concert memoirs pt. 38 – the who

The Who w/Counting Crows
9/24/02 Xcel Energy Center w/Amy Ticket Price: $150.00

The image for this installment isn’t a ticket stub. I know I saved it, but I can’t find it. What you see is the cover of the CD of the show. It’s part of a two disk set, recorded live that night, that could be purchased from The Who’s website. A CD set was available for each show of the tour. It’s a recent option in the music industry to try to make money from music.

These days with buying songs online and with pirating songs as well, there just isn’t as much money to be made on album sales. So the real money is made from the concert tour, that is if the musical act is a big enough name. Hence the astronomical ticket prices. (Did you see what we paid for one ticket?) I think it’s a very cool idea to offer the show you just saw on CD, making a great keepsake.

So, that’s what the image is all about.

This also is the last blog of this concert series in which I know the date of the show. I will continue the series highlighting shows that I just remember seeing, but have nothing else to show for it.

Amy and I spent $300 on a pair of tickets!! By far the most either of us had ever paid for concert tickets. It was The Who! Amy had never seen them and I wanted to see them with her, so $300 be damned! We only live once.

But, before we could even get the credit card out to go $300 in debt, we got the bad news. It was a Saturday morning when our friend, Dave (the Dave with whom I attended the previous Who concert – Target Center, 7/22/97) called to ask if we’d heard the news.

“What news?” I asked.

“John Entwistle is dead.”

“What?!”

It was true. Entwistle was in Las Vegas just prior to the tour beginning. He was having a coke party with some strippers in his hotel room, when his heart gave out. I guess that’s rock ‘n’ roll!

But, what about the tour?

Our worries of whether The Who would tour or not were short lived. Rog and Pete decided the tour would go on (goon?). A tour that included a stop in St. Paul.

Counting Crows opened. You may have heard of them. They’re a future rock ‘n’ roll footnote that Amy and I don’t particularly care for, so while they played we wandered around the Xcel concourse. Amy had never been to the Xcel Energy Center so it was as good a time as any to have a look around. It’s a very nice building which is located on the spot where the St. Paul Civic Center had been. Readers of this blog series will remember that it was at the St. Paul Civic Center where I had seen The Who for the first time (10/2/82). Twenty years and I’d come full circle.

The warm up act finished their whining and wailing, so Amy and I went in to take our seats. We were looking forward to the show, but we had a minor concern. There was a group of two forty-something couples seated directly behind us. That in itself isn’t a concern, but they were doing quite a lot of yakking. Loudly. One of the fellows fancied himself an expert on whatever it was they were talking about. So, he was particularly annoying. Our concern was that the group would continue yakking through the show.

“They had better shut up for the show or you’ll have to beat them up, Honey Bunny!” my sweet, loving wife said to me.

We needed have worried though. When The Who came out to perform, the couples turned their attention toward the stage. Phew!

The Who (or maybe they should have changed their name to The Two?) were in great form, despite the absence of John Entwistle. Pino Palladino filled his spot. Pino was good if not the same, but who could be?

Zak Starkey, Simon Townshend and John “Rabbit” Bundrick made up the remainder of the band, as they did when Dave and I saw them on the Quadrophenia tour in 1997. A great band, but not on the same level as when they were the original four. If only I could borrow Mr. Peabody’s way-back machine and witness The Who at their height. I have seen John play (twice), but I never saw the mad brilliance of Keith Moon in person.

Roger’s voice had become a little rougher over the years. Roger made note of his voice being especially croaky that night, because the night before they had played Chicago’s House of Blues. They played in front of about 1200 people, “All smoking!” Roger declared. He promised to give us he all that he had and he kept his promise.

Pete mentioned that that night we had, along with them; rock ‘n’ roll, Oprah and masturbation, with a bit of political satire. He told us that he thought we were so spoiled living in the Twin Cities. An area he considered “one of the cultural capitols of the world, if not THE cultural capitol of the world.” The crowd roared its approval, but I thought Pete was laying it on a bit thick. I wondered how many other cities he said that about on that tour. Just call me cynical.

