Matisyahu at Marymoor

Greetings programs!

This is Thousand Sons coming to you with his post concert review of the Matisyahu show!

The trip to the concert was, shall we say, unpleasant. The show was out in Redmond, yes that Redmond. The world headquarters of Microsoft. So I got caught in awful MS traffic, it took me 45 minutes to go barely a mile to the exit! Damn you Bill! Why dont we have flying cars yet?! We're experiencing quite a lovely indian summer up here, so the weather was quite warm. My poor little car was starting to boil itself alive in traffic, so I used an old trick I learned years ago: Roll down all the windows and turn on the heat! The temperature gauge went down a whole quarter notch, but now I was boiling alive. It was like the Sahara in my car! How long, o lord, how long must I wander through this desert? Thru the heatwaves shimmering on my dashboard I saw an SUV ahead of me with a 'Free Palestine' license plate holder. Right below a 'Harvard' sticker. Meh. Thats just super.

Finally I broke out of gridlock and sailed to the park. Marymoor Park is a beautiful patch of land out on the Eastside. I hadnt been there since the WOMAD festival years ago, and was looking forward to going there again.

I have to apologize to my readers that I wasnt able to get any pictures from the show. They weren't allowing any cameras in the venue. :( I got some dodgy cell phone pics, that I may or may not publish later, depending on quality.

The venue is an open air ampitheater in the park. The opening band was the The Polyphonic Spree, an odd band. There were like 20 people on stage, like some high school marching band on acid! The music was very upbeat, poppy, and strangely infectious. Some one said they were reminded of Electric Light Orchestra. I had to agree. Their cover of Nirvana's 'Lithium' blew me away. I'll have to check them out later, because I really dug their music.

When Matisyahu took the stage, the sun had gone down and there was a beautiful night sky. He opened with a very upbeat song that got people moving. Unlike some performers I've seen, you can tell he really feels the music he's singing. He took time out in the middle of the concert and spoke about God. How God created the universe, and how God created us in order to better understand Himself. Of course, he said it better than I can. ;-) I cant think of a better place to hear this, surrounded by God's natural beauty, beneath the moon and stars. He's a very energetic fellow. Not just dancing, which he did a lot of, but I mean his personal energy. That energy filled the crowd too, I've never been at a show with such a positive feeling. There was a hasid in the crowd, who could have been Matisyahu's twin, who got up on stage during the encore and danced. "Theres something you dont see everyday!" I thought. I half hoped he would stage dive, but he just politely hopped off the stage when he was done. Awwww.

I felt really good when I left the show. In fact, you could say I felt uplifted. Thats the magic of Matisyahu's music. It lifts you up...and keeps you there.

"Shake off the dust...arise!"