From the moment I saw The Locals perform in my high school's cafeteria on grad night twenty two years ago I was a fangirl of theirs. The next few years my friends and I tracked them down at every show they played in and around the Bay Area. We watched as The Locals became The Matches and saw their populairty explode with every album released.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
By 2008 the local boys from Oakland had 3 albums under their belts, the last of which, 2008's A Band in Hope found them working with Tim Armstrong of Rancid and Nick Hexum of 311 as two of the producers. The Matches were well on their way to stardom. Then the devistating news of the band's disbandment in 2009 shattered pop-punk hearts around the Bay Area, the country and quite possibly the world.
In 2020 a documentary Bleeding Audio hit the scene at Sundance Film Festival outlining The Matches' rise and fall then their successful reunion shows that follwed their fall out. Creative differences may have been a player in their break-up but they kept being drawn back to the stage after they stopped making music together.
And they were selling out those shows.
Honetsly, I can't remember going to a show if theirs that wasn't packed since the name change.
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Twenty years later proved to be no different when The Matches annouced a show at The Fillmore in San Francisco on September 21st. The show was in celebration of 20 years since the release of their debut album, E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals and tickets sold-out in a heartbeat. Then came the annoucement of a show in Chicago at The House of Blues on September 28th with the third show added in L.A. at The Taragram Ballroom on December 13th just a few weeks ago.
We hadn't been to show there together in years and we were both so excited to be back.
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The line was long when we got there about the time doors opened around 7:00pm but it moved quick. As we waited we reminised about the shows we had seen there together when we were younger, No Doubt in 1999 definitely being the hightlight.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
Inside, at the top of the stairs was the fimilair brass bucket full of apples. I had wondered if it would be there and there it was. Only this time instead of the Washington Delish red apples, which had been offered for as far back as I can remember, the apples on Saturday night were Pink Ladies.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
We headed up to the infamous poster walled rooms to gaze at all of the artwork stretching decades of live shows played on the stage there. This is a must when you're there to see a show.
Amongst other things, The Fillmore is known for handing out a show poster to attendees when they exit the show. This use to be an every show occurance but a while back only shows that sell-out within a certain time frame before the show date now get a Fillmore show poster.
Needless to say, we would be getting a Fillmore show poster that night.
We made our way downstairs bypassing the winding merch line and watched the openers, Omnigone, on the floor which was already packed at that point.
We were ready and so excited for The Matches!
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
To think that twenty years ago we filled the L3 warehouse in Oakland at Matches shows with a lot of the same people who were there that night. A lot has changed since then, including the fact that I didn't have a drop to drink (back in the day me and my posse were the wasted ones in the straight-edge pop-punk scene). The venue roared with excitement when the house lights dimmed as the band made their way to stage. In a matter of minutes it was as if the room time traveled to 2004: opening with the first song off of their first album "Dog Earred Page" literally had everyone on the floor jumping and singing along like we had all done when we were young, er.
The first songs of their set were songs off of their first album and all three had the floor bouncing. By the third song of the night, fan favorite"Chain Me Free", my cousin I found ourselves closer to stage right where the enegtic and animated gutairst Jon is stationed and he was giving it his all.
Knowing first hand that Jon had become a personlal trainer and physical therapist I mentioned to my cousin that I hoped he had done his stretched before the show. We were tickeled when he led a crowd stretch when the song ended!
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
They did a good job with their set list, balancing slower tempoed songs after a block of more rowdy ones, giving everyone, including the band, a chance to catch their breath before picking things up again.
There were no guitar or bass changes through out the night. The boys tuned their own instruments from one song to the next which resulted in little lulls. Early on their was a little banter offered during these breif lulls, sharing stories of when they worked in the kitchen at the famous venue they were playing that night and fun pop culture facts from the early 2000s.
As the show went on there was less banter and honestly I don't think fans cared either way, shouting words of encouragement as we waited. At one point I noticed Shawn, the lead singer's, familiar red guitar with what looked like a homemade black swirl on it. Pretty sure it was the same guitar from when they packed venues in the early 2000's I couldn't help but wonder if they were all playing the same instruments from back in the day.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
You could sence that maybe The Matches were a little out of practice and they knew it but again, Matches fans didn't care. We were at a Matches show and that's all that mattered. We were their to see them play and as always, they put on a great show.
Everytime a song from E. Von Dahl Killed the Locals was played was blury flurry jumping and singing our hearts out just like it was all those years ago and just like the days of our youth it was an involuntary reaction. They would start playing the song and as much as our necks and backs were already aching there we were having the time of our lives.
Closer to the end of the set more and more people were crowd surfing and I forget what song it was but Shawn went into the crowd and started walking on raised hands, an antic he'd been known to do which I had completly forgetten about. Shawn and Jon's dynamic on-stage was endearing. It was so fun to watching them exchange looks as they sang the lyrics of their songs and I couldn't have been the only one left questiniong the story behind the lyrics. Clearly, Matches fans weren't the only ones reliving their past and the height of The Matches hiatus.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
The set was heavy with songs from their first two albums and a couple from their third and final LP, A Band in Hope including one of my favorites, "Wake the Sun".
Before the show I had wondered out loud to my cousin if they were going to end the show the song they had ended every show with for years, "Sick Little Suicide". As 11:00 neared they left the stage only to return minutes later for an en core. First up was "Salty Eyes" followed by a surprise cover of the Pixies' hit "Where is My Mind" and last but not least was none other than, "Sick Little Suicide".
We left elated with a Matches Fillmore show poster in hand and big smiles across our faces. Concuring immediately what a great show it was, what a fun night we had had and that we would be sore in the morning but it was worth it.
I myself had not had that much fun at a show in a very long time. It was invigorating.
The Matches have always put on a great show, anyone who has seen them live knows that.
It's one of the reasons they're fan base is as loyal as it is.
People literally flew in from around the country to see them play in San Francisco and if they couldn't get to that show they flew out to Chicago to see them a week later.
And they'll fly to L.A. to see them in December.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
They may not make music anymore or tour regularly and they have proved that they don't have to.
As they rose to the top before calling it quits they made a place were outsiders and weird kids belonged and that place is at their shows. The Matches struck gold because Matches fans keep going back and we always will as long as there's a Matches show to go to.
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| The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024 photo by Nikki DeMartini |
The Matches at The Fillmore 9/21/2024
set-list
1. Dog-Earred Page
2. Audio Blood
3. Chain Me Free
4. Little Maggots
5. What Katie Said
6. Yankee ina Chip Shop
7. Clouds Crash
8. Superman
9. Borderline Creep
10. The Restless
11. More Than Local Boys
12. Destination: Nowhere Near
13. The Jack Slap Cheer
14. Life of a Match
15. Wake the Sun
16. Didi (My Doe, Part 2)
17. Papercut Skin
18. Track 11/Scratched Out
en-core
19. Salty Eyes
20. Where Is My Mind? (Pixies cover)
21. Sick Little Suicide
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