2001

Van Morrison, War., SF, Wed., January 3

SETLIST : Hot Little Mama, Try For Sleep, 1-2-3 I’m In Love Again, Don’t Mess With My Man, The Dark End Of The Street, Good Morning Blues, Back On Top, Fire In The Belly, Domino, Old Black Joe, Frog Went A-Courting – Outskirts Of Town – Long Distance Call, Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel No. 8), In The Afternoon – Joe Turner Sings – Don’t You Make Me High – Sex Machine, Real Gone Lover, Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile), Sometimes We Cry, Bright Side Of The Road, Georgia (On My Mind), Goin’ Down Geneva, Brand New Cadillac, Help Me – Good Morning School Girl, (encore), My Girl Josephine, Shake Rattle & Roll, Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On, Roll Over Beethoven, Gloria 

Happy New Year once again! Yes indeed, whether you think the new millennium began the previous year or not, there was no denying that by this show, we were all firmly planted in the 21st century. And as luck would have it, yours truly would be hammering the keys right now on the cusp of another new year, 2024, a full 23 years later, so as always, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do. I’m glad that we’ll be starting things off right with a class act like Van Morrison. It was unusual to have a show booked so early at The Warfield just a couple days after New Year’s, but it was welcome nonetheless. This would be the first of two shows he’d do there, both of them sold out in a matter a minutes. I had seen Van just once before headlining the Guinness Fleagh in Golden Gate Park in 1998, but this would be the last time as of now that I would see him perform. 

It was an evening with show of sorts, though he had Linda Gail Lewis, the sister of Jerry Lee Lewis, warm up the crowd with a handful of songs before Van took the stage. She was backed by Van’s six piece band, all decked out in matching red suits and I liked the songs they did together, especially her sassy cover of Irma Thomas’ “Don’t Mess With My Man”. Unfortunately, things went south between Linda and Van during this extensive nine month tour and there was some controversy whether she left on her own or was canned. Either way, she sued Morrison for unfair dismissal and sex discrimination, though her claims would later be withdrawn. If that wasn’t enough, later that year Van had a dust up with his neighbors next to his seaside home in Dalkey, Ireland. Apparently, Van tried to widen his driveway and his neighbors took legal action against him and stopped it and though Van tried to take it all the way to the Irish Supreme Court, his appeal was denied. Ol’ Mr. Morrison already had a reputation for having shall we say a difficult personality, so one could only imagine what it must be like to be his neighbor.

Anyway, Van was touring promoting his (Eee-gad!) 28th album, “You Win Again”, comprised mostly of duet covers which he sang with Linda. “Old Black Joe” by Stephen Foster would be the only song they’d play from that album at this show, but there were plenty of other covers played as well, literally half the set. I didn’t know much of Van’s music then, but I did know a few of the big hits including “Domino” and “Jackie Wilson Said (I’m In Heaven When You Smile)”. Truth be told, I only knew the latter because Dexy’s Midnight Runners covered it in an episode of “The Young Ones” and I didn’t even learn the truth of the song’s origin until many years after I saw that version. I remember my brother Alex was disappointed to learn that Dexy’s didn’t write that one which would have given them at least one notable song they did besides “Come On Eileen”. Near the end of the set that night, some drunks started badly singing the “Duh-duh-duh-duh-duh’s” from the melody of “Jackie” between songs and one of those drunks even more annoyingly sang along to their cover of “Shake, Rattle, & Roll” during the encore, loudly and horrifyingly flat. 

Still, it was hard to be mad at him. Every Irish party animal and hibernophile (look it up, it’s a word) in the bay area was there, cheerfully sauced and dancing. It came to little surprise that they ended that night with the seminal hippie anthem “Gloria”, but Galactic had also finished their show with that song just three nights before on New Year’s Eve. Whether they did it knowing that Van was coming so soon after them or if it was just a coincidence, I can’t say. I’m just glad they had the good taste to not perform “Brown Eyed Girl” that night, a lovely song, but infinitely overplayed. I must note that it was an extreme letdown to discover that there was no poster at the end of the night. One would think such a renowned hippie, especially one who had spent so much time in the bay area, and doing two sold out shows at The Warfield would at least deserve one. 

https://archive.org/details/van-morrison-warfield-1301

Neil Young & Crazy Horse, War., SF, Thur., January 11

SETLIST : Sedan Delivery, Don’t Cry No Tears, Love & Only Love, Cinnamon Girl, Cortez The Killer, Rockin’ In The Free World, Big Time, Welfare Mothers, Come On Baby Let’s Go Downtown, Hold Back The Tears, Like A Hurricane, (encore), Tonight’s The Night

We were getting spoiled that night to be sure. Neil Young, being the hippie royalty that he was and still is, had The Warfield at his disposal to snap his fingers and magically summon a sold out show there in less than 24 hours not once, but three times. He had recently reunited with his Crazy Horse buddies, their first outing in six years since the last H.O.R.D.E. tour, and were using these three shows at The Warfield as sort of a live rehearsal for their upcoming tour of Argentina and Brazil, including a headlining spot on the gargantuan Rock In Rio Festival. Neil would a release a live album from their performance at the festival, adding to his endless arsenal of live material including his “Red Rocks Live” DVD which had just come out the previous September. 

Neil had been busy the previous year, touring with his old bandmates in the long awaited reunion of Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young. I had caught them playing acoustic at Neil’s annual Bridge School Benefit that year and it was refreshing to see those geezers together again. On top of that, Neil had also just released his “Silver & Gold” solo album. Around this time, he and Crazy Horse had been recording some new material at Toast studios, but the project ultimately got shelved. The new material however did get rerecorded when Neil did the “Are You Passionate” album with Booker T & The MGs and he finally released the so-called “Toast” album just in 2022 with 4 alternated versions of some of the new songs along with 3 unreleased outtakes. 

It was a relief to see Neil alongside Crazy Horse again, especially at a venue as small as The Warfield. In fact, I can say for certain that this would be the smallest venue I’d ever see Mr. Young grace the stage. In a strange coincidence, the “Crazy Horse” strip club was and remains immediately adjacent to that venue and I’m sure the irony wasn’t lost on the band. I wonder if any of them ever popped next door for a look-see or maybe a lap dance. Well, Neil probably wouldn’t have gotten away with it considering his wife Pegi and sister Astrid were in tow those nights. They would sing back up vocals for him on the first night, but I think they just hung out backstage on the second night. Yes, I would be seeing the second of the two nights they performed there, having missed my opportunity to get on the list for the first, hearing about it too late. I was a teensy bit fortunate however going on the second night, since the night before, it was pouring rain. 

There was some bated breath the next morning, waiting to hear Neil’s decision on whether he and the the band would return, but when the word came through on KFOG that all lights were green just a few hours before the doors would open, I pounced at the chance. For those lucky enough to get tickets, Neil was quite generous, charging a mere $20 a pop, affordable even a with the prices back then. The band was in fine form that show, covering a healthy range of their material and though many of the songs went on well past the ten minute mark, especially “Like A Hurricane” and “Cortez The Killer”, after seeing Les Claypool for New Year’s, my patience was well practiced. Sadly, like Van Morrison the week before, this hippie icon and foreign bay area transplant was not given a poster for his two sold out shows. I suppose since these gigs were booked at the last second, there was no hope of making a poster in time anyway. Still, I’m glad I saw them when I did since I wouldn’t see Neil for nearly four years until I caught him once again at Bridge School.

https://archive.org/details/neil-young-crazy-horse-warfield-11101

Cowboy Mouth, Young Dubliners, Fill., SF, Fri., January 12

SETLISTS : 

(YOUNG DUBLINERS) : Rising – Change The World, Neverending, Fisherman’s Blues, Stop Me, Red, What Do You Want From Me, Breathe, Follow Me Up To Carlow

(COWBOY MOUTH) : Go To The Mardi Gras, Whatcha Gonna Do, Louisiana Lockdown, So Sad About Me, Easy, Always Leaving, Iko Iko, (unknown), Mardi Gras Mambo, Let Me Hold It Open For You, Everybody Loves Jill, Get Out Of My Way, Everything You Do, New Orleans

We were almost a couple weeks into the new century and I was already lining up my accustomed amount of shows to see, though this would be my first and only time with Cowboy Mouth. They were a rock band out of New Orleans named after a play by Sam Shepard and Patti Smith and had the distinction of being one of the only bands I have ever seen where the drummer was also the lead vocalist. Fred LeBlanc, a gregarious mountain of a man, led the band with the sweaty intensity of somebody on a serious amount of cocaine, though I suspect his enthusiasm was fueled primarily by the Holy Spirit. His effort was truly impressive. Cowboy Mouth had a modest hit with the song “Jenny Says” in 1996, but had since been dropped off of MCA after their release of the “Easy” album the year before this.

Opening that night were the Young Dubliners, a rowdy Irish American rock band from Santa Monica that I had once recorded with Pete at the One Festival at Pier 30/32 three years prior, a rather eclectic choice as an opener for reggae legends like Burning Spear and Toots & The Maytals. They were promoting their latest album, “Red” and all but the last two songs they performed that night were new. Their lead singer and rhythm guitarist, Keith Roberts, got the crowd nice and pumped up early, shouting after the first song, “San Francisco, you crazy fuckers! We’ve always loved this town!” and he praised the Fillmore before asking, “Anybody with Irish blood in ya?”, before they did “Neverending”. Afterwards, he gave a shout out to Fisherman’s Wharf and did their cover of “Fisherman’s Blues” by The Waterboys. A couple songs later, Keith joked that it was “very early for us to be up”, asked if “anybody by any chance” had their new album and that “after the show, we’ll be right back there” by the merch booth to “see how many shots we can do”, and then they played “Red”. He also gave a shout out to Johnny Foley’s, a renown Irish bar near Union Square before they played “Breathe”. Sadly, this would be the last time I’d see the Young Dubliners, though they are still around today.

I was coming in sight and sound unseen for Cowboy Mouth, so I didn’t really know what to expect. Being from the Big Easy, I was expecting more of a funk or second line type act and they certainly did a couple numbers in that style, but other tunes they did they were something altogether different. They’re a hard one to describe, so I’ll not muddle through it for long, but for a band from that town, their songs were mercifully short and their solos brief as well. Their songs were downright poppy at times, but not too cheesy. It was a safe bet that there were many New Orleans transplants in the house and along with the bawdy antics of the Young Dubliners, by the time I was cut from ushering, most everybody in the audience had a good look in with the bartenders. Seriously, it’s not as hard to have fun at a concert when everybody’s wasted.

After their first song, Fred cheered that it was the “third night of our Mardi Gras 2001 tour… This ain’t Los Angeles! This is San Francisco, baby!” and he led them into “Whatcha Gonna Do”. Technically, Mardi Gras didn’t start that year in New Orleans until February the 27th, but one would not blame him and the band for getting an early head start. I was impressed by the clarity and diction in Fred’s voice which made transcribing their setlist easier, but his bellowing lead vocals while drumming as heavy as he did, one would get winded just watching him. Later in the set, he wished a happy birthday to someone named Laurie followed by a cover of “Iko Iko”, an additionally appropriate one for the Fillmore, having been covered for decades by the Grateful Dead. It happens all the time, in fact, the Derek Trucks Band would cover “Turn On Your Love Light” the very next time I was at The Fillmore.

One number that got the folks dancing was “Mardi Gras Mambo” which Fred introduced saying, “That’s Mardi Gras in a nutshell, y’all. You’ll hear one song you know in your heart and you’ll be drunk enough to dig the next one you never heard before in your life and y’all be dancing in all the right places!” That mambo beat was indeed infectious and irresistible. Near the end of the set, Fred got a little extra worked up grunting, “Did you ever have one of those days when you just want to tell everybody to get the hell out of your way!?!”, and then he started a steady drum beat commanding, “Let’s get some rhythm here!” and they played “Get Out Of My Way”.

Before they finished up their set, Fred thanked the audience, declared “this is the biggest crowd we’ve played to in the city of San Francisco”, and encouraged everybody to check out their website, adding there’s “lots of things I like about San Francisco, lots of things I love about San Francisco.” Finally, he praised our city town one more time saying, “If I had to live in one city on the west coast of the Untied States instead of the South, it would be San Francisco. Why? Because it’s the city that reminds me of the great place that we call home” and then performed appropriately, “New Orleans”. They went on for a while afterwards and though I had run out of tape after that song, I stuck around to watch the encore. Still, there was no poster though. Along with this show, I would be spending plenty of time in The Fillmore in the next couple weeks, seeing 10 of my next 11 gigs there.

https://archive.org/details/young-dubliners-fillmore-11201

https://archive.org/details/cowboy-mouth-fillmore-11201

Eric Johnson & Alien Love Child, The Derek Trucks Band, Fill., SF, Fri., January 26

SETLISTS :

(THE DEREK TRUCKS BAND) : Rasta Man Chant, 555 Lake, Ain’t That Lovin’ You, (unknown), For My Brother, (unknown), (unknown), (drum solo), (unknown), (unknown), Yield Not To Temptation, Turn On You Love Light

(ERIC JOHNSON & ALIEN LOVE CHILD) : Zenland, Trademark, Nothing Can Keep Me From You, Enzo Shuffle, Move On Over, Last House On The Block, Rain, The Boogie King (Tribute To John Lee Hooker), S.R.V., Righteous, Elevator Sky Movie – The Shape I’m In, (encore), Cliffs Of Dover, (encore), World Of Trouble, Spanish Castle Magic, (encore), Red House

It was a night for guitar heroes at The Fillmore, a treat to all those who admire the fine art of noodling. It would be the first show I would see after our country was officially and spinelessly handed over to George W. Bush and his goons the week before, so we were all in the mood for some entertainment or at the very least, a welcome distraction. Like so many axe men before him, Mr. Eric Johnson had taken a shine to his six string instrument at a young age, first picking it up at age 11 and joining his first band at only 15. Since then, he made a name for himself with his chops and would be the ripe old age of 46 by the time I would first hear him perform that night. He had recently formed a musical side project he called Alien Love Child, releasing their “Live & Beyond” album the year before this. The single “Rain” had garnered a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Instrumental and naturally, they played it in the middle of their set.

Though this was my first time seeing Eric, but I had recorded Derek Trucks before opening for (sigh) Zero at the Maritime back in 1998. Back then, Derek was only 18 years old and already had skills on the strings to go toe to toe with almost anybody. Still a young man, having just turned the legal drinking age the previous June, he was back and this time he brought along his then girlfriend/future wife Susan Tedeschi. They would tie the knot later that year and have two kids together, a son the year after and a daughter in 2004. Hard to believe their son is as old now as Derek was then. Susan would come out near the end of his set to join the band in their cover of Bobby “Blue” Bland’s “Turn On Your Love Light”, an appropriate hippie anthem for The Fillmore, having been covered for years by the Grateful Dead. Not an uncommon occurrence, Cowboy Mouth having covered “Iko Iko” just the last time I was there. They would also cover Blue’s songs “Ain’t That Lovin’ You” and “Yield Not To Temptation” that set as well. Guitar dazzling aside, both bands were backed by more than able musicians including a surprisingly remarkable flute player in Derek’s band. That one got a long solo before they finished their set with “Love Light”. 

Though I was unfamiliar with most of Eric’s work, there was no mistaking his instrumental masterpiece “Cliffs Of Dover” which he did for his first encore. That one nabbed him a Grammy ten years before this and would go on to surface in a number of commercials as well as in the “Guitar Hero” video game. And like all those who excel at electric guitar, it would come to no surprise that Eric would cover not one but two songs at The Fillmore from the true master, Jimi Hendrix. They ended their second encore with “Spanish Castle Magic” and wrapped up the show with their last encore, “Red House”. To my frustration, there wasn’t a poster for this gig as there wasn’t for Cowboy Mouth, but at least Linkin Park would get one the following Tuesday. I was seeing a lot of Fillmore gigs then, this one being the second of ten I would witness out of 11 shows. 

I did manage to catch Susan Tedeschi on her own just two years later opening for the Rolling Stones at the Shark Tank in San Jose, but I almost missed her. I was taking my parents there that night and I always get lost trying to find that godforsaken arena. One would think an arena wouldn’t be so hard to find.

But it would be 13 long years before I would see Derek again, but it would up close and personal the next time, helping to set up his gear headlining the Sutro stage at Outside Lands, then alongside her officially in the Tedeschi Trucks Band. I’ll never forget the sight of the comedians Lewis Black and Craig Robinson, having finished their sets in the comedy tent, hanging backstage with us dancing to their music. Lewis was sort of doing a stunted, jerky, little sway back and forth dance with his usual resting grumpy face while conversely Craig was all smiles, getting down big time, his arms swinging joyfully in reckless abandon. It would be a less time between until I would see Eric again however. I would catch him in 2006 at The Warfield opening for another guitar god and a man who coincidentally shares my birthday, Joe Satrioni.

https://archive.org/details/eric-johnson-alien-love-child-fillmore-12601

https://archive.org/details/derek-trucks-band-fillmore-12601

Linkin Park, Styles Of Beyond, Taproot, Fill., SF, Tues., January 30

SETLISTS : 

(STYLES OF BEYOND) : Subculture, (unknown), Gigantor, Nine Thou, Style Tips

(TAPROOT) : (unknown), Day By Day, (unknown), Now, Comeback, I, (unknown), (unknown)

(LINKIN PARK) : With You, Runaway, Papercut, Be Myself, Points Of Authority, High Voltage, Crawling, Pushing Me Away, And One, In The End, A Place For My Head, Forgotten, One Step Closer

Many people have forgotten just how successful Linkin Park were back then and how fast they hit the big time. Members had played together for a couple of years, but it wasn’t until 1999 when they would pick up their second singer, Chester Bennington, joining Mike Shinoda and it wouldn’t be until October the following year, just three months before this show, that they would release their blockbuster hit album, “Hybrid Theory”. Originally they wanted to call the band Hybrid Theory, but they thought they might get confused with the EDM artist, Hybrid. Despite being only 38 minutes long, that album would go on to be certified a whopping 12 times platinum, sell over 32 million copies worldwide, making it the best selling debut album since “Appetite For Destruction” by Guns N’ Roses. Their brilliant single, “Crawling”, would go on to win the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance and would have the added distinction of making their turntablist, Joe Hahn, the first Korean American to win a Grammy. Incidentally, I noticed Joe had a Decepticon sticker from the Transformers on his DJ table case that night. 

This would be their first time headlining this brand new “Street Soldiers Tour” as well as their first tour with a second guitarist. But credit where credits due, the Maritime Hall got them first. Linkin Park performed there the previous October, just three days after they released that album, but they played down in the lower ballroom, so even if I was still working there then, I wouldn’t have been able to record them anyway. And speaking of recording, I have good news and bad news, first the bad news. Upon burning the discs of this show to hard drive, I discovered that the second disc which had Linkin Park’s set was not functioning. Granted, I still have the cassette master, but I wasn’t about to dig it out and burn it to disc again. The good news is that not only is there another copy of that gig, it was an official release by the band itself and obviously of a superior quality sound wise to say the least. They titled it “Rock-Am-Ring 2001” for some reason. It was a short set, but understandably so since as I mentioned, they only had the one album at the time and it was a brief one at that, so they had to pad their songs with a little filler here and there. Their set clocked in start to finish around 54 minutes total.

With the mind blowing success of the new album, Linkin Park would found Machine Shop records that year and their first opening act that night, Styles Of Beyond from the San Fernando Valley, would sign to that label four years later, though they would ultimately leave it in 2008. They were still brand new back then and like Linkin Park, had only their debut album under their belt. They were introduced by some guy who got the audience to do a bit of call and response, him yelling “San Fran!” and the audience yelling “Frisco!” a few times, before giving a shout out to their turntable guy, DJ Cheapshot. I was impressed by Style Of Beyond’s verbal dexterity and quality of their songs which got the crowd pumped up for sure. Ryu and Tak, the rappers from Styles Of Beyond, would come out later on stage to rap along to the song “Points Of Authority” with Linkin Park. They were a fun band and I liked their energy, but I don’t think I’ve seen them again, nor the following act, Taproot. 

Still, I might get a chance to see the latter since my wife and I a couple years ago bought a house near Ann Arbor, Michigan where they’re from and will likely retire there someday. Taproot had originally sent their first demo to (sigh) Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit who was about to get them signed by Interscope, but Taproot pulled out at the last minute and went with Atlantic instead. The rumor was System Of A Down poached them, which pissed off Fred so much, he had System Of A Down kicked off his Family Values tour in 1999. But whatever, Taproot had just put out their third album and first with a major label, “Gift”, the previous June. They were more or less stylistically similar to Linkin Park and were likewise extremely loud, making it next to impossible to transcribe the songs. I was only able to figure out half their set. 

Their singer, Stephen Richards, talked to the crowd a bit, giving a shout out to a band from Sacramento called Simon Says and asking, “Are you havin’ a good time so far? On behalf of the band, this is a great fuckin’ experience. You guys are great.” But then he took a bit of a surprise left turn when he went on, “But… The ego inside of my mind, being the vocalist, having a microphone, I want to know how many males here know what a queef is?” The men in the crowd, myself included, cheered and he continued, “Exactly. Now that I have control of this shit right here, I want everybody on the count of three, make the noise of a queef. I dare you. Are you guys with me? Are you with me? 1-2-3!” Then I’ll just let you imagine what kind of sounds followed afterwards, but Stephen then grimaced and muttered, “Fuckin’ disgusting. This next song goes out to all the girls” and then they did “Now”. Ewww…. I can see why Fred Durst liked them. 

One thing I remember right off the bat from this first encounter I had with Linkin Park was how incredibly loud they were, certainly a good night for earplugs. This would be the first time Chester, donning a head of bleached blond short hair that night, would use a vocal delay on his voice during “High Voltage” live. My God, when that man did his Cobain-esque scream-singing, it totally gave me the creeps. I mean, I hadn’t seen pulsating veins pop out of guys neck like that since Henry Rollins. It sounded like he was about to expel a firehose of blood from his mouth any second, dousing his audience. Conversely, Mike was considerably more subdued, he sporting a head of short blue hair and did most of the rapping in the songs. I noticed one of their guitarists was wearing rather conspicuously large can earphones on his head, performing most of the set sort of hunched over. 

