Tori Amos - Breslin Center, East Lansing, Michigan - December 3, 1998

This was the third time I saw Tori Amos live and the only concert I have ever attended so far with my friend BP, one of my best friends from grad school.

It is funny how going to a Big 10 school really changes your outlook about college sports. I have always been a basketball fan, from the days I used to watch Boston Celtics games on Saturday mornings with my dad to the times I rooted for UNLV when the Tark was coaching them. But my first time around at school, at UNR, I could care less about sports. I went to one basketball game I remember – when UNR played UNLV my freshman year and I cheered for Las Vegas, and maybe a couple of football games where I was blissfully drunk. All I knew about our basketball team there was that they drove nice cars and lived at the fancy College Inn, a more upscale residence hall, while I was stuck in the older White Pine hall.

But once I got to Michigan State I immediately became a Spartan. I must admit that football and hockey, while fun to watch, were not my favorites – but I became a nut for basketball. I had season tickets both years, way in the upper decks, and I only missed a couple of games that happened while I was home for the holidays. Those two years in school I don’t think MSU ever lost at home.

So the Breslin Center really only holds basketball memories for me. I barely remember seeing a concert there at all. I know I have the ticket and I vaguely remember the evening itself. I don’t think any show will ever duplicate the first time I saw her, and those memories remain most solid in my mind.

Depeche Mode - the Palace, Auburn Hills, Michigan - November 9, 1998

I moved to East Lansing in the late fall of 1998 to go to graduate school at Michigan State University. One of the reasons I chose Michigan State was because my former company, Invest Learning, had an office in East Lansing and I had spent a lot of time there in the previous couple of years, working on video productions and products with our development team. I knew the town pretty well (not hard to do really, considering its size) and thought it would be a comfortable spot to spend a couple of years getting my MBA. I even imagined that I might do some part time work back at the old company. Well, that didn’t really happen, although at this point I still thought it might.

My friend and former boss KK planned one of her regular work trips around this Depeche Mode concert so that we could go together up to Auburn Hills to see it. We drove up in the evening, as I remember the fall weather was still pretty decent in Michigan though it got dark pretty quickly, and we sped up in the rental car over to see the show.

The Palace is a gigantic basketball arena where the Pistons play – this is probably the largest indoor concert venue I have ever visited. I think at this point I was still adjusting to Michiganders – it may be the same country, but I still felt the Midwest was a different universe – but something about seeing a Depeche Mode concert, something so familiar from my youth, made me feel at home for some reason. Depeche fans are the same everywhere, wearing tattered black concert t-shirts and dark eyeliner.

For the most part I remember this being a very sedate concert. We had seats up on one of the upper tiers and it felt as if we were watching the whole thing on film. Everyone around us were in their 30s or 40s and they sat quietly through most of the show. KK and I were quiet for a while but eventually we got up and started dancing, which even seemed to stir some of the older crowd around us, who were up and dancing by the encore anyway.

I thought this might be the first of many trips that KK made out to Lansing, but probably just a few months later the company was acquired and the San Diego part of the office was closed. I had picked a really good time to leave as it turns out – so much so that a lot of people asked me later if I had known it was coming. The folks in the East Lansing office stuck around for a little while, but I think by now most of them have scattered into other firms and opportunities. And my life started to move on a bit from my old one in San Diego.

The Creatures (with John Cale) - 4th and B, San Diego, California - July 12, 1998

Looking at my concert list it turns out that the Creatures was the last show I ever saw in San Diego. I moved to East Lansing to go to graduate school at Michigan State in August of 1998 and this was probably a few weeks before we packed up and drove cross-country.

The Creatures are Siouxsie Sioux and Budgie, originally of Siouxie and the Banshees. They started off as a side project but after the band broke up in 1996 they became the full time effort. I guess this explains why they were touring in 1998. I always enjoyed listening to Siouxie, both with and without the rest of the band, but I have to say I didn’t get into the Creatures all that much specifically. If you had to ask me to name any of their songs I would struggle.

Considering how many shows that I saw at the 4^th and B and how much I enjoyed it, it is a pity I don’t have more memories of this last time I was there.

Looks like Siouxsie is on her own and on tour again, in the US and in the UK. Her website is really, really, annoying thought.

