Fans Reviews of the show:

Not too much could top the show that was put on by Circle II Circle. Not much, that is except for Matt Kramer. As a longtime fan of the Saigon Kick family, hearing that Matt was coming to town had me itching to see one of the best frontmen I have had the pleasure to see perform.

 The lights go down and the 60 or so people who stayed over, were in for a real treat. The set opens with 5 tracks off the new album (Goodbye To All Tomorrows, Soul Star, Caught Up On The Inside, Spinning Round and  I’m Getting Closer) and a tune that I believe isn’t released. Soul Star and Spinning Round were definitely the stand outs although the other are top quality songs, too. Before beginning Spinning Round, a tune about the repetitiveness of the world today, Matt compared this tune to Bob Dylan’s ramblings in “Subterranean Homesick Blues” from 1967 and he did an excellent job on it.

Matt announced that they were going to play some Saigon tunes with the disclaimer that if anyone asked for them to play Love Is On The Way, he’d kick their ass! Way to go, Matt!

Smoke filled the room and the familiar tune of Coming Home floated through the air.  I remember seeing Saigon Kick during the first and second albums and saw numerous people letting the music take over their bodies and dance in their own special way. All these year later, the music does the same. I counted at least a dozen people going crazy and doing their thing. It was like I was back at the local venues watching them 10+ years ago.

The Saigon Kick portion of the show included New World, God of 42nd Street, Ugly and Suzy. After performing Suzy, Matt asked if anybody wanted to hear Pink Floyd…obviously a joke, but also a sign of things to come. The song he did perform next sounded dead on. She Sells Sanctuary by the Cult. Holy Shit! If I didn’t know better, Ian Astbury could have been there belting this one out and I wouldn’t have known the difference! Matt sounded great and went crazy during this song! Next came the grossly underrated SK tune, Peppermint Tribe and then the show finished with What Do You Do. I was hoping to hear one of my favorites from the day, Bodybags, but was denied.

Right after the show, Matt jumped off stage, high-fived a few people and went straight to the merchandise booth to sign autographs. If War & Peas is a sign of what happens when someone leaves a successful band to do their own thing, more people should leave their bands! If you don’t have War & Peas, get out and buy it! Hell, I’ll even lend you a buck or two just to get it!
-Moose 

 

Matt Kramer I would have to say was my favorite. I have nothing but good to say about the show.. I have to start the review off to say that before I left the house, my girlfriend put in the CD to listen to so I would at least know some of the songs and know what kind of show would be performed. I wasn't sure what to think about it but I got a whole different perspective when it was all performed live.  The reactions of the crowd was amazing. When my girlfriend and I  got to the Twilight, unfortunately there was only about 50 people at the show, but Matt didn't seem to perform any different if there was 5 or 5000 people there.  He seemed to put just as much effort and heart into it.  I honestly can say that I really didn't know any of the songs but it was easy to get involved in them all. He was very "deep" and you could feel it in the words  how he sang them.  I was really impressed when as my girlfriend and I approached the stage, during the show,  Matt said hello to us both, by first name. How cool is that? Ok, so just my girlfriend,  he knew her first name.  I could hear and see the excitement in her face since this was the first time that they had met.  But after the show, Matt jumped off stage and conversed with all the fans. He had pictures with the fans, autographed and hung out. Since my girlfriend does this awesome website, Matt knew us both by the pictures since he visited this website frequently. All good words came out of his mouth about her site , you could see that it really meant something because my  girlfriends eyes lit up when he kept praising her on her site about everything and what a good job she does. He was looking forward to her review of his show and you knew he would visit it soon. As soon as the bar closed, we were still there. We sat on the couch and had conversations with him. That has never happened to me. I never actually sat and had a conversation with a rock star. He was very respectable. He even introduced us to some of the other fans and people in the band. He was such a real person and listed to what people say, he acknowledged everyone around him . You could see it in him, in his eyes,  in everyway that he was so involved in all of his fans and truly respected each and everyone of them.  I would love to see him perform again and I am hoping that he returns to Tampa again, very soon. This is a show that I could see many times again. 
-Vonnie