Some of us were really excited about the Matchbox Twenty 2020 Tour, for more than just the name. Now here we are, three years later, and a mere month away from MB20's Slow Dreams Tour!! We had the opportunity to connect with them in New York and we had a ball exploring all their Setlist.fm stats - from most performed songs to quick covers to "fix the keyboard music" - watch as Rob, Kyle, Paul and Brian poke around the site and tell stories about some memorable shows.
"Push" and MTV
Paul: I have heard about Setlist.fm, but you're a user.
Brian: Yeah, I have used it.
Kyle: So, enough fans, sort of like feed data into it and that's what sort of verifies that that was the list or how does that work?
Rob: Well, I think that's how it happens, Kyle.
Brian: It's so current, it's from three days ago.
Kyle: It's like the Wikipedia of what musicians are playing.
Rob: Songs played total. Well, obviously if you look at these, these make more sense, right? You got "Push", "3 AM", "Real World", all the ones from the first record. Yeah. Here's how this went down. We were in clubs, clubs, clubs, clubs, club, clubs. While we're opening for Lemonheads, "Push" comes out, gets on MTV... We show up to Alabama. Birmingham line around Five Points Music Hall. Line around the block.
Kyle: Like, "we mean something now."
Rob: And they're not there for the Lemonheads. They were there for us.
Fix the Keyboard Music
Rob: Oh my god. "Fix the Keyboard Music".
Paul: That's on the Setlist?
Rob: So, yeah. So here's the thing. Like sometimes if something goes wrong in the middle of a set, like something breaks down and so like, oh, the keyboards broken, we gotta fix the keyboard. So as a joke, we'll be like, start to play some jazz music, we're gonna play some "fix the keyboard music." They actually have that in here. Oh, look, "Kyle's gotta pee" music. (all laughing)
Kyle: There should be a lot of those.
An early festival
Rob: Let's go down here. Hold on. Yeah, we're in 1990 right now. April 6th, 1997. That would be our first...
Kyle: Well, that's not the first set we ever played though.
Rob: Because look, at the Zephyrhills Festival Park I bet you that we were like one of the first bands in the bill and we played four songs.
Paul: We played Chris Isaak. Joan Osborne was on that bill.
Rob: Everybody else left. I stayed with your friend Jacque and did acid and we watched Bob Weir. (all laughing)
All: Bobby!
Covers
Rob: Okay, let's see what's going on here. April 9th, 1987.
Paul: Where are we?
Rob: There’s 15 songs. And we had 12 on the record. So I'm gonna say it's gonna be 12 songs and some covers. "Argue", "Girl Like That", and "Damn". "Real World", "Hang", "Time After Time". "Tired" was the B-side.
Kyle: "Time After Time" should be way up there in the data of times we've played.
Rob: "Time After Time" has been like we go off stage and like, oh, the drums aren't working. Guys, "Time After Time", go do "Time After Time".
Kyle: I would be interested to see, to go back to that original one and see what the most played cover is. Paul: Oh, it's gotta be "Time".
Kyle: Yeah. Probably "Time".
Rob: Artist covered by Matchbox Twenty. Okay.
Paul: I saw it so...
Brian: I saw it too.
Rob: Artists that we covered the most.
Kyle: Rolling Stones.
Rob: You're in the top three.
Kyle: Cyndi Lauper,
Rob: Top four.
Kyle: David Bowie.
Rob: Nope.
Paul: Don't think about songs that we did the whole thing of. Think about songs that we would insert.
Kyle: Oh, Beatles. Internalizing other people's songs is the best way to create your own.
Rob: So you start playing out in front of people and you're like, yeah, but you know what would be fun? Let's go play some Beatles in front of people. I get to be a Beatle for a minute.
Least-played songs + concert map
Rob: I wanna see what did we play - What's our least, what's going down here?
Paul: Hold on, "You Shook Me All Night Long"?
Rob: Oh, yeah, we played in Australia.
Paul: We did an acoustic cover on a ukulele.
Rob: Ukulele version in Perth.
Rob & Brian: Concert Map.
