I'm So Glad You Remembered

I wish I remembered more...

This is my first time seeing The Cure and I wore my prom dress. Why? Because I was a strange teenaged girl and seeing The Cure was an event worthy of a prom dress. Obviously.

I was always jealous of my brother and his friends, who were at one of the shows at the Palace that they used for Show. I was too young to tag along so, even though I listened to The Cure daily, I had to wait.

I'm trying to remember details, really specific ones, about this show so in an attempt to jog my memory I'm listening to the album they were touring on that year, Wild Mood Swings, right now (or I was when I started this yesterday. I'm now listening to Disintegration. It's still not helping me remember anything other than it's a far superior album to Wild Mood Swings. Anything Wish or earlier is, really). Some of the songs aren't my favorite, which might be giving them too much credit, but overall it's not a terrible Cure album. There are some gems on there.

I remember wishing they had have played more off of Disintegration and Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, which were in heavy rotation in my tape player(!) at the time. Looking at the setlist that I found for the show makes me wonder what I was really expecting. I mean they must have played for around two hours and, although they played almost all of Wild Mood Swings, they did a pretty good job of playing stuff off most of their albums, except for Faith and Pornography which aren't represented at all. I would love to see this show again today.

I bought a bootleg t-shirt off a guy in the parking lot. It's about four sizes too large. I still have it somewhere in a drawer.

The setlist:

Want
Club America
A Night Like This
Push
Lullaby
Dressing Up
This Is A Lie
Mint Car
Just Like Heaven
Let's Go To Bed
Jupiter Crash
Round & Round & Round
Inbetween Days
Strange Attraction
Fascination Street
Return
Treasure
Trap
Prayers For Rain
From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea
Bare
Disintegration

E1:
Lovesong
Friday I'm In Love
Close To Me
Why Can't I Be You


E2: 
Charlotte Sometimes
Play For Today
10.15 Saturday Night
Killing An Arab

E3: 
Boys Don't Cry
A Forest

Conditioner Is Better

I'm not sure that this even counts, but it's in the pile so it got scanned and here it is.

This experience was not pleasant. It basically consisted of Brenda and I being harassed and called "freaks" or "dykes." We both had some portion of our hair shaved, half of mine and all of hers. We were most likely wearing mostly, if not all, black, a lot of black make-up, fishnet may have been involved. I don't know. All I remember is that wherever we went we were ridiculed and stared at. A year or two before this some of my friends and I had become slightly/ridiculously into Adam Sandler movies. I guess we never thought about who else may enjoy him, like stupid ass holes who made fun of people who didn't wear khaki shorts and baseball hats all the time. I'm not sure we stayed the whole show because there's only so much a person can take. We spent a lot of the show holding hands and pretending to be lesbians. I mean, why not mess with them if they're going to be so ignorant. 

Runnin' Frantic Without A Clue

Oops. This is way out of order.

This show happened in 1995.  At some point in my life I put all of my stubs in a box in, what I thought was,  chronological order. Being an imperfect human I make mistakes. So, yeah, this show is from 1995 not 1996.

The scan of this stub makes it look a lot more in tact than it actually is. In real life it looks like it could disintegrate at any moment and it's difficult to see who the band was. It's really amazing that the scanner at work did such a good job with it. I love that this stub looks like this because it means that as it sat in my back pocket it got destroyed by my concert enjoyment.

Is It Coming At Ya Live

I forgot about this show

Therapy? was the opener, a band that I completely forgot about despite the fact that I used to listen to them and found a cassette single(!) of theirs while unpacking my apartment last week.  Girls Against Boys were a band that a lot of my friends listened to so I liked them by default. I think I have a better appreciation for them now than I did back then. 

I Heard Them Once Before

My very first official 18 and over show...fitting since my only snuck into 18 and over show was also the Whigs....

This was my first of, what would turn out to be, very many shows at the Metro. My brother and I drove down to Chicago for this and I don't think we spent the night.  We just drove down, watched them play and then drove back to Novi, getting there very late/early the next day. It's a good thing that live music energizes me. 