Madness - Rimac Arena, UCSD, San Diego, California - August 28, 1998

Madness was one of the first cool bands I remember talking about at elementary school. To most of the world they are a one hit wonder for Our House, which I have probably heard thousands of times, and still when I think about it I get it stuck in my head. Crap, not again! Anyway, I remember first hearing it in fourth grade, and for some reason I associate it with an obnoxious girl in my class that I never really liked. For the record, she probably didn’t like me either.

As I got older I learned that Madness had many more songs than Our House and luckily much better ones. They are also the first SKA band I ever heard and later on in high school I branched out to English Beat, Squeeze and the Jam. I also remember seeing Madness on the Young Ones, an irreverent English show I used to watch on Sundays with my dad and my friend DA.

Ska is always a great excuse for dancing and I don’t think I have ever been to a ska show that I didn’t like. And Madness was no exception.

It was great to see all the old 80s mods out in full force with their hip shoes, hats and vespas. Normally I only saw them congregate at the café on the way up the Washington Avenue hill but at this show they were everywhere.

Other than that, I don’t remember much else about the show. At this point Suggs and crew were pretty old, but at that point at least he hadn’t sold out to a frozen foods company.

Bow Wow Wow - Brick By Brick, San Diego, California, December 31, 1997

Seeing a concert on New Years Eve is always a good way to spend the evening. Planning New Years is always a bit frustrating. Because probably half of the population only really lets loose that night, everything is always booked far in advance and everyone is desperately trying to find something cool to do, without committing too early in case something more exciting comes along. Then there is always the question of who drives and who stays sober, where are you going to be at midnight, who are you going to kiss or who you want to be miles away from at midnight, etc etc.

So going to see Bow Wow Wow is a great alternative. They are a fun, danceable band and make for a lot of fun. To be honest, I don’t remember that much about the show, other than seeing ‘I want Candy’ performed live and that the ceilings were very low at Brick by Brick.

Probably the most memorable part of the evening was that 1998 was the year that the smoking ban in bars took effect in California. We did not benefit from it during the first part of the evening unfortunately, it was definitely smoke filled in that tiny venue, but afterwards when we were driving home I noticed lots of people standing out on the sidewalks. At first I thought, huh, that’s weird. Why are all these people outside at 1 a.m.? Then I realized what it was…they were all smoking. I guess the bars had to boot all the smokers out once midnight came. That would have been interesting to watch. Here in the UK it took effect on July 1, 2007, not quite as dramatic, though it was probably raining that day so it was dramatic for the smokers who had to huddle outside under their umbrellas to enjoy their fags.

Morrissey - Hospitality Point, Mission Bay, California - October 10, 1997

I was just talking about this concert experience with someone recently and ten years later, I am still bitter.

At the time we bought tickets to see Morrissey play in San Diego, it was probably the most expensive single concert ticket I ever purchased. I don’t remember how much exactly but I want to say it was in the $60-75 range. While I have always preferred the Smiths to Morrissey solo, I figured it was worth it to see one of my rock heroes in the flesh, and I figured he would have to play some Smiths classics in addition to his own stuff.

The event was outdoors, in October, which even in a beautiful place like San Diego is kind of pushing it. Even in the heat of summer it is not always warm at night by the bay. But it was a beautiful venue with the Pacific Ocean and the sunset in the background.

The first irritating thing about the show was the parking situation. Because there is such limited parking at Mission Bay, we had to park at a distant lot and take a bus in. If we had not come on time we probably would have missed a good chunk of the show. It was probably not really that big a deal, maybe 15 or 20 minutes extra to park and wait for the bus.

I don’t remember if there was an opening act or not, but I do remember it being dark when Morrissey came on stage, so he must have started around 8ish. To be fair, it was kind of nippy that evening. But smart concert goers bring warm clothes when they are going to see a show outside at night.

I guess it must have been too much for Morrissey, because he only had the strength to play 45 minutes. Yes, 45 minutes! And that included an encore! He kept saying, brr and shivering. This is even more irritating now, since I live in London and most summer nights are not even as warm as it was that evening. Get a f***ing jumper, Morrissey!

I was so pissed off that I had paid so much money to see a 45 minute show, shorter than listening to most CDs. We probably spent more time parking and queuing than we actually got to see him perform. Since then I have not really been a Morrissey fan. I still respect his talent and I think I even bought a recent album on iTunes, but I don’t think I will ever pay money to see him live again.

