Matt Costa knows how to make an entrance. He ambled through the main entrance to the Paradise on Wednesday night, belting out his light and folksy “Miss Magnolia” and wandering through the crowd, followed happily by his band. The group planted themselves in the middle of the room, the audience members surrounding the singer in an infatuated chorus for a verse before Costa officially took the stage.
The show continued with “Sweet Rose,” a chipper tune from his 2005 album, Songs We Sing. Costa’s performance of the song set a great tone for the show – upbeat and enjoyable, but not too flashy or pretentious. Costa performs in a way that reveals his pure respect for and adoration of music; it’s like watching creativity in its natural habitat. While this does provide some great performances, including a sweet and smooth rendition of “The Season” and a gritty, dark version of “Behind the Moon,” Costa’s eagerness to share his music created a set list that was just too long. While the concert never exactly dragged on at any point, there were so many ups and downs that the concert felt longer than it actually was.
The length of the show was broken up with Costa’s musical variety. The show bounced back and forth between the Costa reminiscent of the Beatles, jamming along to his trippy single “Witchcraft”, and the lovesick Costa, gently strumming his guitar and going off the microphone to sing not to but with the audience for “Astair”.
Costa kept the audience’s attention by playing his lesser-known songs first, working his way up to “Sunshine” and finally “Mr. Pitiful”. Costa interspersed songs off his new album, Mobile Chateau, with the fan favorites.
Costa withheld his first single, “Cold December,” until the encore, but the wait was well worth it. His upbeat, sweet performance rallied the audience, rousing the audience into a gentle, swaying dance to the crowd favorite.
Just as Costa knows how to make an entrance, he knows how to send an audience off in good spirits. The final song of the night brought his entire band and the group who played before him, Everest, back on stage for a relaxed of cover “You Ain’t Goin Nowhere” by the Byrds. The show started and ended on a high note, with quite a few peaks throughout the concert as well; considering the length, however, it was definitely not somewhere you’d want to be caught in heels.