I Must Confess I Love It All

I believe this is the only time I saw the Afghan Whigs at the State Theater. It was right around this time that they were having some success and it felt odd to see them at such a large venue (even though the Phoenix is bigger than the State, outside is just different).

I get this feeling, kind of a high, when I see live music performed by bands that I actually like. I could be having the worst day, be sick as a dog or more depressed than I ever thought possible and I leave feeling like everything is perfect, that I have enough energy to stay up for hours and that life has just a little bit of meaning. Maybe that's an exaggeration but not much. At that time the Afghan Whigs were the epitome of this feeling. There was/is something about Greg Dulli on stage...no matter how much older he gets or if he gains a little weight, he just has this swagger or something. I can close my eyes and picture myself at 18 standing as close to the stage as possible, yelling every word and never taking my eyes off him.

They announced two reunion shows next year and I'm prepared to pay a lot of money to see at least one of them. I've gotten so used to the Twilight Singers, a band I absolutely adore, that it will be weird, in the best way possible, to see a full on Whigs reunion. 

His Name Is Kid

And happy day before my 18th birthday to me. I think this show was my idea. Maybe I thought it would be funny?

You want to know what three things do not go together?? My teenaged gothness, Meaghan's punk rock girlness and Kid Rock fans. This show was a disaster from the beginning. What Meaghan and I were thinking I have no idea. It's possible that I was, um, trying to expand my musical genre experience or something.

Even pulling into the parking lot we just knew that this wasn't going to go well. I remember walking from the car and feeling like everyone staring at us like we didn't belong. In all fairness we really didn't. I mean, I didn't listen to Kid Rock, not then or anytime after that (being subjected to him while playing darts doesn't count). The kids there made fun of us, we made fun of them. Meaghan was successful at making a game out of it, talking up the random Kid Rock fans. I mentioned in my journal how I thought she was being ridiculous but at the same time totally hilarious.

We didn't stay for the whole show. I'm not even sure that we made it through one Kid Rock song. It was pretty sonically miserable in there.  As we were leaving we ran into a kid who really wanted to go to the show but didn't have the money. We felt bad that we had no desire to see Kid Rock and had tickets and this genuinely nice kid (with questionable music taste) really wanted to see him and couldn't afford it. We gave him $5, which feels like a lot when you're working 20 hours a week making $7 per hour. 

I Want Something More

It's another one of those shows where I remember nothing. This is days before my 18th birthday. It's funny what your brain retains and doesn't...or I guess how much my brain hasn't.

If I had to take a guess it would be that I hoped for a lot off Against The Grain, as I was in love with that album at the time. I maybe went with my brother. Stupid brain. 

Destroy Us Or Make Us Saints

I  was almost not allowed to go to this show. I would have missed a good one

I used to never get sick and, until I started drinking, I never threw up but for no reason at all on this day, while at a journalism conference instead of school, I lost my lunch, so to speak, and had to be picked up by my dad and taken home early. My parents were pretty lenient with me in general but did have a rule that if you didn't go to school you couldn't go out after school time. I had to do a lot of finagling to get them to allow me to go see Ministry with my brother despite the fact that I left a school-like non-school activity early. I most likely went over my mom's head and appealed to my dad. He was always easier for me to convince.

Let's use the excuse that I wasn't feeling well and not that we thought we might get the shit beaten out of us to explain why we didn't stand on the floor near the stage. Instead we stood on one of the riser levels just behind the floor. From there we could actually see and not get punched in the face (or so we thought).

Those levels got pretty full and if you were lucky enough to get in the front of one you were against a metal rail. It's only natural to hold onto said rail that you're pressed against because you can't put your arms down or you'll hit the person in front of you on the level below.  I was busy enjoying some of my favorite Ministry songs when the guy in front of me start rocking back onto my hands. Being the sassy 17 year old that I was, and by sassy I mean bitchy and self righteous, I started to push him back off my hands. At some point he decided that he wasn't so into that and turned around swinging (at least this is how it went down in my mind). Luckily my brother was paying attention and made up for trying to push me into the Grand Canyon when we were young, pulling me over toward him and out of the way of this dude's fist. I think he felt like an ass hole, almost hitting a young girl, and stopped hitting my hands with his back.