Street Scene - San Diego, California - September 6, 1997

We went to see Street Scene twice in San Diego. I remember seeing a few bands there that I remember, namely Stan Ridgeway, Los Lobos and Save Ferris. However, I can’t really remember that much else – even which bands I saw which years. Basically all I ever remember about these things is trying to optimize parking, eating and especially drinking, so that you can avoid those nasty portable toilets.

I always thought Street Scene, while a great idea in a pretty cool part of town, always had sort of substandard acts. Maybe it is just because they were trying to appeal to a pretty broad swath of the community – which is a strange mishmash of people, almost none of them local, including lots of military. So there were country stages, jazz stages, rock stages and lots of bands I had never heard of (or cared to hear again after that weekend). When I look at other regional festivals in September like Bumbershoot or Austin City Limits they seem to have much cooler bands. So maybe there is too much competition for Labor Day weekend. Maybe they should have street scene in November or February or something when people would rather be in San Diego than say, Chicago.

That being said I just went to the Street Scene website and it looks like they have made a lot of improvements. For one thing it is later in the season, the end of September, it is at a proper amphitheatre versus on the streets, and the lineup of bands is much, much better. If I lived there I would have wanted to go this year.

Erasure - 4th and B, San Diego, California - June 11, 1997

I have liked Erasure for years. I remember hearing a taped version of Oh L’Amour, which must have been either the summer of my senior year in high school or maybe in the summer after my freshman year in college. For some reason it makes me think of my friend D’s old friend MM and his girlfriend A.

I guess then it must be from the summer after my freshman year in college, when I spent the summer at home in Carson City with my parents. This was a very weird time for me – being 18 and back home for a few months. In a matter of a couple of days you go from being completely on your own, even if in a dorm with lots of other people, to again living in your old room with its tacky peach décor and parents who want to know where you are going and, even, gasp, want to spend time with you since they haven’t seen you much in the past year. I have to say by this time in my life I was starting to get a little boring anyway, happy to just go to dinner or a movie or hang out and watch videos. That summer though D had a few memorable parties at his house, a few of which I attended. But that should really be his story and not mine, so I will leave it to him in case he ever wants to start his own blog.

Anyway, I remember ‘discovering’ erasure and thinking they were so cool. I bought their first two albums and listened to them incessantly that summer, often on the half hour drive every morning to Gold Hill, where I worked at the Gold Hill Hotel as a front desk clerk. I always really enjoyed that drive in the morning, before it got too warm in the summer, rolling the windows down and cranking the music as I drove down Winnie Lane, connected with Highway 50 and then took the Virginia City exit and up the switchbacks up to Gold Hill, to the oldest hotel in Nevada. I am amazed I never got a speeding ticket or worse, drove off the edge or into an oncoming car the way I took those curves in my little blue Mustang.

I remember one birthday I had promised to take C to see Erasure somewhere, likely in San Francisco. But that concert got cancelled, we broke up and I never did take him. I imagine he probably still wants me to cash in someday. Erasure is still touring, I just missed them last week at the Royal Albert Hall, so it might happen yet.

We went to this show with a couple of other San Diego friends and had a great time. Every Erasure song is so danceable and the buzz of the crowd (probably about 90 percent homosexual men) was really fun as well. I don’t follow them as closely as I used to, but whenever I hear something new from them I am always pleasantly surprised. I am not really that into electronic music anymore but they still have clever love songs and catchy melodies.

No Doubt - San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, California - June 3, 1997

Gwen Stefani has come a long way since I saw this concert more than ten years ago in San Diego. I would not really expect a So-Cal punk rocker to be very popular in Britain but she is – I see adverts for her all the time on the telly. And not just for her music, but of late I see more for her perfume. I guess she also has her own clothing line. Pretty cool, Gwen.

If I think of punk rocker girls from my childhood, it is not an odor I would really want to duplicate or wear. But I suspect hers does not sell of patchouli, clove cigarettes and sweat. At least I hope not.

I have to say though, I don’t remember seeing this concert at all. I was thinking for some reason we saw them at Del Mar Fairgrounds, but then I realized that was the Offspring a couple of years earlier. I imagine the crowd was probably the same, pre-teens with their parents in tow. I guess it was not especially memorable. Sorry, Gwen.

