Last night my opening act good luck continued as I arrived at Royale on Tremont Street for Matt Wertz's show. I first discovered Matt in September 2008 when he opened for Gavin DeGraw. Then I went to see his headlining tour and discovered an amazing band that opened for him, the Alternate Routes. Last night my opening act good luck returned yet again with Ben Rector!
Ben opened the show for Matt and I fell in love with him instantly. First of all, he was dressed adorably. He was wearing black pants, a denim colored shirt and suspenders! How can you not be charmed by suspenders? He belted out incredible songs while playing the keyboard and played his final song on the acoustic guitar. To me, his voice was David Gray meets Eric Hutchinson.
For his final song, he told the audience he would work in a word of their choice into the final verse. Someone in the audience shouted "chowder" and he went with it! He improved a hilarious verse about Boston and chowder that had the whole room laughing and clapping riotously.
When Ben finished his set I was sad to see him leave the stage. In a wonderful turn of events he returned to play keyboard for Matt Wertz during his entire set!
When Matt took the stage the room exploded. This was my fourth time seeing him in Boston and it seemed many people at Royale were also long time fans. In fact, I learned last night that his manager is from Boston.
Matt came out wearing a red bandana around his neck, the same bandana he is wearing on his new album cover and in his new music video for "Feels So Right." Didn't think I'd notice that, did you, Matt?
Matt performed so many of my favorites from his previous albums, including: Heartbreaker, Sweetness in Starlight, Carolina, Marianne, 5:19 and The Way I Feel. He also played several tracks off his new album, Weights & Wings, including: Feels So Right, Someone Like You and Easier Tonight. I took a few videos during the show. Enjoy!
Carolina:
5:19:
Someone Like You:
After a fantastic, high energy set, Matt took a bow and left the stage. The crowd immediately started cheering "One more song! One more song!" and sure enough, Matt, Ben and the band returned to the stage and did the most out of this world cover of Tom Petty's "Free Fallin." I was smiling so wide I thought my face was going to break! I whipped out the camera to tape it, and less than a minute in I got the menacing message "Memory card full." Ah! Here is the snippet I was able to capture:
If you aren't familiar with Matt Wertz or Ben Rector, you need to get acquainted. These are two supremely talented, charming, humble performers who make beautiful music. Check out Matt's website here and Ben's website here.
I already own all of Matt Wertz's albums, but the first thing I did this morning was download Ben Rector's album, Into the Morning. Thank you opening act good luck for continuing to expose me to these superb artists!