Beards, Buffalos & Bows and Arrows

New Years Eve 1995. I was 4 months into being 16 and having my driver’s license. That night there was no other place my long haired, hard rock lovin’, stupid teen self would have rather been then in Detroit seeing the Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent, perform at his 10th annual Whiplash Bash concert.

Many things made this show special. First, my friends and I drove ourselves to the show. It was one of the first times we were able to do so without having the embarrassment of our parents dropping us off. Second, this was probably the first time any of us teens had been around so many drunken fools in one place (which made for great people watching). Third, we were seeing a local legend at a legendary local venue, Cobo Arena.

Like the Nuge, Cobo Arena was iconic with Detroit music history: Concert albums by KISS (Alive!- Including the iconic arena photo on the album's back cover), Bob Seger (Live Bullet), Journey (Captured), Yes (Yesshows), The J. Geils Band (Blow Your Face Out), and The Doors (Live in Detroit) wereall recorded, in whole or in part, in the arena. We were thrilled to be seeing a show there ourselves. Chills.

When the Nuge took the stage, the first thing that surprised me was the length of his massive beard. As he explained some point into the set, we were many months deep into Michigan hunting season, and as any Midwestern man knows, you grow a beard to keep your face warm during the snowy months. Ted was just following protocol.

To everyone’s pleasure Ted pulled out all the stops those who love him have come to know and expect. He only had some 30 years to perfect his stage craft at that point including : Shooting a hanging guitar with a flaming arrow, swinging from a vine in loin cloth, and riding a goddamn buffalo out on stage while ripping a shredding solo! It was basically a Nuge greatest hits show, so every song you wanted to hear was played… at ear bleeding volume! Even the Damn Yankees showed up at one point and took the stage to play a song with Ted. (bummer part of the night). Yet the crowd ate it up. That’s Michigan for you.

Right before midnight the countdown took place and as soon as the clock struck 12 fireworks shot off for what seemed like ten minutes straight. When the smoke cleared Nuge busted into Stranglehold and my face was crushed. What a time.

Wow, it was almost 18 years ago!

-Rollin’

Geoff

The Spaceman And The Cat

After that Superchunk show I either took a break from seeing live music or only went to shows where I gave some guy $5 at the door and stood around with my friends watching 16 year olds play guitars. It's most likely the latter. Anyway, my good friend Geoff has kindly volunteered to be a guest blogger for a couple of shows. He remembers way more than I ever could, it's pretty amazing. My stubs are in better shape so at least I have that going for me.....

Growing up in the Detroit area I had become an idiot KISS fanatic by my teenage years.It seemed only natural enough though. As youth we were reminded of Kiss’s place in music history about every 5 minutes on classic rock radio. They were super popular in Detroit and the band even named a killer song after our city! I loved the smoking guitars, huge rising drum platforms, costumes, blood spitting, and the fire breathing that I heard about and saw in old videos!! That whole shtick got me, as it was supposed to. I was a dork that way. Friend’s parents even used to tell us about seeing Kiss back in the 70s and how great they were. They told us how no other bands today could even come close to putting on a better live show. I had recently turned 16 when I had the chance to see original KISS guitarist Ace Frehley and drummer Peter Criss play in town. We heard the rumors about decades of drug and alcohol addiction, but for only $10 I had to go see them play. It was the closest I could ever get to seeing the original thing I had heard so much about. It would be the first of my many future KISS experiences.

This show took place in Detroit’s famed rock and roll/heavy metal dump of a club; Harpos. Conveniently located in one of the city’s most dangerous neighborhoods. Though it was a scary place, it soon became my favorite venue in the city because I could get away drinking beer as a minor there. We could also smoke lots of cigs without anyone caring either. I loved that place. What my parents did not know would not hurt them !

This was a pretty packed show which was not surprising. I personally think that any past, current or even future member of Kiss could come to Detroit in a coma, completely unable to play, and the show would still sell out. That’s how devoted the Kiss Army folks in Detroit are. Ace and Peter were fairly washed up at this point. None the less, my friends and I were excited to see them.

