To All the Concerts I loved Before - Part 2

Now comes the crazy period of my concert going life where I could not tell you the chronological order, place or who went with me even if my life depended on it.  It all is a big giant blur.  Not because I was wasted on drugs--I don't do them--or that I was drunk out of my mind--I liked to drink but usually could only afford one--it was just that during that period, I went to so many concerts it is difficult to keep them all straight.

Okay, let's try to do this...

Elvis Costello at the Santa Barbara County Bowl - I did not know much about this man at the time, but the show was really good and I recognized a song or two during the set.  I went with my housemate and then best friend, who shortly thereafter "broke up" with me to move into a house with cooler people so that he could "become more serious about his skating."  Uh...okay.  The show was good though.

The Alarm at the Ventura Theater - I went to this show with one of the managers at the evil music corporation.  The show was okay, only they kept all of the dinner tables up--they served dinner prior to some shows back then--and we had to sit at a table for the entirety of the damn show.  Weird.

The Pixies at the Ventura Theater for Trompe Le Monde - This show absolutely fucking blew me away.  I think I went with my brother and the same manager from the evil music corporation.  This was the first concert that I attended that I was seriously amped to see without a girlfriend or having to worry about if so-and-so liked me.  It was purely about the music and my brother could handle himself, so we jumped to the music and had a blast.  At one point in the show, Joey Santiago, cut the hell out of his finger while playing guitar, and without missing a beat, grabbed a beer bottle and used that instead of his finger for the bar chords.  Whatever the hell a "Debaser" is, I wanted to be one after what is still one of the best shows I have ever attended.  They broke up shortly thereafter.

Red House Painters - I went to this show as a favor to a very good friend of mine back then.  I knew nothing of the band, and they were good musicians, but it was all a be too slow and downer-Danny for my taste.  I think my friend was in love with the singer.

Public Enemy in Isla Vista at the Anaconda - This was an okay show.  I think Lael, Jeff and some other friends were there as well.  It was vastly oversold and the show was so oppressively baking hot, that the band was throwing water on the audience to cool them off to prevent people from fainting.  I would have liked the show if I could have fucking breathed.  It was one of those things where the best part of the show was stepping out into cold night air once it was over.  Plus, the stage was so damn small that the band barely fit...it was probably a mixup that they were even there.

MC 900 Ft. Jesus in Isla Vista at the Anaconda - This was on a holiday evening...Halloween...New Years???  Hell if I know.  This show did not start until around 11:00 PM and went on to almost 1:00 AM, but I believe that we were waiting there at about 9:00 PM.  There was almost no one at this show and I have to hand it to MC 900 Ft. Jesus for actually playing.  I would not be surprised if he was in the back arguing with the promoters about going on or not.

Fishbone x2 or x3 - "U.G.L.Y. you ain't got no alibi, you're just uglyyyyyyy."  Now that that is off my chest, I saw these guys at the Ventura theater and at The House of Blues.  Good show with talented musicians, but the real, absolutely weird thing was that at The House of Blues show, I was watching Fishbone and it occurred to me that I had dreamt about the downstairs area of the venue.  I was standing in the audience looking around and seeing the same exact areas away from the stage, around the pit, up above where the ceiling opens up for the second time.  I had never been there before, but I recognized everything plain as day.  Very, very, VERY weird.  The whole thing distracted me for much of the show.  Maybe I had been there in a previous life...you know, like I was reincarnated from Julius Caesar when he tried to conquer Ben Franklin and his kite, and they fought at the House of Blues in Hollywood 100's of years ago or something.  I am still creeped out by the Deja Vu feeling though.

Sextacy Ball with Lords of Acid (x2), My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult and...Prick??? - A group of us went to this show at the Troubador (I think).  It was nuts.  I believe the first band was called Prick and they had their song "Animal," but it was My Life With the Thrill Kill Cult and the headliner, Lords of Acid, that had things going crazy.  My friend, Rita, was the Thrill Kill fan and they put on a down and dirty sexy show, but Lords of Acid was who I wanted to see.  The Lords are psychotic and their performance consisted of the singer, Lady Galore, in a tight leather outfit and at one point she dragged an anatomically correct male blow up doll onto the stage and proceeded to bite its pee-pee.  This offended me.  She then grabbed it by said dildo and began slamming it on the stage repeatedly.  Again...offended.  I was so offended by this show that I went and saw Lords of Acid again, this time at the Whisky(?).  So much crazy fun.

Nine Inch Nails x3.2 - The first time that I saw Nine Inch Nails (Broken Tour) was was sitting outside of the Roxy (?) for the sold out show, while my friend made a futile attempt to convince security to let us in through the back door...didn't happen.  They sure sounded good though.
After that I officially saw NIN at the Universal Amphitheater twice with openers Marilyn Manson in their infancy days.  NIN was touring for The Downward Spiral album and the show was pretty intense and grand.  I loved it.  Unfortunately, I will forever have the image of opener Marilyn Manson's pasty ass wearing a loin cloth with a giant black dildo (huh...I used the word "dildo" in the same blog entry twice?) and in a fetal position on top of a gargantuan amp screaming in a high pitched voice, "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me" over and over again.  My group and I got up to get some nachos at that point.  Yeah, fuck that guy.
The third time I  saw Nine Inch Nails was when I saw him paired with....

David Bowie - Bowie was touring for his Outside album, which I really loved and he teamed with Trent Reznor for a super show that was pretty phenomenal.  NIN opened, then during the last third of the set, David Bowie joined Trent Reznor on stage to sing some of the NIN songs.  The set gradually shifted from NIN, to NIN with Bowie, to Bowie with NIN, to Bowie.  As far as collaborative efforts go, it does not get better than this.
I also saw Bowie on the Changes tour at Dodger Stadium.  What else is there to say about Bowie performing his greatest hits.  The main thing that chaps my hide about this show, was that I bought a ticket for a nerd named Ned, who wrote me a check for it and then disappeared from my school after the check bounced.  What an asshole.  Regardless, a Bowie show is not one to ever be missed.

Much more next time.

To All the Concerts I loved Before - Part 2