Tonight I will be going to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert for the seventh time. For the sake of comparison, I have seen The Cure, my favorite band ever, three times. My next favorite band, James, I've only seen once and barely even remember seeing them. (Not from being drunk or anything, they were at a festival that had multiple stages, and I wasn't much of a fan of them yet, so I'm not sure if I even went over to that stage to see their set.)
The only other bands I've seen multiple times were Live (5 times), Violent Femmes (2) and Barenaked Ladies (4). I think that's it, anyway. (Note: I've also seen U2 twice)
As for why I've seen Weird Al so many times, it's quite simple - he puts on an amazing show.
So today's post will not be dripping with anger or animosity, as the past few have. Today, I'll just keep it light and talk about some of the best concerts I've been to.
Genesis - We Can't Dance Tour (5/25/92)
This is, to date, the only stadium concert I've ever been to. It was at the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, and our seats were on the field, about 3/4 of the way to the back. However, thanks to the enormous screens above the stage, we were still able to see everything. The show was awesome, and included mist of their bigger hits, as well as a good chunk of songs from their early days when Peter Gabriel was with the band.
Fun fact - it was also the first time I ever saw naked lady bits. The Stadium was absurdly old. The bathrooms, to put it nicely, were less than acceptable. I remember going to Browns games, and people were pissing out the windows because they couldn't wait for a spot at one of the trough-like urinals. At the Genesis show, there were a lot of women. There were not, however, a lot of women's restrooms. I think the men's rooms outnumbered the women's rooms 3-1. So when I went to the bathroom, there were a bunch of women in the men's room, either sitting on the sink to pee, or hovering over the troughs, so, yeah, lots of vagina.
Lollapalooza (1991)
This was the original version of Lollapalooza, the very first year of the festival. The set started off with a couple bands I didn't particularly care about, and didn't pay much attention to - Butthole Surfers and Rollins Band. But after the two of them the show immediately kicked into high gear.
The third set of the day belonged to Ice-T and his band Body Count. (The first half of the set was Ice-T rapping, the second half was with Body Count.) I knew the Body Count songs, but not the solo stuff, but it didn't matter. Both halves of the set were equally awesome.
Up next was the biggest error of the day. Nine Inch Nails was next, and absolutely blew up the joint. So here's a little visual for you. Blossom Music Center, for those not from around here, is an outdoor venue. There's a pavilion with actual seating, then a giant hillside where you just sit on the grass. Back in the day the only barrier between the lawn and pavilion was a rope strung between some posts, which weren't even sunk into the pavement, they just sat there. Anyway. Nine Inch Nails hit the stage and the place just went nuts. Two of the girls from the group I was with and I were right up front on the lawn, pressed right up against the rope. Suddenly the rope fell to the ground (someone down the line had cut it) and without warning we found ourselves in the midst of a flood of humanity rushing the pavilion. We ended up making it very close to the front of the pavilion for the majority of the set. The set itself was outstanding, definitely the highlight of the day to that point.
The reason I said Nine Inch Nails going on fourth was a mistake wasn't their fault, it was because of who went on fifth. Living Colour was next, and kind of sucked the energy out of the crowd that Nine Inch Nails had just put into it. They weren't bad by any means, they were just kind of boring. I mean, Nine Inch Nails was very new - they had still only released "Pretty Hate Machine" and were toying around with the tracks that would become the "Broken" EP, and were one of the most popular bands in the world at the time. Living Colour, on the other hand, weren't. Of course everyone knew "Cult Of Personality" but that was really it. So it kind of brought the show down a little.
Next were Siouxsie and the Banshees. I will admit, I hadn't heard much by them before. "Peek-A-Boo" (one of my favorite songs) was on college radio every once in a while, and "Kiss Them For me" was a pretty huge hit, relatively speaking, but other than those, I only knew of a couple songs I'd heard through friends. That being said, they were outstanding. From start to finish, Siuoxsie mesmerized the crowd and was simply wonderful.
Finally came the headliners, Jane's Addiction. Absolutely mind blowing performance that was cut short when somebody threw a glow stick at the stage and hit Perry Farrell in the eye. He got pissed and left, and the show was over. Before it ended, though, he did a duet with Ice-T that kicked ass. Pretty awesome show.
Garth Brooks - Fresh Horses Tour (1996)
For a long time this was my absolute favorite concert ever. Everything from the stage to the lighting to the actual music was just amazing. The show began with a completely empty stage. Some piano music started, then a piano came up through the center of the stage on a riser, with a guy in a cowboy hat sitting at the keys. We all went nuts, thinking it was Garth. Then, a guy started coming up on another riser, this one through the center of the piano. That was Garth. From there the show only got better. It is still the only country music show I've ever gone to, and if I ever go to another one it'll only be to see him again.
Dead Milkmen - Beelzebubba Tour (1989)
This show wasn't particularly exceptional or anything, I just remember it fondly because it was my first concert without parental involvement. Plus, one of the opening bands, a local Cleveland band called Flaming Baby Heads, had a pixie-like lead singer who was sexy as hell, and was able to get a couple thousand punk rock kids to sing the theme song to Sesame Street. That is still one of my favorite things from any concert.
The Cure - 4Tour (2008)
This was the third (and, to date, final) time I've seen The Cure, and it was by far the best. This was the show that finally knocked Garth Brooks off the top of my favorite concerts list. The staging was sparse, there were no keyboards, which added to some songs, detracted from others, and Robert Smith, as usual, didn't interact with the crowd much. What made this show so special was the sheer volume of music played. Most times you go to a concert and it's 15-20 songs, hour and a half for the headliners. Both times I'd seen The Cure before this, that's how they were, too.
This time, however, they played 33 songs, and were on stage for just over three hours. With what was, at that point, 30 years of music to choose from, they balanced it really well. Other than the album they were touring for ("4:13 Dream") they played a lot off "Wish" (booooo), but they played at least two songs off every single album, so no matter what your favorite Cure album was, you heard something from it.
There are a couple other shows that really stand out in my memory, but this has gotten really long already, so I'll save them for another time. And yes, I am fully aware Weird Al, the reason I even started this post, isn't on here. Even though I love his shows, none of them have been overly special for any reason. Maybe that will change tonight.
Title from "Crowds" by Bauhaus
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