Before shows and in between bands, Harpos had a tradition of playing pre recorded MTV Headbangers Ball videos on an enormous drop down white screen that was lowered in front of the stage. It always pumped up the local metal heads. During this “screening” some drunkard near us kept yelling “BRING OUT THE CAT, BRING OUT THE CAT,” referring to drummer Peter Criss and his cat make up. This phrase, “Bring out the cat,” later became a funny saying my friend Waldo would yell out in crowded places at inappropriate times, always inciting a chuckle from those who knew the origin.

The cat and his band played first. I was only about fifteen feet away, and Peter looked old from behind the drum kit. He wore John Lennon rounded, blue glasses and was all wrinkly. He played decently enough but his bandmates were much younger than him and tried not to show him up too much. His set involved mostly Kiss songs that he originally sang, like Hard Luck Woman and Beth, as well as songs from his solo albums throughout the years. It was fun and kind of sad at the same time. Then Ace Frehley played his set. Ace was drunk for the show. Slurring into the mic between songs, telling bad jokes, and nearly falling over a few times, his intoxication showed. None the less, it was much more rocking then Peter’s set. It involved mainly the same thing: Ace singing his classic songs and solo tunes. Yet Ace’s band featured older musicians who had been in his Frehelys comet band since the 80s.

The best part of the night was at the end of Ace’s set when he invited Peter on stage to drum and the two of them belted out a handful of classic Kiss songs, including Detroit Rock City! Though there was no make up, no fire, or costumes, or blood and all the schtik that supposedly made them great, they rocked together with happiness and spirit. They were having a great time playing together and I could see a small glimpse of what it must have been like to see them perform back in the 1970s. Well worth the $10 ticket price and our car not getting broken into outside.

Rockin

-G

Why Do You Have To Put A Date On Everything?

This is my last show until April 2006...at least it was a good one

If I had to guess I went with my brother to this. Upon doing a little research I discovered that Seaweed opened. Really? That's pretty stinkin' rad. In the past year I've seen both bands.  Superchunk continues to put out awesome albums and play amazing shows and Seaweed sounded great at the reunion show I went to in April (although they sounded a little rusty because, well, they probably are). I would pay to see this lineup today.

Saw Everything I Wanted

Another one of those shows where I was surrounded by friends (and, I remember correctly, cute boys)

My 17 year old self writes: Pennywise was super fun. They played a good set and I knew a lot of the songs. Matt (which Matt???) got scratched, ruined his hat and lost a contact. Oh well (man, I was so sympathetic back then). We saw Steve DeRoo and he hurt himself. I actually got to see a bunch of people who I haven't seen in a while like Bryan Reinhart and Josh Gartner.  Afterwards we went to Taco Bell...."

So, apparently I had a good time at this show. I wish I could be 17 again. 

People Say I Look Like A Fool

Did you know that Voodoo Glow Skulls still tour? I had no idea...

From my journal: I went to the Voodoo Glow Skulls concert with my brother, Jimmy, Matt and Mike Berardino last night. I saw Tyler there as well as Melia and Heidi Nemuth. I held Jimmy's jacket and was extremely hot and uncomfortable because of it. Afterwards my brother dropped off all of my friends and we went to Denny's.

So that seems pretty standard. I know, for sure, who almost all of these people are. It could be many Matts, although I have my guesses which one it was. It's nice to think about going to shows with so many of your friends. Of course it happened all the time in high school and college, then quite often in Chicago as an adult but I'm missing that here in San Francisco. 

Huh

This is not a band that has stuck with me throughout the years. In fact, I'm not even sure I liked them back then either.

It was my first time in the Shelter, which is the basement of St. Andrew's. To get in you go through the back door near the parking lot. I remember thinking that it was odd to be down there. The show upstairs that night...Terence Trent D'Arby.  

Ain't It Hard When You Realize You're Young

Make fun if you want but I liked and still do like this band

Who knows if I like them more emotionally than musically but I do like Buffalo Tom. Both them and the Smithereens are bands that feel like they belong to me and my brother for some reason. They're the ones we seemed to always see together and actually agree on post-show. So, yeah, I like them. Deal with it. 

If This Series Has a Pattern, I Found It

I like Jawbreaker but I was definitely at this show for the opener

Jawbox opened and I think I stayed on the floor for them and moved upstairs for Jawbreaker. There were more people here than the previous Jawbox show, which was nice.

