BILLY JOEL
New York City - April 18, 2014
This concert wasn’t awkward, but I did awkwardly shed a tear at the pure unadulterated New York-ness of it all. I’d never felt so connected with my hometown. It was like the Tri-State area equivalent of one of those glorious North Korean flag ballets; an epic patriotic celebration for those with a New York State of Mind. They even had the freakin’ fire department up there singing backup. Forgetaboutit.
LOLLAPALOOZA
Syracuse, NY - July 13, 1996
I saw Wu-Tang Clan, Metallica, The Ramones, and Soundgarden that day, but what stands out in my mind is searching for the port-o-potties and noticing a sign that read “See The World’s Largest Living Rodent - 5 dollars”. Bargain.
I paid the carny and walked behind a plywood wall to find a wooden crate. I looked down through a hole into it and saw… a very large… rodent? But was it… alive? It blinked, so… probably?
This was long before capybaras went mainstream and became internet icons. At the time they were just trying to get discovered. Just a “rodent” in a box, on a parking lot somewhere in Upstate New York. Today, capybaras are headliners. I hope that one is OK, wherever he is.
DANZIG
New York City - October 27, 2007
Glenn Danzig was (still is) a living comic book antihero, a Frank Frazetta barbarian painting come to life. But to see him recuperating from shoulder surgery is to be reminded that even our gods are mortal and as delicate as the rest of us.
It was powerful in a different way.
AFGHAN WHIGS
Syracuse, NY - February 12, 1999.
I had a temperature of about 114 degrees that night and was as weak as a kitten. I should have been in bed, but instead I trekked through arctic weather to a bar downtown. Somehow my delirious fever made their music sound even more dangerous and passionate. I shivered in a state of euphoria that returns every time I listen to that one album I know of theirs. (It’s called“Gentleman”. Play it next time you’re sick.)
RUSH
New York City - December 6, 1991
Milestone: first whiff of grass.
MIKE PATTON
New York City- March 13, 1998
If the guy onstage is wearing massive sound-blocking earphones you should RUN. I’m not sure what the former lead singer of Faith No More was going through, but he took it out on all of us. Tossed by sonic waves out of the auditorium and onto the street, I went home half-deaf and disturbed. Probably the worst concert I ever went to, and yet somehow his next album (“California” by Mr. Bungle) still ended up being one of my favorite records ever.
RUSH
New Jersey - July 11, 2002
It was a sight no Rush fan ever expects to see outside of their nerd dreams: a beautiful woman singing along to even the most obscure Neil Peart lyric. Maybe she was an actress hired by the band. Maybe she was a mass-induced hallucination. It would have been normal at any concert but a Rush concert.
THE FLAMING LIPS
New York City - April 25, 2003
Sort of like being at a new-age Furrie convention inside a Chuck E. Cheese. I got pretty into death metal right after that as a result.
wow I just love all of this so much!
I was at 1 of these. Yes the singing happy birthday was a straight Chuck E. Cheese.
Notable absences: “Red!”