All the Concerts Fit to Print

Cyn and I went to the blues fest on the Saturday. We sat in the late summer air and sun, and heard a few blues bands. The first we saw (second for the day, I think) was a guy called Hawkeye Herman. Apparently, he does a lot of talks at schools, and it seemed like he was talking to kids. Some people appreciated this. Rory Block was after him. She also knows a lot about the blues, but her delivery is conversational rather than lecturing. And she's a great player. After her, we heard Honeyboy Edwards. I was less impressed by his music than I was to just be in the presence of a living legend. Then we heard Steve Cohen, Jim Liban and Stokes (and two other guys). They are among the great talents on the Milwaukee Blues scene. Then we went home, skipping Billy Flynn and Zac Harmon. Harmon was finishing his set as we walked back, and from the sound of it, I'm sure I would have enjoyed his show. We went back for the headliner, Nora Jean Brusco. She's a Chicago area blues/soul singer. A very energetic crowd-pleaser.

Before we left, I was trying to decide how cool it was going to be. I decided on jeans an a t-shirt, with a light jacket just in case. We set up our lawn chairs in the sun, and we baked. There was little breeze and not a cloud in the sky - low 70s. Fortunately, Cyn brought sunscreen. After about four hours, the sun dropped behind the tops of some trees. Strangely, at that time the breeze picked up and it got a little chilly. I put my jacket on and stayed reasonably comfortable. After we went back, it had gotten downright cold. It was around 55. We had dressed warmly, but were still cold. Should have gone up and danced.

New Rock 102 One threw an alternative rock festival at the Marcus Amphitheater. Phil, Laura, and a bunch of people went down. The bands started at the Summerfest Briggs stage in the early afternoon, and in late afternoon, bands started in the amphitheater.

The Shepherd Express Stage
12:30 The Caulfields
1:30 Letters to Cleo
2:30 Sponge
3:45 The Ramones
5:00 The Flaming Lips

The Night Stage (the amphitheater)
4:00 Faith No More
5:15 Adam Ant
6:30 Bush
8:00 Collective Soul
9:15 Duran Duran
10:30 Violent Femmes

(Times per the program. These times seem strange. The first two bands get 45 minutes, and the rest get an hour? But that is a lot of bands.)

We didn't see The Caulfields. I'm pretty certain we saw everyone else but...

Sigh

The Ramones and Faith No More were on at pretty much the same time. Who would you see? No contest, right? Well... The Ramones would be pretty damn cool, but I also wanted to see Faith No More. And I knew that I probably would never see FNM again, since I would not want to pay money to see them. So I went inside to the Night Stage (didn't much care to see The Flaming Lips, either). I'd have many chances to see The Ramones again.

Later in 1995, The Ramones released ¡Adios Amigos!, and said that if it didn't do well, they'd disband. It didn't, and they did. 1996 Lollapalooza was their farewell tour. Joey Ramone was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1995, and died in 2001. Dee Dee died of a heroin overdose in 2002, and Johnny died of cancer in 2004.

Dammit. Even worse, I was not impressed with Faith No More. I still like their one radio-friendly hit, but the rest is noise.

Adam Ant was all right, as I recall. I don't recall Bush or Collective Soul. I'm sure they were fine.

Duran Duran, on the other hand... Laura was a huge fan of Duran Duran and eighties pop, but I wasn't. I used to hate the band. I had decided that after all these years, they couldn't really be that bad, and the show would be okay. I was wrong. They still sounded awful. Probably worse live than on record. One of my least favorite shows ever.

I don't remember anything about it, but I'm sure I loved The Femmes.