Vertical Horizon – 25 Years Later and It’s Still… Everything You Want

Written by on November 11, 2024

Empire Live in Albany, NY hosted Vertical Horizon last night.  It was a super warm welcoming audience that came to hear the band celebrate the 25th anniversary of their hit album ‘Everything You Want’.  I personally have an interesting history with this band.  First of all, my band ‘The Velmas’, opened for them at a venue called Northern Lights in 2004?  That was beyond FUN.  Then years later, they had a meet and greet free concert contest. If you rerecorded a couple of their songs and they liked yours the best, you won.  Well, my musical partner Todd Minnick and I of ‘Fig N Me’, rerecorded 2 of their songs with our own spin on them and guess what…we won! I have personally been a big fan and have followed their career.  Why?  The songs are just flat out good pop/rock that never get old!

The 90s children will hate me for this, but I believe it to be true.  The 80s was the last decade to really have an unforgettable face in music and pop culture.  The 80s persona was so big that you’d think 1990 and 91 were still the 80s.  It really wasn’t until around 92 that the 80s was finally starting to wear off.  The 90s had some flannel shirts and what is known as grunge rock.  Besides that, no real identity?  It was almost like the decade was dreary and sleeping because it was recovering from the massive over bearing 80s.  However, when things started to wake up and lighten up toward the end of the decade, in walks a band like Vertical Horizon.  They weren’t flashy 80s, but they were fun!  They had a very cool kind of unique pop/rock sound that was refreshing.  They were powered by what I would say was an all-star band.  Ed Toth on Drums, Sean Hurley on Bass, Keith Kane on guitar/vocals and their fearless leader/main songwriter/lead vocalist/lead guitarist Matt Scannell.  You can look up their resumes; they’ve all done a lot over the years.  Scannell and Kane put out albums before this quartet was assembled, but didn’t hit the big national spot light until the 1999 album release named Everything You Want.  The album went on to be certified double platinum and included the hit songs We Are, Best I Ever Had, You’re a God, and a Billboard number 1 single, Everything You Want.

There is a whole history of the band that continues after that which includes releasing albums that are damn good!  However, Vertical Horizon was one of those record company victims where the suits in their offices were too dumb to realize the gold they had on their hands with Scannell and Co., and stopped pushing them.  Time went by with lots of band member changes.  Scannell has kept the machine rolling all these years, and has tried to stay as relevant as possible with pockets of old/new fans around the country.  This all leads us to the 25 year celebration of Everything You Want last night at Empire Live.

It’s been quite some time since Matt Scannell and his Vertical Horizon has rolled through these parts.  There were some new faces on stage with him.  First up is Ron Lavella who’s not the original drummer, but not exactly new.  He’s been doing a great job on the kit since 2009.  Mark Pacificar is on bass/vocals duty, and John Wesley is on the other guitar/vocals.  The band was really tight and had real nice chemistry.  Vocals were very full sounding and Lavella even added some backing vocals here and there.  Matt’s lead vocals were top notch even though he was sipping a tea brew that his buddy Richard Marx gave him for a scratchy throat. There were no tracks.  It was all live the way it should be.  I can understand why Wesley was added to the band in 2021.  I really felt like more than any other guitar/vocalist I’ve seen Scannell with in the past, Wesley really captured the vibe of original member Keith Kane.  Matt and Keith really had a nice sound together to create so many songs and perform vocally.  John Wesley really nails that sound.  Your master of ceremonies of course was Matt Scannell.  Matt was lit up like a Christmas tree last night and created an infectious uniform environment.  He smiled the entire time and soaked in the fact that 25 years later a big room full of people were still enthusiastically singing and head bopping to his tunes.  The audience was having a blast and so happy to finally see Vertical Horizon in front of them.  There was one point where Matt had the audience sing two different sing a long parts before they played the song You’re a God.  Then we all sang the parts together with the band.  I have no shame of admitting I had goosebumps and some tears in my eyes because hundreds of people came together as 1. It was moving to say the least and Scannell could barely keep himself together.  The power of MUSIC!!  I wish everyone could keep that feeling of togetherness when the show’s over!

The band sounded awesome playing the Everything You Want album in its entirety.  They didn’t play it in album order, but it was better that way.  They also threw in the first single off of the ‘GO’ album, which is a great song called I’m Still Here.  Scannell was very funny, entertaining and heart-warming as he talked about many of the songs in a ‘story tellers’ kind of way.  Many times the audience was truly laughing out loud.  It was indeed a celebration of this great album that has held its own for 25 years. I need to say one thing about Matt Scannell as a guitar player.  He’s actually even better than you think!  I personally love it when he decides to rip here and there during a show.  Last night, I think he held back a bit and didn’t shred for us.  So Matt if you read this…NEVER hold back, let it rip!  During the encore they touched on a song called Heart in Hand off of a pre Everything You Want album called Running on Ice, and ended the show where they meshed together U2’s Sunday Bloody Sunday, The Smiths’ How Soon Is Now, and Rage Against The Machine’s Bulls On Parade. Matt went on to tell the audience that TWO new Vertical Horizon albums are in the works and they WILL be back.

What a great night.  I’d like to add that there was a really fun opening set performed by Albany local Nick Rossi.  He and his band played some very catchy pop/punk original tunes!  As for Vertical Horizon, the band was in great form.  The crowd was overly excited, receptive, and loving every minute of it.  However, the best part was watching Matt Scannell grin from ear to ear, and grab every ounce of this positive vibe in the room that was happening because of a masterpiece he created 25 years ago.


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