Singer songwriter Rob Thomas performs at Hard Rock Cafe Atlanta in an intimate performance for Q100's Bert Show listeners on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2009. (AP Photo / Hard Rock International/ Jenni Girtman)

Q100 listeners were focused on their lunch time plans even over breakfast Thursday morning. About 100 “Bert Show” winners had won their way into the station’s “All Access to Rob Thomas” private luncheon at the Hard Rock Cafe downtown.

The amiable Matchbox 20 frontman was in town to introduce fans to selections from his new solo effort, “Cradlesong.” A little before noon, the venue’s doors were unlocked and listeners poured into the candlelit club, filing past a small mountain of luncheon meats, rolls, cookies and fresh fruit waiting beneath cling wrap.

But nobody was much interested in eating.

Introducing Thomas who was casually clad in a black shirt and jeans, Q100’s Bert Weiss conceded to the screaming crowd: “The Rob Thomas fan club is one of the most hardcore fan clubs we’ve ever encountered. I swear, they knew about this show before we did!”

With just an acoustic guitarist, Thomas sang stripped down versions of his biggest hits, including “Lonely No More,” “3 AM” and his current omnipresent radio hit “Her Diamonds.”

He credited his wife Marisol for the inclusion of the song “Real World ‘09″ on “Cradlesong.”

Explained Thomas: “My wife calls me on all my crap. She tells me her opinion for sure. ‘Real World ‘09′ wouldn’t exist on this album otherwise. She kept going back to the old demo of it and telling me ‘Don’t forget to put it on the record.’ ”

As Thomas quietly sang the title track from “Cradlesong” and “Getting Late” (”A little ditty about death,” the songwriter joked), the die-hard fans in the crowd silently mouthed the lyrics to the deep album cuts.

When asked by Weiss his most embarrassing moment during Matchbox 20’s career, Thomas cracked: “There are some embarrassing photo shoots I wish I hadn’t done. I went through this weird, velvety see-through shirt phase, you see.”

Added the 37-year-old: “And no leather pants after 30. Just donate them to the Hard Rock and be done with them!”