There’s an old maxim about Hollywood which says ‘actors want to be rock stars and rock stars want to be actors.’ Well, that may or may not be true but it does explain why the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Sydney Sweeney are so often seen at SoFi and the Rose Bowl.
It also explains how The Odyssey leads Anne Hathaway and Matt Damon have managed to rack up two of the most impressive concert histories we’ve ever seen. Scroll down for behind-the-scenes stories about iconic mid-’90s gigs, intimate audiences with The Thin White Duke and globetrotting Britpop reunion adventures – or watch the interview in full above.
Anne Hathaway ‘s first gig was Alanis Morissette supported by Radiohead
Anne Hathaway: “It was [1996] at Meadowlands [Arena, in New Jersey]. I was very, very young and I was with a group of friends. Our seats were way up and very far away from the stage, but Radiohead (who I’ve seen so many times since then) were so amazing… ‘Creep’ came on and it was the song that everybody knew [at that time] and so we were all singing along back at them. And then Alanis came on stage – I’ll never forget her entrance: she just ran out from the side and burst into the centre of the stage. We must have been tens of thousands of people at Meadowlands, but we were all just with her. Her presence filled up the entire place in this really cool way… and she was wearing boots that I wanted…”
Alicia Keys and David Bowie during Conde Nast Media Group Presents “The Black Ball” to Benefit ‘Keep a Child Alive’ Hosted by Alicia Keys and Iman. CREDIT: KMazur/WireImage
Matt Damon saw Radiohead soon after
Matt Damon: “I saw Radiohead at Roseland [Ballroom] in New York in, I think, 2000. I wanna say it’s still one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen. It was a smaller venue, probably 2,500-3,000 people. That’s a good way to see them.”
Hathaway witnessed David Bowie in husband mode
AH: “Actually, it’s a really sweet story because it was my first time hanging out with [fashion designer] Valentino Garavani, who then went on to become one of the dearest friends of my life. He invited me to go to Iman’s [annual] Black Ball [charity event]. That year, she asked [her husband] David Bowie to perform. He didn’t want to, but she was like, ‘You’re doing it.’ So he got up and performed. So I got to see David Bowie [being] a dutiful husband. He just did it because he loved his wife.”
Damon wasn’t going to miss Oasis Live 25
MD: “It was fantastic. I saw them in New York and I also saw them in Australia. I happened to be in Australia and I happened to know that it was when they were gonna be there.
“I never [got a chance to see them] in the ’90s when they blew up, which was when my career was really kind of blowing up too… I always thought I’d be able to and then they stopped performing. So when they reunited, like millions of other people, I went and got tickets right away.”
And The Odyssey star gave his daughter the ultimate first gig
MD: “My wife and I were like, ‘We’ve ruined her.’ It was Prince at The O2 [in London] and he did it in the round with just two backup dancers… We were right up next to the stage and I just looked at [my wife] Lucy and was like this, ‘some poor guy’s gonna show up someday with concert tickets and she’s gonna be like, ‘wait, when do we get to reach up and touch Prince’s feet?””
Their favourite albums are good too
Anne Hathaway
Björk – ‘Selmasongs’ (soundtrack to Lars Von Trier’s Dancer in the Dark)
“I love the whole album, but the first and the last songs… It opens with ‘Overture’ and then the last one is ‘New World’. That musical journey is one of my favourites I’ve ever found, so I think that I would probably keep that one close.”
Matt Damon
U2 – ‘The Joshua Tree’
“I’m a huge U2 fan and even picking one of their albums would be tough, but I’d probably go back to this one from my youth… I was probably 17 when it came out and so it just feels like part of a soundtrack of my life – leaving and going to college and being liberated in a way… kind of entering the world.”
‘The Odyssey’ is in UK cinemas now
English (US) · 