A Flock of Seagulls - the Lil' Waldorf, Reno, Nevada - July 19, 1993

My earliest memory of Flock of Seagulls is from elementary school, on the playground at St. Teresa’s. I think it was around sixth grade or so. I remember some kids talking about this new kind of music, that they called “new wave,” and how one of the kids had a new wave tape in his walkman, by a band called a Flock of Seagulls. They showed me the tape with a picture of a guy with funny, tall, bird like hair.

It was all the rage temporarily, though I think in a couple of years those kids switched to heavy metal the likes of Motley Crue and Def Leppard. Hey, we all had our periods of insanity.

At the time my main exposure to music was listening to AM radio on the Mighty 690 (see B-52’s) where I heard 80s classics like Oh Mickey, Tainted Love, etc. And of course the Mighty 690 played “I Ran” too, so soon I heard the Flock of Seagulls for myself.

I don’t know that I fully appreciated them until much later though. When I got to high school BB and AM loved Flock of Seagulls and had all their cassettes. I don’t have it anymore, but I think it was their second album, The Story of a Young Heart, which got me hooked. It was supposedly based on a guy the band knew who fell in love, out, then got depressed and killed himself.

By the time we saw the Flock in 1993, they were already way past their prime, but they did attract a decent size crowd at the Wall. This is one of only a couple of shows I saw with MM while she lived in Reno. The lead singer still had his signature blond spikey bird hair.

I must have enjoyed it at the time – enough to get the lead singer’s autograph anyway. I didn’t remember it until I scanned in the concert ticket.