Ed MasleyArizona Republic
The Slow Dreams Tour brought Matchbox Twenty to Phoenix for first time since 2017’s A Brief History of Everything Tour marking the 20thanniversary of their 10-times-platinum debut, "Yourself or Someone Like You."
And this time, that brief history includes their first new album in 11 years, the much anticipated "Where the Light Goes."
They set the tone for their performance with "Friends," the song that opens “Where the Light Goes,” and made their way through five selections from the album by the time their set was through, including the singles “Wild Dogs (Running in a Slow Dream)” and “Don’t Get Me Wrong.”
But that still left time for the hits, including all five singles from “Yourself or Someone Like You.”
Rob Thomas spoke to The Arizona Republic about how it feels to sing a song like “Push” or “3AM” nearly 30 years after recording them.
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“I'm OK if I never heard those songs ever again,” he says. “But I'm OK with playing them every night.
"Like, there's a living, breathing energy we're sharing with everybody through these songs that have just kind of been around in their life for 27 years. There's no other way for us to look at it other than it's like a member of your family. It doesn't matter whether you like their politics or their conversation at dinner, they're in the (expletive) family."
Matchbox Twenty 2023 setlist for Phoenix stop on Slow Dreams Tour
“Friends”
“How Far We've Come”
“Real World”
“Disease”
“Wild Dogs (Running in a Slow Dream)”
“She's So Mean”
“All I Need”
“Queen of New York City”
“Hand Me Down”
“If You're Gone” (acoustic)
“Mad Season”
“Don’t Get Me Wrong”
“These Hard Times”
“The Way”
“Parade”
“Bent”
“Back 2 Good”
“Long Day”
“Rebels”
Encore:
“3 A.M.”
“Unwell”
“Push”
“Bright Lights”
Reach the reporter ated.masley@arizonarepublic.comor 602-444-4495. Follow him on Twitter@EdMasley.
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