concert memoirs pt. 12 – the waterboys, love & rockets, the jesus & mary chain & the fall

The Waterboys w/Figures

11/6/85 First Avenue w/John & Kelly Ticket Price: $5.00

This was one of John’s favorite bands. I liked them, but I wasn’t as into them as John was then. I really liked ‘This is the Sea’ (the album they were promoting for this show), but their first two albums (‘The Waterboys’ & ‘A Pagan Place’), I thought, had suffered from too many wordy songs with some awkward melodies mixed in with some good songs. ‘This is the Sea’ was a more complete and satisfying album.

We brought our friend Kelly along for this show. He had come along with us to The Red Hot Chili Peppers (First Avenue 11/21/84) show previously, but this time he was in for a much better show. The Waterboys were on that night. It was so good. What a great concert. Kurt Wallinger was with the band at that time and he really brought something special to their sound.

John told me that a couple weeks after the show he was hanging out with somebody, listening to the college radio when a Waterboys song played. That got John talking about how great the show was. As the song ended, the DJ came on and mentioned the recent show and stated that people were still talking about the outstanding performance. How true.

I don’t remember Figures that night, but it was probably the first time seeing them. John and I would see them a couple more times at the Cabooze or the Uptown Bar. They were a good live band with a little of the REM influence. One of the band members was fond of doing some very high jumps while playing.

Love & Rockets w/Crossfire Choir
12/9/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

Opening bands at First Avenue usually didn’t attract much attention. Unless the band was pretty well known in their own right, spectators would tend to hang back, leaving the first fifteen or twenty feet from the stage fairly empty. People just didn’t want to commit to a band they weren’t sure of.

To be honest, John and I would do the same thing. This night, however, we ventured a little closer to the stage. I don’t remember if the band was any good. We’d never heard of them before or since. Yet, there we stood.

At some point, the lead singer offered a copy of their latest release to anyone who’d walk up and get it. John figured, “What the hell?” and he walked up and grabbed a copy. I don’t know if John has ever listened to it.

That’s about all I remember of the night. Usually, I forget the opening band, but this time I don’t have anything to relate about Love & Rockets. It’s not that I didn’t like the band, I must have lost those brain cells responsible for remembering that show.

The Jesus & Mary Chain
12-15-85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

This one. Oh, brother.

First of all, it was Sunday. Back then bars in Minnesota closed at 12 am on Sundays instead of 1 am. I know that you people in the bigger, more hip and happening cities probably think 1 am is too early, as well. Well, that the way it was. I think they go to 2 am now.

As I said, the place was going to be closing at 12 am and these twerps didn’t take the stage until 11:15 pm or so. That didn’t give them much time to play. And it seemed as though it was an awfully long time before they got onstage after the warmup act. Whoever they were.

These guys were supposed to be the second coming of The Sex Pistols, so maybe they were doing a punk thing by making us wait. Maybe they were upset that the bars closed so early. I don’t know.

When they finally started playing, two of the band members spent the entire show with they backs to us making their signature feedback sound while the lead singer droned on disinterestedly. The lead singer had a guitar draped over his shoulders, but he barely touched it. He’d strum the open strings here and there, not even bothering to play a chord. As far as I could tell, the guitar was more or less decorative.

They were bored. We were bored. It was over in less than 45 minutes.

The Fall w/Summer of Love
3/10/86 The Guthrie Theater w/John Ticket Price: $10.50

The Fall is another of John’s favorite bands. He liked the arty, deconstructive sound of bands like The Fall & Sonic Youth. I was more into melody, so I had a harder time with The Fall. But I still liked a lot of their stuff.

Also, the Guthrie just seems like an odd place to see a band. It’s probably just me. It was a bit more of an uptight environment. They wouldn’t allow us to dance in the aisles. We had to stay in our little designated seating areas. Of course, this was true of most of the other arenas, auditoriums and theaters.

We had to content ourselves with grooving at our seats. Not as much fun when John and I had become accustomed to seeing shows at First Avenue.

