Girl at the Rock Show

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That's a song title from Blink 182… it's talking about meeting a girl there and falling in love, but I'm using it for something else… a scrapbook page about concerts I've been to… apparently, it's more than average (although I don't get that! It kills me when I think about some of the shows I missed or skipped by choice! LOL)
So I've been compiling a list of shows I've been to… if you went to a concert with me at some time in my life and I didn't list it here, tell me! I made this list over the course of several hours, as random ones kept popping back into my head, or I'd hear a song on the radio and it would remind me.
So my list (thus far) and some notes about the acts…

  • Raffi (I was 7 I think… it was my mom's birthday)
  • Amy Grant (Again, I was a kid… it turns out Katie's DH was probably there too!)
  • Peter, Paul & Mary (With St. Tim's Youth Group at Concord Pavillion… we ate cold KFC)
  • Bill Monroe (The father of bluegrass; one of a million acts I saw at Strawberry growing up, but one of the few “mainstream” ones I've included on the list.)
  • Emmylou Harris (Also at Strawberry)
  • kd lang (She was still a cowgirl and she wore the most amazing skirt with a western scene and fringe… this was circa 1988)
  • UB40 (About 2 weeks after I got my driver's license, my parents let Katie and I go alone… out first parent-free concert experience! We also happened to run into Laney and the Gianellos on the concert floor and hung out with them)
  • Melissa Etheridge (Katie and I saw her at the Concord Pavillion in about 2001… it's when we were living together. We were at the grocery store and some lady walked up and asked if we'd be interested in some free tickets for that night (like hours later) so we went! LOL)
  • Tori Amos (*sigh* I've seen Tori a total of 5 or 6 times… I've really lost count. The first time was at Zellerbach Hall in Berkeley, Katie and I. I wore a plaid flannel babydoll dress, tights and my Doc Marten mary janes. (What? It was 1994!)
  • Ani Difranco (I've been an Ani fan for years, but never saw her in concert until Sean Potts offered me a ticket as a thank you for some graphics work I did for him… it was the evening following a peace march in San Francisco (2003 or so) and the crowd was all sorts of riled up. Really an amazing experience, how one woman and a guitar can just fill up a stage. At the Paramount Theater in Oakland)
  • Indigo Girls (Technically, I saw them for the first time at Lilith Faire 98, but that was only a 4 song set… Katie and I have had tickets to see them 3 or 4 times, but we never made it for whatever reason… last year, we finally made it to a concert, and it was totally worth the wait. A fabulous show, and their opening act, an Atlanta band called Three5Human was spectacular! We bought their CD and I play it all the time)
  • Aerosmith & Kiss (Two bands I probably wouldn't see on their own, but totally worth it when they're combined! We actually got the tickets to the Shoreline for free… I don't remember where. I was totally disappointed that Aerosmith didn't do an encore.)
  • Lilith Faire 1998 (Acts included Sarah Maclachlan, Natalie Merchant, Luscious Jackson, and Erykah Badu)
  • BFD II (Put on by Live 105… this June will be BFD 13… I skipped my baccalaureate rehearsal at school to go to the festival. Acts included Chris Isaak, Blink 182 (on the second stage; they weren't big enough for the main stage!), Duran Duran, Frente, Oingo Boingo and Tom Petty)
  • U2 (Next to the Beatles, my favorite band of all-time. I saw them twice on the Elevation tour in 2001… once in May, when PJ Harvey opened for them and Bono rocked my world, and again in November. In between those 2 performances, the world changed and 9/11 happened. It was the first large public gathering I'd been in post-9/11, and the band did the same thing they did for the SuperBowl halftime show in January 2002, they scrolled the names of the victims on the walls and ceilings of the Pavillion while performing “One” Amazing. No Doubt opened, which made me a Gwen Stefani for life.)
  • The Eagles (With Dave and Ann Marie (and Ryan, in utero) They played up at the fairgrounds in Angel's Camp… Dave and AM had our tickets, we arranged to meet up there and we'd call on the cell when we arrived so they could come to the gate and give us our tickets. This is where I inform you that there's NO cell signal in the hills over Angel's Camp! After quite a bit of wandering, we finally happened to find Dave and get in to the show… the band was great, and it was a total bonus to have them do some of Don Henley and Joe Walsh's solo stuff too)
  • Paul McCartney (Sir Paul, a lit candle, a piano, “Hey Jude” What more can a girl want? (Besides a seat next to the piano! LOL)
  • The Rolling Stones (Actually the day before the Paul McCartney show! We had a pretty amazing couple of days there! They had 2 opening bands, Everclear and Metallica (yes, *that* Metallica) Seeing Metallica open for another band was perfect for me… just about as much of them as I could deal with or would be interested in!)
  • The Violent Femmes (Until I saw U2, this was the best concert I'd ever been to. I love love love shows at the Warfield, and the Femmes are just too cool for words)
  • They Might Be Giants (We saw them as a family at the Great American Music Hall, and I saw them again sans parents a couple of years later. I was *very* into them in high school)
  • Rick Springfield (This was NOT my doing. Suzy is obsessed with Rick, been in love with him since forever. He hubby got her 3 tickets to see him perform at the “Second Chance Prom” put on by a local radio station, and she invited me and Laurie to go. It was her first time seeing him live, so watching her was as much fun as singing along to “Jessie's Girl”!)
  • Ozzy Osborne (We actually went because Korn was opening, and we had gotten to know them… we called ourselves “Children of the Korn” and I don't know what I was thinking. It the only concert I've been to that I actually spent the majority of it in the mosh pit.)
  • Primus (The New Year's Show 1994/1995. Tool opened. I won tickets at the Christmas party at my job at the movie theater and took Ben (my boyfriend) Laney and Dayvee. Great show and the first time I'd gone “out” for New Year's)
  • Depeche Mode (When I was working at the movie theater, my friend Andres offered me his spare ticket if I'd drive to the Concord Pavillion… sure! Primal Scream opened, and I still have the shirt I bought at that show.)
  • The Police (OK, technically, this one hasn't happened yet. But we have tickets for the tour this summer and will see them at the end of June. Jamie and I have wanted to see Sting for some time now, so this is a total bonus. Sting… *swoon*)
  • Alanis Morrisette (Did a tour with Tori Amos… the show itself was pretty unremarkable I think, since I don't remember many specifics. I think it was right after that song “Thank You” came out, because I have a vague memory of her singing it. (Katie? Am I right?))
  • American Idol Tour Season 5 (Including Chris Daughtry, Taylor Hicks, Katharine McPhee a group of us girls went and had a great time! Don't know if I'll go this year, since I can't see myself spending money to see Sanjaya sing.)
  • Smashmouth (I've actually seen them twice… the did a show after a Sabercats game in San Jose, and I won tickets on the radio to see them once too. Dave Remus and I were driving around SF in the middle of the night and we started calling in… I was *every* caller, 1 through 10! LOL)
  • Train (Played KFOG's Kaboom! a couple of years ago… Patrick Moynahan is my offbeat celebrity crush. I just think he's incredibly hot for some reason)
  • Blues Traveller (Another Kaboom! performer… I stood right next to John Popper but didn't recognize him because he had lost a TON of weight! LOL)
  • Nickel Creek (Kaboom! again… when your favorite radio station puts on a free concert and fireworks, you go! What else can I say?)
  • Lionel Hampton (Yes, the one born in 1908. The xylophone player from the 1930s… it was when I was just getting into the swing (dancing) scene, and he played at Yoshi's in 1998. So cool to hear this guy, during in between song banter “Yea, so Count Basie and I were eating lunch one day…”)
  • Van Morrison (I hate to say it, but the most disappointing concert I've ever been to. It was just last year, and at $75 a ticket, he only played for 40 minutes. He didn't do many of his big hits, just “Brown Eyed Girl” and “Into the Mystic” Everything else was other stuff I'd never heard. And the stuff I did recognize, was so different, I wouldn't have been able to recognize it at all if he didn't have back up singers going the chorus I recognized)

