Memory Lane Intersects First Avenue
There are all sorts of things I should be doing, but I came across this, which, while not even close to a complete list of shows ever at First Avenue (my guess is that this lists perhaps a quarter of the shows), is pretty darn cool anyway. I thought I'd see how many shows listed I at least remember seeing...
The first show was really my first introduction to shows in bars, the all-age farewell show for the Suburbs (which have reunited many times), and I can't find it listed. It was in 1987, I know that, but it's not listed.
And then there was a pretty long gap until I moved into St. Paul for college in '89. I might have seen a show or two between '87 and '89 but I don't remember any there. I mostly saw arena shows in that time frame - the Cure, New Order, (ahem) Rush, Depeche Mode (hey, I was a teenager), INXS, the Grateful Dead...I'm sure there were others, but that's what I remember. Oh, and the first Lollapalooza, whenever that was.
Then once we get to '89, there are some shows; I think I saw these (if not these, I saw shows with the same groups around the same time, anyway...):
Public Image Limited, 10/25/1989
Bob Mould/Camper Van Beethoven/Close Lobsters, 11/13/1989
Rhea Valentine/Something Fierce (Entry), 12/10/1989
Gear Daddies/Farm Accident/Draghounds, 12/27/1989
Soul Asylum/ Run Westy Run, 05/29/1990.
Trip Shakespeare/ Picadors/ Aquanettas/ Cedar Wax Wings, 06/10/1990-06/11/1990
Arcwelder/Charlie Don't Surf/Superball '63/Honus Wagner (Entry), 08/31/1990
Jesus Jones/ Die Warzau/ Rhododendron, 09/26/1990.
Bob Mould Band/Firehouse/Contras, 10/09/1990 (n.b. not really Firehouse [ick] but fIREHOSE)
Billy Bragg/Boiled in Lead, 10/15/1990
Sonic Youth/ Cows/ Babes in Toyland, 10/22/1990
Gear Daddies, 11/21/1990
No Apparent Reason Record Release Party: Big Trouble House/No Apparent Reason/Galactic Rodeo,02/24/1991.
Soul Asylum/Arcwelder, 07/03/1991
Primus/ TAD, 08/11/1991.
Fugazi/ John-Ivan Palmer/ Nation of Ulysses, 08/12/1991.
Bad Brains/7 Seconds/Lucy Brown, 08/13/1991
Bob Mould/Vic Chestnutt/Drink Me, 10/19/1991.
Fishbone/ PRIMUS, 11/02/1991-11/03/1991. (one of the finest shows I've seen, btw)
Run Westy Run/Bushel & Peck [Dave Pirner & Dan Murphy]/ Coup de Grace/ Veterans' Day Poppies/ Bob Evans , 11/23/1991
Billy Bragg, 12/02/1991 (car died after this one and Dena and I had to find a pay phone in the crazy cold)
Pixies/ Barkmarket, 01/26/1992-01/27/1992.
Dinosaur/ Jr./ My Bloody Valentine/ Babes in Toyland, 02/12/1992.
Pearl Jam/ Eleven, 03/25/1992. (left early, if memory serves)
Beastie Boys/firehose [sic]/Basehead, 05/12/1992. (I think I went to this)
Gear Daddies/Slim and the Eggroll Kings/The Glenrustles. 05/20/1992.
Timbuk 3/willie Wisely Trio, 06/13/1992.
The Breeders/Unrest/ Malo, 10/28/1992.
Trip Shakespeare/27 Various/Surahoolies, 12/14/1992-12/15/1992.
Soul Asylum/Zuzu's Petals/Muskellunge/The Hang Ups, 12/21/1992-12/23/1992.
Superchunk/Come/Bettie Serveert, 03/29/1993.
Sugar/Cell/Mickey Finn/Hovercraft, 04/28/1993-04/29/1993.
Warren Zevon/Flash Girls/John Casey Awsumb, 05/08/1993.
Rage Against the Machine/Quicksand/The Stanford Prison Experiment, 10/25/1993.
The Suburbs/Blue Up?/Lackluster/The Honeydogs, 09/29/1994-09/30/1994.
Sugar/Magnapop/Green Pyramids, 11/01/1994-11/02/1994.
Arcwelder/Dollface/Big Red Ball, 12/29/1994.
(then we moved to Austin)
Arcwelder/Likehell/Brits Out of America, 12/28/1997. (home for the holidays)
(then we moved back to Minneapolis)
Soul Asylum/Run Westy Run/Polara, 07/25/1998-07/26/1998.
Arcwelder/Brits out of America/Broadcaster (Entry), 08/22/1998
Old 97's/The Glenrustles/Best Red, 01/20/1999.
(and had a baby)
(and then moved to DC)
Permanent link • Posted at 6:53 AM
5 comment(s)
5 Comment(s):
Very cool....but having the live music of our college years archived by the State Historical Society? Ouch.
What a bunch of great shows you saw.
reading Claire's post about her recent attendance at a Dan Zanes gig (she's at loobylu.com) i got to thinking about how we can (or try to) reconcile our gig-going, t-shirt wearing alt-musical past with our family life... it's a *bit* easier to think about going back out to see concerts, as Quebec has recently caught up with the rest of North America in their smoking laws... ;-)
i've watched musicians 'parenting' during their gigs 'cause their kids are in the audience- and that MUST be frustrating, but it's nice to see. and it's nice to hear liam & ella just being themselves on the radio...
wait a second-- why was i leaving a comment again? oh, yeah. that is an impressive list.
I must've gone to at least a half-dozen concerts (if not more) at First Ave. in my 20-ish months in the Twin Cities from '93 to '95, but the list is definitely abbreviated (or my memory is absolutely shot), because I couldn't find any of 'em. Was it Bob Mould I saw? (I do remember his name on the list) Sugar? Didn't I see Freedy Johnston there? NRBQ?
Oh, what an awesome place that was (is).
Bill, did you ever get the live album compilation that came out a few months back?
It's definitely abbreviated. NRBQ played there at least in around '92 and probably other times, and I was at at least one Freedy Johnston show in that time frame too. (Hey, maybe we were at the same show! I was the geeky guy standing in back. Same as at any given Bob Mould or Sugar show.)
I did get the compilation; I've played the Ween song from it once or twice on the show. It's not the greatest album in the world but it certainly has a lot of the key bands from the place's history. Very glad that the venue survived its brushes with collapse and appears to be in strong shape now. It's very odd to see it (literally) across the street from a Hard Rock Cafe...
it's fun to read this "slice o'Bill's musical tates". Being the proud dork princess, it's wild to read this list and see how many names I actually know.
And oddly, I didn't go to that many shows until AFTER I had kids and really just HAD to get out after they went to bed. I hear so much more music now than I did in college and shortly after.
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