Matt Costa at the Detroit Bar

I was lucky enough to catch the Matt Costa secret show a few months ago as Matt debuted some new tunes from his upcoming sophomore album "Unfamiliar Faces". It was no surprise that Matt would play the Detroit Bar to celebrate their six year anniversary concert series.

Satisfaction


Satisfaction opened the evening with their catchy pop rock tinged jangly jams. I was impressed last time I saw them at the Viper Room. Micheal Rosas(Vocals/Guitars) had his Gibson SG blaring from his Marshall combo amp as he led the band through a rollicking set with selections from their latest release "Cougars,Sharks & Flying Sparks". Matthew Fletcher (Keyboards) was not behind the keys on this particular night as he was stuck in an airport in Chicago. The missing keyboards forced the band to improvise a bit but they managed to persevere. James Fletcher(Drums) held it down on the drums and would do the same for Matt Costa. Did James get paid twice?


Matt Costa






Detroit Bar security had to lead Matt Costa to the stage because the place was packed to the hilt. I am glad I got presale tickets as the line to get into the venue was about thirty people deep with the prospects of getting in looking grim.
 
Matt Costa put on his acoustic guitar and did a splendid solo acoustic version of "I Tried" before bringing the rest of his band onstage. Matt led the band through a new song that he said that he wrote a week ago. The song had overdriven guitars in the forefront with some keyboards augmenting the melody. Matt has been touring recently by opening for Modest Mouse and the band's musical chops showed as they easily worked through the song. Mitchell Townsend had his lap steel guitar purring for a warm version of "Yellow Taxi". A new song from his upcoming album "Lilacs" was next and led me to believe that this could have easily been the lead single off the album. Matt jumped behind a Nord Electro keyboard to hammer out the bouncy melodic piano riff to "Mr. Pitiful". Matt's new songs are so good that I can imagine his record company had a hard time figuring out which one to release as a single. The opening percussive guitar riff of "Cold December" elicted a large number of cheers as the crowd gleefully sang along. The opening guitar chords of "Trying To Lose My Mind" started and I immediately remembered it from Matt's previous show at the Detroit Bar. The song is another catchy gem that includes a little whistling. The new song parade continued with the title track of his upcoming album "Unfamiliar Faces". "Sweet Rose" was another crowd favorite that easily makes you tap your foot along with the country infused shuffling drum beat. "Sweet Thursday" had a smoking overdriven solo with some lightly added shades of feedback that morphed into its soft ending. The crowd sang along again during "Astair" as Matt wistfully plucked out the notes on his acoustic guitar. "Emergency Call" had the band singing out "Doctor!" as they closed their set. I think the doctor will be in on January 15th to give Matt Costa's fans a prescription for their ears