Later, they had a false start playing “In The End” and they started again, Mike apologizing, “You guys are kicking our ass and that wasn’t right. We want to live up to your standards”. Mike saw something left on stage and he first thought it was a “baby bottle” and then joked, “We deserved it.” They would further show their graciousness after the gig had ended, sticking around to sign autographs. Actually, even though the security people were kicking people out, Linkin Park stayed put and wouldn’t budge until the last fan was made to leave. Awww… I am happy to report, that after a bit of a drought, I finally got another poster at the end of this show and it was a good one too, though it was a pity that They Might Be Giants didn’t get one there the following night. It wouldn’t be very long until I would see Linkin Park perform again, just five short months later in fact as one of the openers on the main stage of Ozzfest that year at Shoreline. I would be witnessing that set at a considerably father distance than I had seen them at The Fillmore and I’m afraid that would be the last time I’d see them perform sadly since poor Chester would eventually hang himself in 2017.

https://archive.org/details/derek-trucks-band-fillmore-12601

https://archive.org/details/styles-of-beyond-fillmore-13001

https://archive.org/details/linkin-park-bootleg-fillmore-13001

They Might Be Giants, OK Go, Fill., SF, Wed., January 31

SETLISTS : 

(OK GO) : (unknown), Hello My Treacherous Friends, What To Do, It’s Tough To Have A Crush When The Boy Doesn’t Feel The Same Way You Do, Bye Bye Baby, We Dug A Hole

(THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS) : Young Man – Fingertips, Boss Of Me, She’s Actual Size, Hypnotist, Don’t Let Start, Older, Cyclops Rock, Particle Man, Cowtown, Maybe, Spy – Mr. Tambourine Man, We Want A Rock, It’s Not My Birthday, Talking To An Angel, Ana Ng, Twisting, James K. Polk, I’m Not Your Broom, Birdhouse In Your Soul, The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight), Dr. Worm, (encore), Robot Parade, New York City, Drink!, Istanbul

To those who have read this humble blog of mine before, y’all know that I was no stranger to the work of They Might Be Giants by then. In fact, this would be the sixth time I would see them perform, the third such time at The Fillmore alone, though it had been almost a year and a half since I last had the pleasure. But the wacky brilliance of the duo of John’s Flansburgh and Linnell would have a new distinction that year of our Lord, 2001. They would have fresh fame and fortune with their new hit song “Boss Of Me” which was as you probably know the theme music for the television comedy “Malcolm In The Middle” that had just premiered three weeks before this gig. One can only guess the mountain of cash they’ve accumulated from the royalties from that show since then. This anthem wouldn’t even be released officially until their new album “Mink Car” came out on the unfortunately timed date of September 11th that year and even then, the song only made it onto the European and Australian versions of it. Still, “Boss Of Me” went on to win the Grammy of Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television, or Other Visual Media that year and would permanently get stuck in the minds of everybody who would ever hear it, which is more or less everybody in America anyway. 

I was lucky to see OK Go from Chicago open that night, since they would soon get big themselves, but they were still only a few years old back then. Their singer Damnian Kulash and bassist Tim Norwind had met as youngsters at the Interlocken Arts Camp in Traverse City Michigan and they named their band after when their art teacher would say, “OK Go!”, when he had them begin to draw. Incidentally, they had also recently become the house band for Ira Glass on his radio show, “This American Life”. OK Go had put out a couple EPs which got the attention of the Giants’ booking agent, Frank Riley, and he got them signed to Capitol just three months after this show. Their debut album wouldn’t be released until September of the following year, but it’s all been upward from there for them, though I believe this was the only time I ever saw this band. I was impressed by their energy and goofiness, a good opener for the Giants. After they played “What To Do”, Damian described it as a song about being “in a van for so many hours” and mused about what should one do and someone in the crowd yelled out “Ecstasy!”. They also played a song halfway through their set with a hilariously long title called “It’s Tough To Have A Crush When The Boy Doesn’t Feel The Same Way You Do”. 

Instead of it being just the John’s, They Might Be Giants were touring with a full band this time, an ensemble aptly named The Dan Band, consisting of Dan Hickey on drums, Dan Miller on guitar, and Dan Weinkauf on bass and keys. It was quite a different vibe from the ear splitting angst I witnessed with Linkin Park the night before on that very same stage. They gave Hickey time for an impressive drum solo early on. I was pleasantly surprised to run into my brother’s ex-girlfriend Tiffany at the show, she herself an even more devoted They Might Be Giants fan that I was. I hadn’t seen her since she and Alex parted ways years ago and I was frankly a little taken aback by her enthusiasm during that show. I mean, she was ecstatic bordering on manic, dancing franticly, her eyes popping out of her head. The yells and shrieks she let out during that show were truly indescribable. 

Linnell was his usual chipper self, introducing “Cyclops Rock” as a song about “a friend of mine that’s got one eye in the center of his forehead and no other eyes at all.” I also thought it was funny when they did an inordinately long pause during “Particle Man”. The Giants surprised us with a cover of Lesley Gore’s “Maybe I Know” a song produced by a very young Quincy Jones which Linnell claimed was recorded “back in the 1930’s”, though it actually came out in 1964. A couple songs later, they also did a rather straightforward cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” by The Byrds, an appropriate one to do at that hippie landmark. I also was happy to hear them play a rather rare B-Side, “It’s Not My Birthday”, one of my favorites. Flansburgh got all fired up near the end shouting out the introductions of the band during “The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight) and getting the crowd to do a few disco Woo Woo’s to the beat. He thanked everybody afterwards and said if the audience wasn’t there, “we’d feel real shitty about it.” They finished the set with “Dr. Worm” and Linnell cracked me up singing a couple lines from the chorus of “Don’t Cry Out Loud” by Mellissa Manchester in the middle of it. Wrapping up the encore, the band did a sort of extended flamenco instrumental intro to “Istanbul”.

Up till then, I had always associated They Might Be Giants with joyful and humorous feelings, but that night was tinged with a bit of a somber note. The Libyan terrorists who downed Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland were convicted the day of this show. And in a strange coincidence, the next time I would see They Might Be Giants again would be just 8 days after September the 11th. Once again at The Fillmore, they would perform their cover of Cub’s “New York City” at that somber show, but with an intensity and poignant context that was truly undeniable, a touching tribute to their wounded home town. Seeing them perform so soon after that terrible day helped me get through the early stretch of that catastrophe and I hope that performing helped them endure it as well. 

https://archive.org/details/they-might-be-giants-fillmore-13101

https://archive.org/details/ok-go-fillmore-13101

Yonder Mountain String Band, Fill., SF, Fri., February 9

SETLIST : (SET 1) Easy As Pie, High On A Hilltop, End Of The Day, Pan American, Roll On Blues, Check Out Time, If There’s Still Ramblin’ In The Rambler (Let Him Go) –  Dominated Love Slave – If There’s Still Ramblin’ In The Rambler (Let Him Go)

(Set 2), Loved You Enough, A Father’s Arms, Shady Grove, Rambler’s Anthem, Sorrow Is A Highway, Bluegrass Breakdown, Must’ve Had Your Reasons, New Horizons, Left Me In A Hole, Keep On Going – Mason’s Children – Keep On Going

(Set 3), Boatman – The Bolton Search, Rag Mama, Half Moon Rising, Granny Woncha Smoke Some, On The Run – High Cross Junction – On The Run, Peace Of Mind – Dogs Prelude – Follow Me Down To The Riverside – Peace Of Mind, (encore), Mother’s Only Son

This was my first encounter with the Yonder Mountain String Band and I was coming in sight unseen and unheard. From their name, I deduced that they were some kind of bluegrass band and my suspicions were correct, though for better or for worse, they will forever be lumped in with the so-called jam band crowd. From the town of Nederland, Colorado, 17 miles east of Boulder and ironically named since it means “Low land” and the town’s elevation is 8,232 feet, banjo player Dave Johnston and singer Jeff Austin had founded the band there in ’98, having relocated from Urbana, Illinois, a very different landscape indeed. Before they were in a band with the hysterical moniker of The Bluegrassholes. But when Yonder Mountain got together, they got big fairly quickly, their debut album “Elevation” having just been released in the fall of 1999. They had also put out a live album on their own independent label called Frog Pad Records just a couple months before this show called “Mountain Tracks : Vol. 1”, recorded from a two day stint at the Fox Theater in Boulder.

It was their first time playing at The Fillmore, but it was already sold out. Like I said, I didn’t know what to expect, so I drastically underestimated the amount of tape I should have brought that night. In fact, I only have one full tape of their stuff to speak of, really only getting their first set and a little over half of their second. Little did I know these guys were in it for the long haul that evening and did a whopping three sets! One rarely sees a band play three sets at any venue and if they do, rest assured it’s a jam band like Galactic or something. Anyway, the good news is that they being of the jam band ilk, had their cadre of bootleggers in the house that show, setting up their gear near the soundboard, and an excellent quality copy of the entire night is available on archive.org. Good for them, especially since I wasn’t in the mood to stick around to the bitter end anyway because there wasn’t a poster. 

Yonder Mountain wouldn’t release their 3rd studio album, “Town By Town”, until later that year, but they performed 9 of its 15 songs at The Fillmore that night. Like most bluegrass bands, one obviously needs some level of musical talent to play that genre and these guys had the skills for sure. But as always, I was annoyed by bluegrass fans using their instrumental noodling as the background music for their inane, drunken conversations, especially during the first set which was acoustic. The band came out and gathered in front of a single microphone on a tall straight stand and their mandolin player and singer, Jeff Austin, introduced themselves as “the opening act… the Yon-dare Moun-tane String Quartet”. Funny guy, Jeff. He mostly did the talking between the songs that night calling “End Of Day” a song about “a lot of people not knowing your name.” Before they did “Check Out Time” he mentioned the new album they were working on with Tim O’Brien the last few weeks and called this tune a “waltzy number” and encouraged the audience to “grab a partner” to dance. The first set was a short one, clocking in around 45 minutes and just before they finished the set, Jeff said that “we’re going down to Electric Avenue… It’s four blocks that way… It’s not much different than the Connecticut Yankee” (a reference probably to the bar of that name near Bottom Of The Hill). 

Yonder Mountain came back out for the second set and were all on separate microphones and pick ups this time and remained so until the end of the show. Jeff joked, “Was the opening act OK? They were too quiet I think”. All plugged in, they extended their jams a lot longer than they had in the first set. A few songs in, Jeff really displayed his lightning fast mandolin chops during “Shady Grove”. A few songs later, he asked us if we “can feel the Yeehaw factor in the room?” and then announced that they were going to do (jokingly) “a very serious” cover of mandolin virtuoso Bill Monroe’s “Bluegrass Breakdown”. They finished the second set with a mash up of “Keep On Going” and “Mason’s Children” and Jeff made sure beforehand to thank all the people who came to the show from out of town as well as anybody who “hung up a single poster… handed out a single flyer” for them. That last one went on for a spell, over twenty minutes, giving the band plenty of time to do their solos. 

After one more short break, they returned for their third and final set, mentioning that they had “sampled several beverages” in their time away from us. After “Rag Mama”, Jeff mentioned that most of them had never set foot in that building before and when they got there earlier, they spent time “just wanderin’ around… laughing and crying.” A couple songs later, Jeff mentioned that the band “raised a very poignant question” wondering if indeed the folks at The Fillmore were the “best smelling” crowd they had ever played to and praised the “variety” of odors emanating from us. They then revisited the subject of the “Yeehaw Factor” saying that we had started around a 1 and were about a 3 at that point, though a 5 had never been achieved. As you might expect, they goaded the audience to holler at the count of 3, and everybody yeehawed their lungs out, which Jeff responded that he had “never heard anything like that before”. 

They did another 20 minute long extended jam later mashing up “On The Run” with “High Cross Junction”, giving Dave an opportunity to floor us with his intense banjo picking. They finished their last set with an even longer medley of tunes starting with “Peace Of Mind”, going into “Dogs” by Pink Floyd and “Follow Me Down To The Riverside”, before returning to “Peace Of Mind” once again. It was cool to hear them do that cover, especially since I’d recently heard Les Claypool do it with his Frog Brigade on that very stage just six weeks before on the night before New Year’s Eve. Yes, it was quite a different scene that night from the brash East Bay punk stylings of The Frustrators who would grace that stage just 24 hours later. Those punks weren’t much for instrumental solos and I doubt a single song I heard that night was longer than four minutes. The Yonder Mountain guys would return to The Fillmore later that November to do two nights there, but I didn’t attend either show. Of course, that one got a poster. However, I did catch them again the following year, that time headlining at The Warfield. 

https://archive.org/details/yonder-mountain-string-band-fillmore-2901

https://archive.org/details/yonder-mountain-string-band-bootleg-fillmore-2901

The Frustrators, Fetish, The Influents, One Time Angels, Fill., SF, Sat., February 10

SETLISTS :

(THE INFLUENTS) : Simple Girls, Where I’ll Go, Not The Same, Chain Parades, Tears Not Suicide, Taking Time, (unknown), Nothing New, (unknown), See You Again, Give The Anarchist A Cigarette

(FETISH) : Powerstrip, Paint You A Picture, Pins-N-Needles, Shotgun, Whatever Whenever, Weak, Eucalyptus, Silver Electric, Whiskey, Baby It’ll Be Alright, Lipstick, Love Song, S & M

(THE FRUSTRATORS) : You’re Only Human, Trout, (unknown), A Drink Please, Then She Walked Away, Living In The Real World, The Great American Midget Toss, (unknown), (unknown)

Like Yonder Mountain String Band who had played at The Fillmore the night before, I was coming into this show fresh as a daisy, though that was pretty much all the two shows had in common. Yes, unlike those jam band bluegrass people, The Frustrators along with the other acts that night were all punk. I would be pleasantly surprised to discover that the bass player of The Frustrators was none other than Mike Dirnt from Green Day. This whole show was entirely a showcase of the acts on Green Day’s own label, Adeline Records, which they had founded in 1997. Looking for a side project, along with drummer Art Tedeschi and singer Jason Chandler from Violent Anal Death (Eww) and guitarist Terry Linehan from Waterdog, they were searching literally for a name for themselves and being fans of the TV comedy “Three’s Company”, initially wanted to call their band The Ropers. But as luck would have it, there was a band in D.C. with that name, so they instead opted for The Regal Beagles, but a band in L.A. had beaten them to that name as well. Being thwarted by these turn of events, they channeled their “frustration” into the name they ultimately chose, though I discovered there is a surf rock band in the Czech Republic that shares that name as well. What can you say, great minds think alike. Incidentally, this would be my sixth show in a row I’d see at The Fillmore. I’d see Jeff Beck at The Warfield ten days after this, but the following four shows would also be ones at The Fillmore, so I was seeing a lot of that venue that winter. 

But I digress… Keeping to their east bay punk rock ethos, the show was only charging $8 a ticket that night, a staggeringly low price for a four band line up even at prices back then, and was being billed as another one of those “Fillmore Sessions” gigs. The Frustrators had put out an EP the year before, but they wouldn’t release their first album, “Achtung Jackass” until March of the following year. So, it’s not surprising that the word hadn’t gotten out in the bay area which might have explained why there were so few people in the audience that night, maybe half sold at most and I imagine many of them were friends and family of the bands. The One Time Angels were first, having a short set as expected and though I didn’t get a setlist or could decipher their songs listening to them, I know they performed “Fall From Grace” and “Mercury”. They were so new back then, they claimed that night was “pretty much their first gig” ever. 

The following act, The Influents, were a new act formed from members of Pinhead Gunpowder, a side project of Billy Joe Armstrong, the frontman of Green Day. Bass player Bill Schneider was Billy Joes’s guitar tech as well as Mike’s bass tech for years and ultimately became Green Day’s tour manager. The Influents’ guitarist and singer, Jason White, I had seen performing with Green Day as the first time they’d play with a second guitarist at the Bridge School Benefit in 1999 and that position would officially become permanent in 2012. It had been a long time, but I guessed he passed the audition. Jason had been lingering around with the band so long, in fact, that he had appeared in their video for “When I Come Around” kissing his real girlfriend in it when it was filmed way back in ’94. Jason would also take part in the side project The Network with all three members of Green Day and I’d see them, (in disguise), opening for Green Day at The Warfield in 2005. The Influents sounded a lot like Green Day actually, but I suppose that’s understandable. Jason’s lyrics were at least easier to decipher than the One Time Angels’, so I was able to figure out most of their setlist. I liked that they finished their set adding a rather unexpected short trombone solo in the middle of “Give The Anarchist A Cigarette”. 

Fetish was up next and I was able to snag their setlist, the only one I was able to get my hands on that night. Like the others, they were local, but they do share their name with a band from South Africa. Believe me, it’s best you don’t try to google the name. Let’s just say that Fetish brings up… uhh… a variety of subjects. Anyway, they were pretty cool. Their singer Matt Olyphant’s voice reminded me a bit of Mike Patton’s. He had everybody say “Hi to Dylan”, explaining, “I just had a son. That’s my baby boy” and pointed him and his mother out to the crowd. I just hope that baby had earplugs on that night and I’m pretty sure he did. Like the other openers, I haven’t seen Fetish since, but I learned that Matt has gone on to be a successful painter and still lives in the bay area. Hard to believe his baby boy is turning 23 years old this year. 

The Frustrators were an interesting, though not distant departure from Green Day, maybe a little harsher, a little more rockabilly at times. Before the show began, I have the distinct memory of a pretty young woman walking around with a plate of chocolate chip cookies and asked me if I wanted one. When she said they were a dollar each, I pled poverty, but she showed me mercy and gave me one anyway. That was a damn good cookie too, homemade, not the packaged kind. Funny that I still have that sense memory. Anyway, The Frustrators came on stage and reminded us to hold on to our raffle tickets that had been passed out earlier, beginning their set with “You’re Only Human”. A few songs later, Jason said to the crowd, “A long time ago, there was a band called Cheap Trick” and told them that their song “Dream Police” was “a great song but the lyrics were all wrong.” And so, they rewrote the lyrics and sang it as “A Drink, Please”, pronouncing the last word in two syllables as “puh-lease”. As you might imagine, the song was about drinking. A little later, they made some sort of wisecrack about thinking they were still at Gilman Street, calling it “The Gillmore”. Jason wished somebody in the crowd named Sean a happy birthday and polled the room asking if they should “hold out” or “go now” for the raffle drawing. 

They thought the girls wanted to hold out and the boys wanted to go now, but they did one more song before announcing the winner. They first announced the number “206041” and Jason yelled, “Get your ass up here!”, but nobody responded. He shrugged and joked, “Raise your hand if you want it”. Of course, everybody screamed and raised their hands as I did, but they drew again, strangely drawing the very next number sequentcially, “206042”, Jason joking, “I don’t care if you have it or not” and then a woman raised her hand, but then refused to come up. He chastised her, hissing, “Why do you turn The Fillmore into a house of lies?” They finally managed to give the prize away, whatever that was. I frankly don’t remember. Doing another cover, but this time not changing the lyrics, they then did a sped up punk version of Blondie’s “Living In The Real World”. After following that with “The Great Australian Midget Toss”, he made some gay short person wisecrack about “this guy came out of the cupboard today” and took another sharp left turn telling us, “two days ago, my dog jumped off a 3rd story balcony” and went on that the dog had landed “on the trellis below the balcony and jumped again another 12 feet!” We all cringed a bit, but I think the dog was OK. My tape supply ran out just after that anecdote. The Frustrators went on to do a few more songs before finishing the night, but I can’t say which ones they were. 

It had been since that last Bridge School show that I saw any member of Green Day and I wasn’t expecting to get so up close and personal with them that night. Earlier, when the doors had just opened and there were only a handful of people in the house, Mike Dirnt himself approached me when I was talking to another usher and offered me one of the raffle tickets. To this day, I can’t remember what the raffle was for probably because I was so distracted that he would be talking to me in the first place. The thing I remember most was that he told me I had “an honest face”. That was probably the highest compliment I’ve ever received from any celebrity, if not the only one really. In addition to my close encounter with Mike, Billy Joe came out about halfway through The Frustrators’ set and danced in the sparsely populated mosh pit with us! Seriously, everybody knew it and tried to bunch up around Billy Joe as close as possible, turning it into more of a rugby scrum than a pit. Still, it was nice to be so literally close to him and Mike, a rare occasion which would draw the envy of any Green Day fan, especially after they got stadium big when “American Idiot” came out. Mr. Dirnt would have his hands full with that new level of success, setting aside The Frustrators for nearly a decade. They would reunite in 2011 and record a new EP, but this Fillmore show was the only time I’ve seen them live. Sadly, Adeline Records would ultimately close up shop in 2017, so I was glad to see all these bands when they were still new.

https://archive.org/details/the-influents-fillmore-21001

https://archive.org/details/the-frustrators-fillmore-21001

https://archive.org/details/fetish-fillmore-21001

https://archive.org/details/one-time-angels-fillmore-21001

Jeff Beck, Willy Porter, War., SF, Tues., February 20

It had been a strange week in the news leading up to this show. The first map of the human genome was published, Dale Earnhardt died slamming his car into a concrete wall at the Daytona 500, and Robert Hanssen was arrested for spying for the Commies. So, seeing the one and only electric guitar god and seven time Grammy winner, Mr. Jeff Beck, was a welcome distraction for all of us. This would actually be the second guitar hero concert I’d be seeing in less than a month, having just been dazzled by Eric Johnson & Alien Love Child at The Fillmore with Derek Trucks opening. Mr. Beck, like Mr. Johnson, was one of those venerable acts that I should have seen by then, but hadn’t. Going way back to swinging London of 1965, Jeff had taken over for Eric Clapton when he left The Yardbirds, though they started butting heads and after only just 20 months in the band, he left and went out on his own. Mr. Beck is one of only 26 people to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame twice like Clapton, once with The Yardbirds and once for his solo work. And if that wasn’t enough, one needs only to take one look at the guy and you’d instantly know that he was the template for Nigel Tufnel, the guitarist of Spinal Tap and Christopher Guest’s alter ego.

So, better late than never that I would be seeing this first of a two night sold out stint at The Warfield. Sadly, it would be the second night that would be recorded for a live album and his music being entirely instrumental, I have no idea what the setlist was the night I saw him. But rest assured, to all the fans out there, he shredded quite mightily. But the opener, Willy Porter from Wisconsin, that night was subdued by comparison. It was just him and his acoustic guitar which is brave enough, but especially ballsy when you’re standing in front of a sold out crowd of Jeff Beck fans. But Mr. Porter held his own, singing his melancholy, yet well composed tunes with his baritone voice, layered with a mountain of reverb. It was so much reverb in fact, that I hadn’t a prayer making out a single lyric and consequently was unable to figure out any of his setlist either. The audience was polite and Willy would chalk this tour under his belt, joining such other notable acts that he’s opened for such as Sting, Paul Simon, and Jethro Tull.

Donning a simple white tee shirt and black leather vest, Jeff and the band took the stage and I was immediately astounded at his dexterity, especially since he didn’t use a pick. By this time, Jeff had just turned 56 years old and was branching out musically with his new album, “You Had It Coming”, which had just come out two months before this show. This eighth studio album would garner him another Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. Jeff took an interesting angle with this one, experimenting with electronic dance music, though this would be the first time in 20 years that he’d be touring without a keyboard player. This would be, however, the first time he’d be touring with a second guitarist since he had been in The Yardbirds. Joining the band in that capacity would be Jennifer Batten, who had the honor and infamy of being Michael Jackson’s guitarist for the previous five years. Adding another musician from an unlikely musical group, Jeff had also brought along the drummer of The Spice Girls, Andy Ganadeen.

