Caught in a powdery light beam, Matthew Good dropped to his knees at Red Deer’s Memorial Centre. The kneeling musician played an intensive guitar solo for a song that borrows a biblical passage to point to human hypocrisy.
It was a memorable moment during Good’s weekend concert for about 450 fervent fans. Considering the Vancouver-based singer has never been shy of voicing opinions on everything from politics to religion, he largely let his music speak for itself on Saturday night.
And that was both a good and bad thing.
While it was great to hear live versions of atmospheric tunes like the above mentioned Non Populus that riffs on the phrase “Let it be unto you,” (or let peace be unto you), which is contained in Christian, Jewish and Muslim religious texts, Good shed no light on these or any of his more enigmatic lyrics.
And that’s too bad. This thinking person’s rocker rarely writes a straight-ahead love song, so it would have been interesting to hear some of the how and why behind his creative process.
But his diehard fans — mostly young males — were there for the thrill of hearing him play, and Good didn’t let them down.
The 40-year-old is an amazing musician, as are his five band members, who created a prolonged wall of sound on Set Me on Fire, Shallow’s Low, and Born Losers.
They slowed things down for Champions of Nothing, an intriguing, moody tune that contains the line “When Hollywood runs out of Indians . . .” That’s when the first fans began to whistle and shout out song requests.
Good ignored them and performed the hard-driving What If I Can’t See the Stars Mildred? with its angry keyboard intro, and Zero Orchestra, during which the bassist threw his hat off stage like a frisbee.
But when a persistent woman wouldn’t stop yelling song titles, Good responded by singing “You don’t get to make up our set list . . .”
He later asked for the house lights to be turned up so he could see who was smoking marijuana. Good demanded that the audience member put the doobie out, because he hates the smell and doesn’t smoke weed, himself.
Following some grumbling from the crowd, Good received supportive applause for saying, “We’ve grown up.”
And that was almost it for his stage banter — aside from occasional mumbling about not having the guitar notes right.
When a fan called out “I can’t hear you!” Good turned up the volume by launching into Load Me Up and The Future is X-rated, which featured a wailing bass and a heavy drum beat.
The audience cheered extra loud for the older hits, Apparitions, and Weapon, which ended with sweeping keyboards and a blinding light display.
For an encore, Good performed a moving, acoustic version of How it Goes, as well as more frenetic renditions of It’s Been a While Since I’ve Been Your Man, and Giant.
By that time, the hardworking singer, who was rewarded with a standing ovation, had lost both his voice and his trademark glasses.
While Good didn’t fawn over the crowd, he wasn’t immune to a bit of sweet talk.
When a guy shouted “I don’t ever want you to leave!” Good mused about how times have changed. “Fifteen years ago, it was girls who would say that . . . But I’ll take flattery from either sex!”
The concert opened with West Coast rocker Daniel Wesley, who has a funky beat, a great gravelly voice, and a nice way with a song — particularly Time for Leaving.
lmichelin@www.reddeeradvocate.com