MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: LOS ANGELES

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: SAN DIEGO

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: PORTLAND

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: AUSTIN

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: CANNERY BALLROOM, NASHVILLE

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: HOUSE OF BLUES, CHICAGO

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: FILLMORE AT IRVING PLAZA

A little backstage hangout at New York’s famed Irving Plaza.

THE TONIGHT SHOW

Well, well… we finally made it. The final show of the tour. It’s been a long journey, filled with highs and lows and everything in between. We’ve had a lot of fun, and I think seeing all the fans out on the road, and the incredible outpouring of support for Mat’s music has really blown everyone away. I’m so excited for everyone who got to see a show on this tour, it was a really special time for both the crew and the band. Anyways… here’s a recap of our experience on The Tonight Show…

We arrived early in the morning driving through Universal Studios… there was sets all around us. Western, NY city, CSI… it was all quite surreal. The stage was empty when we got inside and much smaller then what it looks like on TV. The crew was prepping the masks that come down from the ceiling for Conans “in the year 3000″ sketch. It was really interesting to see how all the behind the scenes stuff worked on the filming of The Tonight Show.

This picture was taken during “rehearsals” Mat and the band had to play “Closer to love” with cameras and crew 3 to 4 times before the show that night, in order to get the camera angles correct before doing it live. This lasted until about 2 pm. Until everyone was starving and desperate for food. Luckily this is when the food actually arrived. The food was fantastic. Mat seemed EXTRA excited about the food.

After lunch, we were offered the opportunity to sit at Conans desk and take pictures before he came out for rehearsals.

Conan has had that eisenhower ceramic on his desk from the very first show he ever did in his old slot. Apparently its kind of famous. Also, he has an autographed guitar sitting next to his desk that Pearl Jam signed for him on the first show. Pearl Jam is his favorite band from what I hear.

There was a Wii and an Xbox 360 in the dressing room for us to play around on while we waited for the show to start taping. Some of the band members opted to stay and do this, while some of us decided to head to Universal Studios Theme Park. The studio and the theme park are located all in the same area. We got free tickets and “front of the line” passes. We got to ride Jurassic park, The Simpsons, and The Mummy. Then it was about time for the taping so we headed back to the studio for makeup.

After this I wasn’t allowed to shoot during the show, so my photos were limited to the dressing room. For a lot of the band members this was their first time playing live on a tv show. Adam was so nervous he thought he was going to puke. But no worries, the performance went off without a hitch and everyone agreed it was a resounding success. I hope you guys saw it! Okay well that’s all for now… this Jonny signing off… over and out.

-Jonny

SIN CITY

When we arrived at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas today it was a little jarring. We had just come from Denver, where the air was clean and crisp and we were surrounding with beautiful mountains. Nature. Las Vegas as we all know has a little bit different vibe…

Although different, we all had a great time in Vegas. The hotel room had a great view of “The Strip”, and a beautiful pool area. There was waterfalls, private cabanas, and all kinds of delicious food. We had an amazing sushi dinner before the show, and Mat played a little poker. Surprisingly, Mat has quite the poker face.

The show was specifically for a few lucky radio contest winners. The venue was small, and Mat seemed really excited to be playing for a much smaller, more intimate crowd. It was apparently something he hadn’t done years. I hope everyone that was there enjoyed it as much as he did. Only one stop left on the tour! Conan!

-Jonny

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: FRAGMENTS VOL. 5

THE MILE HI(EVERYONE) FESTIVAL

We woke up on the bus with beautiful snow capped mountains all around us… we were in Denver today at the Mile High Festival. There was giant stages, and tents, and art sculptures adding to the overall atmosphere. Along with Mat, The Fray were headlining the festival later tonight, while Widespread Panic headlined the second stage. We were in good company.

A couple of the advantages to being an artist playing at a huge festival(besides the awesome free food, and free massages), is that you get a driver and golf cart that will drive you wherever you need to go!

Another, thing is the crowds. The crowds are HUGE. You play to lots and lots of more people then what you normally get too. So not only do you get to play to many of your own fans, but you get the opportunity to expose your music to thousands of new people that have never heard it before.

I shot this during Mat’s set, from the very front of stage, there was thousands upon thousands of people there. It was quite an experience.

Mat had a really busy schedule for the day, at around noon he first had to head to the festival radio station and record a couple of acoustic songs.

After the radio station interview and performance, he decided to take a walk down to the soccer field nearby. Mat was a pretty avid soccer player in college. He was also recording some video content for Rhapsody as part of a special promotion at the Mile High Festival, “a day in the life of Mat Kearney” basically. So he decided to take the camera down to the soccer field and record some content reminiscing about the old days.

Unfortunately within about 2 minutes we were yelled at by the security guard, and ordered to leave the field(all of this is caught on video with the flip cam, which you can see at rhapsody.com/mhf). After all of this it was just about time for Mat to take the stage. So we jumped in the golfcart and headed towards the stage.

We got there just in time! Mat took the stage right around 3 pm and played a great set! See you in Las Vegas!

-Jonny

OH-MY-HA!

