Rock.

I was trying to remember all the shows I'd been to over the years, trying to summarize my life so far in live music. I knew a guy once who saved every single ticket stub to every show (or concert) he'd ever been to. Unfortunately, it seemed too late for me to start at that point, since I was already, what...like 25? Which is a lifetime ago in dog years. And lately, I've been realizing that my attendance at shows has been waning. I am really not happy about this, so this will be changing.

I don't remember all the shows, and I certainly haven't archived the dates and times or anything, so I will attempt to recall them as vague impressions. Hmm. let's see. I think my coming out party was in 1983. It was the U2 War Tour. I did not escape U2. In fact, I really liked them at the time. A lot of people I knew from school went, and we all wore the tour t-shirts the next day. A couple of years later, I went to see them again at Brendan Byrne Arena for The Joshua Tree tour, and that would conclude my U2 love affair. The U2 punk phase was over and was transformed into the Bono Big-head Show.

After that, I went to see Billy Joel, again at Brendan Byrne, only because I liked the boy who invited me. I never made that mistake again. Here's what I learned: no matter how much you like someone, never, NEVER go to a show that you normally wouldn't be caught dead at. AND, if you like someone who is going to a show like this in the first place, you should probably question why you like them. Needless to say, our love was over by the time BJ hit his first notes.

So, between Pier 84 (which has since burned down), the Meadowlands, the OLD Ritz (and the NEW), I saw a buttload of great shows between 1985 and 1990. Keep in mind that some of these were headliners + support, not separate shows (just so as not to seem like I was at more than I was): The Smiths (one my earlier shows, and one I'm proud to say I was at), The Pixies (loved), Love and Rockets (kind of sucked live--Daniel Ash seemed like he was trying too hard to be cool and spent a lot of the set on his back), The Ramones, New Order (they were all drunk off their asses and tone-deaf), PIL, The Sundays (pretty, yet boring), The Sugarcubes (my boyfriend at the time smooched a friend of mine at this show, which I found out about later, and now i will always hate this show), The Cure (lots of pretty pretty lights), REM (loved), B-52s, David Bowie (too big, it was at giants stadium, and i was all the way on the other side, and so high up i got some moon rock souvenirs), Elvis Costello (loved), Squeeze (loved), The Church (eh), Let's Active (loved), A Certain Ratio (loved), Neil Young + Sonic Youth + Social Distortion (One of the gals I went with was tripping on mushrooms. By the time Neil Young came on, she was being hypnotized by her own hands.), King Crimson, Cocteau Twins, the Cramps (Many times! It was fun to see Lux strip down to his heart-shaped g-string throughout the course of the show, not to mention his creative microphone usage.) and.. um.. I know I'm forgetting some other important ones here. Damn. Oh... There was also the LIMELIGHT! Here, I saw Alien Sex Fiend (in town after a long hiatus after having their visa denied by the US authorities for a couple of years. it was a huge deal. all the goths were there.), Killing Joke, Nitzer Ebb (boring), ummm.. I can't remember if I saw Butthole Surfers and Skinny Puppy here or at the new Ritz. What I remember most about the Limelight was that MTVs "120 Minutes" was huge at the time, so Dave Kendall was always there, being a rock star in his own mind, running around and schmoozing everyone in sight.

Other notable shows in other places: Einstürzende Neubauten in Philadelphia. Don't remember what the name of the place was. It was a theater though. Like, sit-down theater. Not like a theater with all the seats ripped out for "standing room only." What was interesting is that I actually drove all the way down to see this show only to discover they were having technical difficulties and couldn't play. There was a crowd that surrounded their tour bus, throwing beer bottles and yelling obscenities and stuff. That was also my first experience with Philadephia. A few years later, at the same place, I saw Morrissey, which was interesting. He was in his gold lamé shirt phase. There were lots of gay boys with flowers in their back pockets, crying and clasping their hands like it was the most life-affirming moment they had ever known. Perhaps true.

During this period, I'll call it the stadium years, I started to develop an appreciation for the smaller venues. The big places were, well.. too BIG. It was hard to see anything at all, especially if the producers didn't see fit to equip said shows with a big screen. And then the sound. Ugh. There came a point where those $20-plus tickets just didn't seem worth it anymore. So now, as ticket prices top the "are you kidding me?" range, I usually pass on the great line-ups at the big places.

The small places that immediately come to mind would be CBGB's and Maxwell's. CBGB's had something in the 80's called "Hard Core Sundays," where you would pay like $5 or $10 and see like 10 bands at a time. I went with my friend Mike, who was into bands like Cro-Mags and the Misfits, and it was here that I fell in love with The Swans and got all goth and depressed for the first time.

Then there was Maxwell's. This became my Absolute Favorite Place To See Music. And still is. Number one, because it was 20 minutes from where I lived, number two, because it was SMALL, and best of all, number three, there is no real "green room" or "backstage" for the musicians. They walk past you like everyone else. So, after the show, if they're feeling social, you can totally have a chat! (There is actually another great reason to go, and yes it's shallow... has to do with a certain boy who works there, who I think is totally hot.) Best memories of Maxwell's: My Bloody Valentine, Galaxie 500, Cop Shoot Cop, Fugazi, Holly Golightly (playing this very weekend!), Reverend Horton Heat.. there are just so many. My favorite of all time though was my first mention. My Bloody Valentine. They were the LOUDEST show I'd ever been to. This might have been my very first Maxwell's show, too. This was also where my very first really serious boyfriend and I broke up. He drove a VW bus. He was not a hippie, he just liked VWs. It was cold and the ride home SUCKED. The actual SHOW, however, was amazing.

I was just doing a little search to see if I could beef up this entry with actual dates and stuff, and I found this guy's list of shows. A lot of these tours came through NYC as well. And while I don't agree with most of the stuff he says, it's fun to see what he thought of the shows, and then of course remember what I thought (if it was something I'd been to).

As an aside, my mother used to yell at me (still does, actually) about all the money I spent on shows and records. Looking at this list now, I kind of see what she means. All these shows (plus all the others I can't remember at the moment or are too lame to even mention) could have added up to a down payment on a house, back when you could actually buy a house for less than $200,000. Well heck, I wouldn't trade these memories for anything. Well, maybe some of them.