A Very Boston Hannukah with Matisyahu. . .

     Last night I headed into Boston with my music industry insider pal Jay Sweet for the Matisyahu show.  Of all of the countless Orthodox Jewish reggae artists out there, Matisyahu is by far the best! 

Matisyahu's excellent live album    

     We met up with Jay's little sister Cynthia, Darcey Yerkes, and John Wykoff.  Josh Werner, the bass player and band member who writes all of the music to go with Matis' lyrics, met us to hang out in the special V.I.P. balcony beforehand, looking down on the roughly 800 or so teenagers in the pit of sweat and grunge.  I felt very, very, very old.

 

Here's my V.I.P. pass from last night (looks like it was left over from a NYC show. . . .)    

     The show was awesome, in a word.  The main part of the concert ended with the great tune King Without a Crown, and the last encore was my favorite song, Close My Eyes.  Here's a pic I snapped during the show of Matis dancing on top of a speaker while the guitarist was going nuts on a several-minute solo:

     After the show, Josh escorted us backstage to hang out with Matis, his little baby boy (who was competing with the band's bongo player for Cynthia's attention), various rabbis, and assorted sycophants. 

Matisyahu and son at Bonnaroo

     Although I wanted to snap some pics of us with Matis and the band, the opportunity never quite presented itself; it would have been super-cheesy to whip out the ol' camera phone and herd everyone together for a shot. 

     It was fascinating listening to Jay talk with Matis and Josh about which musical acts he wants to hook them up with.  After a little while, Matis disappeared for a special "Prayer Session" with a group of Orthodox Jewish friends back out in the stage area.  On our way out, we ran into him carrying a lit menorah.

    For all you WASPs, here's a menorah:

   

       

Comments

[Adam Zand]

Hi Charles,
I had a blast at the show. I've enjoyed Matisyahu as a very, very casual fan, but left very impressed. Truth be told, I was mostly there to see my brother, NIZ (www.kosherhip.com) perform. Yay bro!

The show had a general vibe of togetherness, spirituality, chill and fun. I liked the mixed audience of religions, outfits, ages, b-girls, rastas, frat guys and Orthodox Jews. I also thought it was funny that the Fenway Park Jesus Guy was outside with his leaflets - he had no clue who had just played.