Stage Presence 101

I have just recently discovered Matt Nathanson. Yeah, I know…I guess I’ve been under a rock, but I thought I would spotlight him here with some of my favorites. If you like him, he’s going to be opening for Jewel starting in March.

Car Crash

Gone

Suspended

Laid

These last two performances are perfect descriptions of what I meant when I said Taylor should interact with his audience. Granted, this is a little over the top…but it’s pretty damn funny, too. And before everybody gets all bent out of shape, saying I just want a nasty, foulmouthed Taylor…I say…so what? No, I kid. I just think that even though Taylor is a fantastic performer, I think he could take some lessons from others with his on stage presence. Opening up a little would just make everything that much better. I mean, talking to the audience, interacting…isn’t that what an entertainer does?

Now, I know that Taylor used to talk to his audiences. I’ve listened to his old gigs (the ones that thankfully somebody had the foresight to record) and he actually interacted with the audience. So, I know that he can do it.

I just don’t buy the whole “shy” argument. This man was on television every week hamming it up for millions and millions of people. So, you can’t tell me that by putting him on a stage with a few hundred people in front of him that he’s going to clam up? Part of me just thinks he’s afraid to let himself go there…not sure why, but it’s just a suspicion I have.

Why can’t he tell us about when he wrote Somehow? He was so young, and yet he wrote lyrics like this:

Look at the people around you
Stabbing at your heart
But you still smile in kindness
For not knowing who they are

And their stories have ended
And they’ve lit up the town
And it’s time to go home
As they go and lay their bodies back down

There’s too many things
Left to be unsaid
So I live in a dark hole
Sometimes in my head

But I’m all right
I’ll get by
Somehow

Those lyrics were written by somebody wiser than their years would suggest. Yet, we don’t know any of the story behind it. Maybe he doesn’t want us to know, maybe he wants to keep those years a secret, I don’t know. I just wonder about the meaning behind his songs all the time.

I’m sure after ten years in bars and two years riding around the country, he’s got to have lots of life experiences to share.