One of my old college housemates added a "five bands I've seen in concert" list to his Facebook page which included George Clinton, The Dead, The Pogues, Iggy Pop and Sonic Youth. I responded that I had seen three of those bands, also, but asked why he omitted the Black Flag concert that we went to together! It was a memorable evening not only because Henry Rollins delivers an intense stage performance but also because the mosh pit took up the better part of the bar.
No one was safe.
My girlfriend Berrie had to wear shorts the next morning to breakfast in the dining hall because her legs were covered with bruises and she couldn't get her pants on. I spent the whole night dodging 200 lb. men who were dive bombing the audience from the stage.
Those were the days!
SU had great concerts in the early 80s from huge shows in the Carrier Dome to smaller venues such as the Landmark Theater, the Jabberwocky and the Lost Horizon. In four short years, I saw The Who, my main man Bowie, the Grateful Dead, The Clash (Buffal0), Elvis Costello (Rochester), Joe Jackson, The Psychedelic Furs, Otis Day and The Knights, Cindy Lauper, The Cult, The Thompson Twins, etc. I wonder if there are any I'm forgetting . . .
It's amazing that I graduated given the amount of fun I was having!
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plus; The Waitresses, Chili Peppers, Fishbone, Ramones, B52s, Stray Cats, Replacements, Catatonics, Divinyls, Police, Billy Idol, Suzanne Vega, The Call and some others that are stuck deep in the recesses of my mind... Many of these with my old housemates. Fortunately, no Benny Mardones!
crazy!
My favorites were: the Dead Kennedys at a bar in Charlottesville, VA because Jello Biafra was full of amusing, intelligent, and unbelievably "location relevant" commentary all through the show, and the Ramones at the Triangle Community Center in Rochester (probably doesn't exist any more) because some dimwit didn't realize it was a bad idea to serve alcohol at a Ramones concert where the seating consisted of card-table-style folding metal chairs that weren't bolted to the floor.
OK, now you've gone and done it. I woke up this morning with memories of some good shows and great moments running through my head. Like; the aforementioned Black Flag show (I peed next to Henry Rollins ... woo hoo!), The Dead in Buffalo "she threw up blue on my shoes!", misc. Boston shows like Iggy Pop (he landed on my head while stage diving), The Zulus and The Butthole Surfers (oh no, 1,000 people, a stripper and some flames lapping the ceiling between me and the exit ... what an odd place to die), The Cramps and Bo Diddley.
DC shows like Trouble Funk at the 9:30 Club with Terry Larson and Steve Pratt (the funkiest white guys in the joint that night), Smashing Pumpkins and the 1st Lollapalooza (it was 1,000 degrees but Jane's, Ice Tea and 9 Inch Nails were great).
Plus, in the mountains of Colorado (Red Rocks and Boulder) with String Cheese, Yonder Mountain, Leftover Salmon, Neil Young and the Mother of Them All ... a 4 day pass to the Telluride Bluegrass Festival (the mandolins, girls with very hairy underarms, Birkenstocks and Sam Bush ... they're everywhere!
Re: Jack R's comment on the 9:30 club. If you're anywhere near as old as I am and were living in that part of the country in the late 1970s, did you manage to make it to a Root Boy Slim & The Sex Change Band show? Closest thing to a religious experience this side of the Vatican.
see, i knew you had religion in you. somewhere.
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