Today you woke up in a world where I have seen Matthew Good live 9 times. This is far more than I've seen any other group. I've only seen U2 twice, Oasis once, REM once and They Might Be Giants once. I've seen Sloan four times (including once with the Matthew Good Band in Whistler) and that's the next closest.
So this was the ninth time I've seen Matthew Good, though it was the first time I've seen him since he went solo (I was out of town when he hit Vernon last year). As such I was pretty excited for the show, especially since both Avalance and White Light, Rock & Roll Review where great albums. I was especially interested to see how the stripped down method of WLR&RR translated to a live setting.
First the good. The band, despite a three week break from playing after their tour of Eastern Canada, was tight. They ripped through a series of songs from White Light, Rock & Roll Review and it was fantastic. Throwing new stuff out there so early is always a risk, but the songs are strong enough to keep people into it even if they haven't heard them on the radio yet.
The interaction between Matt and the crowd was mainly one way, with him telling a few amusing stories, showing us some toys he'd picked up during the tour and explaining what happened to their equipment van in Dryden Ontario. I'm always a fan of groups talking to their audiance, it sort of expands the concert into areas that just listening to the album on the Concert setting on a home stereo can't, and so it was generally pretty good.
There were no classic lines like, "I'm deadly fucking serious!" but then again thankfully nobody chucked any thing at Matt's head.
Now the complaints. The tickets said 7 and the band did not take the stage until 11:45 pm. Now I understand that doors at 7 generally means the show won't start then, except at a festival where they have to squeeze everyone in (at EdgeFest '99 in Edmonton two bands had played before Graham and I got into the stadium). So okay I'd expect the opening act (Wil) to take the stage about 8:30 - 9 and then Matthew Good to come on about 10. But nearly five hours is way too much.
Gabe's roomates Tyler and his girlfriend had driven all the way from Kelowna (about 40 minutes) but ended up leaving before the opening band even came on because they had to work in the morning. I stayed for the whole show but after the drive back to Kelowna I was in bed about 3 in the morning.
I don't know whose fault that is. It more likely than not has to do with the club who would have wanted as much time between people arriving and the band taking the stage as possible so they could make more money on drinks, but it was just lame. Especially lame since Good then only played for about an hour and fifteen minutes to an hour and a half. That's longer than his performance at EdgeFest '99 (when he was a sidestage act) and the Sloan, Rascalz, MGB triple bill at Whistler but shorter than any of the other shows I've seen. Having said that the tickets were reasonably priced, had they been $40 or more I would have been a bit more put out but at $30 I'm not too sad.
The second complain is the venue. The Element in Penticton is not the Commodore (which is the place to see Matt Good if you can manage it) and really isn't a show venue. There were too many random drunks, there was a fight in front of me before the show, and the club is a Meat-Market Dance Club type place every other day, plus not having the show be an all ages gig probably halved attendance. (Having it in a place like the Curling Rink in Vernon or the Culture Centre in Vernon or any number of all ages venues in Kelowna, makes more sense).
All in all it wasn't the best Matthew Good show I've seen, but it was good to see him again.