Backed by such able musicians, Jeff quickly confirmed his reputation to me. Even Rolling Stone magazine granted him 5th place in their list of all time greatest guitar players. Like I said, I was unable to score the setlist, but I’m sure he dusted off some of his golden oldies like “Heart Full Of Steel”, “Shapes Of Things”, and “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago”. One song I know for certain that he played was an inspiring instrumental cover of “A Day In The Life” by The Beatles. I was also impressed with the enthusiasm of his fans who cheered loudly and clapped their hands in unison even after the lights came up when he was done with his encore. So you can imagine our collective disappointment when we discovered that they weren’t giving away a poster at the end of the night. At least WIllie Nelson would get one for his two sold out shows at The Fillmore starting two nights later. Still, I’m glad to say that I had the pleasure of at least seeing Mr. Beck perform once, especially now after his passing just a year and two weeks ago. 

https://archive.org/details/willie-porter-warfield-22001

https://archive.org/details/jeff-beck-warfield-22001

Willie Nelson, Apartment #9, Fill., SF, Thur., February 22

SETLIST : Whiskey River, Stay A Little Longer, Good Hearted Woman, Funny How Time Slips Away, Crazy, Night Life, Me & Bobby McGee, I Been To Georgia On A Fast Train, Blue Skies, Georgia On My Mind, All Of Me, Stardust, Mommas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys, Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground, On The Road Again, You Were Always On My Mind, Will The Circle Be Unbroken?, Seven Spanish Angels, City Of New Orleans, To All The Girls I’ve Loved Before, Luckenbach Texas (Back To The Basics Of Love), Whiskey River (reprise), Still Is Still Moving To Me, Milk Cow Blues, Poncho & Lefty, (instrumental), My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It, Me & Paul, Gypsy, Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms, I Never Cared For You, The Great Divide, Just Because, Pick Up The Tempo, Yesterday’s Wine, The Party’s Over, The Thirty-Third Of August, There Will Be No Teardrops Tonight, Whiskey River (reprise)

It had been four long years since I had first set these eyes upon the beloved Red Headed Stranger. Back then, I was recording him with Pete at the Maritime Hall and I had only been able to go topside to watch him live for a little bit since we were working. So, you can imagine my elation when I heard I’d be seeing him proper and for his first time ever performing at The Fillmore no less. And just slightly shy of the ripe old age of 68, one would think that Mr. Nelson would have played there by then, but better late than never I suppose. He would more than make up for it soon, doing multiple show stints at The Fillmore again the following year and in 2003. I’m happy to say that I attended one of each of those shows as well. 

Willie had been his usual busy self touring and releasing album after album since I had last seen him. He had just put out his (gasp!) 48th studio album, “Milk Cow Blues” the previous September, a compilation of duets he shared with guys like B.B. King, Dr. John, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and Jimmie Vaughn. It was doing well, having reached the #2 spot on the Billboard Blues charts. Hopefully, by this time Willie had settled his troubles with the I.R.S. and was back in the black again. He had also lended his voice the previous May to an episode of “The Simpsons” playing himself in the “Behind The Laughter” episode. Coincidentally, that month he would also appear as himself on another animated TV show, being interviewed by Space Ghost on its first episode of their 7th season. His interview involved “the ol’ Kentucky Shark”, who had been the mascot to a failing liquor chain that had recently bought Space Ghost’s show. Chalk one for Willie being open minded. 

There was an opening act that night called Apartment #9, but I spent most of the time before Willie got on checking out a band called The Bellyachers up in the poster lounge. Though they had a full band on other occasions, it was just the two adorable singers and their acoustic guitars up there that night, but the sweet voices of those young women and their tunes had attracted an impressive amount of listeners for a poster room act. Along with a handful of originals, they covered a few interesting songs including the bluegrass gospel standard “I’ll Fly Away”. One of the singers commented that playing there made her feel “so pretty” and she felt like “I should get married or something”. Afterwards they covered “Can’t You Hear Me Calling” by Bill Monroe and finished their set with “Carrie Brown” by Del McCoury and Steve Earle. They had dedicated that so-called “murder balled” to their friends Cathy Jo and Sherry who presumably were in the crowd watching them. Funny, I had just seen another bluegrass act, the Yonder Mountain String Band, less than two weeks before this night at The Fillmore as well. 

But the night belonged to Willie and once again, when he stepped out on stage, his fans went nuts and I had that unmistakable feeling that nothing could possibly harm me when I was in his benevolent presence. As always, he sprung into action with “Whiskey River”, a song he would reprise twice later on that night, including the last song of the show. He was touring with the same band I had seen him with before including his sister Bobbie on the piano. They did all the songs they played at the Maritime and then some, clocking in a set well over two hours long consisting of almost 40 songs! He did all his hits as well as covers he made famous like “Good Hearted Woman” by Waylon Jennings, “Blue Skies” by Irving Berlin, “Yesterday’s Wine” by George Jones and Merle Haggard, and “Seven Spanish Angels” by Ray Charles. He also covered Hank Williams’  “There Will Be No Teardrops Tonight” as the second to the last song of his set before finishing up with the aforementioned second reprise of “Whiskey River”. 

Unlike Jeff Beck at The Warfield two nights before this, Willie would get a poster for his sold out two night stint of shows. It was sort of an ugly poster, but a poster nonetheless. The one he’d get the following year would be one of artist Jason Mercier’s brilliant collage masterpieces and would be so admired that the original currently graces the wall of The Fillmore down on the dance floor level next to the main bar. Like I mentioned before, I would be lucky to see Willie at one of those shows and the following year there, but also at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival. That would be the weird day when I saw Willie there in the park and then hauled ass downtown to see Olivia Newton-John playing alongside the S.F. Symphony that night, but I’ll get to that one later. I would see Willie one more time at the final Bridge School Benefit in 2016, but thanks be to the grace of god that he still is alive and performing today having turned the ripe old age of 90 last April. He’s actually going to play the Greek in Berkeley just five days before he turns 91. It’s sold out, but maybe I’ll try to crash it. 

https://archive.org/details/willie-nelson-fillmore-22201

https://archive.org/details/mystery-lounge-act-fillmore-22201

Luna, Rainer Maria, Fill., SF, Sat., February 24

SETLISTS

(RAINER MARIA) : Artificial Light, Spit & Fire, (unknown), (unknown), Broken Radio, (unknown), Thought I Was, The Contents Of Lincoln’s Pockets, Breakfast Of Champions

(LUNA) : Eggnog, Four Thousand Days, Lovedust, Pup Tent, Double Feature, Rhythm King, Friendly Advice, The Slow Song, Sideshow By The Seashore, Dear Diary, Lost In Space, 23 Minutes In Brussels, Tiger Lily, Moon Palace, Superfreaky Memories, Bonnie & Clyde, (encore), Bewitched, Freakin’ & Peakin’ 

Sadly, this would be the third and final time I’d see Luna perform at The Fillmore. Between these shows and the two times I saw them open at The Warfield for the Cocteau Twins in ’94 and Lou Reed in ’96, I had gotten to know Mr. Dean Wareham and company pretty well. I’m just glad that on this final occasion, they finally ponied up a poster at the end of the night for them. Just 18 days before this show, the band had released their “Luna Live” album with tracks recorded from shows they had done at the 9:30 Club in D.C. and The Knitting Factory in New York City. Though they wouldn’t put out the “Romantica” album for another year, Dean and the gang treated us to a sneak peak of its opening track “Lovedust” as their third song of their set that night. Luna had another song, “The Old Fashioned Way”, used as the opening theme to the romantic thriller “Kill Me Later” with Selma Blair which would be in theaters on the unfortunately timed release date of three days after 9/11, though they didn’t play that song that night. 

Opening for them would be Rainer Maria, an Emo trio from Madison, Wisconsin. Named after the German poet Rainer Maria Rilke, I thought they were quite an upbeat band to be warming up for such a low key act as Luna. Rainer Maria had just released their third studio album, “A Better Version Of Me” just a month and a day before this show, but they would ultimately disband five years later, getting together once and a blue moon for a handful of reunion shows, including a New Year’s Eve show at The Bowery in Brooklyn, New York back in 2014. The singers, Caithlin and Kaia, reminded the crowd on more than one occasion that they’d be playing at Bottom Of The Hill the following night.

Like I had written previously, Luna had become familiar to me, so there wasn’t anything particularly surprising in their set. Still, I was glad that they had once again included their cover of Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie & Clyde”, a duet Dean did with his bandmate and then girlfriend Britta Phillips, she obviously singing the Brigitte Bardot part. They had played it the previous time Luna was at The Fillmore, but I was into Serge’s music by this time and appreciated it more. Dean and Britta sealed the deal, getting hitched in 2006, and continued to tour together making music as a duo appropriately named Dean & Britta, but I haven’t seen them or Luna since this night in question. But Luna is still around and in fact performed on New Year’s Eve at The Fillmore just six weeks ago and they also released a bunch of live albums from shows they did on their 2022 tour. 

https://archive.org/details/luna-fillmore-22401

https://archive.org/details/rainer-maria-fillmore-22401

KMEL Jams: De La Soul, Richie Rich, Kofy Brown, Mr. C The Slide Man, Sugar Free & JT The Bigga Figga, Fill., SF, Thur., March 1

SETLISTS :

(DE LA SOUL) : Buddy, Oooh, All Good?

(RICHIE RICH) : Touch Myself, Game Don’t Stop, I Get 5 On It, I Ain’t Gonna Do

This night was being billed as one of those “KMEL Jams” shows, a traditionally chaotic cavalcade of quickly rotating hip hop acts, but the night belonged to De La Soul as far as I was concerned. Even though they were the middle act on the bill, I still considered them the headliner and I listed them above as such. Not to say that the other acts were chopped liver, they weren’t, but De La was clearly a massive cut above the rest. I had seen them plenty up till then, even having had recorded them on four separate occasions at the Maritime Hall. They were finally releasing new material, the first stuff in over four years, starting a proposed trilogy of albums with “AOI : Mosaic Thump”, that just came out the previous August. The AOI stood for “Art Official Intelligence” and the second installment “Bionix” would come out nine months after this show. The third installment was never actually completed since the band had a falling out with Tommy Boy Records, rumored to be over streaming their stuff on the web, a fairly new thing for musicians back then.

An assortment of DJs from KMEL came and went introducing the acts that night and trying to pump up the crowd. The first act on was Kofy Brown, a singer who played bass as well. As you might have guessed, her name was an alternate spelling of Coffy Brown, the titular character from the Pam Grier film. She only got to do about three songs, which was pretty much what most acts got that night, but I liked what I heard. Kofy got the audience riled up, doing the standard call and response bit, “Do the ladies run this mothafucker? (Hell yeah!) Do the fellahs run this mothafucker? (Hell yeah!)” She would go on in later years to form the rock band Sistas In The Pit and I would have the pleasure of seeing them perform a few times, once opening for Iggy & The Stooges at The Warfield. I did find out recently that she’s butting heads with another new hip hop artist calling herself the same name but spelling it “Koffee Brown”. It’s not been settled yet, but Kofy did send her a cease and desist letter.

On the lighter side of the news, the next act came quite a bit out of left field. William Perry Jr. from Chicago had been known by the stage name DJ Casper, but a couple years before this show, he would forever adopt the moniker Mr. C The Slide Man. Not to be confused with Mr Cee the hip hop producer from New York, this guy… you guessed it, created the “Cha Cha Slide” song. For those of you who haven’t attended a wedding, bat mitzvah, quinceanera, or any other gathering that involves drinking since 1998, it has become one of those ubiquitous group dance numbers at each and every blessed occasion worldwide and shall remain so for all eternity apparently. But up until that night, I was blissfully unaware of the song’s existence. Mr. C came on stage to the sounds of the the theme song from “Sanford & Son” playing over the speakers and he greeted the crowd, saying something about Ja Rule being there. I looked around, but I didn’t see him. Maybe he was backstage. 

Anyway, he got everybody to space out on the dance floor a little and he chanted them through those dance moves, turn to the left, to the right, the cha cha part of coarse, and so on. Turned out that Mr. C had created the song when he was a personal trainer at a Bally Total Fitness Club and if you listen to it again, yeah, you can see it basically is a low impact aerobic routine. So, silly as the song is, I must give Mr. C credit for helping overweight people at weddings work off some of the cake and booze. It’s hard not to have fun dancing along to it I admit and I got a kick out the women he brought on stage from the audience to do the steps along with him. The song obviously made him a lot of money too, surprisingly landing #1 on the UK charts for weeks, and even was in a sketch on “Saturday Night Live” a few years ago with John Mulaney. I’m sad though to say that Mr. C got the Big C and passed away from cancer just five months ago at the all too young age of 58, but like I said, that dance song will outlive us all.

It was a little strange to have De La as the middle act, but it was welcome to hear them do their thing as always. A DJ from KMEL who I think was named Rosary came out to introduce them, having a drink and riling up the crowd cheering, “If you don’t know you’re about to be educated tonight!” Like the others, De La only had time for three songs, being “Buddy”, “Oooh”, and “All Good?”. The last two were off the new album, with guest vocals by Redman and Chaka Khan respectively. “Oooh” was even nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. After “Buddy”, they did that whole bit asking which side of the crowd the party was at, one of them claiming that it “seemed like when Kofy Brown was on, the party was on this side”. Yes, their set was over before we knew it and they swiftly moved on to Richie Rich.

I had never seen Richie before, though he was a local from Oakland and been making music since the 80’s. He was the first bay area rapper to sign to Def Jam, but he left two years before this show to form his own label, Ten-Six Records. His fourth album, “The Game” had just come out the previous September and he did two new songs that night “I Ain’t Gonna Do” and “Game Don’t Stop” He had the DJ play some long intro, but I was a little startled at first how loud Richie got the girls up front screaming. It was deafening. Between songs, he asked us, “How many y’all remember when Oakland was 415?” For all those out of towners, that currently is the area code for San Francisco, but prior to 1991, it also included Oakland. Nerd alert. 

The night ended with Sugar Free & JT The Bigga Figga taking turns and rapping together. I think I’d seen JT show up at gigs and rap with people on stage before, but this would be the first time I believe I’d seen him officially on a bill. JT was from The Fillmore area, so at least his commute home that night was short. I liked his stuff too and was impressed finding out how prolific he was, releasing four albums in 2000 alone. He’d also go on to produce other notable hip hop artists as Master P, The Game, and San Quinn. I couldn’t figure out his setlist that night, but I do know that they performed “Playaz Club”. Sugar Free got the folks chanting “Ain’t no party like a Frisco party!” and “Make money money money, make money money!” When it was all over, JT told everybody to “be careful driving home. It’s raining.” Yes, it was an enjoyable night of hip hop, but I would soon experience a dramatic change of gears musically the following night on the very same stage with the bluegrass jam band Leftover Salmon. Unfortunately, neither show would get a poster. The good news was I would only have to wait eight short months until De La would return to play once again on that very same stage for a lot longer than three songs and that one got a poster too. 

https://archive.org/details/jt-the-bigga-figga-fillmore-3101

https://archive.org/details/richie-rich-fillmore-3101

https://archive.org/details/de-la-soul-fillmore-3101

https://archive.org/details/mr.-cee-fillmore-3101

https://archive.org/details/kofy-brown-fillmore-3101

Leftover Salmon, Jim Page, Fill., SF, Fri., March 2

SETLIST : (Set 1), White Freight Liner, Ride, Valley Of The Full Moon, Do The Boogie, Last Days Of Autumn, Steam Powered Aeroplane, Blue Green Slime, Little Maggie, Junco Parter, Let’s Have A Party, (Set 2), Zombie Jamboree, Whispering Waters, Riding On The L & N, Bend In The River, Stranger, Jim’s Rap, Almost Cut My Hair, The Other Side, High Five, Soul Shakedown Party, Do You Wanna Dance – Ranking Full Stop, Jokester, 4:20 Polka, (encore), Euphoria, Rise Up Wake & Bake

It had been almost three years since I’d seen Leftover Salmon at the Mountain Aire Festival, but this time it was their own show and I got a much longer set this time around. Indeed, it clocked in just shy of three hours long between their two sets and the encore. Since I had seen them last, bass player Tye North had left the band and had been replaced by Greg Garrison. This would also be the first time I’d see them with Bill McKay on the keyboards who joined the band the year before this. One of them introduced him between songs as “Bill McKey on the kays!”. This show was the first of two sold out nights at The Fillmore, but I could only see this one since I would be at The Warfield the following night for Les Claypool and his Frog Brigade. This would also be the last time I’d see Leftover Salmon’s original banjo player Mark Vann alive. He would succumb to a long battle with cancer the year after this show and ultimately be replaced by Noam Pickelny. 

Not listed on the show’s bill, but performing was a a fellow named Jim Page, obviously not to be confused with the Led Zeppelin guitar god. No, Jim was a humble singer, songwriter, street performer, and social activist from Seattle. He would later describe it as “Seattle town where the ground rumbles all around you.” Just three days before this show, the Nisqually Quake shook the SeaTac area, a pretty big one measuring a 6.8 on the Richter scale. Nobody died at least, except one guy had a heart attack because of the shock of all of it I would imagine. Jim only did four songs to open that night, but the only one I could figure out the title for was the first one, “Never Alone”. Jim would come on stage later and play alongside Leftover Salmon, doing some crazy spoken word rant during jam session that felt like it went on for eternity. Before he left the stage, they mentioned that Jim was going to playing at some Irish festival down at Fort Mason that weekend. 

Leftover Salmon were tight as usual that night and thankfully, like so many other hippies, they were taper friendly, so I was able to find a high quality bootleg of this show on archive.org. They gave a shout out to their home state of Colorado early saying “Valley Of The Full Moon” was about Telluride. I had forgotten how fast these guys played, especially during a breakneck speed one like “Little Maggie”. There was a welcome surprise near the end of the first set when venerable master of all woodwinds Ralph Carney joined them, first on sax for “Junco Partner”, then on clarinet for “Let’s Have A Party”. As luck would have it, Ralph would show up to Claypool’s show the following night and play a few songs there too! Ralph being local, I was lucky to see him as often as I did, God rest his kind soul. After a very short set break, Leftover Salmon returned on stage opening with a funny calypso samba number called “Zombie Jamboree”. A couple songs later they described “Riding On The L & N” as a tune about “riding a train through Kentucky”. Between songs, one of the guys in the band called Mark Vann, “Vann Jovi”, and he joked about all the ganja smoke billowing in the room, slurring, “Y’all folks, y’all sound like y’all on somethin’ y’all” before they did “Bend In The River”. 

They made some interesting choices of songs to cover before they finished their set starting with a couple numbers from the 60’s, Bob Marley’s “Soul Shakedown Party” and then “Do You Wanna Dance” by another Bob, Bobby Freeman. Jim Page came back on stage to rap a bit during “Soul Shakedown Party” which was thankfully brief. The one that surprised me was their intense version of “Ranking Full Stop” by The English Beat. Suffice to say, these guys were well versed in many styles of music. I was disappointed that despite Leftover Salmon packing The Fillmore for back to back shows, there wasn’t a poster at the end of the night. I would see them one more time at The Fillmore three years later but as luck would have it, I’d be going to the exact two times they didn’t get a poster in all the numerous nights they graced that stage. 

https://archive.org/details/leftover-salmon-fillmore-3201

https://archive.org/details/jim-page-fillmore-3201

https://archive.org/details/leftover-salmon-bootleg-fillmore-3201

Roni Size Reprazent, Virgin Megastore, SF, Sat., March 3

Col. Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, B-Side Payers, Boomshanka, War., SF, Sat., March 3

SETLIST : Thela Hun Ginjeet, Col. Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, With A Little Help From My Friends, Shattering Song, Climbin’ The Ladder (Pts. 1 & 2), 16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six, Hendershot, Highball With The Devil, 2000 Light Years, Hair, (DJ Disc solo), Whamola, Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Pts. I-IV), (encore), Taxman, Tomorrow Never Knows

This is one of those rare occasions when I would see an early show during the day and then either usher or see a show later that night. You had best believe, this night ending with Mr. Claypool would ensure that it was indeed a long one, wrapping up around 2 am. It had already endured one long night the previous evening with Leftover Salmon at The Fillmore, they playing nearly three hours between their two sets and encore. But before I get to Les and his cavalcade of stars, first thing’s first, and speaking of first things, this would be the first time I’d see an in-store performance at Virgin Megastore. Virgin, the ubiquitous umbrella corporation and brainchild of British billionaire Richard Branson, had in their infinite wisdom decided to renovate the gargantuan corner building at 4th and Market, turning it essentially into one giant Tower Records. Now, you’ll hear no complaints about it from me especially since this behemoth temple to capitalism and popular culture would afford me the occasional free show.

And this first show there would be Roni Size Reprezent. I had recorded him once at the Maritime Hall two years almost to the day before this show and Roni was actually playing at the Hall that night as well. I couldn’t go because I was of coarse had my dance card full with Claypool. Roni did a surprisingly long set for an in store performance, clocking in at about 73 minutes. I made sure to get there early, but it was still pretty packed. Thankfully, it was loud enough to hear in the back. I wasn’t able to get a set list, nor make out most of the songs they did, but I do know that the first one they performed was “Dirty Beats”. Beware, the chorus of that song gets stuck in your head and stays there forever, so I won’t repeat it to you now. It was the height of the drum & bass stuff coming out of England and Roni had just put out his “In The Mode” album the previous October featuring guest artists like Method Man, Rahzel, and Zach De La Rocha. Roni and the gang got the crowd dancing, one song sampling, “Clap you hands everybody!” and another getting us all to chant “1-2-3-4 Frisco rocks!” I love drum and bass music and frankly don’t listen to it enough, much less go out and hear it live.

But that has never been the problem with one Mr. Leslie Edward Claypool. Yes, believe it or not, this would be the fifth time I would see him and the Frog Brigade since they had recorded the “Live Frogs” album at the Great American just five months before this. If that wasn’t enough, I would be seeing Les for a SIXTH time just four months later opening for Phil Lesh at the Greek! That’s six times in less than nine months. So, as you might imagine, I was well versed in the material at the time. And though, yes, they mostly played the same stuff, I’m happy to say we were treated to a variety of very special guests that night, though I will get into that later. One reason that this was such a long stretch was that there was not one, but two openers for the Frog Brigade, a band I knew all too well for their musical stamina. 

The first act was a band called Boomshanka, who were local, but I had otherwise never heard of before. I couldn’t help but wonder if they got their name from a bit in the English TV comedy series “The Young Ones”, a phrase the hippie Neil would utter supposed to translate to “may the seed of your loin be fruitful in the belly of your woman”. Regardless, they were on and off pretty quickly and were followed by the always dependable B-Side Players, a band I had already recorded three times before at the Maritime. It would be only three months until I would see them again at The Fillmore opening for Mike Clark’s Prescription Renewal. They were always an excellent opening act, but they complimented the Frog Brigade particularly well. Like Boomshanka, I couldn’t figure out their setlist, but I do know they played “Movement” that night. There was an impressive flute solo during that one. Near the end of their set, there was an equally impressive percussion solo and they riffed a little of the “007 Theme” from James Bond. 