They played most of their big hits. They played them with all the power and energy you would expect from a band as great as The Who. There was a review in one of the local papers the next day that rated the show very highly. The writer made a comparison of the opening act, Counting Crows, and The Who. He stated that the show demonstrated the difference between a good band (his opinion) and a legendary one.

One last thing, as the lights went up and the audience began to file out, Amy turned to me and said, “He’s so sexy!”

“Who? Roger?” I asked, though I should have known better.

“No! Pete!”

Yes, he is.

concert memoirs pt. 37 – los straitjackets & the church

Los Straitjackets “Rock & Roll Party” w/Big Sandy & Pontani Sisters

10/26/01 First Avenue w/Amy & Mark Ticket Price: Unknown

We were late for this show. I don’t remember why, I’m guessing that we thought Los Straitjackets would be going on later.

The “Rock & Roll Party” was the teaming up of Los Straitjackets, normally an instrumental band, with vocalist Big Sandy. Big Sandy was a pretty big fellow with the right kind of voice for the band. He sure seemed to be having a good time, but Amy and I stayed back from the stage. That made it more difficult to get into the swing of things.

Other than that, I don’t have much to relate about this show.

The Church w/Love-Cars
4/17/02 First Avenue w/Amy & John Ticket Price: Comp. Tickets

The Church is still one of my all-time favorite bands, but they haven’t done much for me after the 80’s. It seems that decade is where they left all their best material. From their earliest material released in 1981 (you can find it on the ‘Of Skins and Hearts’ CD) to their last album of the 80’s, ‘Starfish’, you will find some great and often brilliant songs. For me, their stand out album is their second release, ‘The Blurred Crusade’. It is fantastic from beginning to end.

Then came the 90’s and ‘Gold Afternoon Fix’. I just couldn’t warm up to that album. I liked the song ‘Metropolis’ and one or two others, but ‘You’re Still Beautiful’ was such a lousy song and ‘Russian Autumn Heart’ wasn’t much better.

I gave them other chance with their follow-up album, ‘Priest = Aura’. I was disappointed again. I think the audience they had found with ‘Starfish’ left them as well. Their subsequent albums became harder to come by even though they were still producing them. They may have some great songs in the 13 or so albums they’ve released since I left them, but I don’t know. I have heard a song called ‘Louisiana’ which I thought was fairly good.

So, all that leads me to the last time I would see The Church in concert. It was very much the same story as the last time John and I had seen them (First Avenue, 9/30/98). Very mid-tempo, very ethereal, very mystical, but lacking any kind of energy. Nothing like the first three times we’d seen them.

It is true that I didn’t know much of their material and that most certainly affected my enjoyment of the show. But, the same was true when I saw the band for the first time and I thoroughly enjoyed them then. The first time I had seen them it was new and exciting and entertaining. The last time was tired and boring.

Oh well, we had complimentary tickets for the show and John met us there. We enjoyed hanging out with him.

concert memoirs pt. 36 – david byrne & rev. horton heat

David Byrne w/Joe Henry

5/22/01 First Avenue w/Amy Ticket Price: Unknown

It looks like May 2001 was legendary musicians month. First, Iggy Pop and now David Byrne. That makes a pretty good month for music.

Neither Amy nor I had ever seen the Talking Heads. This would be as close as we would get so we were really looking forward to this show. David did not disappoint even though certain audience members… More on that shortly.

Things were running late that night. I don’t recall why. In fact, the audience was not allowed in through First Avenue’s main entrance, we had to file in through a side entrance which led directly to the VIP lounge in the main room’s upper level. We had to hang out there while the staff completed setting up the stage.

Once the setup was completed, we were allowed to file out of the VIP area and take our places by the stage. Amy and I were able to get right down front for Joe Henry as he came out to warm up the crowd.

What I remember of Joe Henry’s set was a certain group of three or four gals and one guy standing just behind us. Mainly I remember one of the gals in particular. She loudly talked and talked and talked and talked and talked about how great Joe Henry was last time she saw him perform.

Finally, Amy and I turned to the group and Amy said, “Would you shout up so we can hear him now?!” The gals just looked at us as though we were the ones being rude. The lone male of the group gave me a look as if to say, “Hey, man, they dragged me here. I don’t want any trouble.”

