MGB Live in Coquitlam (1998)- Full Video Concert

[daniel_v]

I feel like I’ve sat on this for too long. The only reason I didn’t release it sooner was that before Travis passed away last year he asked if we ever did release it that said release would only be done with Matt’s (and or Dave/Ian’s) permission. I contacted Matt last year and asked, but unfortunately wasn’t able to get a response back. However, both Ian and Dave have said they are fine with it being released. Likewise, given that Matt never explicitly said he was against the release either after reading the message (at least I'm assuming he read it since there was a "read" receipt), I’m assuming if he didn’t want it to see the light of day he would have said so.

To that end, given the continuing crappy times we’re all living through, I thought I should finally give this a public release for those who are still interested in MGB and Matt’s music. Hopefully it'll give a lift to a few people and their day whenever they see it. 

In my honest opinion, it is an incredibly special concert for various reasons.  

The first has to do with Travis himself. He was only 17 when he filmed it and it was the first/only one he would record.  Watching it though you’d think he’d been doing it for far, far longer a period of time. Likewise, this almost never saw the light of day. Were it not for this community and Adam digitizing/sharing old video footage that Sue (Geoff’s sister) was kind enough to lend out, Travis never would have seen the old TV spot online where they shared his clips from the concert/interview he did with Matt afterwards. Had he not seen that, he probably never would have bothered to dig up the full concert, restore the footage, and eventually share the HSIY performance he shared here, which eventually led to me and Adam going to meet him in Langley, watching the concert in person at his personal theater in his apartment complex, and then eventually being given copies ourselves.

The second has to do with the performance itself. Aside from it being the first and only concert Matt ever played in his home town, he continually references how cool it was to be performing in his home town. Right near the end he says something along the lines of, “And I’ll tell you one thing- between now and the end of fucking time I’ll probably remember this night more than anything else, so thanks for that”. Indeed, imo, you can always tell whether bands are into the music they're playing or whether it's just another gig for them. There's something about the energy from all the band members that either is or just isn't there. Aside from Matt's statements regarding the nature of the night, you can tell as well that both Ian and Dave were having a great time too. Hell, even Geoff who looked like he might possibly not have been in the greatest mood at the start, appeared to not be able to help himself from getting into the music as the show went on. 

Lastly, there is a song that was played live that night that there exists no other recorded audio or video footage of anywhere that I am aware of. In fact, when Travis first shared the setlist I thought he was probably mistaken. When I clarified with him he assured me it was indeed the correct song. When he told me how it was preformed I was beyond excited and blown away. When I actually saw/heard it finally, it definitely did not disappoint. For those of you who don't remember the original thread, I won't spoil the surprise, but hopefully those who are still fans of MGB's music will appreciate it as much as I did when they get to the encore section. It's one of the most haunting and beautiful things I've ever heard. 

Anyways, I have no idea how many people will or won't be interested in this, but hopefully for those of you who are, this will be fun to watch and a nice trip down memory lane. 

If anyone wants to, please feel free to share your thoughts below.
 

P.S- If Matt does end up seeing this and would like it removed, out of respect for Travis and out of respect for all Matt's music has done for me over the decades, I will respect that wish and remove it if I receive a request to do so. While I don't expect to receive such a request- and while I do believe Travis would be okay with this since we were just in the process of trying to get ahold of Matt right before Travis passed away- because those were his wishes beforehand, I want to make sure I do respect those wishes if, on the off chance, they needed to be respected.

Lastly, if anyone does happen to have any old video or audio footage like this laying around in their own storage that has never seen the light of day (or happens to know someone who does) I would ask that you consider digging it up and getting a hold of @adam_777 He knows how to restore and digitize old footage that could otherwise degrade and become unplayable due to old age. Stuff like this, while not possessing a huge market, means a lot to more than a few of us and being able to get it online is sort of like adding things to a (digital) museum, imo. Saving it is important because, aside from the importance of music and art themselves in all our lives, unshared art and live performances are another kind of experience/art altogether. Indeed, to capture a new kind of energy to a song, or to hear something that has never before been heard (or played live), is what makes art/music so compelling- the surprise, excitement, and reveries created are one of a kind/timeless because worthwhile art is timeless. I don't think I understood that when I was younger, but as I've gotten older and been lucky enough to meet/know all the people who've been kind/gracious enough to share things I would have never gotten to see/hear otherwise, I've gained an appreciation for that fact. So hopefully this can be a small way for me to continue giving back in turn and just maybe might inspire others who have similar material in their possession to get it out and online as well (provided the original creators/band members are not against the release). 

Cheers, everyone  

Edited October 20, 2021 by daniel_v

[finboy]

This is awesome, thanks so much!

[mackie1023]

This is really spectacular. Thanks for sharing. 

