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.