When word got out that Burnaby-born musician Matthew Good was forced to pull out of his Prince George concert after collapsing on stage in Edmonton last week, Okanagan fans were concerned for the 46-year-old’s health, and admittedly, whether or not they’d get to see him play.
But on Friday morning, Good posted on social media that he had been released from the hospital and would be playing his last two tour stops on Friday and Saturday night in Kelowna and Abbotsford, respectively.
“You don’t cancel unless they’re rolling you out of the building on a stretcher,” Good wrote in a post on Instagram and Twitter Friday morning. “That’s the way it is.”
There never is a decision to make. You don’t cancel unless they’re rolling you out of the… https://t.co/ozolIPpQMQ
— Matthew Good (@mattgood) March 30, 2018
“I’ve always loved Matt Good,” Vernon fan Sarah Morris said while waiting for Good to come on stage at Friday’s concert.
“I was worried. I’m so glad he made it — what a trooper.”
“Technically I’m just here for Our Lady Peace,” her friend and fellow concert goer, Gina Adams added. “But I think it’s pretty amazing that he showed up being that sick.”
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Last week, Good was taken to Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital to recover from what his band confirmed was a case of pneumonia.
The illness forced him to initially delay, then cancel his Prince George performance. He offered fans a chance to refund their tickets while tour-mates Our Lady Peace and Ellevator went on to perform as planned.
On Friday morning, Good took to social media again to apologize for missing the Prince George date and to thank the hospital staff that cared for him before announcing that he would play his last two shows of the tour.
And play, he did. Still visibly uncomfortable, Good remained fairly still as he played and punctuated his otherwise flawless performance with several pauses for water between songs, noting that his sound engineer had to keep reminding him to “pause and breathe,” via his earpiece.
After kicking off his 50-minute set with a mood-lit rendition of his 1998 hit, Apparitions, Good performed a solid ten song set before being heavily applauded and led off stage by his bandmates.
The audience in turn, show him some serious love with a well-deserved standing ovation.
Our Lady Peace hit the stage after intermission with a crowd-pleasing set of old and new favourites, including Clumsy, Is Anybody Home and Drop Me in the Water.
In his show-stopping performance, OLP frontman, Raine Maida took a moment to point out that March 30 was also National Bi-Polar Day, and praised Good for his activism in mental health and his bravery in publicly sharing stories his own battle with the illness, before dedicating a pared-down acoustic song to his “Good friend Matt.”
Maida closed out the night with a powerhouse emotional encore that included a performance with Good as well the concert’s opener, Ellevator.
Good and Our Lady Peace’s cross-Canada tour began March 1 in St. John’s, N.L.
Erin Christie
Morning Star Staff
@VernonNews
erin.christie@vernonmorningstar.com
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