[Stwlegend]

There is nothing out there that compares to this show.  With no official live video from the MGB days, it can't be overstated how awesome this is and how much work Daniel, Travis and Adam put into getting this out.  Great stuff.

[mgb4life2]

I am speechless.  This is everything as a fan I would ever want.  Right around the time I discovered MGB, every song is phenomenal.  Thank you so much to those who worked on it.

[Chris85]

Here is the interview…

 

[daniel_v]

6 hours ago, sharon said:

That was a nice trip down memory lane. Thank you. That must be a picture of Leonard, the guy who ran the unofficial MGB website, Massage Board forum, and was in the Rico music video. I wonder what he’s been up to and if he still listens to Matthew Good Band’s music.

It is Leonard, yeah. It's funny you should ask what he has been up to. When Travis passed away last year I noted that it was interesting that, as a fan of MGB, he too was, for a time, heavily into creating music himself and that so many other people MGB/Matt's music has inspired also got into music themselves. As it turns out, Leonard was/is no exception to that either.

Apparently he is an audio engineer and is writing/recording music himself too. 

Here's a song on his Youtube channel from one of his albums.

 

4 hours ago, Chris85 said:

Here is the interview…

 

And thanks for sharing that Chris. I was going to do so myself but just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Travis felt he did a horrible job at the interview, but especially for a 17 year old who was doing his first interview, I thought he did a fine job. Even with regards to the concert itself me and Adam had to keep telling him to not to beat himself up. He was quite critical of certain aspects of it despite the overall quality, lol. 

And while I think a lot of people have already seen it, here is the segment he put together of the concert and the interview he did with Matt. It gives a little more back ground into the concert itself:
 

Some other random thoughts about the concert were that it's amazing not only how into the show the whole crowd was, but also just how laid back the entire band was too. At one point during EIA, a girl gets up on stage, starts dancing, shakes Dave's hand (to which Dave is quite polite and amenable), then actually grabs Matt's hand as he is trying to play guitar and then kisses him on the cheek. Through it all neither Matt or Dave miss a beat and Matt even chuckles/eventually comments (after the song is done) "What're ya gonna do?", lol. 

Another thing me, Adam and Travis were laughing about when we first watched this together was the psychology of those who throw their shows at concerts (which happened a lot at this one). I mean, what do people who throw their shoes do afterwards? I mean, do you go home barefoot? Hahaha. Really, who in their right mind throws a shoe? That is unless they've stolen someone else's  It's was interesting though because in later years Matt would take a hardline approach against people throwing things which was understandable given the dangers of throwing certain things and just the general disrespect involved in such an act. But, their laid back attitude in this show just made it all the more apparent how special everyone probably felt it was. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by daniel_v

[adam_777]

7 hours ago, sharon said:

That was a nice trip down memory lane. Thank you. That must be a picture of Leonard, the guy who ran the unofficial MGB website, Massage Board forum, and was in the Rico music video. I wonder what he’s been up to and if he still listens to Matthew Good Band’s music.

Yup thats Leonard. I've been in touch with him over the last year or so, really nice guy. At some points in the video you can see someone else filming in front of the stage and at one point Leonard has that guys camera recording. Travis was hoping Leonard might have that footage so he could cut in multiple angles as well as hoping it might include the full Alabama Motel Room but unfortunately he did not.  He was such a perfectionist that despite capturing an entire show with an elongated set in as good of quality as you could ever ask for, he was annoyed he allowed himself to run out of tape and miss the last three minutes. 

 

2 hours ago, daniel_v said:

It is Leonard, yeah. It's funny you should ask what he has been up to. When Travis passed away last year I noted that it was interesting that, as a fan of MGB, he too was, for a time, heavily into creating music himself and that so many other people MGB/Matt's music has inspired also got into music themselves. As it turns out, Leonard was/is no exception to that either.

Apparently he is an audio engineer and is writing/recording music himself too. 

Here's a song on his Youtube channel from one of his albums.

 

And thanks for sharing that Chris. I was going to do so myself but just hadn't gotten around to it yet.

Travis felt he did a horrible job at the interview, but especially for a 17 year old who was doing his first interview, I thought he did a fine job. Even with regards to the concert itself me and Adam had to keep telling him to not to beat himself up. He was quite critical of certain aspects of it despite the overall quality, lol. 

And while I think a lot of people have already seen it, here is the segment he put together of the concert and the interview he did with Matt. It gives a little more back ground into the concert itself:
 

Some other random thoughts about the concert were that it's amazing not only how into the show the whole crowd was, but also just how laid back the entire band was too. At one point during EIA, a girl gets up on stage, starts dancing, shakes Dave's hand (to which Dave is quite polite and amenable), then actually grabs Matt's hand as he is trying to play guitar and then kisses him on the cheek. Through it all neither Matt or Dave miss a beat and Matt even chuckles/eventually comments (after the song is done) "What're ya gonna do?", lol. 

