If you spent time watching MTV or listening to FM radio in the early ’90s, Matthew Sweet needs no introduction: His catchy power-pop song “Girlfriend,” along with its innovative video, was inescapable. Two decades later, Sweet is hitting it big with yet another trend-setting album, Modern Art. Still evident are echoes of Sweet’s touchstones: the Beatles, Byrds, Beach Boys and Big Star.
Matthew Sweet began playing music while he was a high school student in his native Lincoln, Nebraska. Upon his graduation in 1983, he decided to attend the University of Georgia in Athens because of its burgeoning underground music scene and his career took off from there. Sweet then relocated to New York but it wasn’t until 1992, when the title track off of his album Girlfriend became a hit and went gold, that he moved to Los Angeles. In 2011, Sweet hit the road in celebration of Girlfriend‘s 20th anniversary, playing the album in its entirety each night. He then released, Modern Art, a boldly experimental yet still deeply personal album.
Sweet hits the PAC stage with his hard-hitting road band playing both new and old material in all his guitar-drenched glory.
Get there early for double dose of harmony-infused rock and roll thanks to opening act Tommy Keene. Power-pop pioneer Matthew Sweet performs at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, July 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $55, $65, $75 and can be purchased online at www.whbpac.org
(Matthew Sweet will also be appearing on Friday, July 18 at The City Winery, 155 Varick St., NYC. 212-608-0555 www.citywinery.com)