Shonen Knife - The Casbah, San Diego, California, May 16, 1997

We should probably have seen more shows at the Casbah but I am pretty sure this is the only one I ever saw there. It was about a 5-10 minute drive from where we lived in San Diego, quite close to the airport. It was probably even walkable, except for the big steep hill that is Washington Avenue. But just like LA, no one really walks in San Diego. Not for transportation anyway.

Shonen Knife is a group of tiny Japanese girls who sing very fun punkish/popish type songs. To be honest, they are not really my cup of tea, but PCH liked them quite a lot so we had to go. The problem was that we were also planning to fly out on vacation early the next morning. And neither of us are early birds, so we wanted to get a bit of sleep before we flew.

So we went to the Casbah for the show, which was probably supposed to start around 9ish. And we waited. And waited. Watched some crappy opening bands. My brain is a bit fuzzy about this but I seem to remember maybe we also went home in between? Perhaps not, I can’t imagine that the bouncers would have let us back in. But basically I remember that Shonen Knife didn’t go on until very late. Close to midnight if I remember correctly. By that time I was pretty tired and frustrated so I don’t remember much about the show itself. But in any case, we saw them and still flew out the next day. I am sure I slept on the plane.

Fishbone - Belly Up, Solana Beach, California - March 14, 1997

I don’t think I know the proper date for this show – I certainly do not have the ticket. I looked on the web and according to a fan site the only date they played in San Diego in this timeframe was March 14, 1997. However, the also says they played at Soma which was definitely not where I saw them. I want to say we saw them on new years eve or new years day, but I don’t see any listing for that anywhere either.

In any case, we saw Fishbone at the Belly Up in Solana Beach sometime in early 1997. I always liked the Belly Up as a venue but for some reason this was the only show I ever saw there during the time I lived in San Diego. I don’t know if it was because they leaned towards older jazz types or because Solana Beach was just a bit too far out of town when there were so many good shows within easy reach. Solana Beach is a cool town actually, sort of a cleaned up respectable beach community with brand new facilities, a cool design community but with less snobbery than its nearby neighbors Del Mar and Rancho Santa Fe. When I first moved to San Diego I did a short freelance stint in ad sales/writing there.

Fishbone is a really cool, very fun band to see live but not really one I have followed much. They have a great Ska/Reggae groove which makes for easy dancing (bouncing around really). Plus I always liked their logos and t-shirts.

They Might be Giants - 4th and B, San Diego, California - November 24, 1996

Interesting that I don't remember it this way, but evidently we saw the Fixx and They Might Be Giants back to back in November 1996. The tickets don't lie though!

I had to go back and double check my list of shows because I didn’t believe it. This was the last time I saw TMBG in concert – more than 10 years ago. Considering it was also the fifth time I am surprised I have not made it to another show since. I looked them up and they are now touring with a new album. Unfortunately they are not currently planning to come to London.

It is a fact of life that TMBG shows are always fun and this one was no different. I am not sure I have really followed their music much since about this time which explains why I haven’t seen them live. I think they were touring for Factory Showroom, which I don’t think I own. However, they played all the favorites and had the obligatory conga line. How can you not love a band that will start a conga line?

Since the late 90s TMBG has done many other cool things, expanding into theme songs for shows like Malcom in the Middle, the Simpsons and The Daily Show, collaborating with Dave Eggers and using the web to its full potential with online videos, podcasts and even ringtones. I just downloaded their new album from iTunes so I can catch up with them.

The Fixx - 4th and B, San Diego, California, November 23, 1996

I remember when we heard the Fixx were coming to San Diego we had quite a laugh about it. We imagined they would be crotchety old men on stage doing their funny hand motions from their 80s videos. When I looked them up on the web I discovered that not only are they still touring, more than 10 years after this concert, but they even have a myspace site.

Reach the Beach was one of the essential ‘new wave’ albums from my teens and certainly made an impression on me, although I am not sure I ever actually owned it. I might have copied it from someone. The Fixx were always one of those bands I listened to and liked on the radio or MTV but never really got my attention beyond that.

Again I don’t remember too much about the concert – but like most events at 4^th and B it was fun and we were able to get pretty close to the band. Always a decent way to spend an evening in San Diego.

