Concerts
This page was inspired by one of those Facebook lists. It was supposed to be 50 concerts, but I put in all that I could remember (well, most of the ones I remember).
| Rock Superbowl | 1983 | First Concert |
| John Cougar Mellonhead | ||
| Loverboy | I was there for Loverboy | |
| Fleetwood Mac | Left a Lindsey Buckingham fan: wow | |
| Styx: Kilroy was Here | 2nd Concert | |
| Night Ranger, Greg Kihn | Disney Grad Night | |
| Kansas | free USAFA concert | 2 year void |
| Sting | 1985: UF | w/ Vici; saw him much later in Irvine, CA |
| Tears for Fears | ||
| Naomi's Hair/Braille Closet | w/ Vici | |
| The Call | Dub's in Gainesville, 2nd row | |
| Tommy Shaw | Dub's in Gainesville | |
| The Cure | Oct. 1987 (road trip: University of New Orleans) | w/ Alan, Bill; my "all black" period; disappointed in the concert (hopes too high), music good. The Cure will not have to change their stage show when they are no longer ambulatory in their nineties. |
| Jane's Addition/Love and Rockets | UF Student Union | small venue very cool. Perry was a jerk; L&R was fun. |
| U2 | Tampa Stadium | 100 yards away and as intimate as the L&R show at the UF Student union the week before. Audience exiting the stadium singing "40" |
| The Toll | some restaurant at UF | very cool, singer walking on tables during his in-song rants |
| The Outfield | a frathouse at UF | what a great frat party concert. "Play Deep" had a bunch of hits. Very fun. |
| The Pursuit of Happiness | some lawn at UF | fun |
| Lone Justice | ||
| Journey | w/ Lonnie | |
| The Romantics | ||
| The Connells | some UCF auditorium | w/Alan, David |
| Midnight Oil | 1990 Universal Studios, Los Angeles | w/Martina. my favorite band at the time (still one my favorites). California: the poured a bottle of champagne into a folding carton (like chinese take-out). Some native said "dude" to me three times in the same sentence. I was terribly offended when the Oils end the concert covering Elvis Costello's "What's so Funny about Peace, Love and Understanding." Crowd leaving the arena singing "Beds are Burning." |
| The Sugarcubes | some hotel in Daytona | A blast. They came on stage discoing out and having a lot of fun. Here's a pretty good summary of my musical taste: I really prefer Bjork with the Sugarcubes than solo. I need the structure. |
| Peter Murphy w/ Nine Inch Nails | Beacham Theatre, Orlando ('90) | I didn't trust that NIN were playing most of their instruments (I could be completely wrong, but my impression was that it was all machines and keyboards). I enjoyed Peter Murphy. |
| The Hoodoo Gurus | Beacham Theatre, Orlando ('90) | A fun band, a very fun concert. "We saw your Shuttle Launch before the concert!" "We'll stop playing if you don't be careful down there." |
| Gene Love Jezebel | Beacham Theatre, Orlando ('91) | Saw them at UF at a free show in the O'Connell Center. Liked 'em enough to buy their latest album and then bought. Bands have a hard time transcending the strength of the album their promoting. "Kiss of Life" was them at their best. Contrast that now with their lounge act... |
| Redd Kross | ||
| Cosmic Mama | A local Hunstville blues band, saw them many times | this would represent a nadir, in so many ways |
| Tip Top Café, Huntsville AL | a live alternative oasis, a refuge if you will, in Huntsville, Alabama. One night the "headlining" act consisted of a drummer, a guitarist and two girls singing from the lyric sheet they had written the night before. And is wasn't all that bad (remember I'm living in northern Alabama). I'm thinking "THIS is what rock and roll and the creative urge is all about." | |
| The House of Love | Summer Solistice, 1992 in a church in Salisbury, England | An old converted church. The opening act was a British Country and Western band called the "Rockingbirds." No comment. House of Love played at about 10:00pm on a stage in front of big round stained glass window backlit by the sun which hadn't set yet. One of my favorite concerts. |
| The Dark Summer | Atlanta | Alan Dippy's band. Kevin is still the best bassist I've ever seen in any format. |
| The Cure | Wish Tour - Atlanta 1993 | w/Alan Dippy. This is one of my favorite concerts. This was my favorite Cure line-up - three guitars, favorite Album (and, living in Huntsville, AL made the contrast all the more dramatic). The "Show" VHS recording is probably my favorite recorded concert. "Pictures of You" live was worth the price of admission |
| Midnight Oil, Ziggy Marley | Orlando | |
| Midnight Oil | UF Bandshell | Drove up one weeknight with Mike, because we could. Ahh, youth. |
