The Martlet

What do you think of when you hear the name Matthew Good? Angry rocker? Scruffy looking? Politically charged lyrics?

Good played a sold-out show Saturday, Nov. 7, at the McPherson Playhouse and proved that he is indeed the same rock star who frequented the radio waves at the brink of the millennium.

Promoting his new album, Vancouver, Good came onto the stage in sneakers and looking like he just rolled out of bed. He played a few songs on his new album and then joked with the audience about his idea for a talk radio station — CLIT F.M.

Good’s last album, Hospital, focused on his recent diagnosis with bipolar disease. His latest release, Vancouver, is much more focused on the city he has spent the better part of his life in. Good dubs Vancouver as the land responsible for forming many of his personal reflections and opinions on the world.

With the Olympics coming to Vancouver in a few months and the city turning into an anxious orb of clashing ideas, the release of Vancouver is timely. Good takes this chance to offer his own views surrounding the city’s economic, social and environmental issues.

Vancouver’s CD art reflects the grittier side of the city. Instead of the typical totem pole or science world view tourists often see, Good shows us pictures of barbed wire, construction cranes and back alleys.

Good is just as much a political commentator as he is a musician. He is a keen supporter of Amnesty International, an advocate for the Canadian Mental Health Association and blogs on his website (mattgood.org) almost daily. Even when he’s on tour.

In an entry from Nov. 1, Good writes that the media, in this case a recent article in the Globe and Mail, consistently puts him “in the same tired light that I’ve been cast in for years.” Good claims he told the journalist, Marsha Lederman, in great detail about some of the city’s problems, but “none of it was printed.”

Good refused speak to the media not long ago, and wrote “to be honest with you, that’s a position that, as of this morning, I may very well begin adhering to again.”

During his show, Good got about five audience members dancing for one song, although, three of them seemed fairly drunk and were more of a distraction than a mood-booster.

Granted, the McPherson Playhouse isn’t the easiest atmosphere to dance in and Good’s music doesn’t have the sort of beat that makes you want to shake your tail feather.

Good did, though, play a lot of favourites from his albums Avalanche and White Light Rock & Roll Review. When he played the first few chords of songs like “Alert Status,” “Weapon” and “Load Me Up,” there were some excited squeals from the audience and some serious toe tapping as he got to the meat of each song.