Wherein I list with the aid of my shaky memory the bands I've seen live in concert with a short recollection accompanying. This list will be updated little by little.
The Clientele @ Bottom of the Hill-Amazing band, The Clientele. If you listen to their early tunes on “It’s Art, Dad”, you’ll hear a fully formed highly competent jangle pop band, on par with 99% of all the Sarah bands, and good enough to secure the unconditional love of twee geeks everywhere forever. But competence wasn’t enough for them and they soon ditched their très conventional sound for a unique bland of atmospherics, odd time signatures, and improvised finger picked guitar. Alasdair’s playing stood out for me in this show-he stretched out on the songs a bit with the notes and spaces in between-he is a major talent in my book.
His onstage aside, “We just came back from a 3 day pot smoking contest with The Tyde…and we so fucking lost…” is firmly ensconced in the top 5 of my “Fave Concert Banter” list.
Curve @ Slim’s-These guys brought their own PA, which I believe was a protoype because it was unlike any PA system I had ever seen. It was all self-contained on a giant wall (about the size of a two car garage door) set up behind the band. Needless to say, it was quite formidable looking when set up in a smallish club. My reaction walking into Slim's and noticing it was something like, “Hey, huh? What the…uh oh.” I was scared because, unlike my friends, I never wore earplugs (it turned out okay-not too loud).
Curve were always just okay in my book. A lot of their songs sounded the same. They were lumped with the Shoegazer scene, but had a bit of Industrial in there too. Toni was considered sort of the sexpot of the Shoegaze scene, but I pegged her a distant third behind Miki from Lush and Rachel out of Slowdive. She was okay, in a Goth MILF sort of way…she was an undistinguished vocalist as well…sounds like I don’t like them…I liked Curve okay but they had pretty heavy competition among “The Scene That Celebrates Itself” (Lush, Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver, etc).
I'm now going to go through a bunch of bands I've seen that don't fall within the normal "indie" realm...
Great White @ a small community center in Artesia-When word got out that this then only locally known hard rock band was playing an all ages early show near our hometown, me and my cousin decided to break open our piggy banks and head on down there. Though it was indeed a packed small club, thankfully there were no pyrotechnics, and I’m pretty sure we stood near the exit at the back.
While waiting in line, we asked a kid who seemed to have already earned his headbanger stripes what Great White sounded like. His response was, “They sound like J.P.”, and turned away, not wanting to waste any more of his precious time with rank amateurs. After a couple of seconds deliberation, we decided that “J.P.” meant “Judas Priest”. Apparently, “J.P.” is shorthand for Judas Priest, whereas “Judas Fucking Priest” is the unabridged version.
If I recall, opening for “G.W.” were a band called “Witch”, who defied all logic by NOT having a female lead vocalist (??!?).
My only other recollection of the concert was that halfway through, the singer announced that it was the guitar player’s birthday, and that he’d like to arrange a blowjob for his bandmate as a present. I found it baffling that he announced it to us, because the audience was 99% sweaty teenage boys who barely knew what to do with their own unit haha…
Guns 'N Roses @ LA Street Scene-LA Street Scene was a short-lived free open air festival in downtown LA, not unlike other festivals that many cities hold annually. This festival was quite rightly eliminated quickly for fear of potential gang violence.
Me and my cousin went one year and we caught this then new band-they didn’t have any releases at this point. They already had a reputation though-I remember reading rape allegations in the news. They only lasted a few songs before bottles started flying-not necessarily at them, but everywhere-and the plug was pulled. I do clearly recall them playing “Mr. Brownstone” (I remembered it years later when they put out “Appetite for Destruction”), and being impressed.
Daniela Mercury @ Kaiser Auditorium-My Brazilian immigrant ex-girlfriend invited me to go with her and her friends to this Brazilian pop star’s show. There was a great air of excitement as many Brazilian expats live in the Bay Area; it was quite an event. My girlfriend was a bit of a drip who wanted to stay sitting in the back. After awhile I had to wander around to people watch and dance a bit.
The only other thing I have to add is that I believe that Brazilian flag bikini tops go with anything and should be worn in public by young women everywhere, weather permitting. That is all.
Heart @ Universal Amphitheatre-Probably the worst concert I’ve ever been to. My cousin inexplicably played their comeback album (with “These Dreams”) constantly, and ante’d up for the tickets. The only bright spot was a Patrick Swayze sighting (though, unfortunately, this was before he did “She’s Like the Wind”, and cemented his immortal status). Opening were Phantom, Slick, and Rocker, a post-Stray Cats debacle who were worse in practice than in theory.
Armoured Saint @ Cerritos Park East Bandshell-Local LA metal legends Armoured Saint played an afternoon show down the street, and my cousin and I decided it would be a good idea to check it out. I totally don’t remember the music, but I remember ducking in fear for my safety as the band flung copies of their album out into the crowd like frisbies. It was a scene straight out of the movie “Master of the Flying Guillotine”, only not as insanely cool (rent it today).
Ozzy Osbourne/Metallica @ Long Beach Sport Arena-My cousin and I went to this show with an old friend. Metallica were still an up and coming band at this point. This was when Cliff Burton was still in the band. My biggest recollection of Ozzy was that he had a hairdo that made him bare a striking resemblance to 70's tv actress Loretta Swit.
I also remember that this concert was the first and only time I tried pot. Unlike President Clinton, I did inhale, but, alas, didn't feel any effects.
The Meditations @ The Golden Bear-I took a date to this show...she loved reggae, I tried to love it but just couldn't. They kept on making the same pronouncement onstage. Something like-"The Meditations! The first time performing in the U.S.!". Like they were reading it off a concert poster. The singer said it like a dozen times, as if it was on par with the Beatles arriving at JFK Airport. As far as I know, they speak English in Jamaica, so I don't know what was going on.
Despite my date's love of reggae, she was probably the worst reggae "skanker" this side of Amish country. She did a dance that looked like the steps to the waltz mixed in a blender. Over and over, with blatant disregard to the beat. I'm sure it passed muster at high school dances, but I was personally glad we were at the back. She didn't care, she was just having fun, whereas I am always petrified of being laughed at.
Journey @ Long Beach Sports Arena-I took a woman I was seeing to this show. Despite us both being non-smokers, she insisted on stopping at the 7-11 before the show to buy a lighter to flick during the power ballads. True story. We ended up leaving early because she had an asthma attack and she left her inhaler in the car. It was a pretty long walk, but we made it.
Daniela Mercury