| Rush | Orlando Arena | with Chris, while fans, we had to admit how white their music is |
| Peter Gabriel | Orlando Arena | So Tour. With Rebecca and Alan and Michelle. Fun. |
| Tick Tick Tock | somewhere off Park Avenue | local band, wonder what happened to them |
| Rebecca Tex and the Bridge | strip mall off Semoran & Howell Branch | I see Rebecca is still making music… |
| The Screaming Trees | ||
| The Crowd | Orlando | call me a groupie. Local band, I saw them every chance I could. "Emotional Overload" is still one of my favorite songs. |
| 91XFest: Blink (prior to 182) | San Diego, 95 | |
| Mercury Tea Company, with Blue Chrome | San Diego, 95 | I went to this concert to see Mercury Tea Company, having been introduced to them at the 91XFest weeks before. I walked in early in the Blue Chrome set. Never heard of them. They blew me away. Guitars and soaring vocals. A lot of bands/songs back off, rather than attempt to take things to a new level. During several songs I expected a drop in intensity and they went the other way, leaving my mouth hanging open. They didn't have a CD or tapes or a mailing list. But the set was awesome. |
| Live | Irvine, CA., 95 | I was still new to San Diego, didn't know anyone. I asked a girl at a bar if she wanted to go see "Live." She asked "Who live?" I went alone. Big Venue but good seat. |
| Ned's Automic Dustbin | Soma, San Diego | Fun time, Rhythm bass, Lead bass, guitar. |
| Faith No More | ||
| Sonic Youth | scuse me, can I get some more feedback | |
| Throwing Muses | The Back Door, SDSU | tiny venue, University album (the last that I felt compelled to listen to). Kristin is a stud. |
| The Posies | 1995, Belly Up Tavern, Solana Beach, CA | Great little venue, great little concert. Leigh was there but we hadn't met yet. |
| Peter Murphy & Jewel | Spreckels Theatre, SD 1995/6? | Interesting bill. Jewel yodeled. New Hippie paired with the God of Goth. Everyone was either in bellbottoms or dressed up like Interview with the Vampire. Lots of boys in lace. |
| See Spot Groove | groupie again. Friends I played roller hockey with. Had the privilege of helping them escape a hick bar in rural San Diego. Another really talented band that didn't get any play. I still listen to their stuff. Keith a great bass-dancer and singer. | |
| Oingo Boingo | 1996 Open Air Theatre, SDSU | their last album was their best. Fun show. Well captured on their "Farewell" DVD. |
| U2 | 1996 - Pop Mart Tour, Coliseum , LA. | My first concert with Leigh. Good times. The last U2 album I ever gave a damn about. |
| INXS | Hospitality Point, SD, 1996 | w/Leigh and Tony. 2nd row, so close that you could see that Michael Hutchence's face was fairly pockmarked. A palpable desperation "By the F'ing album". dancing "waaay back" |
| Morrisey | Hospitality Point, SD, 1997 | He sucked. Talk about dialing in the performance… |
| Peter Murphy | 1998?, LA | I may not have brought a lot to the marriage, but I introduced Leigh to Peter Murphy and the proper way to drink a slurpee (no straws, they suck out all the liquid). Seen him three times since. For the Dust show there were probably 100 people in the audience. |
| The Cure | 1999, SDSU Open Air Theatre | 5th Row, I bought $200 tickets the day we got back from Africa. A favorite of Leigh's, she had never seen them. She suggested that she get two more $200 tickets, invite two of her customers and have her company pay for all four. Works for me. The two customers liked the Cure but hadn't seen them before and were of course were disappointed. Because of the seats and since it was the Bloodflowers tour, I like it a lot. We've seen them a couple of times since, the time was surprisingly enjoyable (good sound mix). |
| Cake, Violent Femmes, Jack Johnson | San Diego Street Scene | |
| Pixies | UCSD Rimac Arena | |
| No Doubt | UCSD Rimac Arena | Surprised Leigh when I told the ticket counter that I was on the guest list (later had to admit that they were radio station give-aways). |
| 94.9 Independence Jam | SDSU Open Air Theatre | I was happy to see "The Secret Machines" though they translate to the bowl very well. Blink-182 played, talked about receiving oral sex. Ben Folds Five was fun. Muse absolutely blew us away. Stunning 30 minute set (I was not familiar with them). "Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs" was a lot of fun (lot of sound from drums, a guitar and vocals (a bit of "Dark Summer" ripoff, though. There was a group of co-eds sitting to my right talking about all sorts of things under the sun. I was curious about the younger generation... During the bass soundcheck for "Franz Ferdinand" the tecnician picked off a line from "Transmission," one of the girls said "That sounds like Joy Division." I thought to myself that the kids are alright. Our future is safe. |
