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.