Curtster

The BM songs that were not on the EP were played very closely to the album versions in my opinion, with the exception of Running for Home. Regarding Born to Kill: Matt mentioned that when they used to play it in the MGB days with the orchestra track, that the track wasn't to a click, would come in at random points every night and was very difficult to play to (something along those lines). He said he had told himself if he ever played it live again, he wouldn't do it with the orchestra track.

I'm glad you guys appreciate my comments :) I'm sure it will be a good time for everyone who sees a show! One other thing to note, for about 5 minutes before the lights went out for Matt's set, opera music was played very loud. It definitely seemed intentional, built up some suspense for sure. After the lights go out, there's an audio snippet and then Giant kicks in. Craig Stickland is the opener, he plays some slow jams solo acoustic. Excellent singer and guitar player, good use of looping parts with pedals for a fuller sound. Nice guy, was at the merch table after the show saying hi to everyone. He looks exactly like Ashton Kutcher haha.

Victoria Show: Setlist (even though main set is implied, I'll post it for completeness) Giant Hello Time Bomb Strange Days I Miss New Wave (revisited version) Load Me Up (original version) Failing the Rorschach Test Suburbia (revisited version) Let's Get It On (revisited version) Jenni's Song Going All the Way A Boy and His Machine Gun The Future Is X-Rated Born to Kill (revisited/original hybrid version) Running For Home (reworked version with full band, no piano) Born Losers Unknown new song Apparitions Weapon Notes: The new song, sorry guys, I don't know the name of it and I had not heard it before. It was definitely a song they had just recorded and will be on the next album, to be clear. Matt announced it before they played it, but I don't think he said the name of it. It was awesome though, faster paced, heavier song. I believe (I may be wrong) that Matt has only posted one demo for next album (Bad Guys Win?), but I don't think I heard it. I don't think it was that song (again I may be wrong). I assume he will play it at other shows, if not every one. I've put notes above on which songs were played in their original state and which were played as the revisited versions. It seemed to me that Born to Kill was a combination of the two. Matt used an electric for it, not acoustic. Most of the song was close to the revisited version, but then still had the loud, heavy ending. Maybe not quite to the extent of the original album version, but it was definitely there. Running for Home was played with the full band (drums, bass, everything). Stu played the piano part on the guitar mostly, it went off into a heavier jam at the end after Matt had finished the vocals and left the stage. Different for sure, good, to be completely honest I probably would have preferred the original, but they are improvising without having a piano player I assume. I'm always surprised at songs being awesome live that I really didn't expect. Jenni's Song may have been the highlight of the set for me, and although it's probably a bigger favourite of mine than most (so I may be biased), it was awesome. Even Matt said afterwards, "that's a fun one, isn't it?" I'm not an expert on the matter, but it sounded like it was played in a different key? It sounded great. Going All the Way was also good, Matt commented afterward that they should have put that one on the EP. Failing the Rorschach Test, also a highlight for me. All songs that were not on the EP were played very close the original versions, with only slight variations (with the exception of Running for Home). Overall the show was amazing, Matt and the band were probably at the best I've seen them (my 7th time seeing Matt live). Blake seemed to be particularly on point to me, maybe I just noticed him more this time. Bass player was definitely the guy from the Heartbroken mentioned in the other thread. The merch is really cool, I got a shirt (photo attached) and the patch previously posted on Instagram. They have another monkey shirt, the soccer jersey, a poster, and of course the EP (CD) or BM on vinyl. I was front row. On a personal note, as someone with a disability, the venue is good (Alix Goolden Hall). They let me in the back (as they did last year) just before the doors opened so I didn't have wait in line (I walk with crutches). The crowd stayed sitting for the start of the show, before being prompted by Matt and Stu before Load Me Up to stand up, then they stood for the rest of the show. I stayed sitting, as it's just easier for me to enjoy the show that way. If Matt's reading this, I was the lame guy in front that didn't stand up the whole show haha, I always feel self-aware, but it's easier for me to enjoy it that way. Someone in the other thread just mentioned the mix was bad from the balcony, I didn't notice anything wrong, but I'm not an audio-expert. I did notice Matt's vocals were drowned out at few points, maybe. There were a few entertaining stretches of banter, which I always look forward to at Matt's shows.

