Matisyahu rocks jammed Riviera with steady beats

By Kevin Pang
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 6, 2006

Responses to Hebrew prayer chants don't usually involve a crowd screaming woooooo! But when Hasidic reggae sensation Matisyahu does it, people listen, and people throw their arms in the air in rhythm accordingly.

From start to finish of Saturday's sold-out show at the Riviera Theatre, Matisyahu raptured the crowd with his soul-shaking brand of dancehall reggae, a show that captures both the jam band vibe of Phish and the ska-punk of Sublime.

It was hard to miss Matisyahu (born Matthew Miller) when he strode on stage. Under a Star of David backdrop, the 6-foot-4 Matisyahu appeared in Hasidic garb, and gave the city a shout out with Jamaican patois inflection: "Shee-cah-goh!" Indeed, there was something incongruous about that image.

But as opening number "Sea to Sea" began, the 26-year-old's breathy tenor floated high above the steady staccatos of his three-piece band. Matisyahu's mournful incantation shifted into laid-back reggae verse, and back and forth it went throughout the night.

Matisyahu's capable band knows a thing or two about extended solos, having recently toured with Trey Anastasio. "Warrior" ebbed and flowed into a nearly 15-minute jam. It was also the first of many times that crowd surfing broke out from the tightly packed audience.

By the time current radio hit "King Without A Crown" was played, the crowd was in a frenzy: pogoing up and down, throwing hands in syncopation, screaming, singing along, probably all at the same time.

Most impressive of all was Matisyahu's rapid-fire beat boxing. With guitarist Aaron Dugan providing melodic fills, Matisyahu sat on the raised drum set platform, legs crossed nonchalantly, and replicated a turntable on his microphone with stunning realism. If anything sounded more remarkable, it was the sound of a thousand jaws hitting the floor.

While most of the set came from 2004's "Shake Off the Dust ... Arise," several numbers Saturday came from his Epic Record debut "Youth" (out Tuesday). "WP" was tinged with hip-hop soulfulness, and title track "Youth" bordered on Rage Against The Machine psychedelia.

By the end of the 15-song, nearly two-hour set, the ebullient crowd seemed sold. Any notion that Matisyahu is just a novelty act was indelibly wiped out in a sea of knitted caps and yarmulkes.

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kpang@tribune.com

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