Review: Matt Pond PA Live in My Living Room
Wait, what? There's a house concert review but no "you are invited to a house concert" post? I can explain.
So indie rock band Matt Pond PA has been around since 1998, first intruding on to my consciousness when Matt and the gang headlined my radio station's annual concert, Studio-A-Rama, in 2006. Although I checked out his albums in the intervening years, I didn't see him again until this past May when he played the Grog Shop.
Throughout most of those years, my friend Ed, host of Chasing Infinity, has been a big fan of the band, and eventually became friends with Matt Pond himself as well as his bandmate Chris Hansen. Ed had also been to every single one of my four previous house concerts. As a result, when Matt contacted Ed and said "hey, Chris and I will be driving through Cleveland with our gear, do you know anywhere we could play a house show?" Ed knew exactly who to suggest.
So why no open invite? Basically, we gave Matt's fans first dibs. They posted something on Facebook saying "first 20 people get in for free." Ed & I then hand selected a few more invites for people we thought would be in to it (and sorry if we missed you!). Many of the band's guests brought +1s, so we ended up having 37 people in my house on Friday, July 17, including the band. Naturally, it was the hottest day of the year thus far, and I do not have air conditioning. The following people sweltered along with the rock:
The Band
Matt Pond
Chris Hansen
The Hosts
Me
Ed, of Chasing Infinity fame
WRUW People
Brandt, of The Cream of Broccoli Radio Hour
Rich, of The MP3 Removal Squad
Lily, of Sweet and Lowdown
Colleen, of Delirium Without Walls, plus her husband Kevin and their friend Jaret
gieves, of Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Friends of Ed and Nathan
Chantal & Luis
M
Guests of Matt Pond PA
Jen & Courtney
Chris & Megan
Adam
Mark, of The Lighthouse and the Whaler (local band)
Bill & Dawn
Keith & Kim
Mark, Julie & Liz
Josh & Kate
Leanne & JV
Mike & Amy
Kay & Scott
Lisa
Steve, of Mountain Lion (local band), who turned up very late and missed most of the show.
That's 37 people. I had 37 people packed into my living room on the hottest day of the year to that point. It was a great time. We all sweated and rocked together as Matt Pond PA played mostly music from their new release "The State of Gold". They gave me a copy on vinyl as a hosting gift. He also played two tracks from my favorite album, Several Arrows Later, including closing the show out with "Halloween".
This house concert marked several firsts:
- This was the first house concert where attendance cracked 30 people.
- This was the first house concert that was not a solo musician.
- This was the first house concert that was fully electric; Matt & Chris set up a back line next to the piano. Fortunately the neighbors did not complain.
- This was the first house concert broadcast on Periscope. According to Matt, 1300 people tuned in for at least part of the performance.
Tulip also was present and greatly enjoyed the attention she got before the show. One guest even brought treats just for her! She went upstairs to the A/C during the show. M's dog Chucha was also present, but was confined to quarters. You could hear her barking during quiet parts of the show.
After the show most of the guests hung out and had ice cream novelties and drank beer. Oh yeah, beer. There were 72 dead soldiers lined up on my kitchen counter the next morning. If Steve hadn't shown up late, we would have had an even 2 per person. For those inclined to stats, 25 were cans and 47 were bottles. In addition, we had 3 pops and gieves drank some white wine. Even though I urged people to take their beer home and forced two six packs on friends as they left, I still had more than a dozen beers in my fridge when the show was over. I also have most of a bottle of 1792 bourbon that somebody left behind.
For extra fun, several days later, M's friend Beth sent her a link to a Cleveland Craiglist "Missed Connection" which was clearly written at our house concert. Maybe he should have just talked to her at the show!
In any event, Matt Pond PA was a really good time, and a good warm up for our upcoming September house concert. Details to come soon...
So indie rock band Matt Pond PA has been around since 1998, first intruding on to my consciousness when Matt and the gang headlined my radio station's annual concert, Studio-A-Rama, in 2006. Although I checked out his albums in the intervening years, I didn't see him again until this past May when he played the Grog Shop.
Throughout most of those years, my friend Ed, host of Chasing Infinity, has been a big fan of the band, and eventually became friends with Matt Pond himself as well as his bandmate Chris Hansen. Ed had also been to every single one of my four previous house concerts. As a result, when Matt contacted Ed and said "hey, Chris and I will be driving through Cleveland with our gear, do you know anywhere we could play a house show?" Ed knew exactly who to suggest.
So why no open invite? Basically, we gave Matt's fans first dibs. They posted something on Facebook saying "first 20 people get in for free." Ed & I then hand selected a few more invites for people we thought would be in to it (and sorry if we missed you!). Many of the band's guests brought +1s, so we ended up having 37 people in my house on Friday, July 17, including the band. Naturally, it was the hottest day of the year thus far, and I do not have air conditioning. The following people sweltered along with the rock:
The Band
Matt Pond
Chris Hansen
The Hosts
Me
Ed, of Chasing Infinity fame
WRUW People
Brandt, of The Cream of Broccoli Radio Hour
Rich, of The MP3 Removal Squad
Lily, of Sweet and Lowdown
Colleen, of Delirium Without Walls, plus her husband Kevin and their friend Jaret
gieves, of Exploding Plastic Inevitable
Friends of Ed and Nathan
Chantal & Luis
M
Guests of Matt Pond PA
Jen & Courtney
Chris & Megan
Adam
Mark, of The Lighthouse and the Whaler (local band)
Bill & Dawn
Keith & Kim
Mark, Julie & Liz
Josh & Kate
Leanne & JV
Mike & Amy
Kay & Scott
Lisa
Steve, of Mountain Lion (local band), who turned up very late and missed most of the show.
That's 37 people. I had 37 people packed into my living room on the hottest day of the year to that point. It was a great time. We all sweated and rocked together as Matt Pond PA played mostly music from their new release "The State of Gold". They gave me a copy on vinyl as a hosting gift. He also played two tracks from my favorite album, Several Arrows Later, including closing the show out with "Halloween".
This house concert marked several firsts:
- This was the first house concert where attendance cracked 30 people.
- This was the first house concert that was not a solo musician.
- This was the first house concert that was fully electric; Matt & Chris set up a back line next to the piano. Fortunately the neighbors did not complain.
- This was the first house concert broadcast on Periscope. According to Matt, 1300 people tuned in for at least part of the performance.
Tulip also was present and greatly enjoyed the attention she got before the show. One guest even brought treats just for her! She went upstairs to the A/C during the show. M's dog Chucha was also present, but was confined to quarters. You could hear her barking during quiet parts of the show.
After the show most of the guests hung out and had ice cream novelties and drank beer. Oh yeah, beer. There were 72 dead soldiers lined up on my kitchen counter the next morning. If Steve hadn't shown up late, we would have had an even 2 per person. For those inclined to stats, 25 were cans and 47 were bottles. In addition, we had 3 pops and gieves drank some white wine. Even though I urged people to take their beer home and forced two six packs on friends as they left, I still had more than a dozen beers in my fridge when the show was over. I also have most of a bottle of 1792 bourbon that somebody left behind.
For extra fun, several days later, M's friend Beth sent her a link to a Cleveland Craiglist "Missed Connection" which was clearly written at our house concert. Maybe he should have just talked to her at the show!
In any event, Matt Pond PA was a really good time, and a good warm up for our upcoming September house concert. Details to come soon...