Mute Math

19 Mar 2008

We went to see a concert a few weeks ago. Alanis Morrisette opened up for Matchbox 20. We happen to be fans of both. At least we were. I realized that I only liked Alanis’ Jagged Little Pill album.

Matchbox 20 put on a pretty good show. They played most of their faster paced songs and made an effort to get the fans up and dancing a few times. The video and light show was interesting as well. They were a little weak between songs though. There was a lot of dead air as they setup for the next song each time.

The true gem of the show was the opening opening act, Mute Math. The most adequate way I can describe Mute Math is by saying that they are more enjoyable to watch than to listen too. They really put on a wild show.

The drummer for Mute Math was unlike any other drummer I had ever seen. His style was clearly influenced by Animal from the muppets. Where most drummers use a lot of wrist and forearm power and movement to drum, this guy drummed with wide, energetic swings. He seemed to have almost limitless energy.

Initially when the started playing you would never expect to see the show turn into what it eventually does. They move a little and play enthusiastically, as any band starting out does; but then it just goes crazy.

The lead singer was running all over the stage, spring boarding over the piano, slamming himself into the keys making a perfect sound for the song. Over and over he just three himself into the keys on the piano, and it all sounded right.

After that things calmed down a bit until the end of the final song they played. At that point, the show went berserk. The drummer ran around drumming on everything in sight until his sticks broke, then he’d pull out another set and go drum on something else. At one point he stacked the drum on top of the piano, then climbed onto the drum and started clapping his hands. The place went nuts!

Then he hopped down and ran back to the drumset, dumped some water on the drums, and drummed away as the lights strobed. It was a fantastic effect. I’m not sure if their part of the show ended because they ran out of time, or because they had broken all of their instruments, either way; it was great!

As soon as their set ended, Holly ran out and bought the album :)