So that's my list… am I missing any?

If you're a scrapper not someone who goes to concerts with me, help me think… I don't know what photo(s) to use for this page! Any suggestions? I'm kind of wishing I'd kept my various shirts and merchandise over the years, and I haven't seen my box of ticket stubs in quite some time, so I can't take photos of those. Suggestions?

ETA: I talked to Katie and read my comments… I forgot about a Train/Matchbox 20 concert we went to at some point, probably around 2001, I saw the Barenaked Ladies with Jamie, Jane and Austin at the Berkeley Community Theater in 2003/4… I remember during their Q&A session, a little kid asked “So do you have a million dollars yet?” and one of them said “On me right now? No.” and Laney reminded me of the REM concert… Sonic Youth opened. I don't think I should count it though, since I never made it to the show. The other car made it, but we didn't. The three cars we were carpooling in were in an accident on the way to the show and several of us ended up hanging out at the hospital that evening. I can't believe I forgot about that one! LOL

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9 Comments

  1. Holy Crap. That’s quite the list! And I can’t believe I have been to *most* of those shows with you! ๐Ÿ™‚ I think I’ve found a negative to our being married… we have new concert partners! Boo! The only thing I remember about the Tori/Alanis concert was that they didn’t play together and that there were only 19 shows in the tour.

  2. there are so many more…but one that comes to mind is REM, although it wasn’t a good night, eh?

    we’ve been to more concerts i know, but i’m so pleased to see how many i’ve been to with you!

  3. we’ll have to concert together sometime. ๐Ÿ™‚
    in the past 8 months I’ve seen, indigo girls (3 times), buzzcocks, marc brussard, bare naked ladies, keri noble, imogen heap, jimmy buffet, and then some group shows too. I love concerts.
    The first “real” show I ever went to was the Madonna who’s that girl tour–I was 6–it was awesome.

  4. That’s an amazing list, we’ve been to several of the same acts. And, swoon – I LOVE Live 105.

    I saw Van this past year, but he didn’t do “Into the Mystic” for us. Pout.

    Oh, and we also have tickets for the Police.

  5. that’s quite an array of shows, just curious…do you listen to radio still? if so,what station? if not, where do you turn to/tune to for new musical inspiration? I just saw The Bravery last night at Popscene, amazing show, it was like being at ‘the cavern’ for a Beatles show. -roland west

  6. ani difranco is a local girl ๐Ÿ™‚

    if you don’t have your ticket stubs, i’d do a picture-less page. i’m a big fan of those!

  7. I was wondering if you were going to admit to the Rick concert…..you didn’t mention all the grabbing she did….of Rick that is! LOL! So glad you were there to go through it with me! LOL!

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