Another thing me, Adam and Travis were laughing about when we first watched this together was the psychology of those who throw their shows at concerts (which happened a lot at this one). I mean, what do people who throw their shoes do afterwards? I mean, do you go home barefoot? Hahaha. Really, who in their right mind throws a shoe? That is unless they've stolen someone else's  It's was interesting though because in later years Matt would take a hardline approach against people throwing things which was understandable given the dangers of throwing certain things and just the general disrespect involved in such an act. But, their laid back attitude in this show just made it all the more apparent how special everyone probably felt it was. 

Travis was such a perfectionist. He was embarrassed by certain things about this shows filming. Like for instance during Primetime he went to the bathroom and just let the camera film a stationary shot which he apologized to me and Daniel for.  Which is utterly hilarious because if he hadnt pointed it out I wouldnt have noticed or cared...its video footage of MGB doing Primetime Deliverance, the only known footage available of that, we were just stunned to see it and he thought we'd be let down by it! 

He was always tweaking it as well. He sent me a copy that I thought looked awesome, he then declated he could do better and went through an elongated deinterlacing process to try and enhance the picture that much more.  What he got out of these 20 year old tapes is stunning and in doing the work the original tapes actually completely disintegrated. He was fussy about the sound to, tweaking it to meet his standards.   Its actually a mix of two audio sources one the soundboard that he was pitched into but was  overdriven and the other the mic from his camera. Together he's made a pretty decent matrix sound.  He kept apologizing for that too, I tried to explain the other MGB live recordings we have from this era sound like they were recorded theough a tin can in the kitchen of the Commodore and that this sounded sooo much better than anything else we had, but he still wasnt fully happy with it.  

 

The work he did on this was extensive and a labour of love and Im so glad that Daniel has shared this for everyone to enjoy as Travis hoped would happen right up until his death.  He was literally messaging us about this in the middle of the night on the night he passed.  This video is a great tribute to who he was and what he was all about.  I'll never watch this and not think of him.  Im so glad the three of us got to get together for Travis to screen it, some great memories from that! 

 

As for the shoes. Haha it is a head scratcher, but I still stand behind my claim that the shoes were being lost in the moshpit and crowd surfing and then thrown by people who didnt own them.  Ive definitely been at concerts where all the sudden there are stray shoes under my feet. So im assuming people just picked them up and threw them.  With that being said there are a ton of thrown objects here, so maybe some people were throwing their own shoes and then presumably walking home barefoot.  I still dont understand the mentality of throwing any object. Assuming everyone there was enjoying the show, why would you want to throw an object at the band that could most likely cause the show to end? A part of me wishes some psychiatrist would go to a concert, find a shoe thrower and immediately interview them to record the thought process, because it defies me. 

 

 

 

Edited October 22, 2021 by adam_777
Spelling

[patrickjnixon]

Awesome!! The audio quality is incredible.  Great job and thank you for sharing!! 

[crthiel]

Wow.  Thank you for sharing this.  This was a nostalgia shot right to my veins.  Made me forget about all the controversy swirling about now and just took me back to a simpler time.  

This was about the time I was REALLY getting into MGB.  Underdogs meant so much to me.  My first show was Edgefest '99 in Barrie, ONT and I bought the CD there where the case got all bashed up.  It was really hard to find Canadian artist CD's in the USA at that time so it was like a great score for me.  I still have it and that bashed up case meant so much to me for so long....not so much anymore though with Spotify and such.

What memories. Thank you.

Edited October 24, 2021 by crthiel

[samscartboy]

Fantastic work, thank you for sharing!

[THE MAN]

This is fantastic. From heaven above. Like a holy grail!

[Moonlight_Graham]

That's quite the set list...speechless.  I turned it on just to check it out, ended up watching the whole concert.

This is the most legendary MG/MGB concert footage that's in existence.  The quality of the video is simply breathtaking, and Travis seemingly framed every shot to perfection.  A 17 year old kid first-timer doing this, what a legend. 

The audio is also incredible.  Lots of low-end on the drums and bass, you can hear Geoff's notes well.  The fact that this is such a special concert in Coquitlam just takes the cake.

Thank you so much for posting this.  You're doing some amazing work.  We need to start archiving this stuff as fans, get it off our hard drives etc make sure we have it forever.  A very special time in Canada's cultural history.

[thewickernightmare]

Thank you. This was excellent. I hadn’t heard some of these songs live before.

[invasion1]

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video and learning the details of how it all came to be just made it even more special. Thanks a ton, @daniel_v

I can't help but wonder if the audio from the original transfer could be shared, though that's probably asking too much. I feel very lucky as-is seeing Travis' work and something of this caliber from that era.

Edited April 1, 2022 by invasion1

[juanpe]

Wow, spectacular!  Thank you for sharing this!