Whenever I look at the St. Andrew's shows list from this time I see all these shows that I should have gone to see but didn't. Seaweed played the night before this but I wasn't there. It could have been 21 or 18+, I don't know. Spiritualized played the previous week, Blur the week before that, The Verve and X before that and I was at none of these shows. If I could go back I would sneak in, befriend a door guy, pay someone if I had to, something to get in.  

Doin' It Again

I remember nothing about this show and have no journal entry for help. Well, I have very fuzzy and vague thoughts about this show but nothing concrete that I can write about.

I'm Afraid I Can't Help It

There was no way to pass this show up....

Being the super insightful 17 year old that I was, the following is what I had to say about this show: "Yesterday was NIN and David Bowie. It was so good and I actually had fun. I always have fun with I'm with Meaghan. I found my brother and snuck him down to our seats." I do remember squeezing my brother into our seats and getting dirty looks from the people next to us. We were in the section just past the floor so we could actually see a little bit. 

I'm not even sorry

I think that this is the last time I ever saw Quicksand. When my brother told me of their demise I threw a little fit. 

Vans, in my head. Vans, on my feet

The first warped tour

The lineup was: CIV, Deftones, Face To Face, Fluf, L7, No Doubt, No Use For A Name, Orange 9mm, Quicksand, Seaweed, Sick Of It All, Sublime, Supernova and Tilt. I'm sure I was most excited for Quicksand and Seaweed and think I went with my brother. I kinda miss seeing shows on a parking garage rooftop. 

Cool Kind Of Crazy

Before Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny died...

I remember that the show was fun but the performance was just okay.

I am not a headcase, most of the time. 

Cover up

"Button one more button" my dad said as he stopped me from walking out the door. If only he knew...

What my dad didn't know was that under my black shirt, the one that I intended on removing as soon as I left the house, I was wearing nothing but mesh and electrical tape. Yes, I wore a mesh shirt with electrical tape xs on my nipples and that was it. Holy shit! At 17 I had the balls to leave the house wearing basically nothing. At 33 I would never even consider this. Hell, at 23 I don't think I would have done it again.

I spent the whole show walking around in my combat boots, short skirt and nothing else giggling about all the looks I was getting and acting like I didn't notice. 

I guess I can't really say anything about the way kids these days dress. 

Why Don't You Try A Little Harder

I was born April 28, 1978. On June 25, 1995 I was 17 years old....

So how did I get into this 18+ show? Well you see, my friend Sharon, who around this time was trying to woo me into going to Bradley University (it worked), let me borrow her driver's license. Yes, we're about the same height. Yes, we both have dark hair. At the time we both had curly hair, or least Sharon did in her i.d. photo, but that's about where our similarities end. I really wanted to go to this show, though, so I gave it a shot.

I waited in line outside of St. Andrew's Hall nervously and handed the door guy "my' i.d. very timidly when I got to the front. He looked at it, looked at me, looked at it, looked at me. I thought "crap. I'm caught. He's not going to let me in. He's going to keep Sharon's license" but no, he did neither of those things. He made me crinkle up my nose,  chuckled a little bit and let me in the door. He let me in the door!!!!

The show was awesome.  It could have been the adrenaline of getting in but I don't think so. It doesn't get much better than the Afghan Whigs. 

Glistening

This stub is pretty well worn (it says Sick of it All St. Andrew's Hall. Friday March 24, 1995 DO 6pm. It cost $8.50). 

The lineup was Orange 9mm, Down By Law, Civ and Sick of it All. Yep.  I think I went with my brother and there were a lot of dudes there. That's about all I've got 

It Comes To Me As No Surprise

Obsessed much?

Why yes, this is my fourth time seeing Nine Inch Nails in a year, second time in a two week period. My brother and I drove to Kalamazoo for this one.

I looked back at my journals for information to help me with the blog and found that I wrote this:  "Yesterday we went to NIN yet again, that was four. The show was alright. I had an amazing view. I was on the right, I have to be so I can see Robin Finck, behind the speakers so I could see everything. The group of people who were right in front of me were really huge fans. The set list, I'm surprised to say, wasn't as good as the New Year's Eve show. Sad. Afterwards my brother and I spent almost the whole car ride home arguing about bands and tours."

