Matthew Sweet at The Electric Fetus (acoustic in-store), Minneapolis (10 July 2017)

Ahead of his following night’s long sold-out show at the Turf Club in St. Paul, Matthew Sweet stopped by local record store The Electric Fetus on a Monday evening, to play a few acoustic songs, and meet and greet the fans that had crowded near the front registers, to see him. 

Sweet is back with a new album, his first solo effort in six years, the Kickstarter-funded Tomorrow Forever (on his own imprint, Honeycomb Hideout, via Sony’s RED Distribution) and the 17-song album is currently available on CD, double 180-gram vinyl, and digital.

The Omaha, NE- based singer just began his latest tour there, which takes him through September, and was pleased at the couple of shows done so far.  The too short four-song/fifteen-minute set only made those in the audience that didn’t have tickets, wish they did even more, and mostly showcased the new record. 

Sweet and his two guitarists, Paul Chastain (Velvet Crush) and Jason Victor (Steve Wynn) played seated, with Sweet partially hidden under a black baseball cap and wearing a dark Blade Runner t-shirt. “Hello everyone, I’m Matthew”, he said as he introduced everyone as politely as anyone from the Midwest would. 

‘Pretty Please’ touches on some Big Star influence, but has that defining Sweet power-pop familiarity, the album’s opener, ‘Trick (of the Light)’ has as memorable a beat and chorus as any of Sweet’s 90’s alt-radio hits, and ‘Music for Love’ was short but still featured a nice and jangly Chastain guitar solo. 

“This one…is not new … a golden oldie” Sweet said as the trio strummed the familiar ‘I’ve Been Waiting’ from 1991’s Girlfriend, the album that proved to be his breakthrough.  “Over and out” he waved, getting up to go over and meet the fans and autograph CDs and records, and for those fans lucky enough to have tickets for the next night, Tomorrow Forever was truly something they were looking forward to. 

Matthew Sweet Tour Dates:

07/11/2017 Saint Paul, MN Turf Club 07/12/2017 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s 07/13/2017 Chicago, IL City Winery 07/14/2017 Chicago, IL City Winery 07/15/2017 Springfield, IL Donnie’s Homespun 07/16/2017 St. Louis, MO Blueberry Hill’s Duck Room 07/18/2017 Kansas City, MO Knuckleheads 07/20/2017 Dallas, TX The Kessler Theater 07/21/2017 Austin, TX 3Ten Austin City Limits Live 07/22/2017 Austin, TX 3Ten Austin City Limits Live 07/23/2017 Houston, TX The Heights Theater 07/25/2017 Jackson, MS Duling Hall 07/26/2017 Atlanta, GA City Winery Atlanta 07/27/2017 Atlanta, GA City Winery Atlanta 07/28/2017 Nashville, TN City Winery Nashville 07/29/2017 Louisville, KY Headliners Music Hall 08/15/2017 Los Angeles, CA Echo 08/16/2017 San Diego, CA The Casbah

08/17/2017 Felton, CA Don Quixote’s Int’l 08/18/2017 San Francisco, CA Independent 08/20/2017 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge 08/21/2017 Seattle, WA The Triple Door 09/07/2017 Alexandria, VA The Birchmere 09/08/2017 Annapolis, MD Rams Head On Stage 09/09/2017 Havertown, PA Haverford Music Festival 09/10/2017 New York, NY City Winery NYC 09/13/2017 Northampton, MA Iron Horse Music Hall 09/14/2017 Londonderry, NH Tupelo Music Hall 09/15/2017 Brownfield, ME Stone Mountain Arts Ctr 09/16/2017 Boston, MA Brighton Music Hall 09/17/2017 Norfolk, CT Infinity Hall Norfolk 09/19/2017 Fall River, MA Narrows Center 09/20/2017 Hudson, NY Club Helsinki 09/21/2017 Wilmington, DE World Cafe Live 09/22/2017 Tarrytown, NY The Tarrytown Music Hall 09/23/2017 Port Washington, NY Landmark 09/24/2017 South Orange, NJ South Orange Perf Arts Ctr