New Yorkers are notoriously difficult to surprise. But when Matt Fraser walks onto a stage, even he has no idea what is about to happen!
The psychic medium, New York Times bestselling author and former star of E! Network’s hit reality series Meet the Frasers returns to New York for two live appearances on August 28 and 29, with another visit planned for November. For Fraser, the unpredictability is precisely the point.
“What you’ve seen me do on television is exactly what happens onstage, except now you’re experiencing it live in the room,” Fraser says. “As soon as I walk out, I start tuning in to the audience and receiving impressions and messages.”
Those impressions can send him from one side of a theater to another, connecting with audience members who have lost parents, spouses, children or friends. Fraser says the details he receives can include names, dates, memories and personality traits that carry deeply personal significance for the person receiving the reading.
“I’ve watched people walk into these events carrying years of grief and walk out feeling lighter, hopeful and connected to the person they’ve been missing,” he says. “That transformation is really what the night is all about.”
It has been quite a transformation for Fraser himself since television audiences got an inside look at his colorful Rhode Island family on Meet the Frasers. Since then, Fraser married his wife, Alexa, moved, welcomed three children and became a New York Times bestselling author.
“A roller coaster!” is how he describes life after the series. “I used to think the dead were loud. Now I have three kids, three cats and a wife—I can’t hear myself think!”
Fatherhood, he says, has also changed the way he views his work. Being a husband and dad has given Fraser a different perspective on family, love and loss, while reinforcing why delivering messages to grieving families remains so important to him.
“People sometimes walk into my events scared, lonely or completely overwhelmed by grief. Then I watch those sad tears turn into happy tears,” he says. “There are moments when you can physically see the weight coming off someone’s shoulders.”
For Fraser, the objective is ultimately hope. He believes grief can leave people feeling as though their own lives ended alongside someone they loved. If a reading provides enough comfort to help them begin laughing, loving and living fully again, he considers that meaningful work.
It is work that hasn’t always been easy.
Fraser says readings can occasionally produce vivid impressions surrounding a person’s death, particularly when it was sudden or traumatic. Earlier in his career, the intensity could frighten him.
“I felt like I was being pulled right into those final moments,” he recalls. Eventually, Fraser says, he learned to establish boundaries with what he experienced. “I basically told the other side, ‘You can give me enough information to understand what happened, but you don’t need to give me the director’s cut!’”
Thousands of readings have also provided inspiration for what could become his next book. After taking a break from writing, Fraser says he has become increasingly interested in how people interpret possible signs from loved ones after death.
Dreams, coincidences, familiar songs, unusual timing and recurring signs are among the experiences people have shared with him.
“I’m fascinated by those experiences and by why certain signs seem to show up again and again,” he says. “I think there’s a book somewhere in there. That’s about all you’re getting out of me for now.”
New York, meanwhile, represents familiar territory for the Rhode Island native. Fraser jokes that his home state is close enough for some New York attitude, and accent, to have crossed the border.
“There’s just an intensity to the East Coast,” he says. “People move fast, they talk fast, they know what they want, and they’ll definitely tell you what they think.”
That personality, he says, makes New Yorkers particularly well suited for his shows. “Put me in a room full of New Yorkers and Rhode Islanders and I know exactly how to communicate with them.”
Just don’t expect Fraser to choose sides in the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry.
“This is probably going to get me in trouble with both New York and Boston, but I honestly don’t watch sports—or much television!” he admits. “When you have the dead talking to you all day and three kids waiting for you at home, keeping up with baseball scores becomes pretty difficult.”
His neutrality aside, Fraser has crossed paths with plenty of famous faces. One particularly memorable reading involved Donnie Wahlberg. Fraser originally arrived to read Jenny McCarthy when someone connected to Wahlberg began coming through strongly. McCarthy eventually convinced a skeptical Wahlberg to participate.
“He was skeptical—and I’ll admit, a little intimidating!” Fraser remembers. “I remember thinking, ‘Oh God, what did I get myself into?’”
As increasingly personal information emerged, Fraser says Wahlberg’s skepticism faded. The experience ultimately led to something unexpected: the two became friends.
New York has produced plenty of other memories for Fraser, particularly during his book tours, when he visited local bookstores and met readers who had followed his work for years.
Now, returning to the state as a husband, father, bestselling author and one of America’s most recognizable psychic mediums, Fraser is preparing to trade the bookstore setting for the energy of a live audience once again.
“There’s nothing quite like a New York audience,” he says. “They’re energetic, outspoken and completely unpredictable, which is perfect for what I do.”
And unlike most touring performers, Fraser cannot provide New Yorkers with a set list or script for what comes next.
“Every time I come back, it feels like something memorable happens,” he says. “I’m excited to see what New York—and the spirit world—has waiting for me this time.”
Written in partnership with Tom White