I'm going to the show tonight, I'll hopefully get front row, I'll be posting full spoilers when I get home. If you don't want spoilers, don't look at this thread. From the pic on Instagram, looks like Matt will be doing some singing from the floor tonight. Looks like Matt is sitting on one of the pews with the mic. It's a very low stage at Alix Goolden Hall (church stage). Last year he did part of encore from the floor (as he went on to do in other shows).

I've had some good listens to the EP, I think it's a really cool bonus release from Matt. I don't think you can really compare these versions to the originals (apples to oranges), but they are all interesting fresh takes. They make the songs new again those of us who have listened to BM extensively, which I assume is everyone on this forum. I Miss New Wave is really great, not one of my favourite songs on the original album (I've been getting into it more lately). I really love the lyrics in this song, I feel this version moves along a little better. Suburbia is very similar to I Miss New Wave for me, not one of my favourite songs on the original album, but I've always thought it has great lyrics. In this case though, I'm not liking this version as much as I am I Miss New Wave. I think I will always prefer Matt's solo acoustic performances of this song more than anything else. Born to Kill is a nice slower version of the song, still really like it. It lacks the edge of the original (like most of this EP does), although I'm still really liking it. Let's Get It On, again not one of my favourites on the original, this version has grown on me though the more I've listened. I've always liked Matt's solo acoustic version of Load Me Up, and I really love the version of it on the EP. This is the best song here in my opinion, listened to it a few times while falling asleep, excellent. I love when a fast, heavy song is slowed down to almost a lover's waltz like this. I did notice that Matt seems to croon his way through most of this EP, I say that without knowing anything about singing. Although, it seems appropriate for these versions of the songs.

If we're talking realistically, a 5 song encore might be a bit wishful (just judging from history). A 3 song encore would take the set up to 17 songs total, which would be pretty standard I think. A 4 or 5 song encore will probably happen for the Vancouver and Toronto shows I would think, those markets seem to normally get longer shows. Realistically, I would expect the encore to be something along the lines of: Apparitions Weapon Everything is Automatic But... just for fun, if I could hear any 5 song encore I wanted it would be something like: While We Were Hunting Rabbits - this version: *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbaUEdUtfmo* A Single Explosion A Silent Army in the Trees Symbolistic White Walls - this version: *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM-KS-g4aYo* The Fine Art of Falling Apart - solo acoustic Or... Matt would just come out and play solo acoustic for 5 songs, playing whatever (still haven't seen a solo acoustic show). I think there was one show on the last tour where Scott Helman couldn't make it, so Matt just played an extra solo acoustic set. I was extremely jealous of those people (nothing against Scott Helman).

Personally, I actually really like Rico and I'm not ashamed to say it. It's just a really fun song, and it's not a bad thing that it's more of a radio-friendly single (Matt certainly has lots deeper cuts to balance it). It kind of seems Matt is embracing his past a little more recently, so who knows, maybe it could be pulled out again some day. I really like the lyrics in the first verse, ending with "He's gonna buy a parrot, that speaks her language, and all it'll say is 'what are you doing with him? let's take off!, take off!, take off!, take off!'" Indestructible however, I've just never been able to get into.

Matt mentioned on here that the main set will be BM in it's entirety, in sequence. The encore will be non-BM tracks, I would assume there will be 3 songs, maybe 4 max? I would very surprised to see any new songs played, but you never know I guess. I'm hoping the encore changes up from night to night. It will be interesting to see if something like Apparitions is still played every night or not. I'm sure the band will need time to practice all the BM songs though, so maybe they won't have time to practice much else? I would suspect you'll see more songs come out of the woodwork in the latter half of the tour.

Here's how it stands for me: 1. Kid Down the Well 2. Cold Water 3. Tiger By the Tail 4. Girls in Black 5. All You Sons and Daughters 6. Cloudbusting 7. Harridan 8. Moment 9. Los Alamos 10. No Liars 11. Army of Lions I'm not even sure why Army of Lions is my least favourite song on the album, I've just never been able to get into that song.

Upon further review, I think it might just be Spotify picking up on a local file I have on my computer... a bootleg I downloaded at some point. Weird.

