Rolling Stone, February 7, 1997
A scant 24 hours before he was scheduled to perform at Columbia, South Carolina's Elbow Room with his five-piece touring outfit, Matthew Sweet was feeling a tad under the weather. At first, he thought it might pass somewhere in Florida.
"But then we played this show in Tallahassee and I got really, really sick," Sweet remembered, relaxing in his mammoth touring bus minutes after Thursday night's ebullient, sold-out show. "It was hard to cover up for the bad voice. I had to get a cortisone shot just to be able to play."
Sweet didn't have to do much covering up Thursday, when he and his backing band -- led, as it usually is, by the nonchalantly ferocious lead guitarist Ivan Julian -- delivered a blistering 21-song, 90-minute set to advance his forthcoming album Blue Sky On Mars (Zoo Entertainment). Not bad for a guy who, scarcely a day earlier, was forced to succumb to a shot in the derriere.
Though he only played five new tunes during this club date -- one of 20 Sweet was doing as part of a pre-release "mini-tour" -- Sweet could be forgiven for relying mostly on material from his last three albums. After all, as he explained later, he had been sick as a dog while sorting out which new material to play and wanted to give the fans what they were yelling to hear: the hits. Or near-hits, as the case might be. And frankly, what was there to forgive?
Drawing liberally on the fizzy power-pop gems from Girlfriend, Altered Beast, and 100% Fun, Sweet offered a reminder to anyone who didn't already know that his is a song catalog that rivals just about anybody's when it comes to hooks and melody.
As evidenced by the scattering of the few new tunes he sprinkled through pop-rock nuggets like "Girlfriend," Sweet continues to be thoroughly obsessed with themes of, well, obsession and the power struggles associated with love -- requited and unrequited. Though he's not necessarily breaking any new ground, few artists explore that familiar terrain with the verve, willfully skewed intelligence, and outright stalker-creepiness that Sweet brings to the subject.
True to form, "Where You Get Love," his slated new single, featured an infectious, wraparound hook and Sweet's unadorned tenor front and center in the mix, alternately defiant and pleading. Although he became momentarily annoyed when someone requested "Evangeline" before he even launched into the second song of his set (he was saving that for later, it turned out), Sweet was overall in very good humor throughout. From the moment he hit the stage at 11:15 p.m. until he closed up shop an hour-and-a-half later, Sweet exuded the commitment and exuberance of someone reveling in playing for an audience again.
Opening with the full frontal sonic assault of "Dinosaur Act" off 1993's Altered Beast, Sweet set the tone and the terms of the evening early, offering his usual contrast of jukebox melody and menacing crunch to magnificent effect. And during ripping versions of songs like "Divine Intervention" and "The Ugly Truth," he threw more than a few broad grins at Julian, whose knotty, searing lead guitar work gave the implied ominousness in Sweet's songs their dangerous reality. If Sweet's writing occasionally recalls David Lynch's Blue Velvet, Julian was Dennis Hopper as Frank Booth. The remainder of the supporting cast - which also included bassist Tony Marsico, and Velvet Crush alums Paul Chastain (keyboards) and Ric Menck (drums) - was equally adept at helping Sweet issue his brooding ultimatums and desperate confessions with brutal authority.
Though the sound was consistently trebly and a bit distorted (a minor, and nearly inevitable, drawback given Sweet's penchant for turning the knobs up to eleven), the shimmering, pure gorgeousness of Sweet's pop songcraft was as sparkling as the silver guitar he strapped on for the first of his two encores, which included the dusky, reverb-drenched beauty of the Kinks' ballad "Waterloo Sunset" and the Sci-Fi glam of David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream."
The band adroitly, and repeatedly, shifted gears to accommodate Sweet's change in mood, going from the tortured nihilism of "Someone To Pull The Trigger" to a spiraling, playful reading of "Time Capsule." Judging from the look on his face, by the end of the evening Sweet was feeling a whole lot better.
Daily Nebraskan, Thursday, March 6, 1997
Five years from now, Lincolnites will say, "Concerts just aren't the way they used to be." Matthew Sweet's performance at the Royal Grove on Tuesday night will be that reason.
Maybe it was the cameras from NETV that made the band play a little harder. Maybe it was the fact that it was Sweet's hometown. Six cameras bobbed and weaved through the audience and on the stage, recording the show for posterity's sake. And what a show it was.
From the opening riff of "Dinosaur Act" to the crashing closing noise wave of "Holy War," at the end of the second encore, it was the kind of show people talk about for years afterward.
Sweet was in prime form and seemed to be having a great time. Ric Menck's drums were lit with an eerie glow, illuminating the words Blue Sky On Mars, the title of Sweet's upcoming album, on them. What took the show beyond being a great show to a "you-missed-it?!" show was Ivan Julian, Sweet's lead guitarist.