After a lengthy intro, Les finally took to the stage, wearing once again his stars and stripes helmet and military regalia. Jay Lane on drums was sporting his furry horned hat and white fur vest over his bare torso. Skerik was notably not with them this time on sax, so Jeff Chimenti filled in some of his parts on keys, though there were some surprise sax players joining in later as well to help make up for Skerik’s absence. As they had done before, they opened with King Crimson’s “Thela Hun Ginjeet” which stretched out well beyond ten minutes. Following that, they did that “Sgt. Pepper’s” schtick again playing the first two songs, replacing the lyrics to “Col. Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade” and Jay Lane, like Ringo in The Beatles, would be the drummer singing “With A Little Help From My Friends”. Like he had done during the New Year’s shows at The Fillmore three months prior, he changed one of the lyrics, following, “lend me your ear and I’ll sing you a song” with “and I’ll try not to smoke all your weed”.  

The first of many guest musicians that would join them that night would be saxophonist Kenny Brooks, who I had seen perform many times with Alphabet Soup and others. I can recognize his conspicuously pronounced shoulder tilt while he’s blowing his horn from a mile away. Kenny played along to a nearly twenty minute long rendition of “Shattering Song” and Les once again did his little breakdown in the middle of it, crooning a couple verses from “Riders On The Storm” by The Doors. Les did one of more increasingly common mild scoldings to the mosh pit during that song saying, “Let’s be careful out there. I see a couple of boneheads. We don’t want boneheads. Respect the people around you. This is the last time I’m going to say this.” 

After that, Brian Kehoe from M.I.R.V. came on stage to do a guitar solo during a cover of “Climbin’ Up The Ladder (Pts. 1 & 2)” by The Isley Brothers. That was a rare one and I don’t think I’ve ever heard Les play that before or since. Another fine saxophone master Les had fill in for Skerik that night would be none other than Ralph Carney who I had just seen sit in with Leftover Salmon at The Fillmore for a couple songs just the night before. It was appropriate that the next song they played together would be a cover of Tom Waits’ “16 Shells From A Thirty-Ought Six”. Ralph had collaborated with Tom on many of his recordings and performances over the years. Primus had backed up Mr. Waits for his recording of his song “Big In Japan” as well and Primus likewise employed Tom to lend his voice to their song “Tommy The Cat”. 

Les encouraged Ralph further during “Hendershot” slowing down in the middle of the song to address him, “I understand that you are an expert at the baritone sax. Can you give us a sample? Can you give us more than a sample? Can you give us a slab of what the baritone sax sounds like?” Rest assured, Ralph gave us one of his signature master works of woodwind genius, hitting all the subtle lows and exalted highs. They did another long one, “Highball With The Devil”, Les introducing it, maniacally cackling, “Come on kiddies, gather ‘round, there’s a new sensation in town called Frog Brigade! Hee-hee! Hee-hee!” Les did a couple licks of “Master Of Puppets” by Metallica in the middle of that one as well. 

Though I had heard the Frog Brigade do a few covers before, this would be the first time I’d hear them perform “2000 Light Years” by the Rolling Stones. I was actually unfamiliar with the song at the time and had to ask somebody else at the time what song it was. Adam Gates AKA Bob C. Cock played a little guitar on that one and Kehoe wowed the crowd, playing his guitar with his teeth a little. Les teased a teensy bit of “Cygnus X-1” by Rush during that song, perhaps a precursor to Primus going on tour and performing the whole “Farewell To Kings” album twenty years later. There would actually be a third cover I would hear that night that I has never heard before or since being “Hair” by Graham Central Station. The Frog Brigade had just gotten off of a six week tour with Galactic and their singer, Houseman, joined the band on stage to sing for that one. Les chanted for a bit, “Houseman, let me tell you something. I say it’s not fair to judge Houseman by the length of his hair.” Next, they did the mind bending instrumental “Whamola”, giving DJ Disc and Jay both long solos before ending their set with Pink Floyd’s “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”. 

The band marched off stage, Les leaving his bass in an eerie sample loop until they came back, starting their encore with a cover of “Taxman” by The Beatles. They were joined with original Primus drummer Herb Alexander on a second drum kit as he had done during the New Year’s shows and also joining them once again was fellow Lollapalooza alumni Jerry Cantrell from Alice In Chains on guitar. And like that New Year’s gig, they wrapped it all up with a twenty minute epic cover of “Tomorrow Never Knows”, also by The Beatles. DJ Disc and M.I.R.V. came on stage to do solos indeed fulfilling Les’ prediction that the song was going to be a “clusterfuck”, though in a wonderful, wonderful way. And also like before, they ended it by having each musician put down their instruments one at a time ending the cacophony with Les, Jay, and Herb finishing last. Like during the encore, Les had left his bass repeating a sampled loop until they put us out of misery and killed it. 

Mr. Claypool’s dabblings with Sausage and The Holy Mackerel were commendable, it was obvious that this show filling The Warfield firmly solidified that Les had well expanded his resume beyond Primus. But unlike the Great American shows where I had gotten fully bone fide official live albums from and the Fillmore New Year’s shows that had posters, strangely enough, I didn’t get anything from this one. Still, Les had been spoiling me up until then, so I didn’t mind so much. Like I had mentioned earlier, it would only be another four months until I saw the Frog Brigade again. It also wouldn’t be long until Les’ artistic restlessness would have him branch off once again and form his Bucket Of Bernie Brains band the following year, do another New Year’s show with the Frog Brigade at The Fillmore, and then finally reform Primus in 2003.

https://archive.org/details/roni-size-reprazent-virgin-megastore-3301

https://archive.org/details/col.-les-claypools-fearless-flying-frog-brigade-warfield-3301

https://archive.org/details/b-side-players-warfield-3301

Mojave 3, The Sid Hillman Quartet, Slim’s, SF, Sun., March 4

SETLIST : My Life In Art, She Broke You So Softly, Give What You Take, In Love With A View, Sarah, When You’re Drifting, Caught Beneath Your Heel, This Road I’m Traveling, Where Is The Love, Some Kinda Angel, Yer Feet, Mercy, (encore), Trying To Reach You, Baby’s Coming Home

After two exceptionally long and draining nights with Leftover Salmon at The Fillmore and Col. Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade at The Warfield, seeing a subdued show with the Mojave 3 at Slim’s was a welcome respite. Frankly, I was just glad I wasn’t ushering and could enjoy this one as a civilian. Those two marathons were fantastic shows, but even back when I was that young, those outings were starting to take their toll. The soothing heroin country sounds of Neil Halstead and Rachel Goswell could soothe any savage beast and would make the hardest of hearts grow misty. Indeed, having just watched the Niner’s lose the Super Bowl two nights ago, my bizarre fantasies of the Mojave 3 as the Halftime Show entertainment lifted my spirits. I couldn’t help but imagine after a minute or two of “Where Is The Love”, everybody in the stadium would grow deathly silent and then begin crying remorsefully on each other’s shoulders. We had to settle for Usher. Still, a boy can dream. Maybe next year. 

It had been five years since I had seen the Mojave 3 open for Lush at The Fillmore and I was glad that I could catch this, the second of two nights they performed at Slim’s. I would have liked to have done both nights, but like I said, I was putting in a late one with Mr. Claypool the night before this. Looking back at what I wrote in ’96 about that Lush show and most of my work writing about those early years, I wasn’t nearly as thorough as I am now, so at least I have a chance to fill in a few details about the Mojave 3 that I didn’t put in beforehand. For starters, they originally wanted to call their new band simply Mojave, but they discovered that there was a band in Germany who had swiped that name. Like I said, this was the second band for Neil and Rachel who despite having recently divorced and their first band, the ear splitting shoegazer pioneers Slowdive, disbanded in ’95, they still were carrying on professionally, releasing the Mojave 3’s 3rd album, “Excuses For Travelers”, the previous May. Neal would also channel his art into his first solo album called “Sleeping On Roads” that year.

Opening that night was Sid Hillman and his Quartet. Sid, the nephew of Chris Hillman of The Byrds and former UCLA philosophy student, had been a sort of jack of all trades in L.A., having also recently acted in movies like “Arlington Road”, “City Of Angels”, “Men In Black 2”, and “Ghost World”. Funny, I remember him in that last movie, having been particularly rude to Thora Birch’s character. He had been following the Mojave 3 on this brief but intense four week, 22 show tour in 19 cities. The following nights they would also do back to back shows at the Troubadour back in Sid’s neck of the woods in West Hollywood. He was mellow as to be expected at such a show, but I couldn’t help but thinking listening to him again that he sounded a lot like Luna who I had just seen at The Fillmore the week before this. It was the beginning of the end of the so-called nu metal jock rock genre and more and more acts like Sid were emerging out of it. But Sid would eventually retire his Quartet four years later, though they would have a reunion in 2019 just before the pandemic. 

We were treated to five of Mojave 3’s new songs that evening, starting the set with two off the new album, “My Life In Art” and “She Broke You So Softly”. Quiet as my recording of their set was, I was relieved to find their show on archive.org or at least everything they played that night up until “Yer Feet”. Neil asked the crowd, “Our second triumphant night in San Francisco, so interesting, were any of you here last night? You’re going to hear the same set again. Is that OK?” Then a fellow next to me joked, “Slower this time, OK?” Yes, they did play almost the exact same set, though they did rearrange the song order and the last one of the set the night before had been “Dagger”, a Slowdive song. They then did “Give What You Take” accompanied by a pedal steel guitar, an instrument I adore and wish more bands would use. Seriously, as if their music wasn’t melancholy enough. Adding the pedal steel made their sings sound so mournful, that it starts becoming funny. 

Neil managed to crack up the audience a little before “Sarah”, presenting a lucky fan with an unusual souvenir, an expired glow stick. He showed it to us all saying, “We got this in Athens in Georgia. It’s a glow stick. It doesn’t glow anymore, but… uhh… someone asked me to take it to San Francisco and give it to you. I think they used to live here and wanted something. I said, ‘Can I take it to Baltimore?’ They said no and I said, ‘What about Seattle?’ They said no.” Neil shrugged and gave it away plainly stating, “There… It’s a glow stick and it doesn’t glow. It’s like a fucked up Olympic flame.” Like most English acts, the show was relatively short, at least a damn sight shorter than Leftover Salmon or Claypool, clocking in at just over an hour. I was grateful to get a good night sleep at last and wouldn’t see another show for over a week. 

Still, I’m glad I caught it since I would never see the Mojave 3 again, though they did tour in 2011 opening for Band Of Horses which I sadly missed. Thankfully, Neil and Rachel reformed Slowdive again and I saw them just last year at The Warfield, 30 very long years since I had seen that band last. In a strange twist of fate, Slowdive has found a new audience through the unlikely ally of TikTok. I wouldn’t have guessed in my wildest dreams back in ’92 that three decades later, kids would take a shining to videos of their music, but the more the merrier. In those in between years, Neil continued to make music and I actually managed to catch one of his solo shows at the Great American in 2009, the final full year I would be bootlegging. He was doing a lot of surfing in his spare time back then. I wonder if he had time to catch a few waves down on Ocean Beach… probably not. Rachel had been in a relationship for a while with Mark Kozelek of the Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon, but has since married Steve Clark, Slowdive’s tour manager. I hope the Mojave 3 get back together someday and I certainly hope I don’t have to wait for them as long as I had to wait for Slowdive. 

https://archive.org/details/mojave-3-slims-3401

https://archive.org/details/sid-hillman-quartet-slims-3401

https://archive.org/details/mojave-3-bootleg-slims-3401

Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, The Sword Project, Fill., SF, Mon., March 12

SETLIST : Black Book, Discretion Grove, Church On White, The Hook, Phantasies, Vague Space, 1% Of One, Trojan Curfew, Troubbble, Jo-Jo’s Jacket, Jenny & The Ess-Dog, (encore), Pink India, Keep The Faith, That’s What Mama Said

Mr. Malkmus had recently re-emerged on the music scene with this new solo project and I was eager to hear it. I was still licking my emotional wounds from not being able to record Pavement at the Maritime just before they broke up in 1999, having been stuck at a union gig up on Nob Hill whose evenings. Pavement will always evoke feelings of loss for me regardless since their Warfield show back in ’97 would be the last show I would see with my lifelong friend Casey who would be killed riding on his bike on Market Street shortly afterwards. I’m sure there are many others out there, perhaps yourself gentle reader, who have similar feelings toward musical acts that are forever coupled with such tragedies. But I know Casey would have wanted me to go on and seeing Stephen was part of the grieving process for me. Ultimately, it helped I think and I was actually pretty impressed with this new project of his, The Jicks. Coincidentally, Mr. Malkmus was processing grief of his own then, writing one of his new songs, “Church On White”, about his friend, novelist Robert Bingham, who had recently passed away from a heroin overdose only six months after he was married. The song’s title is a reference to Robert’s old address in New York. Stephen had performed music at his wedding and served as an usher at his funeral. 

So grief stricken and burnt out from touring with Pavement, Stephen sought to start life anew, relocated to Portland, Oregon, and recruited his girlfriend Heather Larimer on percussion and back up vocals as well as a cadre of local, talented ringers. Together they would release his first self titled album, though they had considered first calling it “Swedish Reggae”, just a day shy of a month before this show. Having only an album’s worth of songs to play, which they performed that night all of them but one, “Deado” the last song on the album. They would pad their sets on this tour with a handful of covers as many first album bands traditionally do on their first tour and The Jicks would finish the night with a cover of “That’s What Mama Said” by the obscure Australian 70’s rock band Coloured Balls. They were so brand spanking new that the tour had only began five days before in Vancouver following their debut gig at the Bowery Ballroom in New York. 

Opening the show was an interesting, but also new band also from Portland called The Sword Project. They played mostly dense instrumental songs, a couple with a violin playing along, so I wasn’t able to decipher any of their song titles. I imagine most of what they played came from their debut EP which had just come out that year. Anyway, they would ultimately shorten their name to simply Swords two years later, but then they broke up in 2006, so this was the only time I’d see them. This would also be the only time I’d see The Jicks too, but Stephen is still making music to this day and there had been a couple Pavement reunions since, though I missed them both. Pavement’s percussionist, Bob Mastanovich, would serve as The Jicks’ tour manager and by 2012, The Jicks began performing a handful of Pavement covers here and there like “Shady Lane” and “Stereo”.

Stephen had always been sort of drunken, smarmy smart alek on stage, but having just been released from Pavement, was at least cheerful this time around. The band was also in good spirits, cracking jokes all night as well. Hell, even his own father, decked out in a V-neck sweater introduced his son’s band, first introducing himself, “You don’t know me, but I’m Steve’s dad!” After the first song, Malkmus said that the band’s name was a combination of “jerk and another four letter word starting with D… My parents don’t know. I didn’t tell them yet.” Making an indirect rib of The Fillmore, he made some sort of wisecrack about Grace Slick’s daughter being in the audience, saying she was named “Oil Slick” and pondering why she would name her such. 

After “Phantasies”, bass player Joanna Bolma called it “a wall of Malkmus!” Later, Stephen would say “1% Of One” was about a “blind soundman”. Their drummer, John Moen, also monkeyed around with the crowd later, doing his impression of a heavy metal double kick drum sound. For the first song of their encore, Stephen made yet another wisecrack for the hippies saying he was going to play “Pink India” like Van Morrison “even though I hate him.” Funny, I had just seen Van at The Warfield only two months before this and though Van didn’t get a poster, The Jicks did and it was a good one. But like I said, this would be the last time I’d see Stephen. He would eventually break up with Heather, but would shortly afterwards marry Jessica Jackson Hutchins having two daughters together, and after a three year stint living in Berlin, is currently back in Portland again. 

https://archive.org/details/stephen-malkmus-the-jicks-fillmore-31201

https://archive.org/details/the-sword-project-fillmore-31201

The Funky Meters, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Fill., SF, Fri., March 16

SETLIST : You Hot To Change (You Go To Reform), Fire On The Bayou, Ain’t No Use, (unknown), Keep On Marching (Funky Soldier), People Say, Africa, Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), Cissy Strut, Soul Island, You’re The One, (Doodle Loop) The World Is A Little Bit Under The Weather, Seven Desires, Love The One You’re With

I discovered a newfound appreciation for the works of these fine musicians and for funk music in general since I was lucky enough to witness the reunion of the original Meters at The Warfield four months before this show. At the time, I had no idea of the significance of that once in a lifetime show and up until I wrote about it recently, the magnitude of that convergence of talent, I still hadn’t entirely realized. Yes, the reunion was short lived, just one night, but Art Neville and George Porter, Jr. kept the good times rolling with The Funky Meters, replacing Zigaboo Modeliste with Russell Batiste, Jr. on drums and Leo Nocentelli with Brian Stoltz on guitar. Brian had previously toured with the Neville Brothers and as you might have guessed, Russell had come from the lineage of the renowned Batiste musical family of New Orleans, cousin to the great John Batiste who most people know from being the former bandleader of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”. 

This was the first of two long nights at The Fillmore and it was graced with a fine poster at the end of the show, created by Chris Shaw, one of my favorite poster artists, who appropriately decorated it with a cartoon of a fierce, bright green gator in a murky bayou. In fact, I just discovered that they used the recordings from those two nights to put out a live album called, “Fiyo At The Fillmore, Volume 1”. Which songs from which night they pulled to make that album remain a mystery to me and I don’t believe they ever released a Volume 2, but whatever. Strangely enough, my recording had been stopped and started all over the place in my tapes, so I can’t reliably say that the setlist I have presented here is actually in the correct order, but you have my assurances that those songs were indeed performed. I’m definitely going to have to pick up that album some day.

One of the big attractions to this show for me was the fact that the Dirty Dozen Brass Band was opening. Though this would be the first and only time I would see them, their reputation as masters of the second line, Baptist church tinged, New Orleans sound preceded them, playing music and putting out albums since the late 70’s. Their most recent album, “Buck Jump”, had been produced by John Medeski, the keyboardist of Medeski, Martin, & Wood and John lended his skills on the B3 organ for that album as well. The band had a long list of talented musicians come and go throughout the years, so it comes as no surprise that “Uncle” Lionel Batiste, one of that previously mentioned extensive musical family, had also played drums from them for a time. They got the crowd nice and warmed up very quickly, stretching out long percussion solos as early as their second song. They mostly did instrumentals, so I didn’t know the names of most of what they did, but I do know they played a smokin’ version of “Superstitious” by Stevie Wonder and another of their own called “Feet Can’t Fail Me Now”. 

The Funky Meters clocked in well over two hours of music that night, doing such funk epics as a 14 minute long “Ain’t No Use”, a 17 and a half minute long version of “People Say”, and a 20 minute long rendition of “Africa”. George got to do a truly impressive bass solo for that last one. They also borrowed one of the Dirty Dozen guys, I think it was Roger Lewis, to do a saxophone solo for their cover of “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)” by Sly & The Family Stone. Russell got his chance to wow us on the drums during “(Doodle Loop) The World Is A Little Bit Under The Weather” and (I believe) they wrapped up the night with “Love The One You’re With” by Stephen Stills. It was an exhausting though fun show as expected, but I’m sad to say that this was the last time I saw The Funky Meters and am afraid I will never will again. Art passed away in 2018, living to the ripe old age of 81, but poor Russell died unexpectedly of a heart attack just last September at the all too young age of 57.

https://archive.org/details/the-funky-meters-fillmore-31601

https://archive.org/details/dirty-dozen-brass-band-fillmore-31601

Suzanne Vega, Bob Hillman, Fill., SF, Sat., March 24

SETLISTS:

(BOB HILLMAN) : Too Bad For You, Tolstoy, (unknown), (unknown), I Need You, Bolted Down, Las Vegas, Valentine’s Day, Greenland, The Late Night, This Didn’t Happen To Me

(SUZANNE VEGA) : Marlene On The Wall, Small Blue Thing, Caramel, Gypsy, When Heroes Go Down, Rock In This Pocket (Song Of David), Penitent, Stockings, Harbor Song, Some Journey, Room Off The Street, Songs In Red & Gray, Solitaire, In Liverpool, (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May, The Queen & The Soldier, Widow’s Walk, World Before Columbus, Luka, Tom’s Diner, (encore), Left Of Center, (encore), Cracking, Rosemary

It had been a minute since I had last seen Suzanne play and I really liked her the first time I caught her at The Warfield, so I was looking forward to this one. She hadn’t graced a stage in town or released any new material since that show in 1996 and it was understandable since she was going through a bit of a rough patch during those intervening years. Vega had just gotten a divorce from her husband Mitchell Froom in ’98 and during this tour, she was still in the midst of recording her new album, “Songs In Red And Gray”, which wouldn’t be released for another six months. Still, we were lucky to hear six of the new songs that night and as you can imagine a few of them like “Widow’s Walk” would help her exorcize the demons from that doomed relationship.

During that time away from touring, she kept busy raising her young daughter and also published a book called “The Passionate Eye : The Collected Writings Of Suzanne Vega” which was an assortment of poems, lyrics, essays, and journal pieces that she had accumulated over the years. Incidentally, Soul Coughing named their first album “Ruby Vroom” after her daughter with Mitchell, Ruby Froom. Ruby is all grown up now, currently 27 years old, and has been performing from time to time alongside her mother recently. In a strange coincidence, the aging Russian space station Mir had just been allowed to burn up in the atmosphere the day before this show, ending its tenure as the only manned station in orbit and paving the way for the I.S.S. So, in a sense, it was another cosmic relationship coming to a crashing end. 

But like Soul Coughing, Suzanne at least had many musical friends and admirers to get her through this difficult time including singer songwriter Bob Hillman who had opened for her that tour. Bob had met Vega performing at Jack Hardy’s Monday night songwriter’s meetings in L.A., a fellow member of the so-called “fast folk” scene there. It was just Bob and his guitar bravely facing the Fillmore crowd that night, though he did bust out a harmonica for one of his songs early on in his set. A touch nervous, he admitted that The Fillmore was twice as large as any venue that he had performed in previously and mentioned that he had brought his girlfriend there that night for their third date. I like to think that he scored later, as is tradition on third dates, especially since they were soon married afterwards. He was even more nervous playing for his hometown in L.A. later that tour, but was gratified to be so well received there that he was even given an encore, a rare occurrence for any opening act. In a strange coincidence, I had just seen Sid Hillman open up for the Mojave 3 at Slim’s just a couple weeks before this, but I don’t believe they are relations.

