RIGHTONMAG.COM EXCLUSIVE: MATEO AT SOB’S–THE HEAT IS ON!

   Spoon feeding! That’s what music resembles today. We barely branch out from what is heard on the radio or seen on television. So when Mateo offered to have us eat at the big kids table (so many different forks to eat with, wow…), we jumped at the chance! What fans and newcomers came to see Wednesday night at SOB’s was a real show with exceptional  music—and EMILIO ROJAS, MATEO and OUTASIGHT came out to gamble with an antsy crowd. QUDDUS of MTV TRL fame shot up to the stage with drink in hand and tall stature in tow, telling a few jokes and trying to get Mateo a trending topic on Twitter. He’s an A&R rep with MySpace records now, and the tenor voiced crooner Mateo  is QUDDUS’ first signed artist.

 Read on to find out who else hit the stage and video of MATEO!

First off, though, he brought up Venezuelan rapper Emilio Rojas, a performer who is weirdly humbled and cocky at the same time. After spitting out “Young Fresh, and Fly” and “Bold and Arrogant,” he commands the audience to sing the chorus to “Runaway,” claiming he really couldn’t sing (or dance) at all, and went as far as to jest, “This is not an empty threat!” Emilio, though, turned out to be the bait that pulled the influential bystanders in, as after the wordsmith got offstage, fans were officially ready for Mateo.

Emilio Rojas

Mateo comes out in a grey beanie, black shirt with checkered cuffs, checkered hanging suspenders, and red pants, ready to lure in the crowd with “Til She Goes.” Then he gets intimate. Taking the time to look in each person in the audiences eyes, he calls for some participation. “I want yall to sing it like you’re in the shower—Whitney Houston. Circa 1990’s Whitney Houston!” That was the segway into a medley of pop songs and surprisingly, the audience giddily sings along to this love story featuring wanting somebody (Kings of Leon “Use Somebody”), going to the club with the guys and wanting a companion for the night (Usher, “Love in this Club”), serenading a candidate (Justin Timberlake “My Love”) them being an item and her professing her love for him (Colbie Caillat, “Bubbly”), her being fed up with him and leaving (Sara Bareilles “Love Song”), and the after effects (Chris Brown and Jordin Sparks, “No Air”).

Outasight and Mateo

When Mateo brings rapper Outasight to the stage for “Underneath the Sky,” the temperature is officially raised to fever status. Quirky and high-strung are the tame words to describe this rapper, who is the exact opposite of Eminem and makes no apologies. After Mateo takes a five and has Outasight perform one of his songs “Don’t Say Anything,” Mateo jumps back on stage for the duet of the night, a remix of the Ting Ting’s “Shut Up and Let Me Go.” At this point which they are spitting hot fiyah, Mateo extinguishes, ending with “Complicated,” but maybe because the girlies just had to make googly eyes with him one last time, he comes back for an encore before taking flicks post-show. –Tanya Remekie

–Mateo’s EP, Get to Know Me: Live at the Swing House, is out now.

(Photo/Video Credits: Maryam Majid)