There are a lot of bands and a lot more guitarists, but there is only one Ivan Julian. He was in top form, a leopard shirt clinging to his thin frame, dancing around the stage like his leg was connected to a live wire.
Julian's leads raged from a slow swagger to a blistery burn as his long fingers danced up and down the neck of his battered off-white Stratocaster.
For a few songs, Julian even played lead guitar on a 12-string guitar, which is, at best, very uncommon. Usually a 12-string is relegated to rhythm guitar, but Julian had it singing like a choir boy.
All the staple songs of a Sweet concert were there: "Girlfriend," "I've Been Waiting," "The Ugly Truth," "Time Capsule," "Sick of Myself" and "We're The Same." Interestingly enough, "Sick of Myself" got the biggest reaction, showing that the Sweet fan base is growing all the time.
Sweet also played some songs off Blue Sky On Mars, which sounded really good, if not a touch bleaker than fans are used to. "Hollow" is a prime example of this. It was darker than the rest of the set, the deep lighting melding to match the tone of the song.
A personal highlight of the night was "Evangeline," one of the best songs off the album "Girlfriend." It's not played at every concert, so it was a joy to hear it.
Sweet also played two cover songs, one by The Kinks and one by David Bowie. Past concerts have included songs by The Troggs and Neil Young.
Opening act Fastball put on a solid performance as well. They weren't fantastic, but it was a good start for a refreshingly different band. Watch for them in later years. Still, Sweet dominated the show. And this was just the warm-up tour. So, after Blue Sky on Mars is released March 25, Sweet should be coming through the state again, and it is something not to be missed.
Daily Sundial Online
By Lesley Goldberg, Managing Editor
More than 400 students rocked to the energetic sounds and harmonies of Matthew Sweet during Wednesday's noontime concert in the University Student Union Court of Community.
Sweet opened his set with "Come to California." He also performed an assortment of songs from his new CD Blue Sky On Mars, and a variety of older tracks, including key performances "Divine Intervention," "Girlfriend," and "Sick of Myself."
Those who attended Wednesday's noontime, sponsored by A.S. Student Production and Campus Entertainment, were treated with an energetic, toe-tapping show, with songs that seemed to tell an hour-long story of love, loss and regret.
With songs such as "I've Been Waiting," "Over It" and "Back to You," Sweet charged the crowd with quick-paced guitars and strong, harmonic lyrics.
With lyrics like "I didn't think I'd find you perfect in so many ways" and "You should never have to feel/You didn't get your say ... You're over it," Sweet provided moments that anyone who's been in love can relate to.
One of the shows high points included a turbo-charged version of "Girlfriend," which was loaded with quick, strong guitar riffs.
The show was "One of the highlights of the semester," said A.S. SPACE Director Scott Blugrind, who went on to say that the noontime concerts "Offer a little something for everybody."
Although the Rae Kwon concert "went bad," Blugrind would still consider it one of the highlights of the semester.
Sweet was booked by A.S. SPACE Concert Director Claude Hebron.
Daily Sundial Online, April 17, 1997
By Joshua Molina, Editor in Chief
Matthew Sweet dazzled hundreds of people by performing songs from his latest album, Wednesday in the University Student Union's Court of Community.
Yes, Matthew Sweet.
The world-renowned entertainer played a free show for CSUN students. The show was the latest example of SPACE's dedication to bringing entertainment to campus and a reminder that they have the luxury to see free noontime concerts every week.
SPACE officials Scott Blugrind and Claude Hebron have been very inspirational in organizing shows for the hard-working student body.
For SPACE officials to secure the services of such an esteemed performer, shows that the campus- based organization isn't just interested in pulling together makeshift, last-minute acts to perform for students.
It takes the student body on this campus seriously enough to bring talented entertainers to campus.
Lately, Sweet has been doing the talk-show circuit promoting his new album.
For CSUN students, seeing him in concert was a golden opportunity for people to get a glimpse of a big-time act, first hand on their campus.
While everyone seems to be talking about how CSUN lacks unity among its students, efforts to bring well-known entertainment stalwarts like Sweet to campus are at least a step in the right direction toward establishing a unified campus identity.
Most students arrogantly shuffle right by the Wednesday noontime concert stage set-up without even batting an eye. To them, it is just that concert thing that happens every week.
CSUN students should feel privileged they have the opportunity to see class acts on campus.
It's not like CSUN is bringing Vanilla Ice and Donnie Osmond to campus. SPACE is committed to, most of the time, staging the best free concerts.
CSUN has been lucky to have some real stars perform this semester.
Let's hope next year students on this campus take advantage of the noontime concerts.