This arguing about shows/bands is a recurring theme for us, although, despite the fact that we like fewer of the same bands now, our opinions of shows seem to be converging. After the show we drove back to my brother's dorm at Michigan State. Apparently I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Mateo (Matt Sarcona).

Right Now I'm So In Love WIth You

What a way to spend New Year's Eve...

My brother, Brenda and I rung in 1995 with a little Nine Inch Nails, Jim Rose Circus Sideshow and Pop Will Eat Itself. I'm just guessing here but I bet, despite being on the floor, we couldn't really see. I did my brother's hair for the occasion. Man, I wish I could look that young again.

The internet is a really wonderful thing. Apparently this is was setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/nine-inch-nails/1994/the-palace-of-auburn-hills-auburn-hills-mi-53d7c311.html. Not bad at all

      

I tried, I swear

I know that I'm in the minority here but I'm really not that big a fan of this band...

Don't get me wrong, I've tried. I really have. I can't imagine I was a huge fan back then and if I was it certainly hasn't carried into adulthood.

I probably went to see the openers more than the headliner of this one but despite my lack of fandom it's still a pretty rad lineup. The other two bands on this bill were Sunny Day Real Estate and Brainiac. Yep. 

I've Got This One Problem

Will I live forever? I've got just a short time to see....

I have to be honest, I remember nothing about this particular show but I remember other, more recent,  Bad Religion shows and they were all really great so I think it's safe to assume that they kicked some ass. Whenever I listen to them I feel like I need to be doing more reading and taking more actions and try to be generally smarter.

I still love this band oh so very much. 

That's The Way It Goes When There's Nobody Listening

Ah, a band who releases a song on more than one album hoping it will become a hit...and then it does.

The Verve Pipe, although now makes me want a vomit just a little bit, was a well liked band amongst my friends in the early mid 90s. We all loved the first album, I've Suffered A Head Injury, which originally contained the song Freshman, before it was re-recorded and re-released on the next album and then became a giant and annoying hit song. Yay?

Anyway, looking back this band wasn't very good. I don't know what we were thinking. 

Is that all it took?

I remember something about this one!

This would be my Dinosaur Jr. do-over after the stage mishap at the previous year's Lollapalooza and I was going to do it right...in the front, on the rail. We got there early enough or I was weasely enough to get to the very front of everything. My prize for this....a boot print shaped bruise on my back.

Ah, the days of combat boots. They make perfect battering rams for crowd surfers to use on the people standing in front. You never see it coming, either. You're just minding your own business, enjoying one of your favorite bands, squished up against a metal guard rail while your hair gets pulled and you're covered with other people's sweat when bam! Boot to the back.

The bruise made me feel tough.  

Is it too late to change my mind?

Man, I would love to see them again....

There was a Jawbox show at St. Andrew's Hall that was incredibly empty. I remember being shocked that more people weren't there because they were so good. I don't know if it was this one or when they played with Jawbreaker. I think it was this one but I have no idea.

Jawbox is the reason I didn't take a reasonably paying office job after I got out of college (approximately six years after this show). I had temped at this terrible accounting firm in Skokie, which was completely not my scene. They fired their office manager and offered me the job which I took because, well, I had no money, was just out of the college and the prospect of making $30k a year with benefits seemed pretty alright. I hated this job, the commute, the atmosphere, everything. On the train ride in on my first day I was listening to the self titled Jawbox album on my discman (pre ipod) and Capillary Life came on. J. Robbins sang "is it too late to change my mind"and I said, aloud on the train, "No. No it is not." I walked into the office and told them that I changed my mind. I couldn't do it. The woman in charge told me that she was surprised I took the job in the first place. Office job crisis averted thanks to Jawbox. 

Nothing can stop me now

Ah, the second time.

What I remember from this show is trying to get closer. Row WW does not make a very good seat and I was a rabid, crazy fan. I think I successfully got into the single letters. Where there's a will...My friend made me a copy of the Downward Spiral when it came out that year and I labeled it "Trent Blessed."