So, Joe finishes up and the audience tightens up to the stage in anticipation of David Byrne’s arrival. Remember, Amy and I were very close to the front of the stage. There were perhaps three or four people directly in front of us.

As David gets on stage and starts to play, the troublesome group behind us was at it again. This time the mouthy chick, along with one or two of friend gal pals, decided that they deserved to be closer to the stage. They began to attempt to push by us, but Amy and I did our best to keep them in their place. We were here first. Fair is fair. We soon realized that it wasn’t worth the fight.

The gals, fresh from their rudely won victory, got up front and did that whooping dance that only women do. You know the dance. The one where they dance their arms in the air and whoop it up because they are having such a great time. You never see men do quite the same dance.

Amy and I moved over a bit and soon had forgotten about the rudeness, because David played so well. He mixed in a few Talking Heads tunes with his solo material. Everything he played was very good.

He also assembled a few local musicians. He explained that he needed a string quartet for some of his songs. I forget the reason that he didn’t have those musicians touring with him, but his people had to hurriedly search for qualified local musicians.

Musicians were found and they had little time to rehearse before the show, which may explain the delay and detour at the beginning of the evening. But they were pros and they played beautifully. David was so grateful for them.

There was a special moment during the performance. It wasn’t the rude gals being acknowledged by David for whooping it up so well. No, it happened during a quiet moment between songs. David was explaining something about a song, when an audience member standing beside Amy and me shouted, “We’re all here for you, David!”

David seemed a little surprised, but he smiled sweetly and said, “Thank you.”

Rev. Horton Heat w/The GoToHells & Death On Wednesday
6/11/01 First Avenue w/Amy & Mark Ticket Price: Unknown

The one thing I have to relate about this show is the apparent breakdown of the Reverends drummer. The Reverend didn’t seem happy that night. It wasn’t noticeable most of the night, but toward the end of the show he seemed quite bothered. Something was wrong.

The drummer was having trouble keeping it together. Maybe it was too much drink or drug taking or something else, I couldn’t say. I don’t recall if the drummer was dismissed or if he walked off, but the Reverend ended his set playing an old Country and Western classic, possibly a Patsy Cline tune. It was just him singing and playing guitar, Nature Boy Jimbo on bass and the audience clapping along.

When he finished the song, the Reverend said, “You guys sure do keep a good beat!”

Oooooh, BURN!!

concert memoirs pt. 35 – soft boys, frank black and the catholics & iggy pop

Soft Boys

3/31/01 First Avenue w/Amy & John Ticket Price: Comp. Tickets

This was cool.

The Soft Boys reunited and re-issued ‘Underwater Moonlight’, the first album of theirs I had ever heard. Somewhere around 1985 or so, John and I drove down to Beloit, WI to visit a friend of ours who was going to college there. Because it was before term was to start, there weren’t many students around, so John and I were able to crash in one of the dorms. Our friend, Kelly, took us over to the college radio station.

Remember, in those days, college radio was way into the Indie music. We met a young woman who was on the air and we sat in the studio with her for a few minutes. It was then that she introduced us to ‘Underwater Moonlight’. She told us how great the album was and how great Robyn Hitchcock was and how we should check it out.

John soon picked up a copy of ‘Underwater Moonlight’ and we thought it was brilliant. We then discovered Robyn’s other equally brilliant material. I always thought it a shame the Robyn never quite made it to rock stardom. Perhaps it is better that he didn’t. This way we who know and appreciate his genius have him to ourselves.

That’s a long way round to get to talking about this show.

It was a fun show with great songs. Robyn is always entertaining. He’s one of the few artists that I have seen multiple times and has never delivered a bad show. He and Kimberly Rew play very well together.

Rew was quite a character as well. Looking like a cross between Bjorn Ulvaeus (of ABBA) and Dana Carvey with a little Felicity Kendal thrown in, we could easily tell he was having a wonderful time. He was so happy to be playing. His expressions were terrific. He looked as though he surprised himself at being able to play guitar. Amy and I were very entertained by him.

I’m going to get a little political now…

There was an exceedingly rare low moment in the show, however. In fact it was the only low point of any of the times I’d seen Robyn Hitchcock. Robyn thought it would be a real crowd-pleaser and a deep statement to take a little poke at our new president. He said, “This next song is for President Bush.” And then they played ‘I Wanna Destroy You’, which was probably written as an angry reaction to Prime Minister Thatcher and President Reagan.

