Concert - Cary Brothers, Kate Voegele and Matt Nathanson

This weekend at the Higher Ground, I was able to see Kate Voegele, Cary Brothers and Matt Nathanson in the Higher Ground Ballroom. It was an okay night - not the greatest

Kate Voegele Set
One Way or Another
Wish You Were
Hallelujah (Cover)
chicago
Only Fooling Myself

I wasn't extremely impressed with Kate Voegele, who's recently scored her first album through the newly formed Myspace Records. She's got a fairly typical sound for a singer, and overall, there wasn't anything that really makes her stand out a whole lot. Not to say that she's a bad singer, because she's not. Maybe average. Her set was decent, fairly short, and she had some fun on stage. Maybe she'll get better with time.

Cary Brothers Set
Ride
Jealousy
Who You Are
If You Were Here (Thompson Twins Cover)
Honestly
Wasted One
Glass Parade
Blue Eyes

Cary Brothers was the one that I set out to see last night, and I finally got a shirt from their merch booth (I tried to get one last time I saw him and failed, because they ran out.) His set was a significant improvement over Voegele's, although because he wasn't backed by a larger group this time around, I wasn't as thrilled with his set as I was the last time that he was in town. His set was also a bit shorter. They did take the smaller group (only Cary and two others) and ran with it - they had a couple of songs that sounded a little different, like Wasted One and Who You Are, but the sound was good and he was probably the best singer of the night.

Matt Nathanson Set
Car Crash
Wedding Dress
Lucky Boy
-> I Want You To Want Me (Cheap Trick Cover)
Angel
I Saw
Princess
-> Jessie's Girl (Rick Springfield Cover)
Come On, Get Higher
Pretty The World
Bent
To The Beat of Our Noisy Hearts
Falling Apart
Still
Suspended
Snakes? (Patty Smith Cover?)
Gone
Laid
Smalltown Girl (Journey Cover) With Cary Brothers and Kate Voegele
Comfort Me
-> Losing My Religion (REM Cover)
Answering Machine
Hungry Like the Wolf (Duran Duran Cover)
All We Are

Matt Nathanson is a bit of an annoying twerp. He's a very good singer, but he reminds me a lot of Dane Cook. On stage, he's funny, often getting the crowd going and seems a little self-involved, but once he gets down to start playing, he and his group sounds pretty good on stage.
Matt was clearly the show for the night, with everyone there to see him. He's certainly popular with the college group and demographics. His songwriting is also about average, and his live show can double as a comedy one, which is fine, as long as he plays music. On stage, they've got a good sound, very solid, very good beat.

Overall, the entire night was pretty good, low key. I chatted with a couple people, took pictures, and enjoyed myself. This was the last night of the tour for this group of singers, and they seemed to really have a fun time. Cary and Kate both jumped on stage for one of Matt's songs, and Matt jumped into one of Cary's songs, Blue Eyes. It looked like they were also enjoying themselves.

More pictures here.

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