Tickets for Matchbox Twenty [ tickets ]'s Friday (11/7) performance at Cricket Pavilion in Phoenix were distributed for free, and frontman Rob Thomas joked that the audience was going to get what it paid for.

"We appreciate everybody coming out. It's a beautiful Friday night," Thomas said to the near-capacity crowd. "We'll just keep going at it for the next couple hours. … We'll try to give you your money's worth."

Good thing Thomas set the bar low.

During this two-hour set, Thomas and company seemed to be just "phoning it in," to steal a phrase from the Matchbox Twenty song "Bent." They went through the motions, staggering across the stage with little energy. When Thomas addressed the crowd, his banter felt canned.

The group offered a simplistic cover of Simple Minds' "Don't You Forget About Me," playing a quick, note-for-note version of the song without attempting to personalize it.

And Matchbox Twenty's own material got the same treatment; the group re-created songs from their albums, rarely offering an interesting twist. The exception was guitarist Kyle Cook, whose searing solos proved he's one to be reckoned with.

Openers Fountains of Wayne [ tickets ], however, showed their pop sensibilities are underappreciated. The group, which includes songwriters Cris Collingwood (guitar, vocals) and Adam Schlesinger (bass, vocals), effectively used humor to win over the largely 21-and-older audience.

"Apparently, Arizona is where all the peyote comes from," said Collingwood, to various hoots and hollers from the audience. "We don't know what it is, but it sounds cool."

After the ballads "Hackensack" and "Valley Winter Song"--from their latest album, "Welcome Interstate Managers"--Collingwood joked, "That concludes the Lilith Fair portion of the show."

The band's rendition of its recent single, "Stacy's Mom," roused the audience.

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