The Tallest Man On Earth at Atlanta's Buckhead Theatre

Review and Photos By: Mike Gerry

On this Tuesday night, The Tallest Man On Earth, otherwise known as Kristian Matsson, came to Atlanta to celebrate the release of his fourth full length album, Dark Bird Is Home, out now via Dead Oceans, with the packed out crowd at The Buckhead Theatre.

Since first releasing an EP in 2006 from his home in Dalarna, Sweden, Kristian has been building a huge audience for The Tallest Man On Earth through passionate live performances and strong songwriting. A tour with Bon Iver around his 2008 full length debut, Shallow Grave, was North America’s first introduction to The Tallest Man On Earth.

The Tallest Man On Earth and all the passion

Since then, the word has been getting out about The Tallest Man On Earth. They say he delivers a powerful live performance. Listening to his music on record, there is nothing crazy wild about his music steeped in folk. The comparisons to Dylan have been out there since the beginning based on his songwriting and vocal abilities. The songs are powerful for sure, songs you can feel, can sing along and dance too. But listening on record you wouldn’t exactly think live you are going to experience one of the most energetic sets you’ve ever seen.

Seeing is believing. And now we are believers.

Kristian Matsson bounced around the whole Buckhead Theatre stage, using every part of the stage for his performance. Back and forth, back and forth. You couldn’t stop his energy. It’s infectious, and The Tallest Man On Earth will make sure the audience is right there with them, loving every minute, just as they are on stage.

Backed by a talented core of multi-instrumentalists switching by song the instruments they were using, Kristian switched guitars on pretty much every single song, throwing the guitar picks into the audience with every switch. People in the audience were yelling to him in Swedish how much they love him, and he sure loved that!

There was nothing that could hold back the energy from Kristian Matsson, the only thing that could keep him from moving all around the stage was when he sat down in a chair, and that barely stopped him.

The Tallest Man On Earth mixed in plenty of crowd favorites spanning his career, but played many off the latest, Dark Bird Is Home, which mixed perfectly into his full repertoire of songs. The band had a blast on stage, and there is no doubt the audience was right there with them. This is a perfect Tuesday night. If you like The Tallest Man On Earth and haven’t seen him live yet, there is no doubt you should see him when given the chance, his music is taken up another notch from his already brilliant songwriting.