Mat Kearney

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

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

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

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

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

http://www.rhapsody.com/milehighfest

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

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

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