Like Bob, it was just Suzanne and her acoustic guitar up on stage all by her lonesome that night, donning a long black coat and dress, her hair glistening metallic red with those signature vulcan bangs of hers. Artists like Vega would often try out the new stuff with a small tour like this without all the bells and whistles of a big tour in larger venues with a full band and such. So this show was considerably more subdued and intimate yet equally as entertaining. The place was packed with her fans who shouted song requests early on between songs which she encouraged them to “get it all out” of their systems after playing “Caramel”. As expected, she covered all the hits like “Luka” and “Left Of Center” along with the new material, finishing her set with “Tom’s Diner” which she got the crowd to sing along and clapping, doing the “duh-da-duh-da-duh-da-duh-da”’s acappella along with her. They had a great poster at the end of the night, a sort of cartoon scene of a breakfast with a red and white checkered table cloth, most likely a reference to that song. I wouldn’t have to wait long, only seven months later before I would see her play again, that time at The Warfield once again with a full band. 

https://archive.org/details/suzanne-vega-fillmore-32401

https://archive.org/details/bob-hillman-fillmore-32401

Nick Cave, Neko Case, Palace Of Fine Arts, SF, Mon., March 26

Nick Cave, Neko Case, Palace Of Fine Arts, SF, Tues., March 27

SETLISTS : 

(MONDAY)

(NEKO CASE) : Set Out Running, No Cease Fires! (Crimes Against The State Of Our Love, Baby), Twist The Knife, Stinging Velvet, Look For Me (I’ll Be Around), Make Your Bed, Favorite, Outro With Bees, Wayfaring Stranger, Porchlight, Furnace Room

(NICK CAVE) : West Country Girl, People Ain’t No Good, Henry Lee, The Mercy Seat, God Is In The House, Sad Waters, Wild World, Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Loom Of The Land, And No More Shall We Part, Stagger Lee, Into My Arms, (encore), The Ship Song, Love Letter, Little Empty Boat

(TUESDAY)

(NEKO CASE) : Set Out Running, Twist The Knife, Stinging Velvet, Look For Me (I’ll Be Around), Favorite, Wayfaring Stranger, Furnace Room Lullaby

(NICK CAVE) : West Country Girl, Sad Waters, Henry Lee, The Mercy Seat, God Is In The House, People Ain’t No Good, Wild World, Papa Won’t Leave You Henry, Straight To You, And No More Shall We Part, Stagger Lee, Into My Arms, (encore), Do You Love Me? (Parts 2). Love Letter, The Ship Song, Little Empty Boat

Truth be told, I had only been to the Palace Of Fine Arts to see “Spike & Mike’s Sick & Twisted Animation Festival”, the birthplace of “Beavis & Butthead”. So, one can only imagine the juxtaposition I’d be experiencing between that hilariously vulgar event and this one, a two day audience with the crown prince of melancholy, Mr. Nick Cave. Speaking of the art of film, “Gladiator” had just won the Oscar for Best Picture the night before these shows. The Palace Of Fine Arts was downright civilized and they even played a polite announcement before the music started reminding the audience that smoking was not permitted , refreshments from the lobby weren’t allowed in the main auditorium, and “out of consideration to the artists”, they weren’t allowing flash photography either.  I was beginning to feel like I was on some kind of school field trip, honestly, everyone seated quietly in their seats, but we forgot about all that once the shows started and quickly found ourselves immersed in the music. 

It had been three years since I had seen Nick Cave & Bad Seeds at The Warfield, but this time Nick was on his own… sort of. This was being billed as just Nick Cave, but he had brought along a handful of talent to back him up those evenings including Warren Ellis From The Dirty Three on violin and accordion who had become a full fledged Bad Seed by then. Joining them would be fellow Dirty Three member Jim White on drums as well as Susan Stenger on the Big Bottom bass as they were calling it. I actually missed guitarist Mick Turner, the only member of The Dirty Three not brought on board for these shows, but Mr. Cave’s the boss and who knows, maybe they asked Mick and he just couldn’t swing the dates or something.

Opening that night would be Canadian songstress Neko Case. This would be the first time I’d have the pleasure of hearing Neko sing and thought it a strange coincidence that both acts that night shared the initials “NC”. I can’t recall any other show I’ve seen that had that distinction, but if there was, it was astronomically rare. She had recently helped form the indy supergroup The New Pornographers releasing their first album, “Mass Romantic”, the previous November. But Neko had plenty of her own material, having also put out her second solo record with her band of so-called Boyfriends, “Furnace Room Lullaby”, the year before and was in the midst of recording her “Canadian Amp” EP, a short album, half of which were covers, that she played completely on her own. 

Nick too had been busy during the years I hadn’t seen him. Somebody during the first night yelled out a marriage proposal early during the show and he responded, “Too late! I’m married now.” Indeed, he had just tied the knot in ‘99 to Susie Bick and they had just sired twin sons, Arthur and Earl, the year before this. Sadly, Arthur would pass away in 2015 after accidentally falling off a cliff. But this was a happier time for Nick obviously, having recently kicked his heroin and alcohol addictions and was on the verge of releasing his “No More Shall We Part” album, which would come out only two weeks after these shows. Both nights we were treated to the new songs, “And No More Shall We Part” and “God Is In The House” and he did “Love Letter” during his encore on the second night.

The acoustics of the Palace were stellar and these shows had the added benefit of being populated with an audience that actually shut the fuck up and listened. I swear, it was like a night at the opera in there, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. And thank god almighty for that, because my recordings came out clear enough that that I could hear Neko’s heavenly vocals perfectly and had no trouble transcribing her or Cave’s setlists. She covered a healthy assortment of her works including a cover of “No Cease Fires! (Crimes Against The State Of Our Love, Baby)” by Destroyer, a band fronted by Dan Dejar, a fellow member of The New Pornographers. I could see why she got big so quickly, that voice of hers worthy of the Sirens of yore. I especially enjoyed her petal steel guitar player and have written before how much I enjoy that instrument in bands, like the one I heard with the Mojave 3 at Slim’s just three weeks before these nights. Still, Neko did have a couple hiccups technically. At the first show, they were a little confused before beginning the last song of their set and Neko joked, “I’m loaded, San Francisco!” And on the second night, she stopped early on during the song, “Stinging Velvet” to scold the soundman. The crowd had been crying out for her vocals and she ordered, “Set the vocal level and just leave it there!” Other than that, the shows went smoothly.

Nick’s arrangements of his songs with this new band were elegant and frankly sophisticated compared to what I had heard before with him and the Bad Seeds. He spent most of the time behind his grand piano, playing solo on a couple numbers like “Papa Won’t Leave You Henry”, transforming that tune from the driving, manic din of the original version into a heartbreaking piano ballad. I could see how Nick’s collaborations with Warren would eventually evolve into composing movie soundtracks like they would do with their first one together for the film, “The Proposition”, which would come out four years later. I heard myself on the second night letting out an “Amen!” after he finished “God Is In The House”.  

Yes, these were unique performances and I would never see this lineup again, but it wouldn’t be long until I would see Mr. Cave reunited with his Bad Seeds for back to back shows at The Warfield the following year. Likewise, I would see Neko again at that venue that year as well, playing with The New Pornographers and once again with them there in 2007. Honestly, I was never a big fan of that band, though I did enjoy hearing her perform solo once more opening for Calexico at The Fillmore in 2004. Granted, BGP didn’t often book anything at the Palace, but considering that both nights were sold out and this was such a unique band, you’d think they’d have sprung for a poster or any merchandise for this, but alas, they didn’t. 

https://archive.org/details/nick-cave-palace-of-fine-arts-32601

https://archive.org/details/neko-case-palace-of-fine-arts-32601

https://archive.org/details/nick-cave-palace-of-fine-arts-32701

https://archive.org/details/neko-case-palace-of-fine-arts-32701

Guster, Great Big Sea, Ben Kweller, Goh, Fill., SF, Fri., March 30

SETLISTS : 

(BEN KWELLER) : Ice Ice Baby, Walk On Me, How It Should Be (Sha Sha), Debbie Don’t Worry Doll, Wantin’ Her Again, Make It Up, In Other Words, No Reason, Problems

(GREAT BIG SEA) :  Donkey Riding, When I’m Up (I Can’t Get Down), Everything Shines, Goin’ Up, Boston & St. John’s, The Night Pat Murphy Died, Consequence Free, General Taylor, Lukey, It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine), Mari-Mac, Ordinary Day

(GUSTER) : Happier, Great Escape, New Song 2, Bury Me, What You Wish For, Parachute, I Spy, Happy Frappy, X-Ray Eyes, Airport Song, Ramona, Time Of The Season, Either Way, Center Of Attention, Fa Fa, (encore), I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today, Demons, Barrel Of A Gan, Mona Lisa

I was coming in sight unseen once again for this act at The Fillmore, knowing not a single song or any fun fact about Guster or any of the other acts for that matter. Indeed, up until that night, I thought they pronounced their name “Goo-ster”. I could tell by the sort of middle class, white, college crowd mingling about that the bands would follow suit and I wasn’t entirely wrong. I found Guster to be talented though inoffensive, sort of a Bostonian addition to the whole Dave Matthews jam band crowd that had been expanding larger every year. Perhaps it was a cultural response to the then declining influence of hyper masculine nu metal acts like Limp Bizkit. Yes, they might have been at Woodstock ’99 with them, but that’s more or less they had in common. Guster had been around since ’91, but with the release of their “Lost & Gone Forever” album the year of that disastrous music festival, they had been gaining some level of notoriety. I appreciated that they recorded some of that album at The Plant in Sausalito and also since they were part of this jam band crowd, there was a pro taper there that night and a quality copy of this show can be found on archive.org. 

The first act would be Ben Kweller, who although had recently moved to New York City with his then girlfriend and future wife, Liz Smith, was actually a San Franciscan by birth. He was so young then, only 19 years old, but with a face so boyish, he looked barely a day over 12. Still, I liked him right away, bravely taking the stage all by his lonesome with an acoustic guitar and opening with a hilarious folk rock cover or “Ice Ice Baby” by (you guessed it) Vanilla Ice. Oh no, we didn’t see that one coming. For sure, even at this young age, he was clever. I liked that he called his new limited edition extended play album, “EP Phone Home”, despite my distaste for most puns. He took a break from his guitar a couple songs in to play “How It Should Be (Sha Sha)” on the piano and followed that with “Debbie Don’t Worry Doll” back on the guitar but with a little harmonica solo. 

I was becoming more and more of a completist in my efforts with this amateur recording habit of mine as the years went on. I was already making an effort to get all of the songs the opening acts at a show instead of just a handful as I had done when I first started. But at this show, I also taped some of the musicians playing during the set changes up in the poster room. Usually, I would pop up to hear a song or two, but didn’t bother to tape anything unless I head something extraordinary. That night, it was a band called Goh, though I only was able to get three songs of theirs and haven’t seen them since. They were passing out flyers that night for a CD release party they were having at the Hotel Utah five days later. I’m glad I started to tape the acts up in the poster room. Some of the people The Fillmore bring in up there are truly talented, even though most patrons pay little to no attention to them at all.

The next act on the main stage would be Great Big Sea coming from the frosty islands of Newfoundland and Labrador. Though I had seen my share of Canadian bands up until then, I have to admit we rarely got to hear talent from that part of their country and haven’t since. And like most Canadian acts that would play The Fillmore, they were absolutely huge back north of the border, yet virtually unknown here in the states. I liked their rock & roll tinged sea chanties, with rowdy odes to drinking like “The Night Pat Murphy Died”. They also covered “It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)” by R.E.M., a song I’m not particularly crazy about, but I have to admit that I did enjoy their version of it. 

Guster took the stage to the recording of “Feels So Good” by Chuck Mangione, an amusing choice and put me at ease a little knowing that these guys at least had a bit of a sense of humor. I was cut from ushering by the second song “Great Escape” in which their singer, Ryan Miller, introduced themselves as being “from the northeastern portion of the United States” and then praised The Fillmore saying, “It’s like the spirit of the 60’s are still alive!” It might not have been my favorite style of music, but I could tell right away that they had talent. Guster wrote catchy songs and their vocal harmonies were pretty tight as well, especially with songs like “Barrel Of A Gun”. Ryan went afterwards saying that the band originally was going to take 2001 off, but they already had some new songs they wanted to try out including the one they did next that was so new, that it didn’t have a name yet and they kind of made up the lyrics. They were just calling it “New Song 2” and wished us luck trying to find it on Napster. I still don’t know what song that was, so I guess I was lucky to hear it, whatever it might of eventually morphed into.

Before they did “Bury Me”, someone in the crowd asked how drummer Brian Rosenworcel’s ankle was. A little peeved at first, Ryan responded, “No… Hence begins the audience interaction part of the show” and explained that it actually was guitarist Adam Gardner who had “on the first day of the tour, sprained his ankle playing racquetball.” Thus, that was the reason Adam was wearing “an unattractive leg brace” as well as “sock with sandals lethal combination”. Ryan joked that if any of us read Maxim magazine, that this was the “first no-no” with the “25 to 34 demographic” and urged Adam to “lose the sock and sandal combo”. 

A couple songs later, he told us that after the band finished college at Tuft’s university in Boston that, “everybody went to New York or San Francisco” and when they played their first gig in town at the Great American Music Hall, most of the audience had also been Tuft’s alumni. But as the years passed they started to see see more new people show up to their gigs and wanted to dedicate the title track from their first album, “Parachute”, to “the lovers”. A couple songs later, they again brought in a little humor and did a cheesy muzak version of “Happy Frappy” all done on keyboards and synthesizers, ending it with ukuleles. Ryan mentioned that they get tired of playing the same stuff after six years and felt like playing it “the way we like it.” 

In another overture of respect towards The Fillmore, they surprised us with an impromptu cover of the hippie anthem, “Time Of The Season” by The Zombies. Ryan said that they “used to listen to it all the time in the bus and thought it would be fun to try it. So, that’s what we’re going to do, try to play it. And if my keyboard meanderings weren’t enough, I’m going to try to play bass guitar for the very first time ever… You’d think before a sold out Fillmore show that we’ve would have played this song once in front of an audience before, but no.” To their credit, they pulled it off, playing it surprisingly close to the original actually. Ryan reassured himself and the band saying afterwards, “It wasn’t so bad.” He later thanked the openers, teasing Alan Doyle from Great Big Sea, asking the crowd if they “want to see my Alan hair flip”, then whisking his bangs sideways.

They finished the set with their latest single “Fa Fa” and Ryan joked that they were going to do the “ego stroking ritual of the planned encore”, drolly going on about the pretense of them going off stage, the clapping, and them coming back on. He ended it simply saying, “So just clap after we’re done and we’ll come back on… We still need the ego stroking.” And true to his word, the band came back, this time bringing Ben Kweller with them. Ryan took the mic again, “Thank you, San Francisco! You wouldn’t let us leave. This is our friend, Ben. This song we wrote with Ben and wouldn’t play it without him. Also a debut!” and then they played “I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today”. Ryan joked later that “you know those lyrics were written by Ben cus’ it’s not called ‘Demons’ or ‘Fall In Two’, but ‘I Hope Tomorrow Is Like Today’. I hope to take a big lesson from that.” That song and “Ramona” wouldn’t be released until two years later  on their “Keep It Together” album. 

Near the end of the encore, Ryan thanked The Fillmore one more time and admitted, “I was sitting on the toilet thinking about how many people who had shat in that toilet.” A touch indelicate, though I suppose he had a point there. Guster did something unique that night or at least something I had very rarely seen. They went completely off mic for their last song, “Mona Lisa”. Ryan introduced it saying, “I’m not sure if we did this the last time we played here, but some point in the middle of the set, you’ve been quiet… We thought it might be cool to sort of end the show with it totally unplugged. So all that is required is that if you have any meathead comments to shout out, that’ll be done right at this moment!” We all took a few seconds to loudly let go whatever was on or not on our minds and then the band took a couple steps forward away from their amps to the front of the stage, wielding only a couple acoustic guitars and a tambourine. Thankfully, the crowd piped down and really, we had no problem hearing them finish the show with that song. I was pleased that they had a poster for us at the end of the night and though I wasn’t about to run out and buy any of Guster’s albums, I was nonetheless happy to see them perform again when they played at The Warfield six years later.  

https://archive.org/details/guster-fillmore-33001

https://archive.org/details/great-big-sea-fillmore-33001

https://archive.org/details/great-big-sea-fillmore-33001

https://archive.org/details/ben-kweller-fillmore-33001

https://archive.org/details/guster-bootleg-fillmore-33001

Guided By Voices, Creeper Lagoon, Mike Boner, Fill., SF, Mon., April 2

SETLISTS :

(CREEPER LAGOON) : Dreaming Again, Chance Of A Lifetime, Cumaway, Sunfair, Wonderful Love, Wrecking Ball, Every Sat, Dead Deadly, Keep From Moving, Empty Ships

(GUIDED BY VOICES) : (unknown), Skills Like This, (unknown), Shocker In Gloomtown, Run Wild, Chasing Heather Crazy, Watch Me Jumpstart, A Girl Named Catherine, Frostman, Alone Stinking & Unafraid, Glad Girls, Enemy, Pivotal Film, Tight Globes, Frequent Weaver Who Burns, Zoo Pie, Things I Will Keep, Instrument Beetle, Mushroom Art, Game Of Pricks, Lethargy, Soul Train College Policeman, Pop Zeus, Tractor Rape Train, I Drove A Tank, Back To Saturn X, Choking Tara, Teenage FBI, The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory, I Am A Scientist

Guided By Voices had been one of the last bands that I had recorded at the Maritime Hall about a year and a half before this, so seeing them up front and personal at The Fillmore felt like part of my continuing grief therapy and rehabilitation. Like the first time I encountered them, they played another of their long sets with an arsenal of songs breaching well past over the count of forty. It still amazes me that frontman Robert Pollard and the band can commit so many of those tunes to memory, especially considering their reputation for excessive drinking. Anyway, they had been their usual prolific selves since the last time I saw them, releasing a hefty box set of music the previous September called, “Suitcase : Failed Experiments & Trashed Aircraft”, a four CD compilation with 25 songs on each disc. If that wasn’t enough, they’d go on to put out three more box sets in 2005, 2009, and 2015. Not content to simply dust off golden oldies, they were also on the cusp of putting out their 12th studio album, “Isolation Drills”, just a week and a day after this night, which would turn out to be their most successful and highest rated album to date. We were lucky enough to hear seven of the new songs from that album at that show. 

But the morning had gotten off to a tense start in the news when one of our naval intelligence planes accidentally collided with a Chinese fighter jet and our guys had to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island in Chinese territory. I knew at the time that my cousin Randy had been a senior official in Colin Powell’s State Department handling Asian affairs, so I figured he had his hands full. But what I didn’t know and learned years later, that it was Randy who personally dug up the obscure treaty paperwork America had drafted with China that allowed those stranded airmen to ultimately be released back into our custody and diffused the situation. Thanks be to Randy. I’m glad he’s on our side. He would go on to serve as Undersecretary Of Defense under Trump heading the China desk. If you thought I had reservations of his working for Bush, that paled to my trepidation for him working under Donald. But I trust the man with my life and simply advised him that if he had to shake Donald’s hand, make sure to wash his hand later… thoroughly. Personally, I would have chopped off my hand just to be sure, but that’s just me. But I digress, back to the show. 

I had seen Creeper Lagoon once before at The Fillmore opening for Pavement in 1997 and enjoyed them. They were a dependable local opening act managed by Jordan Kurland, who I had interned with at the management of Primus. I remember Jordan roaming around the place, he being very tall, was always easy to spot. I don’t remember if we spoke, but I was proud that he was making a name for himself around town managing Creeper Lagoon as well as a growing list of respectable artists and organizing the Noise Pop Festival every year. As luck would have it, he’d just began managing the New Pornographers and I had just seen Neko Case, one of that Canadian supergroup’s illustrious members, doing back to back shows opening for Nick Cave just the week before at the Palace Of Fine Arts. Jordan always had good taste. 

Creeper Lagoon had just put out their “Take Back The Universe & Give Me Yesterday” album, their first recorded for the Dreamworks label, and we got to hear four of their new tunes that night. The single “Wrecking Ball” would be used that winter in the soundtrack for the “Vanilla Sky” movie with Tom Cruise, which I hated, but also in the “Hellboy” soundtrack three years later, which I thought was passible. But this would be the last year with this band’s original line up. Founder Sharkey Laguna would have to replace the three other members soon with new people when singer Ian Sefchik spiraled into drug addiction and left the band, taking the other two with him. And though this would be the last time I’d see them perform, they would briefly reform with the original crew in 2017 to do a reunion show at Bottom Of The Hill. I’m sorry I missed that one.

But the real star of the show for me was the act up in the poster room that night, the one and only Mike Boner. As I had mentioned in an earlier installment, I had been taking a more completist attitude in my recordings around then and was making more of an effort to tape those lonely, fledgling artists up there who bravely stood on that little stage and did their best to to entertain or at least keep the patron’s attention. If you have never heard of Mike Boner, be not dismayed, for he was an obscure poet, singer, and performance artist who I had seen as a regular at Bucky Sinister’s open mic nights at The Chameleon in the Mission almost every Monday when I used to live down there. 

And if you ever had witnessed Mr. Boner’s (a-hem) art, rest assured you would have had it seared into your memory for all eternity. Take my word for it. As I had seen before, Mike had chosen to don onto his wiry, pale, raven haired frame a loose fitting summer dress and crooned his cringe inducing voice with a passionate intensity that is practically indescribable. Maybe try Norman Bates crossed with Bobcat Goldthwait and you’d sort of in the ballpark. Seriously though, if you can get past his incredibly disturbing stage presence, his lyrics were actually pretty sophisticated. But good luck convincing poor Raffle Box Annie of that, who had been stuck up there in her usual spot on many a night listening to Mike’s insane rantings on God knows how many occasions. 

But in the end, the night belonged to Guided By Voices. Bob stumbled up on stage with his bandmates and greeted us, “Hey San Francisco! We travelled all around the world with this rock & roll circus on stage before your eyes right now… This rock & roll sausage party that you see… We know how to kick it out.” A few songs in just before they did the new song “Chasing Heather Crazy”, he mentioned that the band were going to do an in store at Amoeba Records the next day and I am sad that I had missed it. I probably had to work. Listening to the show, I was relieved that it had come out clear and was impressed that despite the exhausting number of songs and their brevity, that I was able to easily decipher Pollard’s lyrics and transcribe the majority of their setlist that evening. It’s a testament to his talent that he had such precise diction considering how drunk he was as always. Still, I underestimated the amount of tape I’d needed for them and wasn’t able to get absolutely everything, so I admit the song count listed above is a little incomplete.

On top of Guided By Voices, Pollard had somehow found the time to put out solo material as well with his band, Robert Pollard & His Soft Rock Renegades. He had just released his second solo effort, “Choreographed Man Of War” that year. I may not have gotten everything that show, but I know for a fact that he did three of his solo numbers, “Instrument Beetle”, “I Drove A Tank”, and “Frequent Weaver Who Burns”. Cryptic song titles aside, Bob would expand the titles further introducing songs like “Mushroom Art” as “Living With You Is Difficult In My Mushroom Art”. He would crack a joke later about his first solo album, “Speak Kindly Of Your Volunteer Fire Department” saying it was his “best album… It sold 40,000 copies!” 

