Just a heads up that I’m currently posting a music-related photo each day at Flickr.com — Concert ticket stubs, setlists, live show photos, promo items and other miscellany.
Monthly Archives: April 2011
The Morrissey Show, Columbus, OH – 6/27/1991
Morrissey in Cincinnati, 1991
(originally written 3.16.07)
Just saw that Morrissey is playing the Paramount in May [1997], and for an nth of a second got excited. But then I remembered the time when I was living in Columbus, OH and I won tickets to go see Morrissey in Cincinnati.It’s a bit of a drive from Columbus to Cincinnati, but it was never an issue to take a road trip for a show, as my friends can attest. We’d pile into the bumper-stickered Volvo with a vast selection of cassettes carefully chosen for the selected show and drive as far as necessary.
I was a huge fan of The Smiths, and for years had an advertisment for the UK Smiths “Queen is Dead” tour on my full-length mirror, one that I had carefully clipped out from a Melody Maker that I had purchased from the local “cool” record store on one of my regular visits. I had never seen The Smiths live, and while I liked some of Morrissey’s solo work, it wasn’t the same. But! Winning tickets to the show made it a foregone conclusion that I would at last see the illustrious MORRISSEY!! Awesome.
So we went the show, which was at an outdoor ampitheatre, took our seats and waited for the magic to begin. The show starts, but before long, there were some sort of issues with security that kept interrupting the show – Morrissey’s pissed at the interruptions, throws some kind of fit, and after six songs, storms offstage. Aaaaand… that’s the show, kids!
What a scam. I remember being glad that I had won my tickets, because if I would have had to pay for that show, I’d have been royally p.o.’ed. So I say, no thanks to you, Mr. Steven Patrick Morrissey and your stupid Paramount show. 😛
Here’s a video from a different show on the same tour.
Jane’s Addiction / Henry Rollins Band, Cleveland, OH – 11/27/90
Review, Jane’s Addiction/Henry Rollins Band
Cleveland Agora
27 November 1990
When Jane’s Addiction played in Pennsylvania a few weeks ago, they only performed eight songs, citing lack of enthusiasm on the part of the audience for the short set. Well, Perry and friends didn’t need to worry about the enthusiasm of the sold-out crowd at the Cleveland Agora Tuesday night.
The show began at 8:15, with Henry Rollins Band as the opening act. Rollins, formerly of Black Flag, and the rest of the band performed a tight, 45-minute set, consisting of mostly new songs with a few Black Flag songs thrown in for good measure. There was a high level of intensity throughout the set. Rollins was like a rattlesnake, coiled to strike as he rocked back and forth on the stage. He did lunge at one of the several stage divers as he was stalking across the stage. Near the end of the set, Rollins finally asked politely that the audience stay off the stage. The crowd’s enthusiasm was not dampened by the announcement, however; and the slam pit at the front of the stage kept the security guards busy all night long.
At 9:30, under the smoky haze of red and purple lights, Jane’s Addiction kicked into high gear. They performed several songs from their three albums, including “Whores” and “1%,” “Up the Beach,” “Obvious” and “Then She did…” Perry Farrell’s vocals were somewhat fuzzy during the first few songs, but that was quickly fixed by the sound men. There were a few other technical glitches during the show; however, they were due more to overzealous fans that to the band or the crew.
At one point, a stage diver (yes, they reappeared) took the mic with him as he leapt back into the crowd. This caused the show to stop momentarily while the crew retrieved the mic. Of course, once the mic was returned, the band responded to the crew with “Thank You Boys.” The crowd obviously consisted of many fans as they sang along to “Standing in the Shower, Thinking” “Been Caught Stealing” “Ain’t No Right” and “Stop,” among others.
The lighting and stage set complemented the music of the band. Colored Christmas lights were strewn along the back of the stage. Along the sides, flowers and icons were overflowing from the shelves, which gave the whole stage the look of a shrine.
In all, aside from the distractions of a few overzealous fans, Jane’s Addiction delivered a very high-energy show.
– me
Here’s a video from a different night of the same tour:
The Sisters of Mercy, Cleveland, OH – 4/2/91
The Sisters of Mercy – Agora Theatre, Cleveland OH 4/2/91
Who better than my 21 year old self to describe the night I saw The Sisters of Mercy, which, oddly enough, was exactly 20 years ago today? Here’s my journal entry from April 3, 1991, the day after the show.
Trav & I went to see The Sisters of Mercy show in Cleveland last night. We got to the Agora at 7:15ish I figured that since the show was general admission*, we could get close to the stage (good figuring). so here we were: diagram time!
The masses, me & Trav, security
Very, very close to the stage! But it doesn’t end there, nope. The set ends, but they are going to come out for an encore, surely. But suddenly, I ask Trav if he wanted to hang out by the buses, as we might catch them before they got on. So we debated for a minute and left. We found a stage door and were hanging out momentarily when a woman roadie came out and she told us we could go in, the door was open. So Trav goes walking in like he owns the place. AND WE HUNG OUT BACKSTAGE FOR THE WHOLE ENCORE! We could see EVERYONE! One roadie asked us for our passes and I told him that woman told us we could come in and he said that was cool.
After the show, we talked to a couple more roadies and they told us about the other stage door where everyone would come out. So, we waited [I remember it was really super cold and we were freezing our butts off waiting around for ages] and eventually Andrew came out and walked right by us and didn’t even stop (which was disappointing). But we decided to wait for the rest of the band. So we were waiting. and waiting. This guy came out with a guitar and asked us if we were waiting for autographs. We said yeah, and he told us that he’d drop off the guitar and TAKE US IN TO MEET THE REST OF THE BAND!!!!!!!!! And he did!
OMG!!!!!!!
So, we met the rest of the band and it was cool. We got a poster and autographs!
So we had a good time. It was long, but definitely worth it. The songs included
- Dominion / Mother Russia
- This Corrosion
- First & Last & Always (opener!)
- Body & Soul
- Gimme Shelter
- Amphetamine Logic
- Vision Thing (last song)
- Ribbons
- Lucretia My Reflection
- MARIAN!!!
- Detonation Blvd.
- Something Fast
- I Was Wrong
Here’s a video from a different night of the same tour:*general admission shows mean there is no assigned seating, and often, no seats at all.
mostly music 