I didn't really think this deserved it's own thread, but I didn't know where else to put it. I was listening to Live at Massey Hall on Spotify just now, and Born Losers seems to have been switched with a live solo acoustic version that I hadn't heard before. At first I thought maybe this was from the solo acoustic show at Massey Hall in 07 that seems to have been recorded as well, but it sounds like it's at a smaller venue to me. Anyway, it was an interesting thing to come across and I assume an error. Has anyone else noticed this? Sorry if this has already been discovered.

Wow, this makes me wish I had planned a mini-vacation in Kelowna around this show. I've never seen Matt play an acoustic show, hoping there's another Canadian acoustic tour at some point.

I've been using Last.fm track my own music listening since 2009. During that time, it would have recorded the vast majority of my listening. In 2009 I was primarily using iTunes to listen to music, then I got onto Rdio for a long time and now Spotify (since Rdio shut down). All of these things have been hooked up to Last.fm. I really should see if I can export this data, I'm afraid one day Last.fm will disappear and take all this data with it. I really like looking at every now and then, seeing what I was into at what times etc. It's like Google Analytics for my music listening haha. Matthew Good Band: 1. Apparitions (131) 2. Hello Time Bomb (129) 3. Load Me Up (122) 4. Prime Time Deliverance (122) 5. Invasion 1 (121) 6. A Boy and His Machine Gun (119) 7. Look Happy, It's the End of the World (118) 8. The Future is X-Rated (115) 9. My Out of Style is Coming Back (108) 10. Jenni's Song (99) Matthew Good: 1. On Nights Like Tonight (129) 2. A Single Explosion (112) 3. It's Been a While Since I Was Your Man (112) 4. Empty Road (103) 5. Girls in Black (89) 6. I'm a Window (84) 7. Last Parade (84) 8. A Silent Army in the Trees (82) 9. Put Out Your Lights (80) 10. Alert Status Red (76)

I remember being at a MG show in Vancouver in 2009 and there were pro cameras there filming it, I think it was CBC filming it for some reason. I have no idea why and I never saw any of it surface of course. Anyway, I'm pretty doubtful that Matt and/or his management/label would condone a bunch of amateur fans filming a show with non-pro cameras, and distributing it on the internet (for profit or otherwise). I don't think it takes much for them to record the audio of a show, as they did with the "Live Road" thing on the last tour. It would be cool if they did that at every show and made it available for purchase on the website. It would be a good money maker I think. I know Weezer has done this, and I think Smashing Pumpkins did something similar at some point.

Wow, I'm jealous you guys got A Single Explosion... it's one of my favourite MG songs, and definitely one of my favourite live. Oh well, I've heard it live twice in the past so I'll have to be good with that.

I honestly enjoyed Scott Helman. He's a really talented kid, good performer, seems really grounded. I've been hearing Bungalow on the radio since January and I've always liked the song. Yes, his music does have some pretty heavy pop leanings, but there's nothing wrong with that as long as it's coming from a genuine place, which I think it does in his case. I think people might be pleasantly surprised if they watch him play live. I always make sure to show up for the opening act at shows. You've already bought the ticket, may as well check out the opening act if you don't have anything else going on, it's a good opportunity to see an act play live that you wouldn't otherwise. It's kind of like going a festival, you may have bought the ticket to see a specific act(s), but you're still going to check out others that are playing. I guess I'm just a fan of live music though.

Here is a video of Matt talking about Anti-Pop: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47dO4S-o78Q Yeah, it's kind of strange that In a Place of Lesser Men was never played live (even on the LOES tour), I don't think it ever gained any traction as a single though. I think Zero Orchestra should have been the lead single off LOES, the alt-rock station here in Victoria still plays it from time to time.

