Live Review: Matisyahu w/ Flobots and HR (of Bad Brains)

Recently (on November 1st) popular reggae/hip hop artist Matisyahu's fall tour stopped in at Baltimore, Maryland's Rams Head Live. I was lucky enough (or so I thought) to get tickets to this show, however the first thing I noticed was that it didn't sell out, which has been usual for Matisyahu in the past. This was hardly discouraging to my hopes for this show though, I've seen him in the past once and it was spectacular. I had high hopes for this show, and sadly I was kind of let down.

I say "kind of" let down because the opening acts were fantastic. First up was HR of the legendary Bad Brains. Every time I'm presented with a chance to see a member of a legendary band I'm always skeptical, thinking it just won't be the same. I had this same concern when HR took the stage. I was right; it just wasn't Bad Brains, but it was one of the best performances I've seen in a long time.

HR's style is mostly a fusion of reggae and hip hop however he proved that he hasn't forgotten where he came from. I was ecstatic to hear the grungy sound of distortion in the guitars, see the keyboardist walk off stage, and finally hear the tempo pick up. I couldn't have asked more from their performance, great reggae and even a few hardcore songs. Watch out for HR on tour, this is definitely a show you don't want to miss.

The next act was rising alternative rock/hip hop band Flobots. I was extremely excited to see Flobots for one reason: I wanted to see "Handlebars" live. Coming into the show I would have been happy if they had just play that one song and walked off stage, but by the end of their set I was thinking their performance would rival what I was hoping to see from Matisyahu. They were easily the best part of the night with their most notable songs being "Stand Up" and "Rise." The band put on a brilliant performance showing their true talent as a band which only left me expecting great things from them in the future.

This is where the show took a heart-wrenching turn for the worst; the catalyst was Matisyahu taking the stage. Last time I saw Matisyahu was in 2006 at the last HFStival; his performance was amazing, the perfect end to a day of great music. Because of this it truly pains me to say that I was absolutely bored by his set, which lasted two and a half hours and was comprised of about 16 or 17 songs. If you do the math there you'll notice that that's about eight minutes per song. This wasn't uniform but it seems about right; just about every song included a long interlude which was basically the band jamming. Don't get me wrong, being a musician I can appreciate a good jam, but I can hear that without paying 30 dollars, especially when I'm paying to hear songs, not jams.

The band wasn't off, Matisyahu didn't seem like he was having a bad night, the set just progressed too slowly. I wouldn't take this as a deterrent from seeing him again, just a warning of what might be. A lot of people left during the set though, so we can only hope he'll take that to heart and get back to playing the songs that got him to where he is today. Overall I wouldn't count the night as a waste, the show was great, just a little disappointing. I skeptically await Matisyahu's next tour.

To find out more or hear these artists:
http://www.matisyahuworld.com/
http://www.myspace.com/matisyahu
http://www.flobots.com/
http://www.myspace.com/flobots