The Cure - Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, Irvine, California - August 17, 1996

Here is another concert I don’t really remember all that well. I think this is the only concert I ever saw in Irvine, which is interesting since it was so close to San Diego. I guess most major acts did tend to come through San Diego though so I am not sure why the Cure skipped San Diego on this tour.

By this time Robert Smith was certainly getting older and larger. But I still remember having a good time and it being a nice, warm summer evening in Orange County.

Dead Can Dance - Spreckles Theatre, San Diego, California - August 10, 1996

I wish I could say I had great memories of Dead can Dance for the concert itself. Not that they are bad or were disappointing or anything. It is just that the evening started off with the press party for the San Diego Republican National Convention, and that was far more memorable than the concert.

I have two favorite stories from that night. But one of them is actually not mine, so I will stick with the one that is.

This party was probably the most decadent event I have ever been to in my entire life. It was, sorry to say, so appropriately republican. We took a bus down to the embarcadero, by the bay, where there were loads of food stalls with everything you could ever want – from Wolfgang Puck’s pizza to sushi to vodka shots, to fancy wine and sake. Everything was so disposable, and so expensive, thick plastic glasses and thick plastic plates with no reduce reuse recycle going on – people had an egg roll on their big plate then tossed it into a bin and went for another. It was also the first place I remember seeing those handy little clips to hold your drink attached to your plate, so you could have both hands free to eat. I lost the guilt of attending an event so not in my political stratosphere in about 15 minutes, after I realized that every bit of food I was consuming was costing their party money. Or the San Diego Union Tribune anyway. It was absolutely brilliant.

At the time I was quite enamored of my company – Invest Learning. We were changing the world, one student at a time, and I was enjoying climbing the job ladder at a company I really believed in. So I decided that I was going to suck it up and promote my little company that night, since all the major news networks were in town.

The first news celeb we saw was Andy Rooney. I had to look him up on the web because I can’t believe he is still alive (sorry Andy) but he is. He stumbled by us looking very worse for the wear before it was even close to dark. Then I spotted Peter Jennings.

I had a couple of drinks (vodka shots if I remember correctly) and subtly stalked Mr. Jennings for a bit. At one point he was getting some more food and some lady walked up to him and said, ‘Oh Mr. Jennings, can I please get a picture with you?’ and whipped out her disposable camera to capture the moment on film. I thought, wow, I can’t possibly look any dumber than that lady, so I stepped forward and introduced myself, proffering my business card.

I introduced myself and told him quickly a bit about my company, and while he was in town he should come and do a story on us. He looked at my card, pronounced my name correctly (something that almost never happens) and gave me a big smile. And, he had a gigantic piece of spinach in his teeth. I wanted to tell him he should use my card to get it out. But I just smiled, shook his hand and moved on.

To this day, I still call something in the teeth a PJ. Sorry Peter. Unlike Andy Rooney, you passed away a couple of years ago and I hope you are not watching me write this somewhere.

So after that, an electro, ambient gothic concert seems a bit anticlimactic, doesn’t it?

Voice of the Beehive - 4th and B, San Diego, California - August 2, 1996

I can’t think of Voice of the Beehive without thinking about my friend Ruth who I haven’t seen for at least ten years. I think I will always associate this band as well as John Waters’ Polyester with her. I wonder where she is now?

Anyway, I digress. Voice of the Beehive were a very fun little late 80s/90s band and we saw them at the 4^th and B. I don’t remember a whole lot about the show except thinking they looked quite a bit older than I imagined and that they reminded me of the B-52s. I remember having fun though and that it was a fun evening.

I did find them on the web and they even have a myspace site. They have an interesting history actually, the two sisters are from LA but formed the band in London. It might be phony, but I liked this little dialogue from their site.

Melissa: "Tracey, I'm sick of L.A. -- All this sun, sand and surf crap is getting me down."

Tracey: "And you can't find any decent cider 'round here!"

Melissa: "Right! Hey, I got an idea -- let's go to London!"

Tracey: "And live in squats in Bow with outdoor toilets."

Melissa: "And freeze our asses off."

Tracey: "...when it's not pissing down with rain."

Melissa: "And meet some cute guys."

Tracey: "And form a band."

