I didn’t realize how much I liked Matchbox Twenty until the end of their concert last night at the Qwest Center, when my throat was sore from singing and screaming and my legs ached from dancing at my seat. I surprised myself by knowing words to songs I haven’t been played on the radio since 1998. (I actually remember when and where I heard their first single, “Push”: Boston University’s summer program, ITRP, 1997.) Except for a brief acoustic set in the middle of the two-hour show, the band oozed energy and excitement, and I happily soaked it all in. Oh, the nostalgia.

Alanis Morissette opened and gave a pretty decent performance. J is a huge fan (who knew?) and recognized nearly every song. I could only recall 4 or 5, the singles that were popular when I was in high school. I actually found her singing voice to be a little hard to understand, but I think that was because her microphone level was off. She also did some strange dance movements, twirling in place and whipping her long, long hair around in circles, and J and I wondered if maybe she was on drugs, though I don’t really think that was case.

It feels funny to admit that a Matchbox Twenty concert ranks up there with some of the better concerts I’ve seen over the past couple of years, but it’s the truth. Well done, Rob Thomas and crew.

Ashlee Simpson has a new single out, a duet with the lead singer of The Plain White T’s, called “Little Miss Obsessive.” It’s actually not that bad.

Listen to it here.

And for those of you who are wondering–I’m 99% over my obsession with Ashlee Simpson, which began when her reality TV show first hit the airwaves.

Just don’t get me started on Jessica.

I will be getting tickets to see them on tour, too, when tour dates are announced.

A new Counting Crows CD and a wedding in the same year. Joy!

I am so getting tickets to their reunion tour.

I missed them live the first time around (my parents, who must not have loved me as much as I thought, never took me to one of their concerts), and I’ll be damned if I miss them now, 20 years later.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WozaXTqnKk&rel=1]

My NKOTB history:

• Donnie was my favorite, followed by Jordan. I never had a crush on Joey like so many other girls. I thought he was too young. (A funny observation coming from a 9-year-old.)

• In 4th grade I choreographed a gymnastics routine to “You Got It (The Right Stuff)” and performed it for my elementary school.

• My childhood friend Meredith and I liked to pose in front of a life-size poster of the group that hung on the back of the door and take photos of ourselves posing with my pink and purple Le Clic camera.

• I had their albums New Kids on the Block, Hangin’ Tough, Step by Step and Merry, Merry Christmas, which was probably the only Christmas album I ever owned.

• I can remember watching their Saturday morning cartoon, which premiered on September 8, 1990 and lasted about a year.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzLllGfGiyQ&rel=1]