I'll throw you scraps

Before this show my friend Adam and I went to Baker's Square (gross) for pie. I got a piece of french silk to go and dropped it on our way out. I was heartbroken.

We almost missed Hemet because of the pie incident but didn't. I think I was mildly interested in Rollins Band so it's good we didn't miss Helmet. 

Lollapalooza 1994

Another year, another Lollapalooza.

The internet has told me that the lineup was as follows:

Main Stage: The Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, The Breeders, A Tribe Called Quest, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, L7, Boredoms (first half of tour), Green Day (second half)

Side Stage: The Flaming Lips, The Verve, The Boo Radleys, The Frogs (first six dates only), Guided by Voices, Lambchop, Girls Against Boys,Rollerskate Skinny, Palace Songs, Stereolab, Fu-Schnickens, The Pharcyde, Shudder to Think, Luscious Jackson, God Lives Underwater, King Kong,Charlie Hunter Trio, Shonen Knife, Blast Off Country Style, Souls of Mischief, Cypress Hill, The Black Crowes

My brain, however, remembers nothing. I know, for a fact, that Pine Knob is a much more comfortable venue than the previous year's. Looking at the lineup I'm trying to remember who I saw but can only hazily remember seeing the Beastie Boys and George Clinton.  It's completely impossible that I saw only those two but I simply don't remember. I like a lot of these bands so I certainly hope that I saw some of them.  

Breaking the Rules

So, this isn't a ticket stub but this show was free and stubless and I've carried around this little handbill since 1994 (it has tape, holes from pushpins and that gummy stuff you used to put your posters up in college on it, so it's been well displayed) and I even made the trek to Hayward to get the box it was in out of storage so I could scan it.

This show was FREE!!! Can you believe it? Look at that lineup and it cost us nothing.  We just showed up to this weird parking garage in the middle of Pontiac and got to see all these bands. Awesome.

This show is somewhat pivotal in my concert going life as it was the first of, what would turn out to be,  many times seeing both the Afghan Whigs and Superchunk and it was pretty amazing.

I think that Superchunk's set got cut short because some other band was late and they were being kind letting them use some of their time, which totally bummed me out. I know that this happened at the Phoenix Plaza Amphitheater so I'm pretty sure it was this show.

I can actually remember seeing the Afghan Whigs.  I was kind of near the back. It was dark and I had gotten separated from my friends, but it didn't matter. I remember the feeling I had hearing them play all of those songs that I had heard so many times on my stereo, in my car, in my friend's cars. My brother and I both think that Marcy Mays sang "My Curse" with them, which is logical because Scrawl played that day, but the internet is trying to tell me that she only did it once in Reading. Maybe Reading was the only time it was recorded. In my mind, it totally happened. Anyone want to back me up?

To all my friends present, past and beyond

Despite the fact that if I had to think of a Pennywise song that's been stuck in my head most it would be Bro Hymn, when scanning this stub I could not get the beginning of Searching out of my head. "Inside my mind is a clock tick-tocking time. not gonna stop until my last day's done. wanna try me well come get some"

This ticket stub is well worn, which is a sign that a good time was had or, at the very least, it was hot enough for me to sweat a whole bunch (just wait until we get to Lollapalooza 1994)

Pennywise is one of those bands that I still enjoy listening to from time to time even now. I don't remember much about this show but I feel like this was the show that I actually sat upstairs, which I rarely did at St. Andrew's, because my back hurt and my friend Kelly gave me a muscle relaxer or something like that and I was slightly too incapacitated to do a lot of running around in the crowd. I could be wrong that it was this Pennywise show but I don't know who I would ask to confirm it so we'll just go with that story. 

Forgotten

I forgot all about this one...

If I close my eyes I can almost feel being here, but I really don't remember. I suppose I'm just pasting memories from all of the shows I've seen at Pine Knob and creating a memory. I saw Soundgarden at Lollapalooza recently in Chicago so I'm probably just taking those sound memories and pairing them with my Pine Knob images.

I was in the pavilion for this one, not even that far back. I mean, z isn't too bad. I don't remember being in the pavilion for very many shows there. 

