Live Review: Matchbox Twenty, INXS, Evermore

The clear chiming keyboard and pounding drums of Evermore's set opener It's Too Late immediately demonstrated just how solid a pop melody sound the three-piece can make. Newer song Run Away though seemed to get itself lost and was a touch top heavy in the mix.

Seeing INXS play, there is always an inevitable sense of what might have been. After a long drum beating intro the band burst into Suicide Blonde with the kind of perfect musicianship you'd expect from them having played the song for more than 22 years now. For yet another new frontman (Ciaran Gribbin) though there is always going to be a touch of the karaoke about the performance. He did what was required as he belted out the hits, tried his best to get some audience participation going and smooched with girls in the front row. Despite his best efforts, at times the rest of the band – particularly during New Sensation – seemed to be in their own world, in another place and time altogether. And that's their biggest problem.

After a bit of me-time flying solo, Rob Thomas is back in front man mode and revelling in it. Full of charisma, he paced the width of the stage to make sure everybody got a good look at him as he worked in perfect tandem with the rest of Matchbox Twenty. The synchronicity all seemed so natural, right down to the way he used his vocals which, in songs such as the classic party anthem How Far We've Come, ploughed right through the runaway guitar sounds. The pace of other old songs such as 3am and Back 2 Good was perfectly controlled with Thomas and the band knowing just when to let things explode and both were rapturously received. All Your Reasons was played out as an old fashioned slab of rock. The two-hour, 25-song set featured a no-nonsense rattle through crowd pleasing oldies but also a good chunk of the band's latest album. Of those, the deep rhythms of Our Song, the exposed beauty of I Will and particularly the contrasting dark verse and open chorus of English Town were highlights. The band hinted at a special surprise being saved for the end, which saw INXS join them on the stage for a funked-to-the-max cover of The Easybeats' Good Times. They clearly were, and for the rejuvenated Matchbox Twenty at least that looks set to continue for quite some time yet.