Mat Kearney Live!

Mat Kearney
Park West, Chicago
Wednesday, April 5, 2006

Mat Kearney made a second appearance in Chicago within a few days, playing the House Of Blues on April 2nd, with a detour to Kentucky for a performance, and then back to the Park West. Although the singer-songwriter has never called Chicago home, he provided more than the traditional, “It’s great to be back in Chicago. I love this city,” to get the audience going. Maybe the Windy City is his “second home” or possibly it’s just because he’s signed to Chicago-based Aware Records. Either way, when he sang the song titled after the city with lyrics such as, “Meet me down by Chicago/Step across the Gold Coast,” the crowd loved it. (Not sure why people always scream and clap when a musician says what city they’re in, but we all do it.)

So, it was fun when Kearney worked in geographically altered lyrics with, “You and me at Park West.” The free EP given out after the show was even titled The Chicago EP. But, not everyone fell for the Chicago references. Most of the people in the seated section were busy talking amongst themselves during the set.

But those people not paying attention missed some great moments. The highlight came during “All I Need,” a touching song Kearney wrote about engaged friends whose New Orleans wedding plans were destroyed along with their church by Hurricane Katrina. “Renaissance” was another gem, with Kearney providing his emotive spoken-word styling.

About half the songs were from his debut, Bullet, but there are some new tracks that make Nothing Left To Lose (Columbia/Aware, April 18th) a step above his debut effort. The intimate, breezy ballad “Where We Gonna Go From Here” and the catchy melodies of “Nothing Left To Lose” faired particularly well with the crowd, compared with other tunes such as “Middle,” which became somewhat awkward during the spoken parts. The midtempo love tune “Undeniable” had worked-in lyrics about the Cubs and Sox, as well as mentioning dread locks aren’t stinky, closed Kearney’s set with a humorous tone.

One person accompanied Kearney onstage, with the two taking turns on piano or acoustic guitar. Although this allotted for a more intimate feel, the full band approach, as on his upcoming album, is a much more interesting and multidimensional backdrop to Kearney’s wide ranging vocals.

— Jill Haverkamp

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly