The "I was there" thread

I watched the old Showtime compilation of US Festival day 1 last night with my middle son. He couldn't believe I was actually there, and from how dated it looked, neither could I.

A fantastic blast from the past. Some brilliant performances that day.

Danny Elfman and Boingo were on fire!

Brian Setzer and Stray Cats were off the charts.

Men at Work were wildly entertaining.

The Clash at their angriest was something to behold.

INXS, Wall of Voodoo, The Divinyls, English Beat, A Flock of Seagulls... all brought their "A game".

It was damned phenomenal. Hotter than Hell all day with almost no relief even in the oasis areas where you could go get wet. The Sun beat down with such viciousness, then it got bone-chilling cold after sunset. The head to toe sunburn, and the huge temperature drop made for a near siezure inducing level of discomfort and it was absolutely worth it. Absolutely.

Didn't get home until 530 in the morning, which made for a 24 hour marathon day. Still wired from the excitement, stayed awake all through the following day, calling friends and telling them how amazing it was.

A truly once in a lifetime experience that can never be rivaled or topped.
 
Depeche Mode - Pasadena Rose Bowl June 18, 1988 it was recorded and became the "101" live album - the second rock concert I ever attended (my first was Heart a few weeks before). It was an all day bill with Thomas Dolby and OMD opening. Massive food fight between OMD and Depeche Mode started by someone from the 91X sky box that spread to the whole stadium


Metallica - San Diego Sport Arena 1992 filmed and footage used for "Sad But True" and "Wherever I May Roam" videos and part of the "Live Shit: Binge and Purge" boxed set. It was a lot of fun, but very loud and I didn't wear any ear protection (but hey I was only 18 and invincible) I had tinnitus for 3 days after that show.


Pink Floyd - Pasadena Rose Bowl April 1994, best concert I have ever seen. Crystal clear sound and an amazing visual display. I'm glad I got to see them perform.
 
Rolling Stones - 1997 Bridges to Babylon tour, Pontiac Silverdome

This was the one where some guy fell to his death.

I was a kid and my parents who are big Stones fans took me. From our vantage I could see the whole disaster unfold. This dude kept getting up on the railing, and then he went over.


"December 3 [14:embarrassed:0 EDT] -- A 31-year-old Rolling Stones fan reportedly fell to his death Tuesday night at the band's concert at the Pontiac Silverdome outside of Detroit.

The Associated Press reports that Eric Zylema fell 23 feet to his death when he slipped from a railing that he had been dancing on. Police told the AP that Zylema fell from the second level of the stadium to the concrete floor of the first level, and was pronounced dead half an hour later.

The police went on to say that an autopsy was planned for Tuesday to determine if drugs or alcohol may have been a factor in the fan's death.

Zylema had reportedly been dancing on the railing throughout the show, but was not spotted by security because of low lighting in the arena."

http://www.mtv.com/news/1433760/rolling-stones-fan-falls-to-death-at-concert/
 
TomcatMF said:
Depeche Mode - Pasadena Rose Bowl June 18, 1988 it was recorded and became the "101" live album - the second rock concert I ever attended (my first was Heart a few weeks before). It was an all day bill with Thomas Dolby and OMD opening. Massive food fight between OMD and Depeche Mode started by someone from the 91X sky box that spread to the whole stadium


Metallica - San Diego Sport Arena 1992 filmed and footage used for "Sad But True" and "Wherever I May Roam" videos and part of the "Live Shit: Binge and Purge" boxed set. It was a lot of fun, but very loud and I didn't wear any ear protection (but hey I was only 18 and invincible) I had tinnitus for 3 days after that show.


Pink Floyd - Pasadena Rose Bowl April 1994, best concert I have ever seen. Crystal clear sound and an amazing visual display. I'm glad I got to see them perform.
Click to expand...



I totally forgot I was at the 101 show!
 
Jealous. I'm a huge DM fan and 101 was a staple of my childhood.

Haven't watched it in forever, but I remember the concert film being really cool too.
 
sonik said:
Jealous. I'm a huge DM fan and 101 was a staple of my childhood.

Haven't watched it in forever, but I remember the concert film being really cool too.
Click to expand...


That show was another 24 hour plus marathon for me. My friends and I left San Diego a little after midnight to drive up there, after being awake all day. Arrived in Pasadena at like 3AM, had breakfast at Denny's, killed several hours cruising around until we were allowed to park, hung around backstage for a few hours (I had All Access passes for us), spent a good hour hanging with The Edge who was just there to see the show himself.

When it came time fir Wire to open the show we went to our seats and pretty much stayed there until Mode finished at like Midnight or whenever it was. Then it was fight the RIDICULOUS traffic getting out of there, the late night construction on the freeway... my mistake, it was a 48 hour marathon, as we didn't get back to San Diego until well after sunrise.

Unforgettable to be sure. Way too old for that shit now, but at 18, it was gravy.

Btw, Tomcat wasn't kidding about the massive food fight. I'm fairly sure it was listed in Guiness for a while. We all curled our brand new WHITE Mode t-shirts into tiny little balls to save them from the flying nacho cheese sauce.
 
OGG said:
That show was another 24 hour plus marathon for me. My friends and I left San Diego a little after midnight to drive up there, after being awake all day. Arrived in Pasadena at like 3AM, had breakfast at Denny's, killed several hours cruising around until we were allowed to park, hung around backstage for a few hours (I had All Access passes for us), spent a good hour hanging with The Edge who was just there to see the show himself.

When it came time fir Wire to open the show we went to our seats and pretty much stayed there until Mode finished at like Midnight or whenever it was. Then it was fight the RIDICULOUS traffic getting out of there, the late night construction on the freeway... my mistake, it was a 48 hour marathon, as we didn't get back to San Diego until well after sunrise.

Unforgettable to be sure. Way too old for that shit now, but at 18, it was gravy.

Btw, Tomcat wasn't kidding about the massive food fight. I'm fairly sure it was listed in Guiness for a while. We all curled our brand new WHITE Mode t-shirts into tiny little balls to save them from the flying nacho cheese sauce.
Click to expand...
How about that freak thunderstorm during Blasphemous Rumors? That was kinda creepy. Especially when that lightning bolt struck when he sang the chorus of that song,
 
  • Like
Reactions: OGG
TomcatMF said:
How about that freak thunderstorm during Blasphemous Rumors? That was kinda creepy. Especially when that lightning bolt struck when he sang the chorus of that song,
Click to expand...
I'm trying to recall the thunderstorm thing. Sounds like something I should remember more vividly, but it's faint at best. Honestly, once Mode hit the stage, I was pretty mesmerized.

I do remember Thomas Dolby doing a back flip while playing a keytar, and one of OMD's Emulator IIs crashing and needing to be rebooted from disk during their set though.
 
Bad recording. It sounded much better in person. John West was great on vocals. Elliot 'Dean' Rubinson (rip)on base, Uli Roth on lead.



*Oops. I wasnt there that night. I was at House Of Blues Hollywood the next night. I will try and hunt that down.
 
Last edited:

Not my video but he points the camera to where I was that night. After they announced it was canceled my buddy and I stumbled into a restaurant and ate the hottest fried chicken of our lives. And I mean literally fresh from the fryer. Reschedule show was incredibly good.

We got a cool baseball hat at the reschedule show that I still have.
 
MonkeyZero said:
After they announced it was canceled my buddy and I stumbled into a restaurant and ate the hottest fried chicken of our lives. And I mean literally fresh from the fryer. Reschedule show was incredibly good.
Click to expand...
I had a similar experience in the 80s with a Kinks show in Santa Fe that got rained out. After they called it we stopped somewhere and ate like royalty and then the rescheduled show a few days later was absolute fire.

And then a couple of years later I saw the Kinks again in the pouring rain in Atlanta. They didn't cancel the show but the band played a full version of "Singin' in the Rain."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top