It is 18:55 on Saturday 11th of June. MattY is backstage, doing last minute preparations for his last performance and public appearance for the next few months. His tour was cancelled a long time ago; he was sick… He is sick.
Ever since he stopped taking the drugs, he has felt empty. He is cold, dark; lonely. MattY is tapped on the shoulder by his manager; “You better nail this MattY. We are all relying on you here. You need to show the world that you have recovered from that shit you got yourself in.”
MattY snaps back into life as he hears his manager talk; he shakes his head, “But I’m not better…” he looks into his managers eyes with a look that went straight through him. The manager stepped away, “Well you had better give it your all… There are thousands of people out there, waiting for you to give them their money’s worth.” He turns around and walks off; leaving MattY alone again.
He gets up and walks over to the side of the stage; he can see PostScript finishing his set up. MattY smiles; PostScript is one of the artists on his label, and it makes him feel better to know that people are starting to appreciate this young talent.
The music finishes, and PostScript walks off the stage; MattY grabs his hand and pulls him into a brief embrace. “You were good man, very good. How am I gonna do better than that?” he says with a grin. They talk briefly and then PostScript leaves.
It is time.
MattY is nervous about this performance; he doesn’t know if he will get through it or not. All he can do is try. He walks onto the stage, and waves to the audience. Screams fills the field; the worlds favourite young rapper has just stepped onto the main stage at Field Trip Festival. MattY’s gut wrenches, but he puts on a smile for the fans, giving a cheeky wink to a chubby girl on the front row. He takes in a deep breath and pulls the microphone close to his face. “Who is ready?” the audience cheers in response; but a tone can be heard in his voice – MattY doesn’t want to be here today; things are difficult at the moment. “I haven’t been well recently, and I just wanna thank every single one of you guys for sticking around and helping me out. Let’s Go.”

A chilling sound comes from the speakers; it is eerie and soft and twists its way through the mind of the listener. MattY lowers his head as he allows himself to get lost in the music. The icy voice of the disorder girl - Radio Vine now leaves the speakers. MattY’s eyes close and he can feel himself slowly moving forwards. Radio’s voice stops and MattY’s eyes flick back open and he starts his vocals.
This song seems only too real for MattY right now, ‘what would happen to Cherise and the baby if I fucked up’; ‘how would Cherise cope if I overdid it on the drugs’; ‘how will I cope…’. The thoughts rush through his mind, but MattY continues to rap – he does it subconsciously these days; just gets out there and spits his bars. Performing doesn’t come as such a buzz to him anymore; there are other things, which take far less time than performing which give him a far better buzz… But that was in the past… He has moved on.
MattY wakes up out of his rapping trance to hear Radio’s voice pumping from the speakers again. He realises that although he has been rapping continually, he has not yet moved from the spot by the mic. The fans must have realised that he isn’t really up to his best at the moment… Surely they would forgive him… After all he has been through this past few weeks as well.

The song finishes and MattY can hear the audience applauding and cheering. There are only a few that actually know the song; Growth has only been out for a matter of days now. He puts his hand into the air to signal thanks to the audience. “Okay, that was When I’m Gone featuring the wonderful Radio Vine who is one of the wonderful artists that we have over at Monk On Fire Music. She was on earlier today in fact; and wasn’t she incredible! Done us all proud!” MattY runs his hand through his hair quickly; “I have still got another six tracks for you all tonight;” to which a slight roar can be heard from the audience; “and the next one is Cold Dark Place.”
A high pitched piano instrumental can be heard from the speakers, as MattY approaches the front of the stage, he sits down and dangles his legs over the side. Some teenage girls on the front row are reaching out trying to reach him; he just smiles and then starts his rap as the drums kick in.
His flow is swift and uneasy, which helps to create an aura about him of sadness and darkness. He gets up about half way through the first verse and walks over to the left hand side of the stage. He moves his hand around in front of him as he raps the lines to the song; it may look stupid, but it helps him to keep in control – that and he actually cant help it, it just happens really.
The verse comes to a close and the piano introduction can be heard again over the rest of the music; MattY slips out of his jacket and ditches it at the front of the stage. He is starting to look more comfortable now, and moving more freely around the stage.
MattY waves his hands in the air and the audience follows him; “JUMP EVERYBODY!” he shouts, and the audience quickly joins in.
The audience are getting more and more involved in the song and when it comes to a close they cheer and shout for more. MattY smiles; he is starting to remember why he likes performing now…

The next few songs seem to shoot by; Hell’s Halo, The Moment, Freedom of Speech and Out of Control all get good reactions from the audience, but MattY still cant help but feel like he hasn’t done enough for them. He feels like he has failed them. ‘No Matthew. Stop it. You have done fine.’ A voice inside his head says to him. ‘Shut up. This has been a shit gig. They will never want to see another gig from me again. I need…’ another voice says to him. ‘NO! YOU DO NOT NEED IT!’
MattY realises that the music has stopped and he is stood their silently looking out to the audience. “Okay, we have done the whole show now – except one.” The introduction to Close to Tears starts to play; “Recognise it?” A massive response is heard and seen from the audience, they are going crazy.
The chorus is sang by the audience, Alicia Lena’s vocals blast from the speakers, but the audience sings it louder. MattY gets off the front of the stage and stands between the front of the stage and the front of the crowd, with several big black bouncers guarding him from many of his fans. He raps the first verse of the song; and as he gets towards the chorus, the music gradually fades into that of Taking Over. Cherise’s vocals boom from the speakers, but yet again the crowd sings them louder. MattY then goes on to rap the second verse of Taking Over, the verse progresses and then the song ends with a bang.
MattY climbs onto the stage and looks to the side. He can see Eric Quillington ready to come on. He smiles, feeling relaxed properly for the first time in the whole of his show. “Okay everybody – I do have a final little treat; I know I said that was my last track, but we do still have like just over 5 minutes before Infinite are supposed to come on. So, me and a good friend of mine decided that we would just do a little something for you all, on my last show. Can you guys please welcome out ERIC QUILLINGTON!!!!!

Eric walks slowly onto the stage; he brings with him a guitar and an aura of power and of respect. The audience gives a cheer that was louder than at any other point in the show. MattY smiles, he is a little disheartened, but he knows that Eric is a world renowned superstar – it’s kind of expected. He steps up to the microphone, which seems to have just appeared, next to MattY’s. He shouts a quick greeting to the audience and then starts to play the opening guitar riff for Shoot to Kill.
The song flows quickly and the audience sings along to it, Eric’s voice is almost drowned out by the fans. MattY raps with the pace and skill that he usually does; but next to Eric, he feels inferior. The sudden rush of emotion, standing next to Eric quickly becomes apparent in his rapping, and he starts to fall of the pace a little. Eric’s chorus comes back around again, but the music played below it is the music to Lazarus. He quickly switches songs, and MattY prepares himself mentally for his final verse for a few months.
The song finishes with a loud bang and a crash and MattY and Eric stand on the front of the stage with their hands in the air. They wave to the audience and walk off the stage after MattY picks up his jacket from the front.

Set-list:
1. When I’m Gone
2. Cold Dark Place
3. Hell’s Halo
4. The Moment
5. Freedom of Speech
6. Out of Control
7. Close to Tears/Taking Over
8. Shoot to Kill/Lazarus (ft. Eric Quillington)

MattY: Haha, thanks Ugenia - oh god, we don't want another Cherise!!! Haha ;)