I don’t have much else to relate. It may have been the last time we would see Summer of Love and the cello gal, however.

concert memoirs pt. 11 – rem, husker du & the cure

REM

8/5/85 Roy Wilkins Auditorium w/John Ticket Price: $13.25

Hey! Here’s another legendary band! REM was just beginning to get some wider notice at the time. ‘Losing My Religion’ was still a few years away, but these guys were already one of the most influential bands of the 80’s. They were that with their first two releases.

So, at the Roy Wilkins Auditorium, the way they had the stage set up we could see part of the backstage area. This was a great setup, because we could see the young punks who would hop onstage to attempt to do a stage dive get grabbed by the security and get bounced. We could see them being escorted backstage and out of the auditorium. Those fascist bouncers! Who cares about insurance issues? This is alternative, indie rock!

I gotta admit that I can’t remember much about the music. I know I enjoyed it, but I don’t have much else.

I do have this…

I think it was during the encore when Michael Stipe started to introduce a guest to their stage. These were the days when Stipe wasn’t giving us the clearest vocals while singing. He also wasn’t speaking very clearly. So, we weren’t quite certain who he was talking about until Bob Mould of Husker Du stepped out.

This was pretty cool. One of our local heroes was making the scene with REM. I believe he joined them in a cover of The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’.

What was even cooler was what Bob did while playing. The young punks were still jumping onstage and making stage dives. Those that got away from the bouncers, that is. One kid jumped up and began skanking around. A bouncer was attempting to get to the kid, but Bob Mould kept moving in between the kid and the bouncer. Bob kept it up for a few seconds until the kid made his dive into the crowd.

Cheers, Bob!

Husker Du w/Naked Raygun & Bad Trip
8/28/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Speaking of Husker Du, well of Bob Mould anyway…

This was the third time seeing Husker Du. We were getting into these guys pretty big and into the punk rock thing. John and I had come a long way from our running away from the slam dancing at The Clash show. We were in the pit by then, skanking away. We were getting pretty good at it. What a blast!

I had developed a routine for the slam dancing concerts. For the first couple songs I’d stay at the perimeter of the pit and watch the band, then I’d take my glasses off, put them in my pocket and jump into the action. As a result, I wouldn’t see much of the show (I’m terribly nearsighted), but I’d listen and slam myself into sweaty exhaustion.

Speaking of sweaty exhaustion (two uses of the “speaking of” in one blog entry, wow), this was the first time we saw the great Naked Raygun. I only knew a song or two by them, but they quickly became a favorite of mine. When they broke into “Home of the Brave” that night, John and I jumped in for some warm-up slam dancing.

We’d would be seeing Naked Raygun a few more times.

Bad Trip? I don’t remember them.

The Cure
10/17/85 Orpheum Theatre w/John Ticket Price: $13.50

I wish I remember who opened for The Cure. Was it Echo & the Bunnymen, maybe?

What I recall of The Cure was that they sounded good, but they seemed pretty disinterested. It could have been some gothic (or early emo?) attitude or something that kept the band rooted in their spots. However, during the encore Robert Smith did break into some silly little dance.

concert memoirs pt. 10 – the replacements

The Replacements w/Laughing Stock
7/1/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

“Someone put ice in his tea.” That’s the reason Paul Westerberg gave for why The Replacements were there that night and not Robyn Hitchcock. Robyn Hitchcock was scheduled, but he didn’t play. We weren’t too upset, though, because it gave us another chance to see the legends.

You will recall the first time John and I saw The Replacements (First Avenue 9/5/84) John had some minor panic issues. This time John and I stood up front and caught the entire show. No panic attacks.

Allow me to digress for a moment, the opening act, Laughing Stock, was a fairly decent local band. They had a little of the REM influence, but a lot of bands did in those days. Laughing Stock was lead by a fellow named Jim Walsh. Jim Walsh has gone on to be a music (among other things) journalist.

He has recently published ‘The Replacements: All over but the shouting – an oral history’. Jim put together various people’s recollections about one of the most important bands in rock history. It’s a good read, especially for fans and those interested in that era of the Minneapolis music scene.

One point made over and over in the book was that the band could be phenomenal in concert. However, they could just as likely be shit. Bob Mould (Husker Du, Sugar) said that if you saw them ten times, you might see one good show and nine lousy ones.

