Duo: An Evening with Richard Marx & Matt Scannell

At the Bergen Performing Arts Center in Englewood, New Jersey, I was fortunate enough to have a front row seat to see a show called Duo: An Acoustic Evening with Richard Marx and Matt Scannell.  Richard Marx, who is a veteran in the music industry, joins up with best friend and Vertical Horizon front-man Matt Scannell taking turns to share their most popular songs, such as Right Here Waiting, Hazard, You're A God, and Everything You Want, along with stories and witty repartee.  During the bulk of their set, Marx and Scannell included the Grammy winning Midwestern classical group, The Pacifica Quartet to accompany them.  These four artists hail from Marx's home state of Illinois and played with Marx and Scannell for the first time at this concert.  According to Marx, there will be other dates that will include these players.  Marx, who is a Chicago native, was never secretive about the end of his pop career, but candidly shares his fervent love for songwriting and producing.  This part of his career, something that has kept him in the game, was how he made his start in the music business.  Recently, he's written for such artists as Keith Urban, Daughtry, and Lifehouse.  After all of these years, Marx still performs on his A game and he still knows how to win over his audience.  Marx's voice has that mixture of rough and tenderness that easily graces through every song he performs.  During the show, Marx talked about working with the pop, boy band 'NSync and how proud he is of Justin Timberlake's successes.  He and Scannell then performed, "This I Promise You," a song written by Marx that became a huge hit for the boy band. 

A charming Matt Scannell discussed his work with other artists as he was about to perform the song "Best I Ever Had," which was a hit both for his band Vertical Horizon and for country singer Gary Allan.  He talked about his beginnings in music, the evolution in his work, and his enjoyment of the songwriting craft.  From seeing a Vertical Horizon concert in the past and hearing songs in this format, I can understand the talent and enthusiasm that Scannell puts into his job.  He is an absolutely amazing performer!  Some of the most memorable highlights of this intimate concert were Marx's performance of the song "Through My Veins," a touching tribute to his late father and Scannell's performance of the love song "Here" from his band Vertical Horizon's latest album Burning the Days.  Throughout the show, you can tell both Scannell and Marx are best friends and they even admit that doing the shows is just a reason to hang out together.  They bring that wonderful, friendly atmosphere to the stage and the crowd definitely adored every minute of it!  Look for a concert date nearest you, because these performances should not be missed.  For more information and concert dates, click on www.richardmarx.com or www.verticalhorizon.com.  For more information on the Pacifica Quartet, click on www.pacificaquartet.com.