Way Too Much Time On My Hands..

The Pink Palace Gang, 1987. First Steve Earle show at 86 St.

On Friday night I came up with the bright idea to try and name every band or concert I'd ever seen. After completion of the list (I may have missed a few) I realized I had a little blurb or memory about some of them..

Deep Purple (First concert. My hand was pressed up against a girls bum for the first time in the crush to enter--festival seating.)

Electric Light Orchestra (backed up Deep Purple...cello exploded during Roll over Beethoven...cool)

Nazareth (favorite band at the time, saw them twice...once with Rush and once with Mahogany Rush...that's bizarre)

Rush

Mahogany Rush

John Mayall Blues Band (backed up Suzi Quatro at UBC War Memorial Gym. Great musician but bad choice for a Quatro concert...he was booed off stage. Also saw my first real kick ass fist fight between a couple of "greaseballs"--freaked me out. The sound of fist hitting face and boot hitting balls isn't pleasant.)

Suzi Quatro (saw her twice...huge crush. Bass between her legs during Devils Gate Drive..."Let's do it one more time for Suzi!")

Heart (first time I saw them they played my Junior High School dance. Second time...see Ted Nugent comment.)

Ted Nugent (sort of, I passed out in the can...never smoked Thai stick before and guzzled a mickey of CC on the way from the car to our seats.)

Alice Cooper (he fell of the stage during the first song and broke some ribs--couldn't finish.)

Steve Miller (first laser light show.)

Ramones ('78 show at The Commodore.)

George Thorogood (Kerrisdale Arena--loudest show I'd ever heard. First song was Gearjammer and it just about blew my head off.)

The Who (It was the '94 Quadrophenia tour but they were still put on a great show.)

Steve Earle (6 times--the best was the first time I saw him at 86 St. with the Pink Palace Gang.)

Dwight Yoakam (twice. The first time he came out in tan leather pants and from where we sat, looked like he wasn't wearing any. Women went nuts.)

Matthew Good ( The Vogue--rocked.)

Bruce Springsteen (last time I saw him he was almost 60--what an entertainer...The Worlds Bar Band.)

Tool (Maynard James Keenan wouldn't face the crowd and spent the entire show singing behind the band...facing the speakers.)

Depeche Mode (first time I saw them at the Coliseum. We left right after the encore (midnight) because it can be tough to get a cab from there. We got one right away but let some cute girls have it. We couldn't get another one till 3AM. There are times I wish chivalry was dead and that was one of them. Second time Stephanie and I saw them at GM Place...Enjoy The Silence.)

Oasis (Big fan of Oasis but the concert was pretty lame.)

Radiohead (very Radio-heady.)

Cher (lots of gaiety, great show. A couple of weeks after the concert one of those "man in the street" reporters came up to me and asked what the highlight of my summer was. Because it was fairly fresh in my mind, I said, "The Cher concert." She asked me why and I said, "Oh, I guess I enjoyed the nostalgia of it." I ended up picture in the paper with my lame ass reply. I'm a painting contractor, so that page of the paper was in all the paint stores I deal with and endless ribbing ensued. Be that as it may, it was an extremely entertaining show and the trip down memory lane was fun... in hindsight I probably should have said REM.)

Pink (my buddy Dave and I, plenty of gay men and Mommies with their 8 and 9 year old daughters. Good show though.)

Blue Rodeo (what Canadian hasn't seen Blue Rodeo?)

Queen City Kids (Toronto band that had a brief stint of fame around 1980.)

Headpins (a staple at The Boo, eh. Then off to The Centerpoint for a top 40 band.)

Chantal Kreviazuk (awesome voice and songwriter, great Canadian talent.)

Matchbox 20 (not much of a fan but they were huge at the time--best light show ever)

Romantics (this show and the Dave Edmunds one are two of my favorites.)

Dave Edmunds (we knew most of the staff so we got free beer.)

54 40

Lucinda Williams (I'm depressed, let's drink.)

Psychedelic Furs (kind of washed up but entertaining. Some of my favorite songs.)

B-52's (Queen Elizabeth Theater...they're a dance band and security wouldn't allow anyone to stand up...wrong venue.)

Rolling Stones

Lindsey Buckingham (phenomenal guitarist.)

Collective Soul (A classic!)

Marvelous Three (opening act for Collective Soul. Never heard them before but they won the crowd over.)

Pete Yorn (saw him twice and met him back stage, nice guy. My buddy worked for Sony music.)

Have another beer stupid..

Ben Folds (Commodore.Was touring a new album of songs I hadn't heard yet...loved it.)

Pearl Jam (one of the last concerts I saw in the Pacific Coliseum...a 25 beer day. Started at Rupert pitch and put in the morning and continued on from there.)

Billy Idol (he was drunk but who wasn't? UBC War Memorial gym.)

Black Crowes (first date, smashed.)

Burton Cummings (the Commodore...fat and drunk, not me, Burton. Disappointing because he's such a talent. I could have been a little bit drunk.)

Colin James (ticket said the show started at 9 but he didn't come on till 12:30 so people could fill up on expensive beer.)

Cowboy Junkies (excellent.. laid back.)

Foghat

Harlequin (The Sweet Things In Life.)

Bryan Adams

Supertramp (it was the first concert in BC Place...the sound was awful and I left. Bryan Adams opened.)

John Cougar ('89 Lonesome Jubilee Tour. My last crack (pardon the pun) at experimenting with blow--totally f@#ked up and had to leave early. Pattern here??)

John Mellencamp (2001. Hadn't been to a concert in a while and was shocked at paying $185 for two tickets. It was a first date with Cate. He opened with a killer version of Gimme Shelter.)

Metallica (great show. My friend worked for Sony music and we had excellent seats in a box. Canucks defenseman Jyrki Lumme spent the night giving me a hard time.)

Moist

Barney Bentall

Pavement (Sunday night all ages show at The Vogue...no booze except for the swill in my stomach.)

REM (summer show at Thunderbird Stadium. Went in a limo with a group and spent most of the day in the beer garden--what are the odds? Had my second panic attack in my car at a stop light on Hastings the next day...brutal, thought I was going to die.)

Raveonettes

Stampeders

Stereophonics

Tragically Hip (seen them a few times...one of them a make up gift from a buddy of mine. Gord Downie always entertaining.)

U2 (Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For and Streets Have No Name.)

Violent Femmes (started drinking in the morning and was in a blackout by the second song. Good thing? That was my last blackout.)

Offspring

Trooper

Sweeney Todd

Bim

Platinum Blonde

Alfie Zappacosta (Klub Kaos circa '85.)

Doug and the Slugs (always a hard working entertainer. Nice shiny forest green suit.)