I'm kind of regretting missing out on the Campbell River show now, as it's my hometown. I had a few friends there, saw some pictures on Facebook, looks like the crowd was really into it. The local newspaper posted a comment saying he was killing it. People there who aren't even specifically MG fans are just happy to have a rock show like that in town I think. I really like the order on that setlist, I've always thought he should open on Load Me Up. As much as we've all heard it so many times, I still think it would be an epic opening, especially for people who haven't seen him before. Ending the night on Giant is pretty awesome too. In a perfect world I would go to all the island shows, and the Vancouver ones too haha. I just don't have the money or the time to do that, but oh well, Victoria was awesome. I'm sure they are working on some other rarities to get into the set, they are probably waiting for Vancouver to premiere them. I'm sure he will probably play 18-20 songs at the Vancouver shows and you'll see a few taken out of the back catalog (just judging from what's happened in the past). As we all know, he's obligated to play some hits, but I think he plays the same ones all the time because they work well live. Load Me Up, Giant and Weapon are all amazing songs live, as hardcore fans we've just come to take them for granted. I still felt a buzz come over the room when Load Me Up started the other night, almost a sigh of relief from the more casual fans there, who might be seeing him for the first (and maybe only) time. I didn't mind hearing Alert Status Red the other night, because it's one song I had never heard live (despite seeing him live 5 times prior). It had always alluded me. I think Apparitions might be the one song he couldn't get away with leaving out. I get the feeling (maybe I'm wrong) that there are still some people that show up to Matt's shows expecting a setlist along the lines of the first disc of In a Coma. When they hear 10 songs off the new album, they might be a bit miffed. I think Matt's fan base might be a bit polarized right now, because there is a group of really hardcore fans and then a group of casual fans who are still stuck on material he did 10-20 years ago. Just a feeling I personally get at the shows, and I think it works into the issue with everyone not getting out of their seats and getting into it. Come to think of it, that's probably why they opened with Load Me Up last night, get everyone up and out of their seats right off the bat (given what happened in Victoria).

Victoria (Alix Goolden Hall): I'll post my comments on the show underneath this, but I'll just get the setlist posted for you guys first. These are definitely all the songs that were played, the order just might be slightly off in the middle: Cold Water Army of Lions Born Losers Cloudbusting Moment All You Sons and Daughters Alert Status Red Load Me Up Los Alamos Kid Down the Well No Liars Harridan Weapon Giant Girls in Black Apparitions I don't believe I forgot anything... Alright here are my comments on the Victoria show... This venue is awesome (Matt also commented so a few times). It's a very old church that is now used as a concert venue. So, just imagine seeing Matt play in a church and you'll get the idea. Seating on the floor is pews and there is a balcony that wraps around up top. The stage is what you would normally see at a church, just a small step up (not much separation from the crowd on the floor). Matt stepped down off the stage during Girls in Black and sang a large part of the song from the front of the floor. I was in the very front row, so I was only a few feet from him during this (pretty awesome). There was a healthy amount of banter early in the show, Matt seemed to be in a good mood. Although he was giving the crowd a pretty hard time as everyone stayed seated during the early part of the show. He said a few times it felt very weird and "felt like a job interview". Matt joked that Chantal Kreviazuk was also playing in Victoria tonight and people might have shown up to the wrong show. Everyone finally stood up for Alert Status Red/Load Me Up, but things were then slowed right down with Los Alamos. The crowd was standing again for most of Harridan, Weapon and the entire encore, so atmosphere picked up by end. The set was very heavy on Chaotic Neutral as you can see, with every song being played except for Tiger by the Tail. Stand outs for me were: Cloudbusting - surprised to see this played, but it was a really great arrangement that is a bit more rocking, ended up being one of the highlights of the night for me. Girls in Black - this was crazy good live, very loud, very powerful. Combined with Matt coming down onto the floor, this was the biggest highlight for me. Harridan - Matt's vocals were really great in this Also, just a note, Los Alamos was played with Matt, Stu and Blake all on guitar (kind of interesting). Overall, it was my sixth time seeing Matt live and possibly the best time I've had at one of his shows. I'm really loving Chaotic Neutral as an album so I didn't mind at all that he pretty much played the whole thing. I'm sure they will work in other back catalogue stuff as the tour goes on. Being extremely close was a great experience as well. I have sat front row at one other MG show, but just because of the setup of the venue, this was even better.

