After 3 years, Matchbox Twenty makes good on Fresno tour stop. Was it worth the wait?

Joshua Tehee

May 26, 2023 at 2:50 AM·4 min read

If there was a takeaway from Matchbox Twenty’s performance Wednesday night at Fresno’s Save Mart Center, it was this:

The band wasn’t about to miss the opportunity.

Not after the concert had been pushed from its original date in 2020 and then pushed again last year.

Even when bassist Brian Yale (Pookie to the fans) got sick and was out for the night, the band did a quick pivot to find a replacement, Joe Ayoub, who came in from Los Angeles on four hours notice and became the hero of the show.

Frontman Rob Thomas checked in on him periodically throughout the nearly two-hour set, which ran 21 songs and hit on the band’s entire catalog, including several from the new album, “Where the Light Goes.”

At each go, the crowd chanted back his name.

“Joe. Joe. Joe.”

“It was everything to us that you don’t NOT have this,” Thomas said as way of explanation, if not apology.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty performs with the band at the Save Mart Center in Fresno during their Slow Dream tour on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Matchbox Twenty, 20 years on

Matchbox Twenty played the Save Mart Center on the arena’s opening week in 2003 as THE rock act at the time. In a review at the time, Thomas was described as a modern-day Elvis. To quote one 19-year-old fan: “He’s the father of my children. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

Twenty years later, nostalgia was clearly driving much of the night, if judged by the crowd response (and age and disposition).

But the band proved to be more than just a nostalgia act and the night’s best moments weren’t just a rehash of the hits. Songs like “3 a.m.” and “Push” seemed to have lost some of the edge over the years, and Thomas and crew appeared to be having the most fun when playing material from the new album or reworking the fan favorites.

The set opener “Friends” is a new tune that is every bit an arena rock anthem begging for a sing-a-long.

“All of my friends, all of my friends, are here.”

The 2000s song “If You’re Gone” was stripped down to just Thomas and guitarist Kyle Cook. It was the “cell-phone light moment,” as Thomas called it, and one of the best points in the night.

Bottom line, hearing Thomas’ voice and words matched with Cook’s distinctive guitar lines, it’s clear that Matchbox Twenty continues to be unmistakable in what it does.

Matchbox Twenty performs at the Save Mart Center in Fresno during their Slow Dream tour on Wednesday, May 24, 2023.

Opening act Matt Nathanson

Matt Nathanson was an opening act worth seeing.

He introduced his band as the Wallflowers; a joking nod to just how long Matchbox Twenty fans have been waiting for the show. Jakob Dylan’s reunited Wallflowers were slated as the opening act when the tour was first announced in 2020.

Nathanson then delivered a 45-minute set of mid-tempo adult radio rock, punctuated with a throwback Paul Simon kind of vibe.

This was music to sway to.

Nathanson was funny and engaging and not afraid to tell a story or two while dropping some F bombs, even if it seemed at odds, stylistically, with his music, which at several points transitioned into cover-tune snippets (Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” and also tributes to the late Tina Tuner with “Private Dancer” and “What’s Love Got to Do with It”).

Nathanson loves his falsetto.

The highlight of the set (and maybe the whole night, truthfully) was “Bill Murray,” a song Nathanson described as imagining a “Thelma and Louise style” adventure with the great actor. It is much more poignant than the synopsis might suggest.

Stray observations

Does every touring band have at least one member from Fresno? Or is that just a thing that performers say these days to hype up the crowd? Unless someone was lying, Nathanson’s bassist Adam Popick is from Fresno and his parents were in the crowd for the show. Thomas made the same claim about Matchbox Twenty keyboardist Matt Beck, which seems less likely.
While I mostly missed/ignored Matchbox Twenty during the 2000s, I somehow knew a bunch of the songs, because radio used to be a powerful thing, I guess. Also, the band is best when at its moodiest; “Bent,” for example.
The tour is offering fans a limited-edition “instant” collectible CD and/or digital download from each show. Like, there was a line to pick up a live recording of the night’s performance as people were filing out.