Mat and Savanna Shaw • Life in 3D • 16, 2025 • Eccles Theater
Reviewed and Photographed by Amelia Weyerstall
Christmas cheer filled the Eccles Theater for the 5th annual Mat and Savanna Shaw Christmas show. The theater was filled with cute holiday sweaters, excited families all around, and Christmas magic in the air.
After a sold-out theater took their seats, the curtains opened to reveal a very wintery themed stage, complete with light-up silk trees, lanterns with ribbons, and even a sleigh. Mat and Savanna came out singing a cover of “What Christmas Means to Me” and had the audience give it up for their amazing band. Mat then welcomed the crowd by saying, “Thank you so much for being here. This is such an honor for us to be back. You know, the hometown at the beautiful Eccles Theater. This has become a favorite tradition of ours to be here to celebrate Christmas with you all. But I’m kind of curious, how many of you have been to a Mat and Savanna concert before?” Tons of people raised their hands in the audience, cheering wildly. Mat continued, “Do we have any first timers? Any newbies? That’s amazing. Thank you to those of you who can come out, and thank you for making this a family tradition of yours.”
Savanna then followed this up by sharing about how the performers started out. “For all of you first timers, my name is Savanna, and this is my dad, Mat. We started singing together at the start of the pandemic. We filmed a lot of videos in our kitchen, in front of an iPhone. And so this is so much more fun to be able to sing for real people. So thank you so much for being here, this is our 5th year at the Eccles. (lots of cheers from the crowd) I think one of my favorite parts of performing live is the musicians we get to perform with, so give it up for the amazing band behind us.”
The crowd loved their backing band and gave them huge applause. Savanna continued by saying, “Speaking of musicians, I want to welcome out the Davis High Jazz band, these guys are amazing.” The stage was filled with brass instruments for a very fun and high energy rendition of “Mr. Grinch.”
The night was filled with love, light, and hope. During the performance, Mat and Savanna decided to share a story that is mostly talked about because of the darkness, and share the light of the situation. Mat and Savanna talked about Elizabeth Smart, and the work she is doing to help inform and support survivors who relate to situations similar to what she went through. Later in the night, because of her courage, Mat and Savanna presented Smart with their Gift of Love award. A sweet way to thank her for her work.
Mat and Savanna were also joined throughout the night by the family trio Life in 3D, who only had 2 of their three members for the performance, because one of the brothers had just begun his LDS mission in Spain. Even without the brother physically present for the performance, they told the crowd that he would still have his voice and harmonies included in some of the backing tracks, so he could still be there to be heard by the crowd. The crowd loved Life in 3D, and their performances throughout the night added another magical element to the show!
Mat and Savanna are very family-oriented; they shared many cute Christmas family stories throughout the show. One being about how Savanna’s Christmas tree looks like her mom’s tree, Savanna’s Great Grandparents accidentally kept their Christmas tree alive, and in one story in particular, shaped their family forever. Mat and Savanna were talking back and forth, sharing this impactful story with the crowd.
“All right, you guys have been amazing. You’ve been so kind to us tonight. So thank you so much. As you know, I said this before, I love Christmas stories. And it’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions. And there’s a story that is a part of our family that we would love to share with you. It’s been a big part of our Christmas this year. So if it’s okay, we’d love to share that story.
“Years ago, my wife, Brooke’s grandparents were flying in a small airplane, and it was going from Vancouver to Seattle, and somewhere along that flight the plane disappeared. And it took 16 long months for the wreckage to be found, and everything changed for their four little children were separated. They were each sent to different relatives or homes, just doing their best to help. Everyone was grieving, and everyone was just trying to survive. But one of those children was 16-year-old Scott, who’s Brooke’s uncle. And at 16, Scott found himself living all alone in the family home. Imagine that. He was 16 years old, and everything familiar was suddenly gone. There were no parents, no plan, just a teenager trying to keep going. And so as Christmas Eve came that year, Scott didn’t have anywhere to go, and he thought maybe, maybe he could fix his old car so that he could make it to Reno for Christmas morning so he could visit his little sister.
“But he wasn’t sure the car would make it, he wasn’t sure that he would make it, and honestly, he wasn’t sure that he would make it through that night either, he was all alone. And then the phone rang, it was his friend Marv. Marv called about a song that he was going to play for his family’s Christmas Eve gathering because Scott was actually Marv’s guitar teacher. And so as they talked, Marv could hear something in Scott’s voice, maybe it was loneliness. And so when Marv hung up, he told his parents about what Scott had said, that he would be spending Christmas Eve alone, trying to fix his old car. And his parents immediately said, No, we need to get him here.
“So Marv called back and said, Scott, what are you doing tonight? Scott hesitated because he didn’t want to be a burden. He said quietly, I think I’ll just stay here. Marv replied, “No, you won’t, dinner’s in an hour, and you are coming with us.” And so Scott stood there. He was a little unsure. Would he fit in? Would it feel awkward? Would it make him feel more alone? But something inside him said to go. And so he did. When he arrived, he walked into warmth, laughter, and light. Marv’s parents had a circle of chairs for every guest at the party, and in that short hour, they found one more, so Scott would have a place. He was in the circle, and he belonged. And so when it came time for gifts, even though he’d been invited only an hour earlier, they had a present for him.
They hurried to wrap a copy of Charles Dickens ‘ A Christmas Carol. That story about a heart opening to love, about seeing those we once overlooked, was exactly what Scott needed. Because in that moment, he was the one being seen. And it wasn’t the book itself that mattered; it was what it said. It said you are not forgotten. It said that you matter. And that you are not alone. Marv said his parents often recited a poem they lived by, originally written by Ed Lamarco. It goes like this.
“He drew a circle that shut me out. Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that took him in. “
And that night, that’s exactly what they did. They drew a circle that took Scott in. Scott is in his sixties now, and he has a beautiful family, and he has a good life that he’s worked hard to build. But he still talks about that Christmas Eve as one of the most precious gifts he has ever received, because it came at the moment that he needed it the most.” This story warmed the heart of the crowd, but it was even more sweet when it was revealed that the night was the first in a very long time that Scott and Marv had been in the same room together all along! They both stood up to say hi to each other and had the crowd roar with applause.
Mat and Savanna played popular Christmas covers, as well as the songs they created to spread Christmas cheer. It was a wonderful way to start the holiday season right.
