Matchbox Twenty in Hong Kong Debut

  Prepare to be rocked as multi-platinum selling American band Matchbox Twenty come to Hong Kong for the very first time. Presented by Live Nation Lushington, the Florida four will perform on November 4th 2013 at the Star Hall, KITEC. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Thursday, 27th June 2013. Matchbox Twenty is made up of Rob Thomas, Paul Doucette, Kyle Cook and Brian Yale. Formed in Florida in 1995, the band first appeared on the world’s musical landscape with their runaway 1996 Yourself or Someone Like You album. The debut delight spawned five hit singles - Push, 3 am, Real World, Long Day and Back 2 Good - and snagged an RIAA Diamond Award certification for US sales exceeding more than 12 million to date. In addition to more than 30 million records sold worldwide, Matchbox Twenty has also earned countless accolades, including five Grammy nominations, four American Music Award nods and the 2004 People’s Choice Award for Favourite Musical Group. They were also named Best New Band in the 1997 Rolling Stone Readers Poll. What’s more, Rob Thomas has become one of the industry’s most highly decorated artists of recent years, receiving three Grammy Awards, 11 BMI Awards, and two Billboard honurs for Songwriter of the Year, both for his chart-topping solo work and his collaborations with such legends as Santana, Mick Jagger, Willie Nelson and Big Boi. Thomas’ collaboration with Carlos Santana on Smooth was also named the #2 Most Popular Song Ever by Billboard, just behind The Twist. He was also ranked #5 on Billboard’s Top 20 List of Hot 100 Songwriters from 2000-2011 and was the top ranking artist/songwriter on the list. Matchbox Twenty maintained the momentum with 2000’s Mad Season album, followed by More Than You Think You Are in 2002, both of which went multi-platinum as they continued to spit out hits such as Bent, Unwell, If You're Gone, Bright Lights and Disease. But after three albums of hard work and equally hard touring, the boys were ready for a break. Thomas released a pair of Top 5 solo albums, which contained several #1 singles, Doucette worked with his band The Break and Repair Method and wrote film music, while Cook led the New Left. The hiatus not only renewed Matchbox Twenty’s enthusiasm as a band, but also seasoned the individual members even further. They came back together for 2007's Exile on Mainstream, a greatest hits collection that sported six inspired new tracks co-written by the band for the first time, including their biggest selling single to date How Far We’ve Come. "Matchbox Twenty existed a lot as a vehicle for Rob's song writing in the beginning," Doucette explains. "Through the years Kyle and I have slowly started to write more and more songs. When we got back together we wanted to reflect that within the band.” Thomas acknowledges that the more collaborative method was "weird" for him at first, but said the quality of the jointly written material made it easy to “embrace the new path." After Exile On Mainstream's Top 5 success, Matchbox Twenty continued the collaborative process as the band headed towards their fourth album, North. This is the quartet's first release in five years, its first set of all-new material in a decade, and perhaps most rewarding, the first album to debut at #1 in the band’s highly decorated career. The 12-song set represents a determined journey, a carefully considered path that combines earnest melodicism with sly and even snarky fun as well as a new internal world order that has made Matchbox Twenty a tighter and even more collaborative band than ever before. North introduces audiences to a honed and fine-tuned Matchbox Twenty, from the roof-raising arena anthem Put Your Hands Up to the kinetic beat of new single Our Song and the rich craft of Overjoyed and Parade. English Town and I Will see the group at its balladic best, while Thomas thinks Like Sugar “sounds almost like a Dr Dre tracked mixed with our band - really fresh". And then there's She's So Mean, North's high-energy, harmony-laden lead single which marked the band’s triumphant return with a top 10 charting. Kyle Cook took lead vocals on the incredible ballad The Way, which he and Doucette penned together. North has sent Matchbox Twenty back out on the road for the first time since Exile On Mainstream, which saw the band playing SRO shows to their biggest crowds ever around the globe. The response has been overwhelming -- the group already has back-to-back sold out tours through North America and Australia under their belt, and will be embarking on another headlining tour of arenas and amphitheaters across North America this summer, beginning at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH, on June 25th. "Matchbox Twenty is pretty all-encompassing," Doucette says. "Once it gets rolling, we just devote all our time and energy to that. I can speak for everybody on this; it's the thing we hold the most dear because it's the thing we built the longest, so we want to give it its due. We don't make records that often anymore, so when we do we want to devote our time and energy to not only doing it; but also bringing that music to the fans." Hong Kong fans will now get the chance to experience the band's blockbuster new album and all their classic hits for the very first time on November 4th at the Star Hall, KITEC.

Tickets go on sale on Matchbox Twenty fan club members from 10am on Wednesday June 25th from and are available to the general public from Thursday June 27th, priced at HK$788. To book, call +852 31 288 288 or visit hkticketing.com. For enquiries call +852 2989 9239

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