Name: Adam Bernard Home: Fairfield, Connecticut, United States About Me: Entertainment journalist with 15+ years of experience. Supporter of indie music. Lover of day baseball, fringe movies, & chicken shawarma. Part time ninja. Nerdy, but awesome. See my complete profile
Before I hit the city this past Thursday to hang out with Young Thieves at their show at Arlene’s Grocery I decided to do a little recon on the artist they were opening for, Matt McAndrew.
After going to his social media pages, and seeing that he has a huge following, I learned he was once a contestant on The Voice. Even if I had seen him on the show, however, there’s a chance I wouldn’t have recognized him in person, as his look has changed considerably.
With a haircut more befitting of his numerous tattoos, and the pop-rock superstar he’s likely to become, McAndrew exuded a rock star confidence on the stage, and gave a performance to match.
Here are three reasons you should see Matt McAndrew live.
1. He’s a rock, pop, and punk punk artist, as well as a singer-songwriter, all wrapped up in one
A lot of artists attempt to take on a plethora of genres, the thing that makes McAndrew unique is that he manages to not just perform multiple genres of music well, but he has backbone to all of his music that keeps everything together.
When an artist performs a number of genres, a set can sometimes feel disjointed, but McAndrew keeps enough in common with each song, and has enough similar threads running through them, to make his entire set run seamlessly.
2. He has some fun with the crowd
As McAndrew’s set was about to begin he started to do what most every artist does in a bar venue situation – ask everyone to come closer to the stage. After making the request once, however, he actually got off the stage, made his way to the back of the crowd, and shepherded the audience closer. The act was a perfect combination of humility and ego – the humility of getting off the stage and being in the crowd, and the ego of making sure that crowd was exactly where he wanted it. A man of the people, but still a rock star.
McAndrew also told some funny anecdotes between songs, and showed himself to be a fan of extreme sarcasm.
3. His new single, “Game Over,” has the potential to launch him into the stratosphere
This show was supposed to be celebrate the release of McAndrew’s new single, “Game Over.” A little problem happened with the timing, however, as the single ended up being pushed back a week (it’s now scheduled to be released this Friday), so rather than being a single release show, it was more of a single unveiling show, and what an unveiling it was.
By the time the first chorus had been completed it was clear “Game Over” has the potential to be a monster. Imagine a one man version of 5 Seconds of Summer, or The Summer Set (or even a band without “summer” in its name, but that sounds vaguely like the two I just mentioned), and you can start to get the vibe of “Game Over.” It’s fun, it has a killer hook, and it’s a pop-rock gem that’s going to be a perfect fit on Top 40 radio.
With that in mind, if you want to see McAndrew in an intimate setting, you better do it now, because much larger venues are in his future.
