, Little Wonders, with a touching story about the dog, dedicating it to the Seattle vet's office where he had been treated earlier in the day.

Thomas called Getting Late a "happy little ditty about death", saying that since we're not going to get out of it, we may as well get the most out of life that we can. He also performed, Sunday Morning. The song didn't make it onto the solo album, something that Thomas regrets, but as he said, "good songs don't go away, they just wind up getting played live".

Later, when Rob took the stage again for the encore, he joked that this was the part of the show where the band pretends to leave and the audience pretends to know they're not coming back. It started with an acoustic version of Wonderful, introduced with the explanation that at every show they improvise something - or, as Rob said, they pull something out of their....This song had been done at the request of a long-time fan.

The expectation-shattering evening ended with a fabulous slow and funky version of Smooth with Zach Filkins of OneRepublic on acoustic guitar.

One interesting note regarding merchandising: each show is recorded and made available for sale on a LiveFlash USB wristband. Fans who pre-order at least three days in advance can pick up their wristband after the show along with a redemption code to download the encore songs later. The 2008 Matchbox 20 Exile in America shows are also available.