Two Sides of the Same Shiny Coin

Forgive the error in syntax for a moment, but we've been a grumpy critic lately. We've been seriously underwhelmed by the last couple concerts we've gone to. We really needed a great - not good, great - concert to get us out of this funk. So thank you thank you thank you to Eric Hutchinson and Matt Duke for giving us that show.

As Editor Jill mentioned in her preview of the show, we first encountered Matt Duke at the Philly Local Lonely Hearts Club Band concert back in June. Matt was one of the real standouts in a lineup that included Fooling April, Jim Boggia and BurnDown All Stars. And trust us, that's saying something. So we were really geared up for Matt Duke.

But before Matt Duke went on stage at the World Cafe Live the other night, we got to hear Eric Hutchinson. Going into the night, we had no idea who the heck Eric Hutchinson was. Well, we now know who he is, and we're now fans. Big fans. After his first song, this Phillyist looked at Jill and said, "This guy's not too bad." After three songs, "He's pretty good." After five songs, "He's really good." By the end of the set, "Phenomenal." It's great when an artist manages to sound unique and familiar at the same time. At different points in his set, we thought of Ben Folds, Jason Mraz, Gavin DeGraw, Maroon 5 and Jack's Mannequin. But none of them seemed quite right. As Jill put it, Eric Hutchinson sounds a little like everybody and a lot like nobody we've ever heard. And the guy knows how to work a crowd and get you laughing between songs. Put simply, when Hutchinson's set was over, we bolted out to the lobby and bought both his CDs and got him to autograph them. Yeah, we compromised our journalistic integrity for this one, because he was that damn good.

Then came Matt Duke. The guy can sing. The guy can play some mean guitar. And the guy can write songs. There's not a whole lot more we could ask for. The personality contrast from Hutchinson to Duke was drastic, and for us, actually kind of welcome. Matt Duke is mellow and unassuming in everything he does, his music and the way he behaves on stage. Where Hutchinson played to the whole crowd, Duke made us feel like he was playing just for us. It kind of felt like we were in his living room and he just said, "Oh, hey guys, I wrote some songs, why don't you listen and let me know what you think?" The only thing that disappointed us during Matt's set was the crowd. Apparently most of the people were there to see Eric Hutchinson and many bolted after his set was over. Well the people who left missed a tremendous performance. After the Sgt. Pepper gig, we thought we might be Matt Duke fans. Now we know we are.

Image via Matt Duke's MySpace page.