Melissa: "And call it...?"

Tracey: "Voice of The..."

Melissa: "Grapefruit?"

Tracey: "No!...BEEHIVE!"

Tori Amos - Civic Theatre, San Diego, California - June 25, 1996

We saw Tori Amos in San Diego with a couple of good friends M & B, whom we never saw many shows with. Our musical tastes didn’t exactly overlap very much so it was kind of neat that they did this time and we agreed to go see this show together.

My most vivid memories are more of the venue itself. I think this was perhaps the first (if not only?) time I set foot into the Civic Theatre and it was such an old school concert hall I felt as if I should be wearing an evening gown. It was smothered in red velvet and chandeliers and seemed very unlike a place twenty somethings should be hanging out to see a concert. I guess it sort of suited Tori’s style though considering she is at best with her grand piano and serious voice.

I have such vivid memories of the first time I saw her in Sacramento that it is difficult to bring any other images to mind from this show. It was probably fine but I don’t remember much beyond that.

I looked up Tori's website so I could link it to this post and I have to say it is quite annoying. Full of google adds on the top and the sides, it looks very amateurish. Oh well.

Tears for Fears - 4th and B, San Diego, Californina - May 10, 1996

This was the first more serious show we saw at the 4^th and B, after the Flash Xmas concert. They started to book a lot of really good 80s and early 90s bands and it was good to have it so close by.

I do not remember too much about the show itself, except I have a memory of walking up the stairs to find our seats and I remember it being much better than the first time I had seen them in San Jose. I think by this time Roland Orzabal was much more comfortable on stage and certainly not as bitter as the time he belted out Radiohead’s Creep as his only encore.

I think a lot of people may think of Tears for Fears as a one-hit-wonder band from the 80s but they are still really quite good. The songwriting and the music has deepened and I am always pleasantly surprised to find a new release when I least expect it.

Bananarama, Dave Wakeling, Howard Jones – 4th and B, San Diego, California - December 17, 1995

This was the first of many shows we would see at the 4^th and B club in San Diego, a medium-sized club downtown that opened and started catering to the twenty- and thirty-something crowd in town with a plethora of 80s and 90s bands. It was a great place to see shows, large enough that you could usually get tickets, but small enough that you could get as close as you want to the bands.

This was another Flash X-mas concert with a bunch of 80s bands that you often wonder about. I think there may have been more than three, but these are the ones I remember.

At the time Dave Wakeling was always the opening act at such venues. From what I remember at this show, his band went on way earlier than advertised and I think we missed most of it. I always liked the English Beat and General Public, and I think I appreciate Dave Wakeling more than I think I do, although I never bought any of his music. According to his website, he is also a very nice guy.

Howard Jones was also really good, just him and his piano. He is very talented in general so I am never disappointed when I hear him play.

The lowlight, well joke really, of the night was Bananarama. P was so geeked to see them live, I didn’t care really but liked them in high school. They were so lip synched it wasn’t even funny. There were only two of the original members (horse head was there I think, I don’t really keep track, but I think the cute one was missing) and they basically just did a staged dance with some hot scantily-clad men dancing around them. I think they maybe only did 5 songs in total, but even with that short set we were glad to be done with them. I cannot believe they were actually paid for their performance. Considering these were usually charity events, I hope it wasn’t much.

R.E.M. - Sports Arena, San Diego, California - October 28, 1995

We should have seen R.E.M. much earlier that year actually, but all in all I think everything worked out perfectly really.

When we found out that they were coming to town originally, we actually went down to the Sports Arena on the day the tickets went on sale and queued up to get better seats. Since you could almost walk there from where we lived, it seemed like a much more logical plan than trying to dial in to ticketbastard (this was still pre-internet days).

We were not fanatical about it or anything – no camping out – but we did arrive fairly early in the morning and there were probably about 50 or so die-hard REM fans there. As I remember, we all got numbers to be in the line that we actually took to the window with us. I don’t really remember any issues or scalper stuff, but perhaps my memory is bad.

Anyhow, we bought some decent seats at what we thought was a really over-inflated price. I guess this was really at the peak of REM’s popularity, they Green and Automatic for the People had really taken them mainstream and they were touring to support Monster, which had a hit with ‘What’s the Frequency Kenneth?’ as well. They had a pretty intellectual following and Michael Stipe was starting to become an icon for political issues as well as music. All of that success was reflected in the price of the tickets – as I remember, $68 each, which was outrageous at the time when most tickets were still in the twenty to thirty dollar range. We grumbled a bit about the price but figured it would be worth it.