Kinda I Want To

If you were to live inside my 16 year old brain this day it would probably sound something like this "oh my god. oh my god. oh my god. oh my god. the day is finally here. I can't believe that tonight I get to see Trent...finally. What will he play? What will I wear? Can we get close to the stage? How will we get everyone from the balcony to the main floor? Oh my god. oh my god. oh my god. I get to see TTTRRREEEENNNNTTT RRRREEEZZZZNNNOOORR!!!!!"

At this time in my life there were very few bands, people, things that I liked more than I liked Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails. I had cut out pictures of Trent Reznor from magazines all over my room, NIN was written on all of my notebooks, my NIN cassettes hardly ever left the tape deck. I loved him so much and my friends were no different. We were, however, only able to procure one main floor ticket (how I ended up with the stub is beyond me because I'm pretty sure I had a balcony ticket). Once we were in we found someone who was willing to give us their main floor stub and snuck four or five people in. Two would go in one side of the asiles, one person would come out with both ticket stubs on the same side then bring someone else in with them on the other side of aisles then repeat. It took us a while to get people in and not look too suspicious but we did it.

Marilyn Manson opened and my friend Adam (aka boy I was completely in love with) and I really liked them. When Adam bought the cd the next week the guy at the record store told him that no one was ever going to like Marilyn Manson, that they were too weird. They were definitely weird but we didn't mind (and apparently neither did a whole lot of other people, at least eventually). The show...man. I remember being completely in awe the whole time. Screaming the lyrics. Trying to get as close as possible (not close enough).

Two of the four people who I remember going to the show with are no longer alive. I think of them both whenever I hear Nine Inch Nails (which is somewhat often). 

Toasters

If I think really hard I can almost remember this show...almost. I really did like ska. 

There's no way my brother went to this with me and I wasn't driving quite yet so anyone could have been my show partner. 

I've got nothing

We can blame the fact that I moved from Chicago to San Francisco a few days ago for my lack of knowledge about this show and amount of time it took for me to post this stub.

These days Urge Overkill makes me think of my friend Angie.  I don't even remember liking back then but the show only cost $11 so maybe I just went because my friends were going. Who knows. 

And then I met my best friend

This show holds special significance to me because it marks the anniversary of meeting the girl who would become like a sister to me for (probably) the rest of my life.

Possum Dixon opened this show and I got in trouble with my friends for singing along with Watch That Girl Destroy Me in front of our friend Karl, whom we knew from hanging out at Denny's, because his girlfriend had just broken up with him. 

This show was in Flint and a few carloads of people made the drive to see it. My friends and I had a special place in our hearts for the Dead Milkmen so it was worth the drive. My friend Dan went with a girl named Meaghan to the show and we hit it off really well. 17 years later we're like family. For that fact alone, this show is one of my all-time favorites. 

I'm getting bored again

This time no large man pulled me out of the pit. I probably got the crap beaten out of me.

Bring on the horns

The brass kind, not the metal kind. 

What 15 year old liked the Mighty Mighty Bosstones just as much as she liked Skinny Puppy? This one, of course.  I feel like Mustard Plug opened, which is probably untrue. 

There was a (band) and the name of the (band) escapes me. When I can't remember it irritates me....

Seriously. How many years until I remember more stuff from these stubs?

mulligan

Since I only got to see a couple of songs the first time I got a do-over, a year and a half later....

This time, however, I knew more of the songs and appreciated it a lot more. The State Theatre is a way better place to hear and see a show than Pine Knob (not saying Pine Knob was the worst but the lawn is very far from the artist). 

pass the salt pour it in my wounds

Oh man, I wish I could go back and relive this show and remember every single detail. What an excellent band...

This was my very first time going to St. Andrew's Hall, aka my favorite place to see shows for many many years. I can't think of a better band to be my first and I remember absolutely nothing from this show. It's amazing. Nothing. I cannot say enough good things about Quicksand. To this day I still love them and wish they had stuck around longer than they did, and yet all details from this show are missing. If anyone can fill me in please do. I hate my brain sometimes.  If I hadn't just shipped all of my belongings to California I would dig out old journals and see what I had to say.