The Upstate Life
The Upstate Life

Monday, October 31, 2005
TUL's Take: Matisyahu @ Recher Theater

Last night was comprised of many firsts:

1) First time I ate in Little Italy, Baltimore.
2) First time I've attended a show at the Recher Theater
3) First time I've seen an Hassidic reggae artist

Alright, so obviously the last one was the most unique in terms of firsts, but overall it turned out to be quite the pleasant surprise. We started the evening off by having an early dinner over in Baltimore's Little Italy. If you're ever in the area, be sure to eat at Amicci's. Their chicken parmesan was one of the most appetizing I've had in quite some time. The tomato sauce recipe was top notch as well. We capped off our meal by grabbing some excellent gelato across the street at the well-known Vacarro's before driving up to Towson.

Now I have to admit, I only knew a handful of Matisyahu's material prior to the sold-out show, so I really didn't know what to expect. I've only heard that he's a very good reggae singer who happens to be a Hassid, but TUL was very curious to see how this act would translate live and onstage. The opener, Pigeon John, who was a hip-hop artist from the West Coast, reminded The Upstate Life of essentially a solo version of Jurassic 5. Though the beats were decent, John's rhymes weren't too impressive although he did have excellent stage presence which yielded a good audience reaction. Pulling every call-and-response cliché out of the book during his performance was a bit tiring however. If only Stars opened instead...

After an absurdly long intermission, Matisyahu finally took the stage at around 10:15pm. Although the audience demographic was one of the most eclectic I've ever witnessed, we were somehow relegated standing next to a group of under-21 but predictably drunk frat boys who shared a deep of bond of Bud Light and baseball caps. We had to move away from one of them since he evidently reeked of vomit, beer, and other odors no man or woman should ever bear witness to unless of course you worked in a waste management facility. Another of-age person standing next to me started shaking his head when we witnessed one of these malcontents failing to wave his arm in rhythm to the beat on multiple occasions. Besides these annoyances, the show itself was fairly entertaining and exceeded my otherwise dubious expectations. Besides his skilled reggae vocals, Matisyahu performed one of the illest beat boxes I've ever listened to. It was nearly mind-blowing how he was able to produce so many sound effects simultaneously.

Matis also possessed a good amount of stage presence which really got the crowd into his performance. If he wasn't onstage, the dude was either scaling the PA speakers, filling in on drums, or sneaking off the stage before coming through the back of the audience. There was even a point in the show where his guitarist stage-dived while someone from the audience took over the meat-hook duties (yes, there was in fact stage-diving, something this indie snob just isn't accustomed anymore these days). Overall, despite some obnoxious members of the crowd, this proved to be a surprisingly good show and I wouldn't hesitate seeing Matisyahu perform if he ever frequents the DC area again. Hopefully next time he'll perform somewhere where the ventilation is comprised of more than six ceiling fans and a bathroom that's reminiscent of an Ocean City campground. Setlist via the Matisyahu boards:

Rastaman Chant
Chop Em' Down
Youth
Warrior
Zion
Lord Raise Me Up
Lubavitch Nigun
Heights
Beatbox
Fire and Heights
White Plains
King Without A Crown
Exaltation
Close My Eyes

Encore:
Mist Rising

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