Gee whiz! Give the man a chance. He was just elected (yes, elected). And he’s our president, you limey bastard! John expressed as much to Amy and me as we left. In fact, I think those were his very words.

I’m sure most of the folks present thought the Robyn was so right and insightful about our president. I’m telling you, the Left hate so easily for being such a tolerant group of human beings. At least, that’s how I see it.

Frank Black & the Catholics w/House of Large Sizes
4/27/01 First Avenue w/Amy & Mark Ticket Price: Comp. Tickets

I had seen House of Large Sizes once before. It was in the 7th St. Entry and I was with Amy. Amy really liked this band and had seen them several times. I thought they were pretty good and I liked the bass player gal’s gimmick of getting her extremely long braids to twirl about. It looked as though she might take off like a helicopter.

What I remember mostly about Frank’s show is how loud it was. There was one song in particular that had the band playing some nasty notes. They would hold on a note that seemed to drill right into my ear and violently vibrate my ear drum. I know ear drums are supposed to vibrate, but this was doing something weird to me.

The vibration was making me fell ill. I felt as though I might pass out. I’m not kidding! It was so loud and discordant, I had to (gasp!) put my fingers in my ears to keep from collapsing.

But I survived.

Iggy Pop w/The Mighty Mofos
5/16/01 First Avenue w/Amy Ticket Price: Unknown

“Hey! It’s the Mofos!” That was my reaction when the opening band took the stage. I hadn’t seen The Mighty Mofos in years and I was really surprised to see them that night. The Mighty Mofos are a local bar band that kicks out some really rockin’ tunes. They were a good compliment to the headliner.

At one point, Bill Batson the lead singer announced the band would play a cover song next and he wanted the audience to decide which band they should cover: Ramones or The Who. My vote, of course, was for a Who cover. The audience won, the Mofos played a Ramones cover. Which was ok, I like the Ramones, too.

Iggy came out all fired up and half undressed. Not an ounce of body fat, veins bursting out all over, and just a fireball of energy, it was hard to believe Iggy was 54 years-old. He jumped, ran and otherwise hurled himself around the stage, belting out all his classics. His energy level was amazing.

His backing band members were all much younger than the rock icon. I would think they had to be to keep up with Iggy. Hell, I got tired just watching him.

half a miracle on the hudson?

By now most everyone must know about US Airways Flight 1549 being struck by a flock of geese, losing both its engines, the pilot ably landing the craft in the Hudson River, bringing the passengers to safety with no loss of life. By now most everyone has heard (or said) it was a miracle.

I suppose it’s understandable that the events of Thursday, 1/14/09, would be considered by people of a religious mind as a miracle. Not possessing a religious mind myself, I would say, at best, it’s half a miracle.

I don’t mean people should give the divine hand half the credit with the rest going to the pilot, flight crew, ferry boat captains, rescue squads and the passengers themselves. You know, the pilot who managed to control the plane after striking the geese and water land it in one piece, the flight crew who managed to get everyone off the plane and onto the wings to await rescue, the ferry boat captains and rescue crews who managed to get there within minutes and get those people to safety, and the passengers who managed to stay calm and help each other.

I mean half a miracle because people with a religious mind tend to award miracle status at the back end of such an event. They think that God (or Whatever) intervened and saved those people. He made sure that the right pilot, crew and rescuers were in place. He also made sure the river was clear of ice and traffic. BUT! Somehow He forgot to keep the geese from flying into the plane’s path, creating the accident!

I always marvel at people’s ability to credit God (or Whatever) for saving them from a dire situation, while never wondering why God (or Whatever) allowed them to get into the dire situation in the first place. Was He distracted? I thought God (or Whatever) was omnipotent and all knowing.

Bill O’Reilly of Fox News said that he was “just happy somebody up there is looking out for those folks.” Well, apparently “somebody” was only looking out for those folks after the accident occurred.

Maybe “somebody” was too busy figuring out how the Arizona Cardinals could beat the Philadelphia Eagles the following Sunday.