Today we were in Omaha, NE at the Slowdown, home of Saddle Creek Records, and all things Conor Oberst. The venue was really unique and doubled as kind of a bar/gameroom of sorts? They had board games, and an old fashioned photobooth. I know you can’t see close up on the photobooth, but there were pictures of John Edwards, and Conor Oberst just to name a few. I guess John Edwards is a fan.

Right next door to us there was a nice shopping area and coffee shop. This was really great because usually at the venues we play there is nothing nearby and you have to catch a cab to get into anything cool.

The crowd was lined up outside the door for hours before the show started… HOURS! It was incredible, they were so excited that they got let in ahead of time and got to see the end of Mat’s soundcheck. A special treat usually only reserved for a few special radio station contest winners.

-Jonny

THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE NOTE

Today’s show in Columbia was at The Blue Note, apparently Johnny Cash played here once upon a time. So that’s pretty cool. There was a beautiful sunset right around 7 that provided the perfect backdrop for a great evening.

When I finally managed to get off the bus and head backstage, there was a impromptu rendition of “Creep” by Radiohead happening in the dressing room. Wish I would have had my video camera on hand… it was pretty epic.

Columbia was a quaint college town with a lot of a personality… the crowd ecstatic. The venue… packed. Thanks for a great show Columbia!

-Jonny

HOTTEST DAY EVER.

Memphis was 105 degrees outside today. A favorite pass time of Mat’s is playing golf, whenever he gets the chance he pulls his clubs out from the under the bus and gets some practice in. On days off even he’ll find the nearest golf course and work in a game somehow. So today, when he discovered that there was a huge open field directly across from the venue… he naturally pulled his clubs out. I was going to try and get some pictures for you but it was so hot and humid outside that my camera lens wouldn’t unfog! Crazy.

That’s mat way out in the distance there hitting golf balls…

Mat’s from nashville so he naturally had a lot of friends come visit him at the show, here’s some pictures of him hanging out backstage…

Right before heading on stage, Mat invited everybody to join in a circle and pray with him.

The show went great! See you in Columbia!

-Jonny

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: FRAGMENTS VOL. 4

RHAPSODY+MILE HIGH FESTIVAL+FLIP VIDEO+MAT KEARNEY=GOOD STUFF

Check out this exclusive content that Mat recorded for Rhapsody at the Mile High Festival in Denver!

http://www.rhapsody.com/milehighfest

KANSAS, “DUST IN THE WIND”…

We spent two days in Kansas City, one day off, one day working. I’ll start with the day off. We all slept in really late. Some people until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. It was much needed sleep. Everybody on the tour has been working long nights and early mornings. Once everyone was rested and showered we all met up and decided to go see a movie together. There was mixed feelings throughout the crew about the movie. Post movie we ate at the “classic cup”, which everyone found to be pretty good food. Next, show day…

It was Dan’s birthday! The show went great, and we all decided to go out. There was also a huge block party happening right down the street from the venue…

We all had a great day off and Kansas City provided a great crowd. Hopefully we’ll see you again soon.

-Jonny

MAT KEARNEY FROM THE ROAD: FRAGMENTS VOL. 3

GATEWAY TO THE WEST…

We played The Pageant today in St. Louis, home of The Arch, gateway to the west. The Pageant seemed to have a rich history, or atleast the owner of the venue had a rich history in music. The walls were lined with pictures of one guy and every celebrity you can imagine. I’m not kidding. EVERY CELEBRITY. Here’s one of him, Burt Reynolds, and Chris Rock.

The show was really cool and the crowd amazingly enthusiastic. The crowd got treated to a special performance of “Runaway Car” in the audience. Mat actually climbed down off the stage and across the bar all while singing “Runaway Car” unfortunately I was running video at the time so I don’t have any photos. But I captured it all on video and I promise it will be coming soon!

-Jonny

MINI-EAPOLIS OR BIG-EAPOLIS?

We arrived in Minneapolis today at Saint Mary’s Basilica america’s first Basilica. We were playing the Basilica Block Party with the Black Crows a festival centered around the Basilica and designed to raise money for its restoration and for poor families in the area. A worthy cause. Tyler’s son Soren had been traveling on the bus for the past couple of days and decided to rock out with the band on stage…

The crowd was massive and equally as enthusiastic. Post show Mat and most of the band went across the festival to catch The Jayhawks playing a show, their first show in 15 years! Here’s some more photos from the day…

-Jonny

EXCLUSIVE PERFORMANCE OF “CITY OF BLACK AND WHITE”

UNO, DES, TRES MOINES…

The day started out rainy and awful. The show was planned to be played outdoors with no cover over the stage and so there was discussions of whether or not the show would even get to be played at all. Right around 3 pm the sun came out and the weather became perfect for an outdoor show, not too hot, not too cold.

It was amazing to see all the people lined up watching the show from the bridges.

The sunset on the water behind Mat provided the perfect backdrop to “All I Need”. Wish everyone could have been there to see it. It was beautiful. Cheers to you Des Moines!

-Jonny