You never know when a big-time celebrity or future star will be on stage.
Calgary Sun, Sunday, April 27, 1997
By Lisa Wilton
Ah, the Sweet sound of pop.
When it comes to catchy choruses and sugary vocal harmonies, Matthew Sweet
has all the bases covered.
Sweet is by far one of the most talented and accomplished musicians in the
pop-music world, and he proved it during his energetic, sold-out show at
the MacEwan Hall Ballroom Friday night.
The 600 appreciative fans who packed into the ballroom were treated to more
than 90 minutes of souped-up, rocked-out ear candy in the form of such hits
as "Sick of Myself," "Girlfriend," "We're The Same"
and "The Ugly Truth," and covers of The Kinks' "Waterloo
Sunset" and David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream."
Sweet was in top form (well musically, anyway), cranking out songs from
his more popular releases like Girlfriend, Altered Beast and
100% Fun, as well as his latest offering Blue Sky on Mars.
His fine-tuned touring band complemented Sweet's guitar playing and vocal
ability while, at the same time, leaving Sweet with his deserved spotlight.
However, there were times when one could tell Sweet was not all that comfortable
in the limelight and looked probably like he'd rather be in his basement,
jamming with his buddies.
But these moments were few and he seemed to warm up to the audience as much
as they warmed up to him.
Sweet's unassuming and down-to-earth quality charmed the audience, especially
during "Winona," one of his most romantic songs.
Vancouver's Bloody Chicletts opened the show with a spirited set of power-pop
numbers to get the crowd revved up.
Unfortunately, as with many opening bands, the crowd's attention wasn't
yet focused on the stage.
But the foursome, three of whom are originally from Calgary, did get some
of the crowd moving by the end of their set.
SLAMM, May 1, 1997
Matthew Sweet with Sloan and Fastball (The Belly Up Tavern)
By Jill Albert
Matthew Sweet delivered a fine, tasty show at the Belly Up Tavern. The evening was a long one, like a multi-course meal, but the payoff was well worth it.
Fastball kicked off the night and proved to be a yummy appetizer. They pushed their latest CD, Make Your Mama Proud, but to fully appreciate the threesome you should see them live. Then, with our palates primed for Sweetness, we were forced to sit through a second opening band, Sloan. They proved to be nothing more than a small morsel and I couldn't help but think, "I'm missing Seinfield for this?" By the time Matthew Sweet arrived, the audience was hungry for some raw talent.
As Sweet quietly took the stage, two facts were glaringly apparent -- physically, Matthew Sweet has metamorphosed into Meatloaf, but he still performs like top sirloin. He immediately cranked out the catchy "Come To California," the first cut off his new album, Blue Sky On Mars. The menu of savory songs varied greatly. The audience sampled much of Blue Sky, but also got a taste of Sweet's past offerings.
From 100% Fun, highlights included"Come To Love" and "We're The Same," as well as "Ugly Truth" from Altered Beast, not to mention the all-time favorite, "Girlfriend," an extra long instrumental version, super-sized for our enjoyment. There's something so very delectable about the way Matthew Sweet performs -- both the thinner "before" as well as the "after" Matthew. True, he has a spacey side that is evident in his lyrics, but he also has an underlying sexual side. His guitar work and mannerisms are quite seductive, a quality not as obvious in his recorded music as in his live shows.
By the end of the evening, the audience was clearly satisfied but wanted a look at the dessert tray nonetheless. Sweet played not one but two encores: a mouth watering version of "Does She Talk?" and the show-closer, "Holy War." With Sweetness like this, I'll never diet again.
Music News of the Word, May 6, 1997
Rockin' Tucson. Must have known Mr. Kaufman was in the audience...
By Gil Kaufman, Addicted To Noise Senior Writer
Power popper Matthew Sweet did a really odd thing Sunday (May 4) night
in Tucson, Arizona. The second odd thing in a week, really. The first was
canceling his Wednesday show (April 30) unexpectedly, for what the audience
later learned was a broken mirror on his tour bus following a minor accident
with a van.
Apparently, the driver wouldn't let the show go on and Sweet and company
were stranded until the chauffeur could see clearly again. Weird, but not
that weird. The truly odd thing he did during his hour-and-a-half gig at
Club Congress was this: he played a show for the audience, without shoving
his latest product (too far) down their throats. Now, while this might,
in the end, be a not-so-smart choice for Matt and his career, it was an
excellent choice for the lucky audience, who got the chance to hear songs
from Sweet's last four albums, plus some remarkably inspired covers during
the encore.
The show began with the appropriately cranked strains of Cheap Trick's first, self-titled album. Appropriate, because, like Trick, Sweet has taken all the right cues from his power pop forebearers in The Move, The Beatles and The Who and found a way to imbue them with his own quirky songcraft.
