October 8th 2002 will be a day I will never forget. Briefly, my name is Matt. I'm a 24 year old drummer from DRC. I went with my good friend Anthony to see AWK for the first time. We live just outside Detroit rock city and we traveled to London Ontario for the show. Giddyup.
8:15 pm: Anthony and Matt show up at Club Phoenix in London Ontario. We talk to Germans. Upon entering the club the underage shmoes were upstairs while the rest of us older kids were at the bar. I quickly took advantage and pressed my chest up against the barrier in row 1 and didn't move.
8:30: Anthony pees.
9:00: Opening band. The Getaways were pretty good for a new band. They're from Toronto and played while sick.
10:00: IT'S TIME TO PARTY. This is what we were waiting for. The first person Andrew shakes hands with is Anthony! I knew this would be a rad show no matter what, but I never expected this! AWK opens up with this energetic tune and got the crowd going crazy. Besides myself and Anthony having our bodies squeezed tightly on the metal barrier we also had to watch out for flying bodies. We were covered in sweat and water. The crowd surfing was splendid and we copped a few feels. We're good guys though, really. Anywho, Andrew can see us singing along and let me and Anthony sing the end of the solo part in She is Beautiful!!!! I couldn't ask for anything more!!! But I got more, so much more. During the part in I Get Wet where he trades vocals with his backup singers, Andrew is going back and forth with me! Just me and him on the mic trading I Get Wet's!!!!!!! This is outstanding. I could have made it onstage but I didn't want to risk losing my 1st row position. Also, I'd like to add in that there was this totally pretty girl on stage during I love NYC, we made eye contact. Yeah that's right. Then after the show I saw her in the crowd and yelled "She loved NYC!" and hugged her. She just said "what" and I went on with my business since she seemed so shy. There will be more on this girl regarding the 10-24 show for those who care. It's also wonderful of the guy to let a bunch of kids onstage, keep them there, and even give them the mic! He said this is what gives him a reason to live pointing at the 3 kids on stage with an A, W and a K on their white shirts. He said "It's not an us and a you, it's WE". He played all the good tunes and ended with Party Hard and Don't stop living in the red which should be the next playoff song for the Red Wings in my opinion. So after AWK this Danko Jones guy hits the stage so Anthony and I go to the car to put our posters away. On the way I say "Obituary, that is you!" pointing to Andrew WK's drummer who used to play for the band Obituary. He talked to us for a while and let us take a picture of him. 1 down, 4 to go. Back inside the club we get a picture with Jimmy the guitar player, Frank "sergent" Werner, talked to the hot german girl and her guy some more, and after I ate some nachos I turn around after Anthony hits me in the arm and said look and Andrew was right behind us. We got a picture with him and talked for a while. I thanked him for putting on such a great show and he thanked me for coming. Then I thanked him for letting me sing She is Beautiful, I get wet, and I love NYC with him and he says "You have a great voice". You can't really tell in the club, but he sounded so sincere and just wanted to make me feel good. I told him I'm a hometown boy, Livonia, and Anthony said Dearborn. He was happy to hear that and told us he is from the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area. He asked us our names which was really nice and asked if we were driving home tonight. We said yes and he said "Drive safe". This is a guy who goes out of his way to make people happy. Then we saw the Germans again on the way home.
I went to Canada with my bro Anthony never expecting to get front row, sing, and meet Andrew WK and get pictures. It all happened, it was a great time, and I thank everyone who took the time to read this.
October 24th 2002: HOLY CRAP DUDE was the only words I could say when I was onstage with Andrew WK singing the song I love NYC! Does it get any better than that? Andrew put on the most amazing show again. He was standing right next to me while singing She is Beautiful. Let me tell you something. This show was packed with beautiful girls too. If I didn't already have wood for Andrew it wood have been there for the ladies. Anywho, he filled in the gap between the rail and the stage with people so I got front row again. Then before they cleared it out to make room for more I pushed my way up on the stage. I pointed over the crowd and scremed out the song, I love NYC! I got a little greedy and did the AWK kick and some dude took me offstage. It was worth it though. Matt rocked! Good things happen when you party with me. During the song Party til you Puke the stage was filled with kids. It was madness. Then they cleared everyone out and during Party Hard so many were on the stage that THEY were crowd surfing Andrew. This honestly wasn't as good as the London show for some reason. But I did notice one thing. The pretty girl that sang I love NYC in London was right in front of me in line before the show!!!!!! I said "Hey, you were at the London show!" and she just said "what". Is this the only word this girl knows????? I'm just being friendly. She smiled and seemed embarassed, but what's up with that. I'm just sayin hi to a fan. Anyway, get this. At the London show this girl did go with one of her friends. That friend works at the record store right by my friend Anthony's house! So now I can go there, hope she's working, tell her what's up, and find out why her friend was so weird and tell her I want to marry her. Ok I think I'm done here. PARTY HARD!
NEVER HOLD BACK, LIVE HARD, AND GET WET!
-Mattrock