Well, I can’t say this was a great show, but it wasn’t awful. They weren’t falling down drunk or anything, but they took their time between songs. They appeared to not have a playlist, so they would pause after each song and look at each other trying to figure out what to play next. This didn’t help build any momentum through the show.

It also lead to another problem. Several members of the audience took those pauses as their cue to call out for their favorite ‘Mats tune. One doofus standing right next to me kept calling out, “Go!” It’s possible that he was admonishing the band for their lackadaisical pacing, but I’m fairly certain he meant the song from their second release, ‘Stink’.

One humorous moment that I recall from that show occurred when some audience member called out, “Tommy’s got a boner!” (As you know, the actual song title is ‘Gary’s Got A Boner’ from their album ‘Let It Be’.) Paul heard the shout, gave us a “He does?” look, and walked over to Tommy Stinson. He moved Tommy’s bass away to get a better look. I couldn’t tell if Tommy had a boner or not and Paul didn’t say.

So, John and I saw The Replacements twice. We didn’t get stellar shows, but they weren’t awful. I think the reason we didn’t go see them after the second time was that we weren’t as impressed with their shows as we were with their albums. They were an important band and I’m glad I saw them.

YouTube has a concert they did in the 7th Street Entry on 9/5/81. That’s exactly three years before John and I first saw them play. That concert shows them at their best. They go a little out of tune, but that was their style. Here’s the link to the first part of the 16 part series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImUwS4IoZhc Check it out. It’s great.

concert memoirs pt. 9 – violent femmes & fleshtones

Violent Femmes w/Summer of Love

6/17/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

The bright spot of the night was being able to see that interesting woman who played the cello for Summer of Love. Not exactly a crush, I just thought she was interesting.

The Violent Femmes killed any interest I had for the rest of the evening. To be fair the audience was most responsible for ruining the evening, but the Violent Femmes did their part, too.

They had a couple albums out at that time. Albums that suggested angst, anger, sexual frustration, and some weird Jesus thing. But, their stage presence was a different story. Much different.

So, the Violent Femmes are from our neighboring state, Wisconsin. And First Avenue was packed to gills with Wisconsinites. The main floor was packed. The upstairs was packed. The stairs were packed. The restrooms were probably packed. God damn! It was packed with rubes.

The Violent Femmes finally take the stage to the most tumultuous, resounding applause. The kind of cheering I heard after The Who had completed their outstanding show (St. Paul Civic Center 10/2/82). These guys hadn’t done anything yet and they were treated like rock gods.

John and I had been to a few shows by that time and we had come to expect a little something more for our five bucks. It took more than merely showing up to impress us. John shouted, “Make them earn it!” Unfortunately, the rubes couldn’t hear him.

The Femmes began to play and John and I firgured we should give them a chance. We had paid five bucks, after all. Each song was greeted and sent away with uproarious cheering. John and I did a bit of eye-rolling that night.

After a couple songs, they played some song that had something to do with a flamingo. The bird. The chorus made note of the fact that flamingos stand on one foot. What did these clever rock stars do when they sang the chorus? They stood on one foot! In fact, at one point two of the band members each reached their airborne foot toward the other and touched their feet together.

Holy crap! I swear the rubes all wet their pants. It was so stupid. What a bunch of rubes.

So, then they played into their song ‘Please Do Not Go’ and when they got to the “bye, bye, bye-bye, bye-bye” part the rubes all waved and sang along. We had had enough. We waved bye-bye and left.

Fleshtones w/The Go-Betweens
6/24/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: $5.00

I remember this being a really fun show. The Fleshtones were having a ball playing to us and we were right there with them. Their lead singer scaled atop the speaker stack and sang and danced at us from on high. Very dangerous and very cool.

In the crowd with us was Larry (I don’t remember his last name) the lead singer of local bar band Urban Guerrillas. The Urban Guerrillas were a very fun band themselves. I’ll write about them later. There is scant information about them on the internet, so I had better add some.

concert memoirs pt. 8 – husker du, u2 & husker du

Husker Du w/Laughing Stock

1/30/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

This was the first of five times that John and I would see this band. We were still not quite ready to join the slam dancing, so we stayed toward the back to observe the craziness. I don’t think it was as violent as the X concert (First Avenue 10/15/84), but according to the MN Daily (the University of Minnesota’s newspaper) it was “loud, fast and furious”.

