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Dan's review
Nicole's review

Wednesday, June 16. After writing an exam and a test, I was finally finished with Senior Two. I was very excited, but not only because grade ten was over with. I was stoked for the Matthew Good show that was going to be at the Red River Ex that coming Friday. The next two days were spent solely to memorizing the lyrics from the new CD and getting those tasty hand claps from �Alert Status Red� nailed down.

It was shortly after six o�clock when Ryan, Aaron, and I piled into the van on Friday. The time had come; the rock show was upon us. So we made our way around the streets of North Kildonan picking up four more boys. Our first stop: To pick up David, Matthew Good newbie. Since this was officially the second ever Fantasticon, Dave felt inclined to come along, whether or not he was partial to the musical stylings of the Canadian singer/songwriter. Then we picked up Levi and Greg, both massive MG fans, whom I had the privilege of going to a Matt Good show the previous summer with. At last we drove to Sobey�s, where we proceeded to picking up Steve. Ryan and Greg also purchased their �advance� gate tickets for the sexy price of just $5 (including GST). At last, the dudes had been picked up and everybody had their tickets with them, so now was the time for the Green Chariot to cruise its way over to the Red River Exhibition Park.

Once we got there, we met up with Nicole, another Fantasticon attendee. It couldn�t have been a better day, weather wise. There were only a few clouds in the sky, and the sun shined warmly on everyone�s backs. The sounds of a Beyonce tribute act and the smells of mini donuts and other candy novelties greeted our ears and noses as we entered the park. As it was Summer VortEX, the five of us (Levi, Greg, David, Nicole, and me) decided to go on a few rides. We also met up with a few other guys, Rob, Ben, Will, and Jordan. So Greg, Nicole, and I hit up the Giant Wheel. I was pretty freaked out because there was only a small, crappy rope that kept us from falling to our deaths. And then Nicole decided it would be funny to shake the stupid tea cup thing. I yelled at her till she stopped. After that little adventure, a few of us wanted to go on the Fireball. But, since it seems those rides discriminate against larger people, I unfortunately was unable to partake in the festivity. A broken hearted me decided to go for a ride in the Ghost Mansion with Dave. While entertaining to say the least, I�m sure it was nothing like the magic only the Fireball could have given me.

The time was nearing eight o�clock, and all nine of us finally got enough sense to get some good spots for MG. Wil, who opened up for Matthew Good, had some pretty good tunes for us. He definitely knew how to play the guitar, that�s for sure. Since this was my second ever Matthew Good show, I knew the set list was going to be filled with some classic favourites along with some slower, acoustic songs nearing towards the end. And on the 18th of June, that was just what I got. The show opened up with three rocking tunes off of the latest album. I was very pleased when Matt broke out with �Weapon� as the fourth song of the night. There�s nothing like hearing that song live. I was belting out the words with my pal Matty the whole way through. Greg, Nicole, and I ventured closer to the stage leaving David and Levi behind. The four other River East boys could be seen really close to the front with the moshers. That frankly isn�t my thang, and so I was quite happy with where I was standing. As the cheerleaders began the �k-i-c-k-a-s-s, that�s the way we spell success� the audience roared. Matt and the boys continued on to play one of the best songs of the night, �Giant.� After a wonderful live version of one of my favourites off of White Light, �Blue Skies Over Badlands,� Matt played two more hits off of Beautiful Midnight: �Load Me Up� and �Hello Time Bomb.� It was kind of sucky that Matt stopped during the middle of the song to tell those stupid mofos to be more careful when moshing.

I was worried when after finishing the rest of the song, he left the stage. I thought to myself, �This can�t be it. Not yet!� But I let out a sigh of relief when I saw him strap on his acoustic guitar and come back to the microphone. Amazing performances of �Apparitions,� one of the greatest MGB songs of all time, and �In a World Called Catastrophe� followed. It was pure magic; just Matt and his guitar. Pat, Christian, and Rich came back on the stage to join Matt with playing �Empty Road.� This is another one of my favourite White Light tracks, and once again, the song blew me away live. While the pedal steel is really sweet on the record, I can�t say I missed it all that much when they played the song at the show.

Again the four boys exited the stage, and, a few minutes later Matt reappeared, again with his acoustic guitar. The beautiful �Can�t Get Shot in the Back if You Don�t Run� ended off the show fantastically. And so ended the white light rock and roll show.

Overall, I think the Grand Rock show last summer was better than the Summer Vortex concert. Around half of the songs he played on the 18th were off of White Light Rock & Roll Review. While I understand that he was there to promote his new record and play songs off of it, I still wished he had played more old songs. The Grand Rock show last summer had a more rounded set list. However, Matt was in a much better mood at Summer Vortex than he was at Grand Rock. He was talking with the audience a lot more, and it was awesome when he talked about that �America�s Army� video game. I wish I could have seen Jennifer Good though, apparently she was walking around, looking hot�.

I first learned about Fantasticon 2 while reading the Matthew Good thread on Fantastica. At first I wasn't planning on going, but luckily Dan tried convincing me by telling me it was only $5.00, I lived really close, and I would get to meet a lot of awesome people. Being my usual pushover self, I went to Sobey's and bought my ticket.

Friday, June 18th: It was getting pretty close to the meeting time Dan told me, so I headed over to the Red Reiver Ex grounds. I was extremely nervous and was convinced that Dan and Dave (the only people I knew so far) were going to ditch me. Soon enough a bunch of guys walked up and I was finally introduced to them. So Dan, Dave, Greg, Levi, and I walked in through the gate. We didn't really know what to do next so we sat on a picnic table listening to some terrible singer. I was still really nervous, so I just kind of stayed by my trusty cousin, Dave's side. Then we went on some rides. Dan, Greg, and I went on this huge ferris wheel. We got stopped at the top and they were a little freaked out because I thought it would be fun to wiggle our seat thing back and forth. Then we met up for another ride with Levi which was also quite fun. Oh yah, somewhere in there we met up with some other guys that were nice too. Slowy we started to make our way to the concert area. There we all chatted for a bit, although many conversations were had over my head, it was still fun to get to know everyone better. Soon enough the concert started. A bit later Dan, Greg, and I inched our way closer right beside a few chain smokers. The concert was good.

Then the concert ended. So we hung out on a foot massager for a bit and then all the NK boys left. I sat outside alone in the nice warm summer breeze. A few minutes later, I was back at home getting ridiculed by my brother and some of his friends that have no appreciation for music. Fantasticon 2 was an awesome time. I can't wait until F3!!!!!