Matthew Sweet‘s song Winona, from the classic Girlfriend, may not be about Winona Ryder, but it’s forever linked in my mind with the actress, who in the late 80s and early 90s was the coolest girl on the planet. She probably still is. Seriously, Heathers. Winona was the song Thursday night at Radio Radio — the fourth of the night — when the pieces all came together and the Matthew Sweet Rock Show hit its stride.
And it was a capital R rock show. I’ve never heard gentler tracks like Someone to Pull the Trigger and You Don’t Love Me sound more ferocious. Sweet was in fine voice but a lot of the credit goes to lead guitarist Dennis Taylor and the ace, Velvet Crush rhythm section of Paul Chastain and Ric Menck. Power pop lovers who haven’t listened to Velvet Crush are missing out. They have several records but you should start at the beginning with In the Presence of Greatness and Teenage Symphonies to God. Ash and Earth, My Blank Pages, so many great ones. Back to Sweet.
His trio of early 90s albums — Girlfriend, Altered Beast, and 100% Fun — still stand as some of the best power pop released in the last 25 years. The number of truly great songs on each of those records put most artists in the genre to shame.
The last time Sweet passed through town was in celebration of Girlfriend’s twentieth anniversary. He and his band tore through the record, start to finish, before wrapping up with a handful of other songs, including Sick of Myself. Thursday night’s focus was on all three of those 90s albums. Aside from a couple of tracks from recent releases, he stayed true to the nostalgic spin.
Following a nice opening set from legendary power popper Tommy Keene, Sweet and the band took the stage. Some sound issues marred opener Time Capsule, and the band pushed its way through Byrdgirl and I Wanted to Tell You before landing with Winona. A crunchy, cathartic Evangeline followed. Divine Intervention was another standout.
Sweet’s been at the game for a long time, so the devoted crowed was in his hands from the start. He avoided playing anything from Blue Sky on Mars, which was fine with me. I was, however, hoping to get a track or two from In Reverse, unfortunately overlooked in his catalog. Songs like If Time Permits and What Matters rank with his best.
If Sweet holds to form, we’ll see him again in another couple of years. I’ll be waiting.