Later, Bob addressed the crowd slurring, “Guided By Voices was formed in 1983, much to the dismay of our mothers and fathers. But here we are playin’ a packed fuckin’ house at the fuckin’ Fillmore makin’ dad proud… the same space that Billy Graham was on… you know, the preacher Billy Graham. But I can tell you, we can drink you under the table, boys & girls. We toured Australia last year and they said, you guys can’t drink us under the table. Yes we did. We drank them DOWN UNDER the table. That’s a bad pun, but I like it. Cus’ we come from the great state of ‘Ohi-err’! We know a couple of Creeper Lagoon guys come from ‘Ohi-err’. Soggie and I come from ‘Ohi-err’. If you get a chance, come up and sample some of the pizza in ‘Ohi-err’.” Then they went on to play the first song off of Robert’s new solo record, he introducing it as “I Drove A Tank In A Russian War”. 

Afterwards, he joked, “This is an old song, but a new song cus’ you don’t know it. It’s called ‘Back To Saturn X’”. Sadly, three songs later, my tape ran out, but I made sure to record a little over some of Creeper Lagoon in order to get the song “I Am A Scientist”, one of my favorites of theirs. I was glad that they had a poster for them at the end of the night since the certainly deserved one in my opinion and it was a good one too. Guided By Voices would actually play again at The Fillmore a mere two months later, but I missed that one, having been up to my eyeballs at the Gay Pride hootenanny down at the Civic Center with The B-52’s. I’m just glad I caught the one of the two Fillmore shows that had the poster. Thankfully, I wouldn’t have to wait long to see Mr. Pollard and the gang again, for they would return the following year, this time playing at The Warfield, the largest venue I’d ever see them perform in before or since. 

https://archive.org/details/creeper-lagoon-fillmore-4201

https://archive.org/details/mike-boner-fillmore-4201

https://archive.org/details/guided-by-voices-fillmore-4201

Vertical Horizon, Sister Hazel, War., SF, Thur., April 5

SETLISTS :

(SISTER HAZEL) : (unknown), Thank You, Beautiful Thing, Strange Cup Of Tea, Change Your Mind, Champagne High, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Just Remember, Happy, Leaving On A Jet Plane, All For You

(VERTICAL HORIZON) : It’s Only Me, You’re A God, Candyman, All Of You, Sweet Emotion, Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning), Japan, Shackled, Give You Back, One The Sea, Send It Up, Wash Away, You Say, Everything You Want

My dear lifelong friend Hefe in my younger days would occasionally accuse me of liking every band on Earth and perhaps for a time that might have been true. But as the years progressed, I found myself steadily becoming more discerning in my musical tastes, especially by this time when I had a respectable amount of concerts witnessed under my belt. And despite my growing more and more picky as I slowly morph into the middle aged curmudgeon I’m destined to become, I still try to hold onto the rather pollyannaish attitude that people are inherently good by nature. Whether a band is comprised of nice people doesn’t necessarily mean they have talent or create music I enjoy. The same can be said for total assholes who might be musical geniuses and all those of the majority in the spectrum somewhere in between. Any way you slice it, the last straw for a band for me is when I hate them and all the girls love them. That one really gets me and I’m afraid that was the case at this one. 

That being the prelude, I’ve finally come to address this show, Vertical Horizon at The Warfield. It was not at all uncommon that I would usher shows back then for bands that were as I called it “sight unseen”. So, it would follow that I would from time to time run into a concert that didn’t agree with me. Now to come back to what I mentioned earlier, I had no reason to believe that either Vertical Horizon or their opening act, Sister Hazel, were not nice people and I got the impression that both of them as well as their fans were so. Likewise, I thought both bands had modest musical talent, especially Sister Hazel, whose guitar work and harmonies were pretty tight. But in the end, as you probably have predicted by now, I found the whole experience grating. Shows like this make me fantasize about Slayer kicking down the doors and brutally overrunning the stage, their bombastic, deafening thrash metal sending these helpless young fans running for their lives towards the exits. And last but not least, I was working as a paid usher that night clearing aisles, so I was obliged to stay to the bitter end whether I liked it or not. 

Sister Hazel were sort of a jam band from Gainesville, Florida, named after a local missionary in the area. Believe it or not, my bother Alex had been in one of their music videos while he lived in Los Angeles working as an actor, though I can’t say which song it was and I’m sure he’s forgotten by now. He was even less of a fan of Sister Hazel, so I didn’t press him on the matter of that experience for fear that he’d have that unknown song stuck in his head once again. Naturally, when one takes part in the filming of a music video, one has no choice but to hear that song over and over and over. Still, their song “Change Your Mind” made it into the soundtrack for the remake of “Bedazzled”, a movie I thought was clever, though not as good as the original with Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.

The one song of theirs that did ring a bell was their radio hit, “All For You”, which they finished their set with. Personally, I felt it was a mediocre knock off of “Hook” by Blues Traveler without John Popper’s legendary harmonica work. In fact, up until then I understandably thought it was a Blues Traveler song as I imagine many others did too, but all the girls liked it and they sang and clapped along with it. It made my teeth grit. To make matters worse, they did two corny ass cover songs, one being “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police, perhaps the lamest song that band does. Then, they dared to defile the temple of John Denver by singing, “Leaving On A Jet Plane”. Poor John had only been dead in the cold, cold ground for four years and these people had the gaul to butcher his work. It was cringeworthy enough that it was sung by the astronauts in that “Armageddon” movie. Mark my words, the ghost of John Denver will have his revenge some day!!! (Pant, pant, pant…. a-hem…) Anyway, the members of Sister Hazel did seem nice though. Their lead singer, Ken Block, joked with the crowd before they sang one of their new songs, “Beautiful Thing”, asking, “Don’t we need someone in our lives to let us know when you should get just get in the car and go? Go to the woods, go to some cul-de-sac, buy a keg, and have a party?” Sounds pleasant enough. Maybe I should visit Gainesville someday.

Halfway up the Atlantic coast from there in D.C. spawned Vertical Horizon, truly a college band since the founding members met at Georgetown. Their frontman, Matt Scannell, has a bachelor’s degree in psychology. Their smash hit “Everything You Want” had been out for a couple years by then, having reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and certified double platinum. They were a little shall we say more U2ish, but with even cornier songs. It was as if they were playing TRYING to sound important. They swung for the fences maybe, but it was a swing and a miss. So I had mixed feelings when they riffed a little of “Kashmir” by Led Zeppelin during their song “Shackled” and later a little bit of “A Few Of My Favorite Things” during “Wash Away”. Some of the girls in the crowd sang along to the latter one. It’s feels uneasy for me when a band I don’t like plays covers os songs that I do like. Listening to their set again, there was one brief glimmer or hope with them when they took it down a bit and just instrumental jammed in the middle of “Wash Away”. Sean Hurley, their bassist, actually did an interesting solo for that and yes for that moment, I forgot about their lame songs and enjoyed their playing skills. 

But frankly, the whole experience made me feel like I was back in suburbia again, back in Alamo, very upper middle class and very, very white. But the time came at long last for that last song of the night and it would be, you guessed it, “Everything You Want”, the titular track of their last album. I had blissfully forgot that godforsaken earworm for years before I had to hear it again yesterday. Ugh. Credit where credit’s due, they got every last girl in the house singing the chorus twice at the top of their lungs. But devoted as I was to my collection of these shows, I stuck it out to the bitter end, strolled outside once again to the cool spring evening air, and did my best to try to unclench my jaw. (Scoff.) But no hard feelings, guys. I know out there are millions of people who like these guys, maybe even a few considering them their favorite band. So, if it makes anybody out there who fits the bill feel any better, I’m sure you’d hate some of the stuff I like too. 

https://archive.org/details/vertical-horizon-warfield-4501

https://archive.org/details/sister-hazel-warfield-4501

The Soft Boys, Young Fresh Fellows, Fill., SF, Sat., April 7

SETLISTS :

(YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS) : Down By The Pharmacy, Barky’s Spiritual Store, Sittin’ On A Pitchfork, Mamie Dunn Employee Of The Month, Worthless, Taco Truck, Picture Book, Mr. Salamander’s Review, A Little Ray Of Sunshine, My Friend Ringo, Topsy Turvy Theme, Back Room Of The Bar

(THE SOFT BOYS) : Kingdom Of Love, Queen Of Eyes, Tonight, Old Pervert, My Mind Is Connected To Your Dreams, Airscape, Underwater Moonlight, I Wanna Destroy You, Human Music, Leppo & The Jooves, Only The Stones Remain, Sudden Town, Insanely Jealous, Sideways, Evil Guy, Astronomy Domine, Rock & Roll Toilet, Sleeping With Your Devil Mask, E.O.H.S. Wands, Mr. Kennedy, (encore), Train ‘Round The Bend, Leave It To The Soft Boys

Up until that time, having seen Robyn Hitchcock perform on four separate occasions and listened to and collected his music religiously, I arrogantly thought I knew most of what there was to know about that weird musical genius. But no, I knew nothing of The Soft Boys until this show was booked and even then I hadn’t appreciated its significance. For starters, apart from a failed attempt to reunite this band in 1994, promoting a new box set of their work, The Soft Boys hadn’t toured the U.S. in 20 years. They were also billing this as Robyn’s “2001st Birthday Party”, though his actual birthday is March 3, over a month before this and he was only 48, hardly a milestone year by any measure. But the tour would be a successful one this time around and The Soft Boys would actually release an album of new material the following year called, “Nextdoorland” and we got to hear three of the new songs at this show. It was good to hear Robyn playing with a full band again. The last time I had seen him was two years before this when he was solo acoustic at that memorable H.E.A.R. show on that very same stage with the Flaming Lips when the power went out for over an hour.

For all those like myself at the time who have no knowledge of this band, The Soft Boys were formed in the late 70’s, a strange, neo-psychedelic, folk rock act from England fronted by Robyn. Though they only were together a few years, they managed to put out two albums including their second, “Underwater Moonlight”, which many music enthusiasts praise to this day as a seminal masterpiece years ahead of its time. This tour was also being billed as the 20th anniversary of that album. But in the intervening years, Robyn had continued to be Robyn, putting out a steady parade of his bizarro, but utterly original work with his band The Egyptians and often performing all by his lonesome. Morris Windsor and Andy Metcalfe of The Soft Boys would also serve in the Egyptians band for years. Kimberley Rew, The Soft Boys’ guitarist, would go on to form Katrina & The Waves with singer Katrina Lesanich. 

But my ignorance of The Soft Boys aside, the real draw for this show would be that it would be the first and sadly, only time I’d see the Young Fresh Fellows. Growing up, one cassette that I listened to regularly was their debut album, “The Fabulous Sounds Of The Pacific Northwest”, which I had ripped from my brother’s record collection as I did most of my music back in those days. I loved that album and appreciated the talent and identified with humor of these geeks from Seattle. The Fellows had just released “Because I Hate You”, a double album collaboration with the Minus 5, joining it with their new one, “Let The War Against Music Begin”. It was their first new material in six years and we also got to hear three of their new songs that night. Scott McCaughey, the Follows’ frontman, would also play with the Minus 5 in the future alongside R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, and I’d see them open for Wilco at The Warfield the following year as well as serving as Robyn’s back up band when he played at Slim’s in 2006.

Robyn introduced the Fellows at this show in his predictably unpredictable fashion saying, “Welcome to Bill Graham Fillmore Auditorium. Welcome to an extraordinary tale of courage and human endurance beyond that many men would want to go all in the name of comradeship. Specifically together when close all people would say perhaps blood situation happen in sample, two or three guys, their arms around each other with sunglasses. Normal men in hand that these four boys just like four grapes in a ditch with no obvious pain and yet to us weeping quietly to softball by the bank of time and feeling each night comes… Gulp, gulp, gulp… And then suddenly you squeeze your hands together and a bar of soap shoots up. Ladies and gentlemen, THE rock & roll band in the world, the Young Fresh Fellows!” Scott joked, “We’re the Pink Floyd! We come from England to play The Fillmore!”, just before they played their new song, “Mamie Dunn, Employee Of The Month”. They also covered “Picture Book”, a song by The Kinks.

The Soft Boys took the stage on time and I was cut from ushering during their second song and I caught hearing myself ordering an Anchor Steam from the bar with my drink ticket during “Tonight”. They followed that with Robyn introducing “Old Pervert” with another monologue rambling, “When I was young, I was very unhappy. I was mean to ants. I was mean to grasshoppers and I projected a future for myself… Perception of the majority is reality. Therefore, if the majority of people think it’s true, it must be true.” I was hanging next to my friend Pierre at the time and I don’t know why I said it, but I over heard myself uttering, “Huh… I’ll buy that for a dollar.” It’s Robyn after all. Nothing needs to really make sense in the end. One less cryptic dedication Robyn made a few songs later was dedicating “I Want To Destroy You” to George W. Bush. 

Though I unfamiliar with most of The Soft Boys’ music, Robyn sang a few numbers of theirs that I knew which he’d been performing solo for years, opening with “Kingdom Of Love”, as well as doing “Leppo & The Jooves”, “Only The Stones Remain”, and “Sleeping With Your Devil Mask”. Before they played “Sudden Town”, another new song, Robyn introduced it going on a bit about earthquakes and electric trams, another one of his stream of consciousness riffing that I abandoned all hope trying to decipher about a couple sentences in. Perhaps tipping their hats The Fillmore and its illustrious hippie history, they did a cover later of “Astronomy Domine” by Pink Floyd which Robyn dedicated “to anyone who saw the Jefferson Airplane reunion in Golden Gate Park in 1989”. Mr. Hitchcock had often been compared to Syd Barrett and he just in fact played The Chapel a couple months ago singing a set entirely of Syd’s songs. Another cover they did that night which would ultimately make it to the new album was “Train ‘Round The Bend” by The Velvet Underground. A couple of the Young Fresh Fellows would also join the band for their finale of “Leave It To The Soft Boys”.

Yes, The Soft Boys reunion was short lived, much to the chagrin of my brother Alex, who is a bigger fan than I’ll ever be and missed it because he had just moved down to L.A. where they weren’t playing. My show was sold out and I’m thankful that they made a good poster for such a momentous occasion. But Alex has seen Robyn many times since including that aforementioned Syd Barrett tribute show and it would be only a year before I would see him myself playing at the Great American Music Hall. The Soft Boys would also return to town again the following November after that, but it would be the last tour they would do together. Sadly, Matthew Seligman, the bass player of the Soft Boys, died of COVID in 2020. Scott McCaughey suffered a stroke back in 2017, but has since recovered, with the help of a pair of tribute concerts for his medical bills which starred three of the four members of R.E.M., The Decemberists, M. Ward, and others.

On a final sad note, this joyful reunion show that night was tinged with a bit of melancholy, hearing the news that morning of the unexpected death of actor David Graf from a sudden heart attack just nine days before his 51st birthday. You might remember him best as Tackleberry from the “Police Academy” movies. And I know that it might seem unrelated, Tackleberry being quite clearly a hysterical parody of Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry”, but coincidentally five years later, Robyn did write a song about Harry’s nemesis in “Magnum Force” called “(A Man’s Got To Know His Limitation) Briggs”. Anyway, I loved Tackleberry and I think Robyn would appreciate the paradox of that character being simultaneously a rapturous celebration of the Second Amendment as well as a satirical cautionary example of it. 

https://archive.org/details/the-soft-boys-fillmore-41701

https://archive.org/details/young-fresh-fellows-fillmore-41701

https://archive.org/details/the-soft-boys-bootleg-fillmore-4701

The Psychedelic Furs, Tinfed, Vincent The Super Sweetie, Fill., SF, Thur., April 12

SETLISTS :

(TINFED) : Overrated, (unknown), Idol, (unknown), Drop, Immune, Dangergirl, Always/Never, It’s Late

(THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS) : India, Heaven, (unknown), No Easy Street, The Ghost In You, Alive (For Once In My Lifetime), Love My Way, Wrong Train, Heartbreak Beat, Sister Europe, President Gas, (unknown), Only You & I, Forever Now, (encore), Into You Like A Train, Pretty In Pink, Dumb Waiters

It had been a long time coming for me to see the Furs. They were yet another one of those bands that had been around since the early 80’s I knew I should have known more about and didn’t. Like most people, I was only aware of them because of their hit single “Pretty In Pink” and like most people, I also only knew that one because it was the title song of the brat pack comedy film of the same name. For the record, I despise that movie. I hate to burst everybody’s bubble, but in real life, there’s no girl at the end for Ducky. I know… I was Ducky. (sigh) But I soon got to know the Furs and discovered that they were worth the hype. I always thought that they had a cool name, but I found out that night that they had the chops to back it up as well. 

Strangely enough, I had subconsciously known the singer Richard Butler from a side project he had done while on hiatus from the Furs called Love Spit Love, which also included other members from the Furs, Frank Ferrer on drums and Richard Fortus on guitar. I had their debut album, but up until that show, I hadn’t made the connection between him and his original band. The Furs hadn’t released any new material in ten years, but they were touring nonetheless and had been planning a co-headlining tour with Echo & The Bunnymen for that winter, but 9/11 derailed that. The Furs would play at the House Of Blues in L.A. for back to back shows right after this one and the recordings from those nights would be used in a live DVD and CD called “Beautiful Chaos : Greatest Hits Live”.

Opening that night was Tinfed, an alt rock band from Sacramento, though the lead singer, Rey Osburn, claimed that they were indeed performing in their “home town” that night. They sounded a little like Britpop and one of their singles, “Immune”, made it on the soundtrack of the action film “Mission Impossible 2”. Ray made sure to mention that before they played it that night. We were pleasantly surprised when Chino Moreno, the frontman of The Deftones, came on stage with them to perform, “Dangergirl”, a song which he had lent his vocals to on their latest album, “Tried & True”. Living close by in Sacramento, Chino actually would show up to a lot of people’s shows back then, but this would be the only time I would see Tinfed as they broke up only two years later. I caught half a song of Vincent The Super Sweetie up in the poster room between acts before the Furs got started.

I was impressed by The Furs that night and discovered quickly that they had quite a few catchy songs in the arsenal other than the one that made them famous. I was able to decipher most of their setlist except for two songs and I think one of them was “Cigarette”, but I can’t be sure. It’s not on any album, and I can’t find the lyrics anywhere, though they had been performing it at other shows on that tour. Near the end of the set, some lame-o yelled out for them to play “Pretty In Pink” and Richard called him on it saying that he’d play it if the guy could name just one other song they did. That shut him up. Though I knew just as much before that night, a few years later, I would be reacquainted with their song “President Gas” when my friends Dan, Sean, Mike, and Jamie would form their band The Bad Cassettes and cover that one. It was a good set, so I was naturally disappointed that there was no poster at the end of the night. Still, I’m glad I caught the Furs when I did, because I wouldn’t catch them again until 8 years later when they performed at the Regency Ballroom with the Happy Mondays and then I’d wait another ten years to see them at Stern Grove. 

https://archive.org/details/the-psychedelic-furs-fillmore-41201

https://archive.org/details/tinfed-vincent-the-super-sweetie-fillmore-41201

Shane McGowan & The Popes, Sarah Franklin, Fill., SF, Fri., April 13

SETLIST : If I Should Fall From Grace With God, Donegal Express, Paddy Rolling Stone, Paddy Public Enemy No. 1, The Broad Majestic Shannon, Rock & Roll Paddy, Popes Instrumental, Dirty Old Town, Mother Mo Chroi, The Body Of An American, Granduaile, Skipping Rhymes, Sally MacLennane, Poor Paddy On The Railway, A Pair Of Brown Eyes, Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn, The Irish Rover, (encore), Angel Of Death, Streams Of Whiskey, Bottle Of Smoke, South Australia

It comes with a heavy heart to write about this show, being not only the first time I’ve written about Shane since his passing just four months ago, but also on St. Patrick’s Day no less. Though I have long since forgiven my father for making me miss Shane’s performance when we met up in London on that day sacred to all the Irish seven years before this show, I have never forgotten it, especially since we instead went to a double bill play of “The Maids” by Jean Genet and “No Exit” by Jean-Paul Satre. Talk about a downer and did I mention before that the “maids” were played by two skinny bald men? I had just enough time to run to the pub next door and pound a couple pints of Guinness before last call when the plays ended. Anyway, that’s the last I’ll mention that. Maybe in writing this, I’ll finally find closure.

Not that Shane’s death came to any surprise to anyone. His health had been deteriorating fast and let’s face it, he never was in the pink to begin with. Indeed, the previous year from this show, he had fell unconscious on Sinead O’Connor’s floor from a heroin overdose and had to be hospitalized. But he was soon back on his feet, though characteristically leaning on his mic stand like a crutch when I saw him grace that very same stage only five months before this. Still, it wouldn’t have shocked me or anyone else in the house on that or any other night if he keeled over and croaked right then and there, presumably still clutching his ever present smoldering cigarette. Thankfully, he didn’t expire that evening and like before he and The Popes put on a rowdy good set for us all and luckily this time we got a poster at the end of the show.

This was the first night of a two day sold out stint at The Fillmore and once more, Shane had brought along Sarah Frankyn to open for him. The ad from the show said she was only there for the Saturday show, but I assure you that she indeed was there and I have the tapes to prove it. It was once again just Sarah and her violinist and it was pleasant to hear her syrupy sweet voice serenade us before that mob of drunk hooligans took over. Both acts played pretty much the same stuff as last time, though Shane’s setlist was in a different order. He did however did a cover of “Granuaile” a song made famous by Rita Connolly in the 80’s in Ireland, chronicling the tales of the 16th century Irish pirate queen, Grainne O’Mally. I also liked how Shane’s accordion player busted out a few riffs of “The Star Spangled Banner” during “The Body Of An American”. I’m just glad that this wouldn’t be the last time I’d see Shane alive since he’d reunite with The Pogues six years later and I would see him for one last show again at The Fillmore, the only time I’d see him sing with his old band. In the end, I was impressed by the outpouring of love and grief to Shane’s death and I will knock back an extra Guinness tonight in his memory on this, our first St. Paddy’s Day without him.

https://archive.org/details/shane-macgowan-the-popes-fillmore-41301

https://archive.org/details/sarah-franklin-fillmore-41301

Tricky, Fill., SF, Thur., April 26

As I had written before, I was getting quite a look in with the one mister Adrian Nicholas Matthews Thaws AKA Tricky back in those days. Not only I had seen him perform at The Fillmore back in 1995, I would catch him on the main stage of Lollapalooza ’97 for two days, and at the Warfield the following year. And if that wasn’t enough, he’d return to The Fillmore just four months later AND I would see him open for fellow Lollapalooza alumni Tool at Shoreline that November. That’s count em’ eight times in just six years. Whew… Yes, the jarring visage of his convulsing, diminutive frame will be forever imprinted into my memory. So, you must forgive me if I had little more to report from this night from the others since he pretty much played the same stuff as before. My lack of detail from this night is also compounded by the fact that the first of the two discs I burned from the original cassettes didn’t take, so I couldn’t listen to it.

