The Nine Inch Nails concert at the Q Friday night definitely goes into my Top 5 List of All Time concert experiences. Just. absolutely. fucking. incredible.
Our seats were right of stage (thankfully, since I’m just too old to be moshing in general admission anymore) in the club level. Thinking that NIN would go on around 9, we headed over around 8:30 — and they had already started! Luckily, we got to our seats (with beers) just as “March of the Pigs” was finishing. Seriously though, now THAT was a fantastic light show!
Anyway, my videos suck in sound quality, but you have to watch them — if only on mute to see how awesome Trent still is.
Well, fuck that then. Wordpress and YouTube both hate me today. Maybe later, losers.
So, while I have you out there, here’s come of my fave concerts (really, in no particular order):
1. Nine Inch Nails - obviously, newly added. just. amazing. This was such a surreal moment realizing I was listening to Trent Reznor live. Awesome.
2. Metallica @ Lollapalooza some time around 94 or 95 - I saw Metallica several times, but this concert in particular, my HSS had to lie to his parents that we were all driving down to Columbus and staying overnight. Too cool. Plus I caught a guitar pick. Just an insane time.
3. No Doubt at the Odeon - Nothing is better than having Gwen Stefani close enough where you can lick her.
4. The Cranberries - I was unnaturally obsessed with The Cranberries in high school. Again, my HSS surprised me with pavilion tickets to Blossom REALLY, REALLY close to the stage. Delores is crazy on stage. I fucking loved every minute of it.
5. Better Than Ezra - Every time they come around Cleveland, I have to see them live. One of very few musical acts that give me chills when performing. Once, I even teared up listening to “This Time of Year.”
6. The Wallflowers @ Peabody’s Down Under (old flats east bank, remember that place?) - Another band I just fell in love with both live and taped (yes, tapes LOL). Oh, and Jacob’s VOICE. RAWR.
7. Matchbox 20 with Cool For August and The Cunninghams at the GROG Shop - Yes, muthafuckers, I saw Matchbox 20 for like $4 before they hit it big. I really wish they gave ticket stubs for that show. Plus the lead from The Cunninghams bummed a ciggie from me outside his bus.
8. Aerosmith at the Coliseum - During the Big Ones hey-day. We were front of our section and had a huge sheet painted with “We Got Big Ones.” Steven called us out from the stage. Too cool for words. My favorite moment was when they played “Janie Got a Gun.” For whatever reason, I will never forget that stage performance.
9. Sam Butera at the Croatian Hall - it’s not every day that a legend is still touring. It was like a moment out of a mobster movie for me. And for the uninformed, Sam Butera was a saxophone guy that played with Louis Prima. While it wasn’t Prima’s voice, Butera nailed the essence of his songs having been an actual part of that era. And you gotta love the dirty old man.
10. Michael Stanley - c’mon. Doesn’t everyone have a moment with him? And for the record, it was the first show I ever went to. I still have memories of my mom picking me up and standing on a cooler trying to see the stage. Cleveland Rocks, Stanley. And “He Can’t Love You” STILL remains on shuffle on the iPod.
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August 27th, 2008 at 9:23 am
Re: Matchbox 20 - HA! I totally remember that show. I was working sound there that day, and IIRC, Cool for August was supposed to be the Next Big Thing and Matchbox 20 was just cannon fodder.
What made the gig memorable was that all the bands had like six crew guys and WAY too much equipment (some of their roadcases had roadcases) and the constant looks of bafflement from the many crew guys when I explained “Yes, this is how big the stage is, it doesn’t get any larger” and “Yes, this is how big the club is, there are no hidden rooms for you to put your extra stuff in so you better start getting creative.”
Long day.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:24 am
Mark got me awesome tickets for Aerosmith out at Blossom a few years back for my birthday. They still kick serious ass!
August 27th, 2008 at 11:15 am
I was at the No Doubt show. Actually talked to Adrian after the show for like half an hour while he was standing there in his underwear. Awkward….
August 27th, 2008 at 2:17 pm
Was that No Doubt show the one where they opened up for Everclear?
August 27th, 2008 at 3:50 pm
This Time of Year gives me chills hearing the recorded version, I can only imagine what listening to BTE perform the song live is like. One of my absolute favorite songs*
Also — I would have loooved to see The Wallflowers back in the day. . .I had the biggest crush on Jakob Dylan
August 27th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
ooo that’s a good list mel.
i wish i would have seen no doubt at the odeon!!!
August 27th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
Ha - I was at that Cranberries show. Seems like they were co-headlining with someone, but I can’t remember who.
Dolores put out a solo CD last year that was really good - almost went to Chicago to see her at the House of Blues, and had to bag the trip last minute.
I was at that Wallflowers show too. I LOVED the Bringing Down The Horse album, and wore out two copies of the tape before I got a CD copy. That show was really great, and I saw them at least once more at the Odeon after that Peabody’s show, maybe twice at the Odeon.
Matchbox 20 - I wasn’t at that gig, but they came up to the radio station on the day of the gig and played 2-3 tunes acoustically, and were of course awesome.
At this point, the record label was marketing them as a rock band, before they had huge hits that made them favorites of soccer moms worldwide.
All three bands played acoustically at the radio station that day, and I became a really big Cool for August fan….Mike is right - label thought they were going to be huge, but it didn’t happen, which is a shame, because they had some great tunes…they just didn’t have “the look.”
I think I saw Matchbox 20 about 4 times in the next year, including the next show after that Grog show, which was at the Odeon….they had started doing a cover of Cyndi Lauper’s Time after Time, which kept me coming back for show after show…..and the girl that I was with was a huge fan, so that helped too.
The Matchbox guys were good guys though - cool when we met em at the radio station, and we had dinner with them about a year later after they had had several big hits, and they were still the same normal good guys.
I was at that Aerosmith show too - dropped my transmission in the parking lot after the show….found out exactly how expensive a tow truck is back to Strongsville from Richfield, when you only have one free mile of towing from Triple A - I upgraded to Triple A Plus not too long after that, lol.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Wow! How crazy is it that we have these common memories…
Gosh, I wish blogging came about back in 1995. Maybe I’d have some more concert friends. LOL
August 29th, 2008 at 8:06 am
[...] one’s for Mel, who just wrote a great memory-jogging post about 10 of her favorite [...]
August 31st, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Lollapalooza was in 96.. fyi.. How can I forget… it was the day you made Jenny and I drive back to Mentor at 2:30 in the morning because you were being a total wench!!!