ARTS & CULTURE
Monday , September 28, 2015 13
A Concert Review: The Tallest Man on Earth
Live at Massey Hall, 4 September 2015
justin philpott › staff writer
T
he Tallest Man on Earth is the moniker
of Swedish folk-singer Kristian Matsson.
Contrary to what his stage name suggests,
Matsson is no bigger than your average
horse jockey. His voice, however, is larger than life
and is an integral part of his music. It bolts out the
speaker like a horse from the turnstile at the start
of a race. Matsson is touring this summer in support
of his new Tallest Man on Earth album, Dark Bird is
Home, which was released back in May on the Dead
Oceans label. Since his debut album, Shallow Grave,
released in 2008, Matsson has developed a loyal and
growing fan base; a fan base which was put to the
test with the release of Dark Bird is Home, the first
Tallest Man on Earth album to feature a full band.
It marks a significant change in style from his previous three albums, which consisted primarily of
Matsson’s booming voice perfectly entwined with
his acoustic guitar. No other frills seemed necessary. From the looks of things at Massey Hall on
Friday night, I would say most of his fans have come
to terms with his musical evolution. Although I am
sure, if given the choice, most would rather it be just
him and his acoustic guitar.
Matsson and his band hit the stage at Massey Hall
full of energy, with him immediately jumping into
the crowd and proceed to give the lucky fans in rows
A to C high fives. The band opened with a brilliant
version of the dream-like “Field of our Homes”, the
opening track on Dark Bird is Home. As expected,
the early part of the set featured a collection of songs
from the new album. With a number of talented
musicians behind him, I was wondering if and how
Matsson would use them when he switched to playing songs from his earlier albums. Just then nightmares of a Bob Dylan concert I went to flooded my
brain where Dylan had turned his classic songs into
unrecognizable fragments of their former glory.
Instead of nightmares, Matsson put the crowd in a
state of ecstasy with full band renditions of “King
of Spain,” “1904,” and “The Wild Hunt.” Matsson
and his