Show
Notes, Volume 2: The Nineties, Part One
By
S J Holetz
The other day I was
thinking about a great concert I attended sometime back in ‘91 or ’92,
but I couldn’t for the life of me figure out exactly when
it took place. I went on the interwebs in
order to dig a little deeper, and to my surprise found absolutely
nothing about the show in question. And
so it was that I decided to list all the concerts I have attended right
here, along with a few notes about what made each show memorable, in
order
to create a record of some of the excellent, if ephemeral, musical
entertainment I’ve witnessed. If your memory is better than mine, or
you notice that
I made a mistake, please let a brother know and I’ll add it to the
account. Taking up where Volume 1 left off:
A very cool show, as Al and the boys slammed
the crowd with
monster versions of "Thieves", "Burning Inside" and "So What".
The
Cramps
The Palladium
Wow! Fantastic show on the Stay Sick tour,
with vocalist Lux Interior at his
most manic, as he writhed on the stage in nothing but a leather
thong and half
a bottle of red wine while howling out the words to “Tear It Up”. My 22
year
old brain would never be the same.
Nine
Inch Nails
Helter Skelter
(Stardust
Ballroom) Hollywood 05/25/90
First time catching NIN, in a seriously hot, cramped club. Did Filter open? Great version of “Head Like A Hole”.
Oingo
Boingo Halloween Show Irvine
Meadows Amphitheatre
Sun 10/28/1990
The first of many fantastic holiday shows from one of LA’s
most interesting
bands.
Skinny Puppy
The
Palladium Hollywood
CA
Fri 12/14/90
Skinny Puppy on the
gore film “Flowers and Blood played behind
him is
permanently burned in my brain.
Janes
Addiction
Universal Amphitheater
Thu
1/31/91
A great set from JA at the height of their powers, “Mountain
Size” and “Jane Says” were fantastically memorable.
Butthole
Surfers
The
Palladium
Hollywood CA
Fri 5/17/91
Great show, everything you’d expect from the Surfers. Fire! Bullhorns! Fucked up movies! And above all, great music.
Lollapalooza
1
Irvine
Meadows Amphitheatre
Wed
7/24/91
Beautiful day, marred only by the open
container ticket I got for drinking a beer with my sandwich in the
parking lot pre-gig, utter bullshit.
Highlights: Rollins
playing hard for the ¾ empty amphitheatre, Ice T got a great response
form the remarkeably white crowd, and Nine
Inch Nails
fog machines were pretty
funny in the mid-day sun, making the stage look like a big ass
barbecue. Gibby stalked
the stage
with shotgun and bullhorn in tow during the Butthole Surfers set. Living
Colour and Siouxsie
were kinda dull, but Jane’s Addiction
was cool. "Three
Days" was definitely a highlight.
Jesus
Jones
The Roxy
Hollywood CA
Thu
9/5/91
One of those small informal secret shows put on by a radio
station, just when
Jesus Jones was at their
hottest (such as it was) thanks
to the release of Doubt. Beers were drank, and a good time was had by all. Or Tim M. and I, anyway.
Oingo Boingo Halloween Show Irvine Meadows
Amphitheatre
Sat 11/2/1991
They kinda run together after a while, but I could never
get tired of live
during Halloween week.
Fishbone
w/
Primus
The Palladium Hollywood CA
Fri 2/10/91
Two of the most hyperkinetic bands I can
think of in one show, resuling in the hairiest
mosh pit I have ever seen. It literally took up the
entire floor of The Palladium. Ridiculous huge insane fun.
Dire
Straights
Great
Western Forum Los Angeles
Fri
2/7/1992
The only rock and Roll show I have ever been
"Shooshed!" at. No discernable stage presence, but the band are pros.
"Sultans
of Swing",
"Money for Nothing" and "Walk of Life" were
all fun.
Metallica
Great
Western Forum Los Angeles
Wed
2/12/1992
A fantastic night on the Black Album tour.
“Enter Sandman” gave me chills, “Creeping Death” was godlike. Only the
crappy seats keep
this one from being a classic.
The Dickies w/ Green Jello The
Palace
Hollywood
Fri Feb
21st 1992
Another favorite show. Green
Jello (pre-lawsuit) was in fine form, ripping
through hilarious takes on "Three Little Pigs" and "Obey The
Cowgod." The
Dickies
would not be outdone, whipping out a great set of their own,
highlighted by "If
Stuart Could Talk."
The
Cramps
The
Palladium Hollywood
CA
Fri 3/27/1992
One of my first dates with Skamama, This time Lux wasn't
quite as insane as last time, still a great show though. Julie almost
got me
in a fight, shoving an
idiot in the crowd.
Infectious
Grooves
Universal Amphitheater
Sat
4/18/92
Funky as shit, this show was too much fun.
Can’t remember who opened, all other
memories obliterated by the full version of "Whip
Craaaaame! Put it all over yo’ Bod-Day!", courtesy of Sarsippius Sulamanagic Jackson the Third. Fuckin' A!
Social
Distortion
The
Palladium Hollywood CA
Fri 04/24/92
Cool show, Julie taking me out to catch the SD on my
birthday. Good set
covering all their best tunes, and the band was handing out
7 inchers in the parking lot after the show. (Not a euphemism.)
Lollapalooza
2
Irvine
Meadows Amphitheatre
Sun 9/13/92
The best of the Lollapaloozas. Lush didn’t
inspire, but every other band was
great, to the extent that you didn’t want to leave to hit the
second stage. Although I did to check out a
few tunes each from Porno for Pyros,
House of
Pain and Cypress Hill. Pearl Jam won me
over as a live act, their enjoyment for
playing live was infectious. Jesus
and Mary Chain were fun, Soundgarden
killed
it with "Rusty Cage"
and "Jesus Christ Pose". Like Ice T before him, Ice Cube had
the crowd going apeshit, and Ministry
and Red Hot Chili Peppers were
both
fantastic. That day was a good day.
Rollins
Band
Fairfax High
School
Tues
7/21/92
One of the most surreal shows I have ever attended, as
Rollins Band tore into a capacity crowd in the Fairfax High School Gym.
Really
Bizarre and fun.
Ministry w/ Helmet &
Sepultura
Universal Amphitheater
Sat 12/27/92
FUUUUUUUCK. WHAT A SHOW! Great seats low in
the arena. Helmet opened,
hitting all
the high points off Meantime,
followed by Sepultura
in all their Chaos AD
glory. This was followed by a killer set from Ministry, who were joined on
stage by Anthax's Scott Ian
for highlight run through
Sabbath’s
“Supernaut”. One for the
ages, simply unbelievable.
Oingo
Boingo
Universal Amphitheater
Wed 1/20/93
Elfman and crew were in great form as always, but the set, filled with tunes from my least favorite album Boingo, evades my highest marks.
Julie danced her ass off, though. And they did play "Grey Matter" that night, complete with xylophone solo, so that was pretty awesome.
Lollapalooza
3
Santa Fe
Dam
Fri 8/6/93
My third and final shot at this tour. Hot
day, cool Music. Rage Against the
Machine put on a cool show. Arrested
Development: Do they really pay
that old guy to sit in his rocking chair?
You’ve got to be shitting me. J.
Mascis’ bittersweet guitar work with Dinosaur
Junior at dusk was a highlight,
as was Primus,
who crushed headliners Alice in Chains
behind amazing versions
of “My Name Is Mud”, “Tommy The Cat” and “John The Fisherman”.
That said, AIC’s end of evening take on “Rooster” was magnificent.
To Be Continued...