But nevertheless, the second disc was fine and came out nice and clear since as always with Tricky, it was loud as fuck. Typical English musician… deaf as a post. He had a fellow named DJ Tom Thump open for him that night and though I had gotten in the habit of skipping putting DJs on to tape, I would endeavor to record more of them in the future, or at least some of their stuff. Tricky had one bit of a flub during that set, having stopped in the middle of “For Real”, humbly apologizing, “Sorry, I can’t remember the words” and then quickly moving on to “Excess”. He had brought along once more his singers, Ambersunshower and Hawkman, but we were pleasantly surprised to see Ed Kowalczyk, the singer of Live, join him on stage to sing “Evolution Revolution Love”. Ed joked at the end of the song, “Right now, I don’t care so much about Live. I care about Tricky though… Y’all havin’ a good time? Y’all diggin’ on Amber? Y’all diggin’ on Hawkman?” Afterwards, Tricky was cursing the name of George Bush, appropriately during his song “Vent”. Yes, it had only been since December since our country was so spinelessly handed over to W. and his chickenhawk friends and we were all still stinging from it. Still, most of us had moved on from that grave injustice of an election and accepted it, especially when all our minds were derailed on 9/11, just five months later.

Personally, I was distracted enough already by the tragic passing of Joey Ramone eleven days before this, the first of The Ramones to leave us. I knew Joey was sick from lymph node cancer at the time, so it wasn’t entirely unexpected, but it still hurt. I’m just glad I got to see him perform with the Ramones three times before he ascended to punk rock heaven. I’ll never forget seeing someone dressed as Joey with angel wings attached to his back that Halloween at the Tenacious D show at The Warfield. But Joey’s loss would soon be dogpiled on by the deaths of both Dee Dee from a heroin overdose just a year later and poor Johnny from prostate cancer in 2004. But at least we still have Tricky alive and kicking and though that show opening for Tool was the last time I’ve seen him play, there’s still a chance I might catch that twitchy weirdo from Bristol once more.

https://archive.org/details/tricky-fillmore-42601

Semisonic, Pete Yorn, (Early Show), Fill., SF, Sat., April 28

SETLISTS

(PETE YORN) : Panic, Life On A Chain, Strange Condition, Black, Sense, For Nancy (Cos’ It Already Is), Closet, On Your Side, Dancing In The Dark, Murray

(SEMISONIC) : Singing In Your Sleep, Never You Mind, She’s Got My Number, Chemistry, One True Love, Secret Smile, Get A Grip, Who’s Stopping You, I Wish, Act Naturally, Bed, Delicious, Closing Time, (encore), All Worked Out, F. N. T., El Matador

Prince, (Late Show), Fill., SF, Sat., April 28

SETLIST : The Daisy Chain, Do Right Woman Do Right Man, Car Wash, Ain’t No Way, Joy In Repetition, Paisley Park, Jungle Strut, Batuke – Soul Sacrifice – Toussaint L’Overture – Oye Como Va, Come On, (encore), Alphabet St. 

In all my years bearing witness to these shows, there are a handful of anecdotes that stand out which I keep in my arsenal of go-to concert “war stories” and this night certainly counts as one of them, easily in the top three. The story I dust off from this night I will regale you with shortly, but first, let’s start from the top. I had signed up to see Semisonic at The Fillmore as a “sight unseen” show for me and consequently wasn’t particularly aroused and went in like most of the other nights I had ushered there, not expecting any surprises. Well, the surprise came and to all who had signed up for this rather mundane show, but it was a pleasant surprise to say the least. 

The news came discreetly enough as I was waiting for the doors to open and standing at my post by the front of house soundboard when I was approached by Tina, the head usher. She flatly announced that Prince, yes THAT Prince, was going to do a show on that same stage later that night and asked if I was interested in staying. Feeling like I’d been hit with a bucket of ice water, I paused a microsecond to process what I was hearing, though in hindsight, it felt like eternity. But I naturally said yes and then Tina nodded, strolled away, and left me there stunned, still digesting the news. 

I had never seen Prince, and sadly will never see him again since his untimely passing in 2016, but I always wanted to and now, not only would that wish be granted, but up close and personal at The Fillmore, a venue hilariously small compared to the Oakland Arena which he and The New Power Generation were performing at earlier that evening. To this day, I still can’t believe my luck. Up until then, I hadn’t to my utter shame made any effort to see Prince at one of his big shows. They were usually in Oakland and San Jose, so I wasn’t keen on making the journey much less ponying up the dough for the ticket. But I was also aware at the time that he had been making a habit of performing surprise late shows at clubs when he toured and had done one at Ruby Skye the previous December which my friends Liz and Christine were lucky enough to get into. But this would be the first time Prince would perform at The Fillmore ever, though he’d do other secret shows there in 2004, 2006, and 2014.

So, stunned as I was, I was understandably distracted and found it difficult to care less about Semisonic and their show. Indeed, one could find very little the two acts had in common, though by some miracle of coincidence, they both came from Minneapolis. I had recently wrote about seeing Vertical Horizon playing at The Warfield in which I went into depth about having to reconcile my feelings about bands that I don’t like, though they seemed like nice people and I’m afraid that was the case for Semisonic as well. Feel free to go back and read that earlier review for more elaboration, but to make a long story short, I found Semisonic boring, but inoffensive. They had produced a hit three years earlier with “Closing Time”, which earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song, but their new album, “All About Chemistry” failed to generate much money or interest, so they broke up shortly after this show. They had a handful or reunions starting in 2017, but never toured again. Dan Wilson, the band’s lead singer and guitarist went on to become a successful producer working with such A-List acts as the Dixie Chicks, Pink, Jon Batiste, and Celine Dion. 

Though I have to admit, I was slightly more impressed with the opener, Pete Yorn, a brand new singer songwriter from New Jersey. He had just released his debut album, “Musicforthemorningafter”, and was already on his way up fast, quickly certifying gold. He had even scored the music for the Farrelly Brothers’ comedy, “Me, Myself,& Irene”, the year before. Six weeks after this show, he would record the album, “Live At The Roxy” in Los Angeles and to his credit, he and his band had clocked in 18 long months touring in support of that debut record of his. His original songs were catchy, I admit, but he also opened his set with a cover of “Panic” by The Smiths and would do “Dancing In The Dark” by Bruce Springsteen as well near the end of his set. 

Between acts, the band playing up in the poster room must have gotten word about the impending late show because they did a cover of Prince’s seminal hit, “Little Red Corvette”. One thing that the Semisonic show had that Prince’s didn’t was the camera crew recording them. The Fillmore had just begun participating with UPN 44/Cable 12 to produce their “Live! At The Fillmore” TV series, sponsored by Levi’s. They taped quite a few shows of these back during those years, but the show didn’t last long. I still appreciated their effort because they did it real professionally, like House Of Blues good. I wish the Maritime had that kind of budget. Many acts, certainly ones as big as Prince, that came through The Fillmore had record contracts that wouldn’t let them tape, but quite a few did and the more the merrier. 

So, I was let go from ushering for the first of two times that night, grabbed a beer and waited out Semisonic’s set. Like Vertical Horizon, I was jealously annoyed with them because they too were adored by all the young women. Dan got them to sing a little during “Secret Smile” asking them, “So you know the words to this one, right? Do your part.” Afterwards, he told a bit about the next song “Get A Grip”, a new one, saying that “a couple magazines in England called it a ‘wanking anthem’” which he found initially insulting, until he learned what wanking meant on that side of the pond and concluded they were correct in their declaring it that. A couple songs later, Dan gave a lengthy introduction to another song. He began by saying, “Imagine yourself in a bedroom… No, it’s not that kind of happy story. You’re sitting on the edge of a bed, nearby the number one love of your life is getting dressed, changing clothes, and that there’s been no… frolicking.”

The crowd booed a little but Dan continued, “I’m sorry, you still have to imagine it. Next to you on the bed… On the bed is a birthday present wrapped with care, chosen with great care for a best friend. It’s for a birthday party you were supposed to be at an hour ago, but you and your number one love of your life are having a big fucking fight and the present just sits there like a time bomb of love that won’t go off. Finally, after intense negotiations, the two of you work your way down, dressed and ready with the fucking present, get in the car… You drive in a Cold Warish silence to the party, but by the time you get to the party, this miraculous transformation has occurred and as the door swings open to your already drunken and stoned friends, the two of you have become the happiest couple in the world. After the party, they’ll be hall to pay… Serious rethinking about a lot of big life decisions, but for now, no one can tell, or at least I hope not. And that is just a little bit about what this next song’s about. It’s called ‘Act Naturally’”.

A couple songs later he joked, “Alright you Californians, temporary or permanent. I know the feeling. You got one thing to do this song, but it’s mandatory” and he had them sing “Ooo Ooo Ya Ya Ya Ya” for “Delicious”. They then finished their set with the obligatory “Closing Time” which as expected all the ladies sang along with, an ear worm of a song and I would go so far to call it a “singing in your hairbrush” one as well. Semisonic returned to play one more song for their encore and Dan introduced it saying, “The next thing we’re going to do, it’s a real quiet one. I’d appreciate it if you get it out of your system.” Everybody screamed. Funny, Yonder Mountain String Band did this same primal screaming exercise during their encore on that stage just two months before this. Anyway, after the scream, Dan laughed, “Somewhere high above, an alien surveillance team is worried about the people in this room. This next song is about a place about 40 miles away from Los Angeles, but it feels like it could be another planet, it’s so far away.” And then they finished their show with “El Matador” and that was the first and last time I would see Semisonic or Pete Yorn, yet they will always be immortalized in my memory for being inescapably linked to my memory of Prince. 

So, under strict orders to keep it quiet about the Prince show, the Semisonic crowd politely made their way out of the venue and the stagehands loaded out their gear. I suppose if word had gotten out, some of the patrons from their show might have tried to hide in the bathrooms or something to stick around. I know I would have tried. It was still around 11 PM by the time they had cleared out and I could cut the tension with a knife waiting for the Purple One to arrive. I was grateful that they gave Semisonic a poster for the night and it was one of those rare horizontal ones, though I had to hold onto it all the way through the next show. Obviously Prince infinitely deserved a poster more than them, but since it was a surprise show, it follows that there wasn’t any time to produce one. The usher stickers we were given had the band name “HRH”, which I might be an abbreviation for “His Royal Highness”… you know, for being Prince and all, rock & roll royalty for sure.

The tensions grew slowly but steadily as word got out in town that this show was happening and I watched from the poster room onto the streets below as more and more people were showing up, hoping to score a ticket. They were only selling them that day and though they were only going for $50, one can only imagine how much they were being scalped for. I think Prince’s fan club had first picks, but I don’t know. There were cops, Fillmore security, Prince’s security, and hordes of people circulating below and I couldn’t help feel like I was seeing some sort of scene from the storming of The Bastille down there. Prince’s old band was The Revolution after all. The time finally passed and they opened the doors at the wee hour of 2 AM. 

I won’t exhaust you with Prince’s entire backstory, an epic musical saga stretching back to the 70’s, the whole “Purple Rain” era, and so forth, but I will mention a couple notable events that happened with him that year. He had finally changed record labels to Arista, putting behind his long legal wranglings with Warner Brothers, and consequently was able to drop the whole “Artist Formerly Known As Prince” symbol moniker and start using his name again. He had also just became a Jehovah’s Witness, encouraged by his friend Larry Graham, the former bassist of Sly & The Family Stone and leader of Graham Central Station. This move, though spiritually uplifting for him, would ultimately alienate him from some of his LGBTQ fans, not to mention former Revolution guitarist Wendy Melvoin. He had even asked Wendy to disavow homosexuality and become a Witness herself which she understandably declined. On a positive note, that year Prince also anonymously donated $12,000 to the Louisville Free Public Library to keep its Western Branch from closing, the first full service library for African Americans. Prince and his band, the New Power Generation or NPG for short, were in the middle of their “Hit N’ Run” tour and they were touring in support of their latest album, “Rave In2 The Joy Fantastic” which was released just a day after this show, taking place technically on April 29th since it was well past midnight.

Which at long last leads to my world famous concert anecdote. Ta-da! Just before it started, they had been playing music over the P.A. from the Fonky Baldheads, a band lead by NPG’s drummer, Kirk Johnson, and anticipation had reached a boiling point as the lights of The Fillmore finally dimmed and the show began. I was stationed at my usual spot by the soundboard and was delighted to hear Prince’s voice booming over the speakers, “How y’all feel? Get freaky in here! San Francisco! San Francisco! Party people!” The crowd, many of whom were adorned in purple sequins and feather boas, went nuts and the first band member, the drummer, came on stage and began drumming a steady beat. Prince’s voice over the speakers continued, “NPG is in the club! Put your hands up!” Then the bass player came on stage, started playing along, and then another bass player, then the keyboard player, but still no Prince. After a while, I was beginning to wonder what was up.

That was when I turned around and lo and behold, there HE was, standing at the soundboard. The shock of the sight of him just a mere five or six feet away from me at the most caused me to literally recoil and let out a startled, “AHH!” Jolted as I was, it didn’t phase Prince in the slightest who was, as you might have guessed, mixing the instruments of his band one at a time until they sounded to his satisfaction, laying low and talking into a SM58 mic in between adjustments. I did my best not to stare like an idiot, jaw agape and eyes bugging, as he finished up and bolted out of the front of house position to run up on stage. Prince strapped on a bass guitar, joining the other two bassists, and he finally spoke in front of us, “There’s nothing to see here! Everybody dance!” A member of the band started playing flute along with them and he continued, “We gonna funk tonight y’all! We got Larry Graham in the building! We got Rosie Gaines in the building! We got NRG in the building! We got Prince in the building! We got y’all in the building too! Clap your hands!”

The jam had been already going on for 12 minutes and Prince finally starting singing three minutes later. The first song of their set would be “The Daisy Chain”, a song so new, it had only been available for download by his fan club just a few days before this show. Prince had brought along a new young man in the NPG called DVS who rapped along to that one. Afterwards, they brought up the legendary Rosie Gaines, who already been singing with Prince since 1990, though as luck would have it, this would be the last time she’d perform with Prince live. They surprised us a little when they did a cover of “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man” by Aretha Franklin followed by an even more surprising cover of “Car Wash” by Rose Royce. She stayed on stage for one more, “Ain’t No Way”, before leaving them to continue with “Joy In Repetition”. 

The next song, “Paisley Park”, had always been a big hit for Prince, but I was unaware that this show was actually the first time it had performed live, yet another reason this night was so special. Strangely enough, the most famous song of his that night was the one folks didn’t really know the lyrics for and Prince became a little frustrated by that. He egged us on, “Know the chorus? I can’t hear you!”. At the end of the song, he sort of smirked and scolded us, “Better learn my music!” From there, they were joined by the one and only Shiela E. on drums and percussion and they began a ten minute long medley of Carlos Santana songs before ending it with a smoking version of “Oye Como Va”. Prince joked when they finished, “Thank you! Good night! Sexual Chocolate, ladies & gentlemen… Bet you we’re having more fun than you!” Larry Graham then joined them to finish the set with “Come On”.

They played a little more music from the Fonky Baldheads over the speakers during the short encore break, but then Prince returned along with Sheila E. and Larry Graham to finish it all with “Alphabet St.” He got the crowd to hoot out a bunch of “Whoa-oh-a-oh-a”’s during the an extended seven minute jam before he started singing and brought the house down one last time. He smiled as they finished and declared, “It’s breakfast time, San Francisco. Don’t forget to join the club. We do this all the time!” And then he followed his band off stage, the lights came up, and it was all over. I stumbled out of The Fillmore exhausted but uplifted like I had never felt before and made my way home climbing over Cathedral Hill back to the Loin. By then, it was almost 5 AM and I knew I had to get home before the sun came up or I’d have a hard time getting to sleep. After all, believe it or not, I was to return to that very same venue in a little over 12 hours to see Iggy Pop perform, not to mention Fatboy Slim and Blink 182 the following nights. Yep, that was a stretch.

I suppose I owe this unique event a small epilogue. Prince really opened my eyes that night. Seriously, there isn’t an artist alive or dead that could match him. I mean, think about it. He could not only play several instruments, at least 27 of them by some accounts, but he could SHRED on all of them as well as anyone who devoted themselves to merely one of them their entire lives. On top of that, he sang, wrote brilliant hit songs not just for himself but for many others as well, and last but not least, he could dance! So, take a moment and try to think of anybody else who even closely fits that bill. I admit Paul McCartney comes to mind, but he can’t dance, or maybe Mozart, but he never had access to electric instruments. Suffice to say, Prince remains standing alone, though granted he was less successful with his ability as an actor. I had been tempted after what I witnessed that evening to see him again, but every time he came to town, the ticket price was astronomical. He did other secret shows, including his last one in the bay area at the Great American in 2016, but they wanted $250. And alas, he would die from a fentanyl overdose just shy of seven weeks later. 

I had always naively thought he’d be around forever, especially considering the incredible physical shape he’d been in all those years. I had also equally was deluded to believe that his devotion to the JW’s would exclude him from drugs and other vices, but I was sadly mistaken. Yes, it was difficult to hear the news of his death, but the loss was compounded by the fact that we had just lost David Bowie only three months before that. In the end, I am comforted by the fact that I witnessed this one exclusive musical extravaganza and that Prince has left us a mind boggling catalogue of his artistic endeavors. 

The man put out a whopping 40 studio albums, 5 live albums, countless compilations and collaborations, and unreleased material is still being unearthed today. And if that wasn’t enough, he will forever be immortalized in popular culture from Dave Chappelle’s basketball challenge skit with Charlie Murphy to Prince’s fatal defeat at the hands of Prince Charles on “Celebrity Deathmatch”. I was fortunate enough to see his old band, The Revolution, get back together and play at Stern Grove in 2018, but in hindsight, I obviously should have ponied up the $250 to see Prince again. I just hope I make it heaven in the end where I’m sure he’s blowing people’s minds and getting funky up there on high. 

https://archive.org/details/semisonic-fillmore-42801

https://archive.org/details/pete-yorn-fillmore-42801

https://archive.org/details/prince-fillmore-42801

https://archive.org/details/the-clap-band-fillmore-42901

https://archive.org/details/prince-bootleg-fillmore-42801

Iggy Pop, Kung Fu USA, The Clap Band, Fill., SF, Sun., April 29

SETLIST : Mask, Espanol, Beat Em’ Up, Raw Power, Search & Destroy, Howl, Corruption, Real Wild One, I Wanna Be Your Dog, Jerk, Homeboy, The Passenger, Lust For Life, I’ve Got A Right, Cold Metal, Death Trip, Down On The Street, No Fun, L.O.S.T., 1969

It had been exactly five years and four days since I had last laid eyes on the one and only Mr. James Newell Osterberg AKA Iggy Pop at The Warfield. Versed as I was in punk rock history up to then, I would eventually discover what an embarrassing philistine I was knowing only “Lust For Life” because of the movie “Trainspotting”. That Warfield show was captivating, but it wasn’t really until this night when I got to see him again, this time even closer at The Fillmore, that I truly began to appreciate his infinite talent, undeniable charisma, and priceless contribution to rock & roll. During those intervening years, Iggy kept busy touring, releasing his “Avenue B” album in 1999, and strangely enough, playing a small part in an episode of “Star Trek : Deep Space 9”. I probably saw that episode and didn’t even realize it was him since he had been playing an alien and was under an impressive make up and costume disguise. And though I have seen Iggy perform a number of times since this show, I still think this was my favorite of all of them.

Not that I was in any shape whatsoever to get through that show. I had in fact been up all night the previous evening having witnessed a double bill at The Fillmore already, starting with Semisonic and ending with a surprise secret concert with Prince! Yes, THAT Prince. The doors didn’t open for his show until 2 AM, he didn’t get on stage until 3ish, and by the time it was all over, I barely made it home and got into bed before the sun came up again. On top of all that, I would return once again to The Fillmore the following night for a very long evening with Fatboy Slim and lastly, Blink 182 at The Warfield the night after that one. Thank God I was still a mere 29 years old then and had the endurance for such things. I certainly wasn’t in Iggy Pop shape. The old man had just celebrated his 54th birthday the week before this and he was as always displaying his chiseled, shirtless physique in all its glory.

Iggy was just about six weeks shy of releasing his 13th studio album, “Beat Em’ Up”, and we got to hear five of his new songs that night. The new album wasn’t his best work, but he covered a lot of material from his extensive career, including some golden oldies from his days with The Stooges. He was backed up that night by an excellent group of musicians who on their own were known as The Trolls, led by guitarist Whitey Kirst and his brother Alex on drums. Sadly, their bassist Lloyd “Mooseman” Roberts, who had also played bass with Body Count, had just been killed in a drive-by shooting two months before this at the all too young age of 38. Poor guy wasn’t even the intended target. He had just finished helping Iggy record the new album too. I’m not sure who it was that replaced him in the band, but the fellow was good. 

I’m so glad that I was making a point to record the musical acts up in the poster room between acts on the main stage particularly that night because I got to witness a few songs from The Clap Band. As their name suggests, they were an a cappella act, just two guys actually, that frantically clapped along to their, shall we say, unique lyrics. Their first song, simply titled “Not My Notebook”, consisted only of the two lines, “This is not your notebook! This notebook is most definitely mine!” They really slowed down and drew out that last line at the end of the song. The next one was titled “Leroy” which was the only word uttered during that song. But the big finale was without a doubt, “Autoasphyxiation Masturbation”. One of the two would sing the title and the other would respond, “Sweeping the nation!… It’s a sensation!… It’s making me crazy!” Near the end of the tune, one of them sang, “First you get a rope and then you do that thing I’ve been singing about for the last minute or two. You take it then you go to town, but don’t go too far ‘cus if you see that bright, white light, you ain’t comin’ back no more!” Yes, The Clap Band was truly inspiring, though this would be the only time I would see them do their “thing”. 

The opener on the main stage downstairs, Kung Fu USA, I had seen before, in that very same venue just six months prior opening for The Cramps on Halloween. I would see them again once again at The Fillmore opening for The Ataris in 2003, the first and one of the thankfully very few shows I actually got caught recording. I lucked out and they only took the tape I had in the deck at the time when I was watching The Juliana Theory, the final opening act of the night and was able to keep the other tapes containing the earlier acts, including Attic Ted up in the poster room, another truly memorable and bizarre group of artists. Anyway, I wasn’t much of a fan of Kung Fu USA and only taped three of their songs that night. I, like everybody else, was there for Iggy.

He finally marched on stage, sporting a new goatee and quickly began his set with “Mask”, the first song off his new album. I will always have the vision of Iggy on stage lurching to one side etched in my brain, sort of leaning into his mic stand like a crutch, similar to the way Shane MacGowan did it, but not because he was wasted. Iggy had even by then been clean and sober for decades. However, I just learned recently that Iggy’s posture is due to his suffering from scoliosis and one of his legs is actually and inch and a half longer than the other. Still, it didn’t hinder him in the slightest from dancing around like a maniac, stage diving into the crowd numerous times, and even getting on top of the bass cabinet during “Real Wild One” and dry humping it missionary style. Iggy demanded they “turn on the house lights! Let me fuckin’ see you! If you don’t I’m gonna to jump, motherfucker! You don’t want me to jump again, do you?”, then pausing before smiling, “Charmed I’m sure… You’re a little fucked up. I’m a little fucked up.”