Brian: Nice. Twice in The Bahamas, look at that, twice in Spain, twice in Japan. This is kind of right. But we've not been to Alaska. That's like one of the one states we have not played.
Upcoming tour
Rob: No, I mean, listen, this is, as much as this tour is about this new record and everything that we're doing, this tour has been set in stone since 2020.
Paul: Yes.
Rob: We're basically redoing 2020, but now it's just, we're more excited about it because we're bringing new music, we're bringing a new point of view on stuff.
Kyle: All right, everybody, that's all for now. But if you wanna find out what we're gonna be playing on tour, check out Setlist.fm.
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Matchbox Twenty – “Slow Dream Tour”
5/16 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena*
5/18 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre*
5/19 – Ridgefield, WA @ Sunlight Supply Amphitheater*
5/21 – Concord, CA @ Concord Pavilion *
5/ 22 – Hollywood, CA @ Hollywood Bowl*
5/ 24 – Fresno, CA @ Save Mart Center*
5/ 25 – Bakersfield, CA @ Mechanics Bank Arena*
5/27— Las Vegas, NV @ The Chelsea at the Cosmopolitan*
5/28 – Irvine, CA @ FivePoint Amphitheatre*
5/30 – San Diego, CA @ Cal Coast Credit Union Open Air Theatre*
5/ 31 – Phoenix, AZ @ Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre*
6/2 – Sparks, NV @ Nugget Event Center*#
6/ 3 – West Valley City, UT @ USANA Amphitheatre*
6/4 – Boise, ID @Ford Idaho Center Amphitheater*
6/ 6 – Denver, CO @ Ball Arena*
6/8 – Omaha, NE @ CHI Health Center Omaha*
6/9 – Sioux Falls, SD @ Denny Sanford Premier Center*
6/10 – Welch, MN @ Treasure Island*#
6/13 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH @ Blossom Music Center*
6/14 – Clarkston, MI @ Pine Knob Music Center*
6/ 16 – Cincinnati, OH @ Riverbend Music Center*
6/17 – Moline, IL @ Vibrant Arena at The Mark*
6/ 18 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre*
6/ 20 – St. Louis, MO @Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre*
6/ 21 – Oklahoma City, OK @ The Zoo*#
6/ 23 – Rogers, AR @ Walmart AMP*
6/ 27 – Birmingham, AL @ Oak Mountain Amphitheatre^
6/29 – Dallas, TX @ Dos Equis Pavilion^
6/ 30 – Houston, TX @The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion presented by Huntsman^
7/2 – Atlanta, GA @ Lakewood Amphitheatre^
7/3 – Nashville, TN @Bridgestone Arena^
7/ 5 – Jacksonville, FL @Daily's Place^
7/7 – West Palm Beach, FL @ iTHINK Financial Amphitheatre^
7/ 8 – Tampa, FL @ MIDFLORIDA Credit Union Amphitheatre at the FL State Fairground^
7/11 – Charlotte, NC @ PNC Music Pavilion^
7/ 12 – Raleigh, NC @ Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek^
7/14 – Burgettstown, PA @ The Pavilion at Star Lake^
7/15 – Holmdel, NJ @ PNC Bank Arts Center^
7/16 – Camden, NJ @ Freedom Mortgage Pavilion^
7/18 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater^
7/19 – Bethlehem, PA @ The Wind Creek Event Center^
7/21 – Gilford, NH @Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion^
7/22 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena^
7/23 – Mansfield, MA @ Xfinity Center^
7/26 – Virginia Beach, VA @ Veterans United Home Loans Amphitheater at Virginia Beach^
7/27 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live^
7/29 – Syracuse, NY @ St. Joseph's Health Amphitheater at Lakeview^
7/30 – Saratoga Springs, NY @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center^
8/1 – Darien Center, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater^
8/ 2 – Toronto, ON @ Budweiser Stage^
8/ 4 – Toledo, OH @ Toledo Zoo Amphitheater^
8/ 5 – Noblesville, IN @ Ruoff Music Center^
8/ 6 – Tinley Park, IL @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre^
* Matt Nathanson supporting
^ Ben Rector supporting
~ Hudson Thames supporting