A little while after we bought the tickets, the drummer Bill Berry had a brain aneurysm on stage at a different show and REM cancelled all of their tour dates until further notice. We got a full refund on the tickets and thought, oh well, maybe we will see them someday.

As it turned out, they did come back through in October, but this time, our friend JB managed to get us free tickets to the show through a connection with a local radio station. They were really great seats too, much better than our paid ones.

About the concert itself – I remember that Michael Stipe was scary skinny – anorexic looking – and he danced kind of funny, like my friend DA. The show was okay – not fabulous – if we had paid, we would have been disappointed. But given that it was free, well, woo hoo!

Oingo Boingo - San Diego State Open Air Theatre - October 19, 1995

This was Oingo Boingo’s farewell tour in the fall of 1995 and definitely an end of an era for me. Because they used to come to Reno every year when I was in high school they were a big part of my life and I had a number of very odd experiences tied to them. The first time I ever heard them was actually when a few of us were getting ready to go to a Thompson Twins concert, a day I will probably never forget.

What is funny about Oingo Boingo is that it is probably just a footnote now in Danny Elfman’s long and prolific career in movies. I looked him up in the Internet Movie Database and he has well over 100 different film credits – from composing scores to writing songs to singing them on screen. It used to be a novelty for us to see his name in the credits at movies but now I can pick out his style even before I see his name roll by on the screen.

I still love all those old Oingo Boingo songs though, even if I don’t listen to them as much. They are still one of my very favorite live acts and I had a great time singing and dancing along every time I saw them, including this last time in Southern California. In contrast to Reno and the bay area, they always had a big following in SoCal so the crowd for this show was a lot more pumped up than I had ever seen before. It would have been great to see them in their final Halloween show that year, but this time, in the October warmth in the San Diego State amphitheatre, was still a great goodbye to one of my favorite bands.

Street Scene 1995 (Los Lobos, Stan Ridgeway, others) - San Diego, California - September 9, 1995

I went to two different Street Scene events in San Diego while I lived there and to be honest they both kind of run together a bit. I definitely remember seeing Stan Ridgeway of Wall of Voodoo fame – he is a cool guy with a deep interesting voice and it was apt to see him sing Mexican Radio, one of my favorite songs since I first started paying attention to music in my Mighty 690 days. Too bad I can’t remember anything else he sings and I don’t think I own a single piece of music from him. Maybe it is time to download something from iTunes.

As for Los Lobos – I guess they always seem to be one of those bands that are always in the background of some event for me. They played at both Street Scenes I saw and once in Portland when I was really there to see Wilco. They are definitely talented and put on a good performance but I have never really given them a passing thought after I see them live. Because they are sort of San Diego locals (well, East LA, close enough) they were a standard at every festival so I guess I took them for granted. They are still making music with a big following and have a really neat website.

Peter Murphy - Spreckles Theatre, San Diego, California - July 13, 1995

I was thinking about this Peter Murphy concert and trying to remember it, and I just realized that I have gotten it mixed up in my head with another goth-ish concert we saw at Spreckles, Dead Can Dance, which has another whole story wrapped around it. Huh. That being said, I cannot really remember much about this evening.

He must have been touring for Cascade, which I was not a huge fan of at the time though I have come to appreciate it more lately. Especially the last time I saw him play here in London – some of the best songs he does live now are from this album. I guess it grew on me over the years.

Ned's Atomic Dustbin - SOMA, San Diego, California - June 16, 1995

Ned’s Atomic Dustbin are one of those 90s one-hit-wonder bands that I often forget about and probably would not bother seeking out now if they came to town. At the time of course, we were still in our honeymoon stage with the ability to see bands in town, so we went to anything that sounded worthwhile.

I have to say that Kill your Television has certainly lived on far beyond what I would have expected, including making its way onto bumper stickers and t-shirts. Still a great song and a catchier slogan.

Of course, again I can not really remember anything about the venue or the night unfortunately. But I did discover that the band is still around, with a cool website and even their own myspace.