Sweet kicked off the show proper with the Beach Boys-influenced lead track from his latest album, "Come to California." Backed up by a second guitarist and third guitarist/keyboard player Paul Chastain, Sweet and company ripped into the song with an inspired exuberance that included a rolling, ragtime piano lead and fierce, uptempo guitar work from a smiling Sweet.
What followed was a virtual tour through the singer/songwriter's up-and-down career. "Get Older" from his last album, 100% Fun was re-born as a moodier piece, "Divine Intervention," from his breakthrough 1991 album Girlfriend was re-jiggered into a shambling Beatles bar band rocker and "The Ugly Truth" from 1993' Altered Beast was blasted through in less than two minutes with an almost furious garage band burst of energy.
What a difference a few years makes. The last time I saw Sweet, he was sludging through a lackluster show in Chicago, uninspiredand uninspiring, tossing off rote renditions of his songs as if the audience had wandered into a low-key dress rehearsal and caught him unawares. This time around, Sweet seemed determined to give every single song a face-lift, from the once-sugary hit "Girlfriend," presented as a grungy, hard rocker that was as close as this band could get to a punk tune while still inserting their three-part 60's pop harmonies, to the new song "Over It," which they bulldozed through in less than a minute and a half. The amount of re-thinking and tinkering had obviously breathed new life into old chestnuts like "Time Capsule," which felt darker and more desperate, and the set-ending "Sick of Myself," which benefited from a faster tempo and edgier arrangement.
Sweet ended the show with a trio of encore covers that left no doubt about his roots. The band executed a perfect swan dive into power pop glee with The Move's "Do Ya," segueing cleanly into The Kinks' "Waterloo Sunset" and ending with a big, sad take on David Bowie's "Moonage Daydream."
Ex-Golden Palominos chanteuse Lori Carson opened the show with a mini-set (she graciously cut her headlining slot in half to accommodate the re-scheduled Sweet) of hushed, fragile folkie jazz. Sounding like a more indie rock Rickie Lee Jones, the intense singer/songwriter played a mix of songs from her new solo album, Everything I Touch Runs Wild, a Golden Palominos track ("Little Suicides") and set-ending cover of Todd Rundgren's uptempo "I Saw the Light" re-configured as a country jazz lope. Needless to say, the hullaballoza crowd on hand for Sweet gave a somewhat tepid response to Carson's smoky jazz musings and downbeat confessional tone poems.
Ottawa Sun, Friday, May 30, 1997
By Paul Cantin
So what would the perfectly-appointed pop of Matthew Sweet sound like, delivered by a scrappy garage band? The answer, strangely enough, was provided by Sweet himself Wednesday night before a sold-out crowd at Barrymore's.
The unsuspecting fan who arrived expecting Sweet to replicate the lean, melodically-rich stylings of his records received instead a suckerpunch of brash guitar heroics. What the show may have lacked in subtley, it made up for in bombast and energy.
Backed by a hard-nosed quartet, Sweet set the tone right off the top with a titanic version of "Come To California," from his recent album Blue Sky On Mars. Sweet rode the song's monster riff as talented co-guitarist Ivan Julien - a player of explosive power and invention - poured white-hot fills into every nook and cranny. "Divine Intervention," on record a lilting, meandering metaphysical lament, onstage became a blistering jam. Even the tender "Winona" was transformed from a sweet, steel guitar spangled country ballad into a Crazy Horse-style showcase for Sweet's and Julien's axe-work.
His signature song, "Girlfriend," rocks mightily on record, but fuelled by drummer Ric Menck's heroic work, the song was served up at almost unrecognizable Green Day tempo. Julien provided stellar 12-string embellishments on "Time Capsule," which Sweet jokingly remarked had recently been added to the Muzak corporation's elevator music arsenal.
Brandishing a Jimmy Page double-neck guitar, Sweet chopped out the Dream Police-like chords to the crowd-favorite "Where Do You Get Love,"before charging back to encore with "Sick Of Myself," a searing, soaring "Evangeline" and a glorious cover of The Move's power-pop classic, "Do Ya."
Sweet's an energetic performer with his high, bell-clear voice in fine form and showing no signs of road weariness. It might have been nice to see what the group would sound like downshifting the volume and tempo for a few numbers. But that's nitpicking. On this night, Sweet smelled of success.
Last time Bloody Chicletts played Barrymore's, they performed a badly-mixed set before a distracted crowd more interested in seeing headliners the Odds. This time, the Chicletts played an even murkier-sounding set before Sweet's moderately more-engaged crowd. That's progress, I guess. Here's hoping they play Ottawa on their own terms soon.