Violent Femmes - Gen Con

[kevins_concerts]

I recently realized I'd never added the Femmes' appearance at Gen Con. I thought it was the first band they'd gotten to play there, but it turns out it was the second, after TMBG the year before. The internets tell me that the Con was under new ownership at the time, and someone at Wizards of the Coast suggested the band.

I don't remember much about this show, except seeing Brian Ritchie walk in front of me. He (was it the whole band, or just him) walked a route around the crowd at the beginning of the show.

Someone on the internet says the band sprayed soap on the crowd, as a joke at the expense of the stinky gamers: "the Violent Femmes sprayed soap all over the assembled crowd when they played in Milwaukee one year at the Gen Con street party. I'm not talking about Gordon Gano with a hand dispenser of SoftSoap, I'm talking about a system of nozzles affixed to the light scaffold that showered the whole crowd simultaneously." That sounds like a joke they'd pull, though I can't imagine they'd go through the trouble of setting it up.

Someone on Setlist.fm says the show was on August 7th, but that was a Thursday. It was more likely the 9th. It was 1996, after Rock!!!!! was released. Guy Hoffman on drums.