I'm not sure how many of you guys saw this interview: http://concertaddicts.com/interviews/a-chat-with-matthew-good Basically he just says that they will not be playing Non Populus this time around. They'll be playing a full band version of Advertising on Police Cars and bringing back Blue Skies Over Badlands. They might work in Champions of Nothing at some point in the tour as well. Here is what he said: "I always focus on what I’ve just put out, mostly. Umm, you have to make hard choices, ’cause I don’t play for three and half hours a night, and that kind of thing. So you have to make some hard choices when going back in the catalog and deciding what your going to do. For example one of my favourites to always play live is, since Lights [of Endangered Species] came out, is always Non Populus, but I kind of made the crunch choice on this tour to NOT do it, but do Advertising On Police Cars instead, with a band. I think fans will appreciate the difference in those two things. I’ve often done Champions of Nothing too, and we can pick that up in soundchecks too. I’ve decided to go back to doing Blue Skies [Over Bad Lands] because Stu’s just such a damn good lap steel player, and he’s back playing with me and Blake. I mean there is stuff there that we’re going to mess around with, and some things that haven’t been done live really ever, or in a long time, and a lot of new stuff."

I'm going to the Victoria show, so I'll post the setlist here after the show on Friday night (unless someone else beats me to it).

From what I understand, Matt's backing band for this tour will be Stu, Blake and Bones Hillman. I think I saw somewhere else on here that Anthony Wright will not be on this tour and there won't be a replacement. Is anyone else concerned about the lack of someone on piano/keyboards? Maybe they are bringing someone else and I'm just not aware? Normally Matt's sets are pretty heavy on the latest release, it seems there are at least a few tracks on Chaotic Neutral that would be pretty hard to play without piano (Cold Water, Herridan, Cloudbusting and maybe Tiger by the Tail). I'll be interested to see how they make these happen or if they just aren't played. He obviously intends to play Cloudbusting in Toronto since Holly McNarland is apparently making an appearance, maybe she will be playing the piano parts in that case? Non Populus would also be hard to play without piano and that's been staple in Matt's sets since LOES came out. I know they went without anyone on piano for the tour following the release of Vancouver, but that was a less piano heavy album.

I really love this album, I like how it is somewhat "chaotic", it shows all sides of Matt's music and I like that. I can honestly say I really like every track on the album, I love Kid Down the Well and Cold Water though, and I think those will join the ranks of my favourite MG songs. I'm happy Matt brought in Warne on this one, I just think the ones Warne are involved with sound better (not an audio expert so I can't get technical). No knock to Matt's producing ability, I find that to be true with a lot of artists, it just doesn't sound as good when it's self-produced. I'm thinking right now this is probably my favourite MG solo album, we'll see what I think in a year or so though. I missed most of the demos, only heard a few and didn't save the ones I heard so I have no memory of how they sounded. I'm glad that's what happened now, because now I don't have any demoitis. I think it's a good idea for Matt to stop posting demos, I don't think it's a common practice anyway for other artists? I think it's interesting that this thread is largely just people comparing the album versions of songs to demo versions. Admittedly, I would probably be doing the same if I was familiar with the demos. Prior to the release of Vancouver, I had fallen in love with the demo version of On Nights Like Tonight, it took me a while to ween myself off it and onto the album version. Although, now I really love the album version (and that's the version I listen to). It's interesting to hear Matt say he didn't determine the track order on this album. Now that I look, it is mostly front-loaded with stuff that would be more palatable to the masses. There is no question the idea of an album is dead, and I find that sad as well. I'm part of the problem, I got an Rdio subscription in 2011 and haven't looked back since, it's how I consume all my music now. Sometimes I just buy albums from my favourite artists on iTunes as more of a donation than anything. I remember the excitement of returning home with a new CD and putting it in the stereo, then slowly falling in love with that over the coming days and weeks as an album. With streaming, I've developed what I call "music ADD" now and find it hard to muster the patience to consume full albums anymore (with the exception of my very favourite artists). I keep saying I'm going to get a turntable and start buying vinyl, and then force myself to listen to full albums that way.

Yes, usually only a certain block of seats are made available for the pre-sale, this is to ensure there are still seats available when the general sale starts. If you aren't on it at the very start of the pre-sale, it's usually to your advantage to wait and get right in at the start of the general sale. You'll probably see some of the better seats available then (no guarantees of course).

It looks they just posted Matt's talk today... http://www.tedxtoronto.com/talks/matthew-good/ He performs True Love Will Find In The End, does a talk for about 15 minutes, and then performs Strange Days. I think he did a great job and it is apparent he was doing a lot of it on the fly, which is impressive.