blakspring

Yeah, I know, it’s May. But early May so it’s not too bad:

I consider the Jesus Jones show to be my first real concert. I was in high school and had never even heard of Roseland; in fact, I thought that all music concerts were held at major stadiums. A friend offered me his extra ticket the day of the show and saying yes was the best spontaneous decision I ever made. Stereo MCs opened (you know you remember their song Connected) and rocked the joint, hyping the atmosphere for Jesus Jones who were awesome too. I spent the first hour going crazy in the mosh pit and being jealous of the crowd surfers. Finally I decided to just go for it and asked two big guys to get me up. It was so fuckin’ FUN and I was addicted, just floating up there being passed from hand to hand. That night was also the first time I smoked pot, though I didn’t know how to keep it in and the smoke would just come out my nose. Anyway, I was so high on adrenaline that I don’t think it would’ve made a difference. That night changed my life and I will always be indebted to my high school friend for the opportunity. Mario Garcia, if you ever read this, I love you dude - thank you.

The Liz Phair show was soon after Exile In Guyville came out and she was such a badass. She was so tiny with this big guitar and this low voice but it was more powerful than if she was screaming like a banshee. Why did she have to turn into a pop princess?

I don’t even remember the Mudhoney show. Ummm, I guess it wasn’t all that amazing.

This show was when Belly’s second album came out, the one that just didn’t quite do it for me. But they did a bunch of songs from Star so all was good. And how cute is Tanya Donelly.

I love Luscious Jackson’s first album In Search of Manny but was disappointed with their follow-up Natural Ingredients. Of course 90% of the songs they played were from the second album. I was wedged up right by the stage and kept screaming “Do one from Manny”. Finally Gabby the guitarist heard me and she said, “We will. Those are my favorite to play.” But they only played one or two - waaah. (If you’ve never listened to In Search Of Manny, give it a try. Especially the song Daughters Of The Kaos).

No Doubt is an awesome band that is so fun to see live but I definitely preferred the 1996 show. Tramp’s was a tiny venue and Gwen was in her Just A Girl phase, with her baggy pants and skater sneakers. The 2002 show was well done but the venue was larger and Gwen was in all her stylized Rock Steady glory, meaning she couldn’t jump two feet in the air like a maniac and do push ups on stage because the 3-inch heels got in the way.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 6th, 2008 at 9:13 pm and is filed under Get In The Pit. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.