I was able to consult the MN Daily review (dated 2/1/85 by Steven Perlstein) of the show because of the magic of the internet. The internet is so handy. The reason I wanted to see that review is because I wanted to see if my memory was serving me.

The main thing I recall of that concert is something my art school friend, Gene, did. Gene was quite the committed punk. He had the mohawk and the leather and the boots. And he loved slam dancing and stage diving.

We, John and I and the rest of the art school gang, had been going to the Cabooze for a while by this time. The Cabooze was another Minneapolis club that booked some cool acts in those days. The old art school gang would head down there to see The Urban Guerrillas frequently. The Urban Guerillas were a local favorite that played their own unusual blend of punk, ska, reggae and whatever. We would slam dance to those guys, but it was a more gentle style of slam dancing. And the Cabooze would let people stage dive, while First Avenue wouldn’t.

I’ll write more about The Urban Guerillas later on in this blog series.

Anyway, Gene was at the Husker Du show with Eric, another art school friend, and possibly a couple others whom I can’t remember. When the Huskers took the stage, Gene and his group were at the opposite side of the main floor from John and me. The band just started into it’s first song when Gene (quoting the Daily review) “provided a poignant argument against drugs by leaping onstage, dancing for about 15 seconds, and doing a Greg Louganis-like swan dive into the crowd. What fun.” It was a beautiful stage dive. Gene put his all into it and I’m sure it would have received all 10’s from the judges. Had there been any.

My memory serves! In my outline notes for this series, I had written about the Daily article and had quoted “Greg Louganis-like swan dive”. After 23 years, I still remembered that review. I did, however, spell Louganis wrong.

Gene disappeared after the dive. He had no sooner gotten back to his feet when the First Avenue security staff grabbed him and said, “You’re out, pal!” Gene was booted from the club. He should have waited until later in the show to do his dive, so he wouldn’t have missed the whole thing.

To set the record straight, Gene was not on drugs when he pulled his stunt. He was on the punk rock.

U2
3/19/85 Minneapolis Auditorium w/John & Gene Ticket Price: $13.00

I’m not sure if John And I actually sat with Gene at this show, but he did give us a ride there. I think his seats were elsewhere. At least, John and I got to ride in his way cool Jeep.

U2 were just starting their climb to superstardom. They put on a great show. At one point, Bono asked if anyone in the audience could play guitar. They found some kid and got him onstage to play along with the band for one song. It must have been awfully thrilling and nerve-racking for the kid.

Bono did all his Bono theatrics. He grabbed a baby spot light to shine at the crowd, he wrapped himself in the Irish flag, he walked on water. You know, his usual stuff.

Husker Du w/Die Kreuzen & Process Blue
6/12/85 First Avenue w/John Ticket Price: Unknown

Let me just say this right away… Die Kreuzen sucked! Sucked! Sucked! Sucked! They played some brand of crappy metal, hardcore slop. The lead singer couldn’t keep the microphone anywhere near his mouth for more than three seconds at a time. They were boring!

So, there I stood, leaning against the front of the stage, chin in my hand as this lousy band actually managed to slow the passage of time. A young woman, obviously a fan of this dreadfully, awful band, noticed my state of absolute boredom. She gave me a sarcastic “poor baby” look. I refrained from giving her any reaction.

Well, Die Kreuzen finally finished making noise and dragged their talentless asses of the stage. The stench of their horrific appearance was still evident as Husker Du took the stage to clear the air. Interestingly enough, the gal who was unsympathetic of my plight had disappeared once the truly talented headliners began to play.

This was our second time seeing Husker Du and John and I were ready for the slam dancing. It was a blast. Knocking around in the pit, getting aggression out without doing any serious damage to anyone.

My friend, David, had brought a date to a Husker Du concert once. She hadn’t heard of the band before and when she saw them she said they looked like garbage men. Possibly, but what talented garbage men.