Playlist Rewind: M. Ward at the Troc

Matt Ward has a voice made of gold, and a hollow body guitar with hints of gold in it too. It produces sounds so rich that it provides enough ego for a man that refuses to show any. Ward will never get confused with a rock star. Rather, he lets the music speak for itself. Last Friday at the Trocadero, he may not have said anything more than “Thank you,” but M. Ward’s show left this Phillyist more confident of his talents and less sure of his limitations.

Ward’s set list was a steady rise from humble beginnings to blistering guitar solos. He first appeared on stage with an acoustic guitar, harmonica on a holder around his neck, and the words “My heart is always on the line.” He proceeded to play “Hold Time,” and “Lullaby + Exile,” when a band member came to cheer everyone up with some masterful whistling (such an underrated talent - can pull a smile out of anyone!).

The band started things rolling and tumbling with “Epistemology,” before moving onto a crowd favorite “Chinese Translation,” which is about as exciting as mid-tempo can get, especially when M. Ward is fluttering up and down the neck of his guitar. The only out of place moment of the night occurred when Ward tried to fill vocal duties in the cover(?) of the She & Him track “Change Is Hard.” Leave it to Zooey and that project, because it’s really hard for a guy to replace cute vocals, especially when being sung note for note.

Maybe "Him" should stick to his own classics like “Poison Cup,” which was privileged to incessant shushing from die-hards and a huge ovation from everyone. Ward also played a duet version of the new song “Oh Lonesome Me,” which can own anyone’s soul. Then things went in an entirely different direction. With only Ward on the stage, he started with the "One Hundred Million Years," opening riff and transitioned into something that sounded like “Duet for Guitars #3.” In this moment, "jaMz Ward" was born in my world. Why? Because I was listening to this amazing solo and all I could think to write in my notebook was “jamz.”

And it continued. The band came back out and played the classic “Vincent O’Brien,” launching straight into “To Go Home.” Ward was singing “God, it’s great to be alive,” and in earnest, it felt so right. Each song continued to feel like it was better than the last. Ward sent things crashing down in a blaze via a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” and finished with even more rockabilly in the form of “Big Boat.”

And if things needed to end any more poetically, he closed his encore with “Magic Trick,” singing about a girl who’s only got one magic trick: disappearing. And as simple as that, he walked off stage. Fortunately, that song is not about M. Ward, because it’s pretty apparent that he’s got more than one trick in that timeless, talented mind.

Photo by author.