| Echo & the Bunnymen | Spreckels Theatre, SD 1995/6? | Leigh and I had gotten back that day from somewhere. Enjoyed the show then headed over to see The Call |
| The Call | Brick-by-Brick, SD | Tiny Venue, Michael and Tom were outside checking ID's. Tough business, the music industry. My conversation with Michael went over far better this go around than my conversation with Tom back in Gainesville fifteen years earlier. |
| Julie Ritter | no Mary's Danish stuff, too bad | |
| Cardigans | Soma (original) | |
| The Mission UK | Brick-by-Brick, SD | |
| Sinead O' Connor | Spreckels Theatre, SD 2009 | Started out a bit sketchy as Sinead wasn't really making eye contact with the audience. Got intimate soon enough when she sang "Just Like You Said it Would Be" |
| Bauhaus | San Diego Civic Center | same hall I took my Seismic and Survey Engineering exams |
| Midnight Oil | 2005-6 Capricornia era | I saw them eight times in a period of a 14 months or so. Leigh and I grabbed friends and saw them a couple of times in LA, once in San Diego. They were playing in San Francisco when I was doing some trainiing up there so I flew Leigh up for the evening and drove her to the airport in the morning. I was in Atlantic City when the played Philadelphia, caught them there. Very cool. |
| Puddle of Mudd, Queens of the Stoneage, The Vines | Soma (sports arena), SD | favorite Nirvanna ripoff. I do really like "Blurry" though |
| Dave Mathews | Coors Ampitheatre | bad seats, couldn't hear over the teenagers singing off key |
| Alanis Morissette | Cox Arena, SDSU | I love Alanis. Her voice was crystal clear but the concert was so-so |
| Pearl Jam | Cox Arena, SDSU | |
| The Hives | Soma (sports arena), SD | derivative |
| Muse | Soma (sports arena), SD | great live. Normally. This one they mailed in; just when I was trying to impress my friend Frank. |
| Incubus | Coors/Cricket Ampitheater, SD, July 2009 | poor seats, but Brandon can sing, it was fun just to listen |
| Nine Inch Nails/Jane's Addiction | Coors/Cricket Ampitheater, SD, July 2009 | poor seats. This time I was there to see NIN, having gained an appreciation for their work and for Trent. Not disappointed. Jane's Addiction started their set with Three Days, which was awesome, baby, Awesome. The set was fun. |
| Radiohead | Coors/Cricket Ampitheater, SD, July 2007 | decent seats. Awesome show. One of my favorites. Saw them later, bad seats, not as much fun. |
| Bob Mould | Belly Up Tavern, 2009 | A surprisingly hardass punk show |
| Bush | ||
| Interpol | Coors/Cricket Ampitheatre | other than "Evil" I don't like Interpol, so… |
| Concrete Blonde | 4th&B, San Diego | |
| Howard Jones | Belly Up Tavern | |
| The Heads | Belly Up Tavern | Johnette Napolitano did the singing. She's very powerful, her backup band was good. |
| The Church | Belly Up Tavern, 1998 | This was a "Best Of" show, that I had really good seats for. I was caught off guard and jaw-dropped. I had a blast. They played a month or two later with all new stuff, didn't like it at all. Later they played to a mostly empty 'Canes. I was standing dead center 10 feet away from whats-his-name. It was probably me standing in front of him in an emphty floor, but he kept sing to/at me. I kept averting my eyes. Very freaky. |
| The Dandy Warhols, with Black Rebel Motorcycle Club | Canes, 2004 | Came for 'Warhols" who were fun. Didn't know who the opening band would be, it was BMRC before they had any airplay. They were awesome. No expectations |
| Mercury Tea Company, with Blue Chrome | ||
| Rise Against, w/Rancid | Coors/Cricket Ampitheater, July 2009 | Low Expectations for Rancid, but they played a solid set and weren't too self-agrandizing or self-deprecating. Rise Against is my favorite active punk band, by far (but that's a genre I'm bored with). Rise Against has a compelling mix of urgent rebelliousness and compassion. |
| The Secret Machines | Canes, 2004 | Essentially the same set as the Open Air Theater, but more suited to the small club. Very good. |
| Flock of Seagulls, Pat Benatar, Gene Loves Jezebel | Viejas Casino, 2004 | casino show, say no more. Mike Love's voice was shot |
| Unwritten Law, Sprung Monkey | ||
| PJ Harvey | ||
| The Pretenders, B-52's | ||
| The Presidents of the United States of America | Go PUS America! | |
| Smashing Pumpkins | SDSU Open Air Theatre | |
| Spin Doctors | ||
| Spunge | ||
| They Might Be Giants | ||
| World Party | ||
| Upcoming: Arctic Monkeys | Soma, SD, Sept 14, 2009 |