All the Concerts Fit to Print

Tom Petty died last year. He's someone I'd been meaning to see for a long time. He played Summerfest a lot. One year we went down the day of the show, but tickets were sold out. He played there again last year, and I intended to go. For some reason I never got around to getting tickets. And then he died. A friend saw the show, and said it was amazing. :-(

We were going to see Tom Petty at Summerfest. To do this, we had to get down there before the gates opened, and get in line for wristbands to get us into the lawn for free. I had planned on getting there sometime between 1:30 and 12:00, but it was not to be. And even if we had gotten there by noon, we might not have gotten wristbands. We were walking past the main gate at 12:15, when we heard an announcement that they were out of general admission seating. It turned out that they were not available in the first place. The lawn seating at the amphitheater used to be free, but this year, it was free only for four of the eleven shows. Actually, the bleachers used to be free too. :-(

So we wandered around the fest for a couple of hours. Got some ice cream and wandered through the vendors' tents (I bought a shirt). We sat and watched Roster McCabe for a while. I liked them. A guitarist like Santana, and a singer like Stevie Wonder. A little Latin sound, some soul, a dash of reggae. Then we watched the first part of Rumbrava's set. My favorite Jazz duo, Mrs. Fun was joined by a conga player and a singer/electric cellist, doing Latin music. Not bad, but not great.

There was another band playing at 5:00 that I wouldn't have minded seeing, but I didn't want to stick around there for another three hours. And Cracker would have been fun, but they weren't on until 10:00. We left around 3:30. Would have had to stay twelve hours to get my twelve bucks-worth. We walked around the lakefront for a bit, and then went home and grilled some steaks for dinner.

The first time Cake came to town, the review in the paper said their show at Shank Hall was attended by about 36 people. I was sorry I hadn't heard about the show, because I was a fan of their hit song "Rock and Roll Lifestyle" (hadn't gotten the album yet), and I would love to see a band in a show like that, without crowds of people.

The second time Cake came to town (Shank again), I didn't hear about the show until the day of the show, and I wasn't able to go.

The third time they came to town, their second album had been out for several months, and it was a big hit. They were playing The Rave, and I snapped up tickets right away.

Derek and I drove down, and noticed that there weren't any people around the theater. We went up to the door to see what was up, and there was a sign saying the show had been postponed, and it gave the new date. It took us a few minutes to realize why that date sounded familiar. It was the date of the U2 concert.

I've still never seen Cake.

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.

In 1987, I was walking around the mall, when I noticed a sign outside the record shop. It was advertising a deal on U2 tickets. The show was in Chicago, and you got a ticket, and a ride on the bus for $50.

That was a lot of money, and Chicago was a long way away, so I passed up the deal. I wish I hadn't. Once I was fully immersed in U2, I found out what an amazing experience that tour must have been. People always describe it in terms of a religious experience.

( setlist )