The Presentation
Filmed at Chelsea Piers in New York on February 2001 for the VH1 Storytellers
series, Matchbox Twenty provides 63 minutes of songs, commentary and Q&A.
Comprised of singer/songwriter Rob Thomas and members Kyle Cook, Paul Doucette,
Adam Gaynor and Brian Yale, Rob steals the show doing almost all the narrative.
It is a bit strange that the group appeared on this series given the fact, at
the time, they only had two albums out. And prior to this airing, we were more
used to seeing legends like The Pretenders and David Bowie in this "get
close to the crowd" format. But I'm sure that, due in part to, hits like
"If You're Gone", "Push" and the collaboration with Santana
on "Smooth", executives couldn't resist the potential revenue from
dropping the popular band into that slot.
The DVD starts with a short welcome by Rob and then the first song "Bent",
a love song. Each song is proceeded by a little history of what they are about
to play, with following songs being "Mad Season", the title song off
the album, "Black & White People", about the isolation a songwriter
experiences, "Push", a song to rebel against the assumption the group
tries to push people around to get their way, and "If You're Gone",
a letter to Rob's wife-to-be that was getting cold feet about marrying a musician.
Following the first 5 songs of this 10 song set, Rob has a brief question and
answer with the audience. Here we learn they prefer being in the studio to the
grind of being on the road, why he became a singer, his favorite songs and the
influence Tom Petty and Willie Nelson had on him. They go on to do the last
5 songs including "Crutch", about band members relationships, "Lonely
Weekend", an old tune when they were with Sun Records, "You Won't
Be Mine", "Rest Stop" a weekend fling Rob had at 17, and "3AM",
a song with Rob on the piano about his sick mother when he was 13.
DVD
Region 1
Full Screen 1.33:1, 63 minutes, Region 1, Color
Clean and clear without any noticeable artifacts present.
Audio
The sound is top notch during song performances and quite acceptable through
most of the commentary. There is a point, however during the question and answer
period during the use of stage and audience mics where the mixing was a bit
slow, leaving the audience mic open and Robs mic down after he started answering
the questions. Other than that minor point, the remainder was acceptable.
Menus
Animated with sound.
Song selections.
- the first 5 songs
Sound Setup.
- English (DTS)
- English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
- English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
Extras.
- Music only mode
- "Push" country music version
Extras
Music only mode - in this mode, you are placed before the beginning of each
song, skipping Robs commentary. You still see the video of the song performance.
You also get to select the final 5 songs in the performance, and I'm not sure
why they weren't placed in the main menu like the first five.
"Push" country music version - Rob explains why they did a country version
of this song. He had the impression a lot of people thought they were a southern
band, when in fact only Rob is from the south. This belief perpetuated itself
when the band spent so much time up in the Nashville area. Let me be the first
to say, they don't want to try to be a country band.
Final Thoughts
Overall, it was a good presentation done in a laid back atmosphere. The
music is good, Rob is a personable fellow and easy to listen to in his historical
musings to the audience, the video good including 4 songs not included in the
original broadcast, and what you would expect from VH1 in an unplugged format.
It isn't a high energy presentation however nor very long, so I would recommend
you rent before deciding to purchase. But I don't see this as a very hard decision
for Matchbox Twenty fans.
Buy: