Matt Nathanson, gifted comedian

Because I'm going to one of Matt Nathanson's concerts in two weeks (March 19 in Cleveland, can't wait), I figured I would profile him today and analyze one of his songs next week.

Matt Nathanson is in a similar category as Ari Hest, since he is mostly a solo acoustic performer with a band occasionally behind him, but he is arguably more well-known. He has the gift of being a truly amazing live performer, in addition to a hilarious personality, and he has developed an extremely loyal fan base and following. All of Matt's shows are peppered with a ton of witty banter between him and audience. As much as I love his music, while at one of his concerts, I almost look forward more to when the guitar stops and he talks with the crowd.

I have been lucky enough to see him live three times, and I even got to interview him once for the campus entertainment magazine. One of my favorite memories of his shows was this past October at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. He started randomly talking about the World Series, and was joking that although he hails from Boston, he couldn't care less about the Red Sox because "I spent my childhood in the basement with my guitar, not caring about sports." He then asked about D.C.'s baseball team, to which someone yelled, "Go Nationals!" Clearly having no idea what the person was talking about, Matt replied, "Oh, they're in the National League?" Finally, when enough people started yelling so that he understood the team name was actually the Nationals, and he incredulously said, "Seriously? Guys, no one has EVER heard of your team." Everyone started cracking up, and it was a classic Matt Nathanson moment. The rest of the night, between almost every song, he managed to make a reference to the Nationals- "the greatest hockey team of all time!"

In any case, I can't wait to see his show in Cleveland, and I'm also excited to analyze one of his songs, because he is also a brilliant lyricist. And honestly, when I'm singing out loud in the car (because who doesn't do that?) his songs are some of my favorite to belt out.