Rob Thomas was awesome. Still has that soulful sound and put on a hell of a show. Really worked the stage and talked to the audience. Loved seeing him again. Venue was great although actually quite warm through the concert. Everything else made for a spectacular night.

The new Allianz amphitheater in Richmond was finally cooling down after some very hot August days, but Rob Thomas and his band brought the heat on Friday night! People were singing, dancing, and having a great time enjoying the feel-good vibes of new and old tunes from this lead singer-turned-solo-artist whose latest album drops on September 5th. The audience was treated to songs from the upcoming album, as well as Thomas’ solo hits and those with another band he sings with— maybe you’ve heard of them— Matchbox 20? Every moment of the show held both the nostalgia of the 90s and 00s and the excitement of living for today. It’s always great fun to go to a concert and feel like the band is enjoying the time on the stage as much as the audience. And from the look on Rob Thomas’ face, the interactios between band members, and from the way their voices and instruments blended together perfectly from the opening song until the encore, you could tell everyone one of us was having a blast!

I consider myself a Rob Thomas fan Not fanatical, simply loyal. That said, I was disappointed with the performance last night. Rob was engaging and charismatic with the crowd and the crowd appreciated it. He certainly appeared to give maximum effort in the songs he did perform. However, the sound was just plain lacking energy and power. I think some of this can be blamed on the venue’s acoustics, yet some of the blame rests at the feet of the band and Rob Thomas himself. Everything just seemed a little “off” musically. I felt you could barely hear him sing, as if he was struggling a bit and certainly not near his high level of standards. The band seemed “off” and a bit disjointed I’m not of the songs as well, with the exception being the bassist who was outstanding throughout. Many of the songs were performed at a much slower tempo, and thus lacked the energy expected of it if performed as it was originally made. A prime example was “3 AM”. The song was performed at a very slow tempo and as such seemed muted and lacking energy. I understand that Rob cannot perform the song exactly as Matchbox 20 performs it due to some sort of agreement him and the band have. Even so, this song and a few others, the rest being his originals, could have been performed with much more energy to them. Finally, it appeared he skipped a few songs that he had sang at the other stops on his tour according to what I noted in Setlist FMs website. My son and I left while he was still performing, I believe during “Something to Be” so perhaps he came back to the songs he skipped earlier. At that point however it didn’t matter. It unfortunate to say we had seen enough.

The Rob Thomas I saw last night looked like Rob Thomas but he didn't sound like him. The band seemed off and Rob voice sounded strained. I left 4 songs into his set. I have seen him many times over the years with Matchbox 20 and as a solo artist. That was not the Rob Thomas show I was used to.