He transitioned from “Search & Destroy” right into “Howl”, deliriously howling at the top of his lungs in between. Later, he would have a little breakdown during the classic “I Wanna Be Your Dog”, drolly crooning, “Love… love… A funny little word… Some mornings I wake up and say to myself, ‘Man things are goin’ the right way. Things are changin’ and today there’ll be justice. There’ll be honest radio. There’ll be beauty in the government. Yeah, today’ll be a good day.’ But then there are those other days that I wake up and open my eyes and say to myself, ‘You fuckin’ idiot! You fuckin’ fool! There is no justice. There is no beauty in power. There is no hope for the straight.’ On those days, you keep goin’ and I say a little prayer.” And then Iggy continued the song with the lyric, “Now I’m ready to close my eyes…”

Iggy got a little silly again a few songs later during “Homeboy” when he pantomimed drinking tea, grinning devilishly. He covered a few more obligatory ones like the aforementioned “Lust For Life”, but also “The Passenger”, and dusted off a few more Stooges numbers like “I Got A Right”, “No Fun”, before ending the night with “1969”. I’m happy to say that there was a poster that night and a good one, a colorfully doctored up recreation of photo of Iggy performing at a show he did back in ’93. He’s sternly looking upwards crossing his wrists, his arms raised in front of him, a truly striking pose and consequently easy to spot up in the balcony amongst the rows of other posters. I wouldn’t have to wait as long to see Mr. Pop again this time, for he would return to town two years later playing along many others at one of Live 105’s Not-So-Silent Nights at the Civic Center, though granted I would be seeing him at a much farther distance that time. 

https://archive.org/details/iggy-pop-fillmore-42901

https://archive.org/details/kung-fu-usa-fillmore-42901

Fatboy Slim, Scanty Sandwich, Darren Emerson, Fill., SF, Mon., April 30

Fatboy Slim was just starting to get really big when I first heard him opening for The Crystal Method at The Warfield in 1998. He had been haunted by the disaster at Woodstock the following year when he was playing a set in a dangerously overcrowded aircraft hanger and a stolen van interrupted his set driving though the crowd. Inside, it was being driven by a guy wielding a machete and an abused naked girl was in the back. Fatboy Slim’s set got cut off and the crowd revolted, throwing bottles, cups, and garbage everywhere and he was lucky to get out of that fiasco in one piece. Thankfully, his fortune would soon turn around upon the release of his third studio album, “Halfway Between The Gutter & The Stars” just five months before this show, a less successful but still worthy follow up to his blockbuster “You’ve Come A Long Way, Baby”. The new album title is a variation from a quote in Oscar Wilde’s “Lady Windermere’s Fan” which goes, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”. He was also blessed with the birth of his son, Woody, that December with his wife, TV personality Zoe Ball, whom he had married the previous year. 

There also was a funny instance a month before this show when Fatboy Slim was DJing an afterparty in L.A. for The Oscars and had none other than Monty Python alumni and fellow Englishman John Cleese politely told him to pipe down. Yes, I can almost hear Basil Fawlty himself glibly saying to him, “I do understand what you’re trying to do here, boy, but nobody’s really dancing. If you turn the music down, at least we can talk.” Well, Mr. Cleese would soon eat his words upon the release of the world famous music video for “Weapon Of Choice” directed by Spike Jonze which came out just a week before this show. Anyone alive then undoubtably remembers it, the sight of Christopher Walken’s brilliant dancing and defying of gravity in the deserted lobby of the L.A. Marriott. Fatboy Slim would win the Grammy for Best Music Video for that one the following year.

So, it was good fortune that I would catch him performing at a venue as small as The Fillmore while he was still on the top of his game. It had been a ridiculously long weekend already for me, having seen three shows in a row at that very same venue starting with an early show with Semisonic on Saturday, followed by a surprise late show the same night with Prince, and then Iggy Pop on Sunday. It was a foregone conclusion that Fatboy Slim would play until the wee hours and to add onto all of that, I would be seeing Blink 182 at The Warfield the following night. But finally on to the show at hand. Thank you for your patience. Naturally, it was sold out and it was a safe bet that the crowd had already pre-gamed a substantial amount of substances.

Opening that night would be Darren Emerson, a respected English DJ and member of the EDM band Underworld. He got the crowd warmed up, slipping in a sample from the intro of the old TV show, “The Six Million Dollar Man”, you know, that whole bit about “we can rebuild him… make him bigger, stronger, faster” and so forth. Darren also played a sped up version of “Rapture” by Blondie, repeating the lyric “DJ’s spinning a set in my mind” over and over. He also spun a bit of “Music” by Madonna, a hit she had put out the previous August that everybody was flipping out over. Fatboy Slim would also sample it later in his set. Mr. Emerson was seamlessly relieved at the turntables by Scanty Sandwich, AKA Richard Marshall, another English DJ of renown and he continued the party until Fatboy Slim was ready. 

Now I like EDM as much as the next person, though I don’t claim to be a huge fan or by any means an expert on the subject. But Fatboy Slim is one of those artists who truly outshines the others in his genre, a real musician. His dense compositions were well thought out and never boring. I swear, I could listen to his stuff for hours on end. His samples were funny too. I liked one part when he repeated the sample, “Wack ass motherfuckerrrrrrrrs!”, rolling the R at the end like a machine gun. He also did a bit from Morpheus’ speech  in “The Matrix” repeating, “Take the blue pill… Take the red pill” and then “I’ll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes”. As predicted, the show went on late and the batteries in my recorder ran out, though I caught it in time to replace them, losing only one or two songs. I still ran out of tape though, having it cut out near the end of his set during “Star 69”, ending it with the repeated sample of “What the fuck”.

But I had plenty of material already from that night and if there was any further proof required that I was enjoying Fatboy Slim, it was that I stuck around anyway to dance until the lights came on and it was over. By then, the crowd had thinned out to less than half of when it started. I believe my friend John was with me in the audience that night and we took a moment to talk to Fatboy Slim as he was cleaning up on stage, thanking him for the lovely time. He was polite and gracious, drenched in sweat but very approachable. I know John was learning to become a turntablist himself with his DJ rig at home, so obviously  meeting Fatboy Slim meant a lot to him. The memory of that night still puts a smile on my face, one of those shows that felt more like a party than a concert. They had an excellent poster at the end of the night as well to mark the occasion, which was good since this was the last time I would see him perform. 

https://archive.org/details/fatboy-slim-fillmore-43001

https://archive.org/details/scanty-sandwich-fillmore-43001

https://archive.org/details/darren-emerson-fillmore-43001

Blink 182, The Alkaline Trio, No Motiv, War., SF, Tues., May 1

SETLISTS :

(THE ALKALINE TRIO) : My Friend Peter, Stupid Kid, Private Eye, Mr. Chainsaw, Radio, San Francisco

(BLINK 182) : Don’t Leave Me, Aliens Exist, (unknown), (unknown), What’s My Name Again?, The Rock Show, Adam’s Song, Peggy Sue, (unknown), Pathetic, Blow Job, First Date, Mutt, All The Small Things, (encore), When You Fucked Grandpa, Carousel, The Country Song, Dammit

Though Blink 182 had been around for a decade by this time, their meteoric rise to stardom really had just taken off within the last couple years of this show and this would be the first time I’d see them. The dour grunge scene of the 90’s was slowly making way for this new, more uplifting punk pop sound typified by bands like them, Jimmy Eat World, and Green Day. Hailing from way down south of our state in Poway, they originally called Blink, but had to change their name since, as you might have guessed, another band, an Irish techno one in fact, had already laid claim to the name. But the “182”? My immediate thought at the time as to the origin of that was from the 1985 action comedy “Turk 182” with Timothy Hutton, directed by Bob Clark, who also did “The Christmas Story” and “Porky’s”. It was kind of a dumb movie which is why you probably have never heard of it. 

Incidentally, Blink 182 played a funny cameo in teen comedy “American Pie” just two years before this show as a garage band watching that cringeworthy internet broadcast of Jason Biggs doing… I rather not say. Other theories of their famous moniker that have been floated including joke answers from bassist Mark Hoppus such as the number represents the amount of times Al Pacino said the F-word in “Scarface” to Mark’s ideal weight. But 182 was also the number of the ship that Mark’s grandfather served on when he was in the Marines. Finally, the last one I heard was that it represented the 18th and 2nd letters in the alphabet, being “R” and “B” which stood for Rancho Bernardo, the name of Mark’s rival high school growing up and “Blink” was also just a euphemism for the F-word. Put two and two together, but enough about the name.

It had been an exhausting weekend, having already seen Semisonic do an early show at The Fillmore that Saturday, immediately followed by a secret late show with Prince, then back to The Fillmore the next two nights for Iggy Pop and Fatboy Slim. After this show, I welcomed a well deserved rest. Like I said, Blink 182 had just gotten big, selling out The Warfield big, and they were on the cusp of releasing their next album, the hilariously titled “Take Off Your Pants & Jacket”, just six weeks after this show.  Following up their breakthrough smash hit “Enema Of The State” in 1999, it kept them on that steady direction upwards, certifying double platinum and achieving critical acclaim. It also had the distinction of being the first punk album to debut at number one on the Billboard charts. Mark had also just got married in 2000 and shortly afterwards, the band released a live album called “The Mark, Tom, & Travis Show (The Enema Strikes Back!)”. Part of that live album was recorded at Bill Graham Civic Center in fact. They had also just been on “Mad TV” doing a sketch called “Leave It To Blink 182” and drummer Travis Barker (and his house) had been featured on “MTV Cribs”. 

The night was being sponsored by Honda and they actually had a brand new, shiny Honda Civic on display out front of the venue that was being held in part of a raffle and was to be awarded to some lucky fan at the end of the tour. I didn’t win it, but am currently the proud owner of a 2010 Honda Fit. The band got a little flack from this promotion from the usual lot of punk purist detractors who had already accused them of selling out for being too polished and radio friendly. But they argued that with the sponsorship, they were allowed to keep the ticket prices low and let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a punk show if it was expensive. They had just finished a tour of New Zealand and Australia and were just about to do two nights at the Hollywood Palladium where they would film concert footage for the music video of their new single, “The Rock Show”. Mark claimed to have written that song in only 10 minutes. 

The first band on that night was No Motiv, a scrappy young punk band also from down south in Oxnard. They were proud members of the so called “Nardcore” movement and their new album, “Diagram For Healing”, had just come out that very day as luck would have it. They were only on for a handful of songs, but they were loud as fuck. In fact, the entire night was deafening. After them, there was the Alkaline Trio originally from Chicago, introduced by a DJ from Live 105. They had actually been on Mark Park from Skankin’ Pickle’s label, Asian Man records, but Mike encouraged them to move up in the world and they were signed to Vagrant and just released “From Here To Infirmary” a month before this show. They too had a short set and mentioned that although they had just moved to Berkeley only three months before this, the last song of their set would be the “cleverly titled” “San Francisco”.  Their guitarist Matt Skiba would join Blink 182 briefly in 2015 when Tom left the band briefly and helped the band record two albums.

The sound was excruciatingly loud when Blink 182 took the stage and I was very glad I had earplugs. Just before I was cut during their second song, “Aliens Exist”, guitarist Tom DeLonge surprised me a little dedicating the song to “our good friend Nick. He’s a nine year old who dances in his underpants, people!” I got my drink and quickly joined the sweaty rabble on the dance floor. I was impressed how fast they played, especially Travis. Mark joked, “Anybody else fat and totally out of breath? You know what’s a turn off? A girl who’s eating raw meat and cheese.” Their wisecracks and banter came fast and furious, so it was hard to make out everything they were riffing, but I made out a bunch of it. Tom was having a little technical problems and Mark pointed at their guitar tech and “commanded thee to change the guitar… This is Larry. Give it up for Larry! How about a big amen for Larry!” The crowd responded, “Amen!”, had them yell it out again, and then continued, “I know this is San Francisco. There’s a lot of liberal people who might not believe in the amen. A lot of Democrats, right?” Tom quickly got in, “Only three of them are old enough to vote… Say fuck you, Mark!” Then the audience did so and went nuts as they began a breakneck version of, “What’s My Name Again?”

They followed it with “The Rock Show”, Tom pointed out their camera guy recording the show in the back saying, “His name’s Cheetah!… Just got a perm and he looks damn good, people! Cheetah hooked up with two girls in Australia at the same time. Speaking of clap, he hooked up with two girls in Australia! Speaking of dog, he fucked a dog!” and then they played “Adam’s Song”. Afterwards, they thanked everybody for coming to the show and mentioned the car in the raffle, asking “Who wants it? We might just leave it though” and continued with their song “Peggy Sue”, (not the Buddy Holly one). Tom clowned around a bit asking if we “wanna hear Mark do a little rapping” and to his credit, he did dust off the first verse of “Bring The Noise” by Public Enemy. A couple songs later they said the next one was “about Iraq… This one’s about apartheid and how it fuckin’ sucks!” and then strangely enough, they played “Blow Job”, a song let’s say… err… wasn’t about those subjects. In fact, many of their songs were not exactly G-rated, though none of the teenagers in the mosh pit seemed offended by it or other such vulgar arias of theirs like “When You Fucked Grandpa” and “The Country Song”.

Anyway, near the end of their set, Tom groaned, “As you well know, we’re going to play two more songs and we’re going to act like it’s the end of our set, but it’s not. It’s called the encore… Say it with me” and everybody repeated, “Encore!” He continued, “We’re going to play two more songs whether or not you want us to. So you might as well stick around ‘cus there’s some crack dealers across the street.” And then they finished up their set with their hit single “All The Small Things”. True to their word, they returned and Tom mentioned that they were filming a video in L.A. the following day and encouraged everybody to come down and join them. Mark ranted manically, “I believe the children are our future! Teach them well and let them lead the way! Show them all the beauty the possess inside! Can I get a ‘shit yeah, motherfucker’!?!… Can I get a big ‘Tom looks like an infected donkey penis with an asshole attached to it’!?!… Can I get a ‘Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal’!?!”

They wrapped up their encore with “Dammit” and I was pleasantly surprised that they had a nice poster given out at the door and it was a Jimbo Phillips one as well. I would see Blink 182 perform one more time at Live 105’s B.F.D. at Shoreline just a mere six weeks later, but shortly afterwards, Tom would suffer a herniated disc in his back and the band would take a short hiatus. Travis also got married in 2001 but would quickly get divorced only nine months later. Branching out from music into fashion, Tom and Mark would found their Atticus Clothing label later that year as well as MacBeth Footwear in 2002. There was a little tension when Tom would poach Travis to form his side project, Boxcar Racer, without Mark, but Blink 182 would regroup in 2003 though. I would have the rare pleasure to see both Boxcar Racer, the only tour that band would do in 2002, and the Alkaline Trio in 2005, headlining their own shows on that very same stage, but those are other stories for a later time. 

https://archive.org/details/alkaline-trio-warfield-5101

https://archive.org/details/no-motiv-warfield-5101

https://archive.org/details/blink-182-warfield-5101

Gary Numan, Gwenmars, Grand Theft Audio, Fill., SF, Fri., May 4

SETLISTS :

(GRAND THEFT AUDIO) : We Luv U, Stoopid Ass, Rock The House, As Good As It Gets, Death To The Infidels, Fight For Your Right To Party

(GWENMARS) : Venus, Neon Tom, Train Song, Radio Gun, Battery, She Hung The Moon, Strawberry Ice, Cosmic Dick, Come & Get It

(GARY NUMAN) : Pure, Films, Rip, Listen To My Voice, Cars, Dark, Down In The Park, Walking With Shadows, Metal, My Jesus, A Question Of Faith, I Can’t Breathe, (encore), Are ‘Friends’ Electric?, Remind Me To Smile, A Prayer For The Unborn

This would be the first and to this date only time I’d see Gary Numan perform, but he has the distinction of being the only artist who played The Fillmore of which I have a poster of a show I didn’t attend. My friend Drew gave me his poster from a show he had done there with Switchblade Symphony back in May of 1998 and though it is officially against my policy to possess posters of shows I wasn’t at, I accepted his gracious gift and still have it. So, I felt obliged to at least see Gary once in my life to mitigate this imbalance. I, and everybody else on Earth, was well aware of his hit single “Cars”, a song played to death during the early 80’s and one of the flagship music videos during MTV’s earliest days. I had recently recorded Fear Factory doing their techno-metal cover of it at the Maritime Hall, but I was finally able to hear the tune from the master himself at last. 

Not that it was Gary’s only good song and I would argue that “Down In The Park” is equally as enjoyable, a song I had first become familiar with after seeing him perform it in the 1981 concert compilation film, “Urgh! A Music War”. I also appreciated that the Foo Fighters did a brilliant cover of it for the “Songs In The Key Of X : Music From & Inspired By The X-Files” compilation album in 1996, one of the earliest covers the Fighters did. Incidentally, though Gary might have become famous for singing about cars, he had for years taken an affinity to a different kind of vehicle, airplanes. He had already joined the Air Training Corps back home as a teenager, but shortly after he hit it big with his debut solo record “The Pleasure Principle” in 1979, he got his pilot’s license and bought his first Cessna the next day. He even flew around the world in 1981, though he only was successful on his second attempt. He had been detained in India the first time around being suspected of smuggling and spying. I can’t say I entirely blame the Indians. Gary is a weird guy. 

Yes, Gary had been around for some time after making it big way back when. His real last name is Webb, but he picked up his stage name strangely enough from a listing for a plumber in the yellow pages. His use of white make up on his face was also another happy accident as it had been once applied to him during a performance he did on the UK’s “Top Of The Pops” in an effort to cover up his acne scarring. The look stuck. He had already been a pioneer in the field of dark electronic music for years, influencing later acts like Nine Inch Nails and their heavy industrial take on the genre was swinging back around to influence him as well. Gary had just put out his “Pure” album the previous November and it was laden with heavy guitar riffs and brutal industrial beats. He would release a “Tour Edition” of the album that year which included a poster, a bonus CD with a screensaver for your computer, live tracks recorded from a show he did at the Brixton Academy in London the previous October, and a couple remixes. This would be one of the shows he’d be doing on this limited  tour of only 16 dates, so I was lucky to catch him. 

Immediately dispelling my preconceived notions that the show would be exclusively keyboard and dare I say effeminate music, Gary and his openers’ music would prove downright ballsy, especially the first band, Grand Theft Audio, fellow Brits like Gary. They came on stage to the recording of the theme from “Rocky” blasting over the PA for starters and their frontman, Jay Butler, immediately started hamming it up with the crowd saying, “Hello… You’re awake at last” and making some comment about having the “hangover from Hell”. They started with the deceptively titled “We Luv U”, Jay belting out the lyrics, practically screaming them. And being a rock band from the UK, naturally, it was loud as fuck and remained so all night, another one I glad I wore earplugs for.

Jay pointed to the folks upstairs in the balcony and taunted, “What’s the fuckin’ deal with all you down here and like the aristocracy up there? Let’s start some gang warfare!” Later, he said, “I don’t give a shit if you thought we’re awful… Big shout out to Billy Idol”, then he sang a little of “White Wedding”, substituting the lyrics with, “Nice day for a… Fuckin’ wanker.” He continued, “Actually, fuck it. Just thinking about Billy Idol has pissed me off… 1-2-3… Wanker!” The crowd yelled “Wanker!” but it wasn’t loud enough for Jay who goaded them, “My mom swears worse than you! 1-2-3!… Wanker!” and then they played “As Good As It Gets”. Near the end of their set, he pointed out, “Gwenmars’ parents in the house… Then some other fuckin’ guy whose name I can’t remember. It’s Gary something” and then he sang a little bit of “Cars”.

Jay surprised us a bit introducing their last song, that they were going to “sing you a song you’re gonna know, so join in a little bit, so I can fuck off… go back to my dressing room… wank myself silly. How does that sound?… Are you ready in the balcony, you stockbroker scum?” And then they did heavy industrial cover of “Fight For Your Right To Party” by the Beastie Boys, which to this day I believe is the only time I’ve ever heard it played live by anybody. Even the Beastie Boys never played that song live. Jay clowned around a little changing the lyrics to, “…what’s that noise?… You’re just jealous, it’s the Backstreet Boys!” For such a short set, I admit Grand Theft Audio made an impression. Next up was Gwenmars from L.A. by way of Birmingham, (Alabama, not the UK), the only Americans on the bill, though they were quite Britpoppy. They even finished their set with “Come & Get It” by Badfinger, an extremely English song penned by Paul McCartney for the 1969 film comedy “The Magic Christian” with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr. Ringo was buddies with Peter back then and he even wrote “Octopus’ Garden” while on a yacht with him in Sardinia, another funny story for another time.

Like the others, Gary’s set was extremely loud and though I only knew his music through those two aforementioned keyboard heavy songs, I was impressed by his new industrial strength stuff. He’s a thoughtful songwriter and I’m sorry I haven’t seen him since, especially since he had recently toured with Ministry, another notoriously heavy metal industrial band. I had a prior commitment and had to miss their show together at The Warfield last month. Anyway, I would return to The Fillmore the following night to see Incredibly Strange Wrestling with NOFX, a very, very different scene indeed. But I was glad that Gary’s show got a poster, a very classy, subdued one for the bombastic music we heard that night. 

https://archive.org/details/gary-numan-fillmore-5401

https://archive.org/details/gwenmars-fillmore-5401

https://archive.org/details/grand-theft-auto-fillmore-5401

Incredibly Strange Wrestling: NOFX, The Oozzies, Bottles & Skulls, Fill., SF, Sat., May 5

SETLISTS :

(THE OOZZIES) : Same Old Story, Forget About It, Beat On The Brat, Red White & You, Swingin’ For The Fences, (unknown)

(NOFX) : Fuck The Kids, What’s The Matter With Parents Today?, Shower Days, (unknown), New Happy Birthday Song?, Perfect Government, (unknown), All Of Me, (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Murder The Government, The Brews

My beloved wife spotted the discs for this show on my computer table the other day and asked me in her customary, half serious accusatory tone if this was “perverted”. Without missing a beat, I replied yes and emphasized that it was VERY perverted, doing my best to briefly explain this spectacle as I will attempt to do with y’all now. This wouldn’t be the first time I’d witness this bizarre, punk rock circus of pain. Two years before this, they were there with The Dickies, the first time ISW would be at The Fillmore, so its reputation had preceded it. Lucha Libre wrestling and west coast punk bands were truly a winning combination if not a marriage made in heaven. This show in fact would also serve as a celebration of ISW’s 6th anniversary and the beginning of a two month tour for them. And thanks to their noble efforts, punk bands from all over the state and elsewhere were gladly lining up to take part and on this night, so we were lucky to have secured NOFX as the headliner. 

Having been doing gigs for nearly two decades by this time, NOFX had been a reliable workhorse in the bay area punk rock scene, though I confess this would be the first time I’d be seeing them play. Their frontman Fat Mike had long since founded his record label Fat Wreck Chords in 1990 mentoring and producing work for a veritable who’s who in the west coast punk scene ranging from The Swinging Udders, to Rancid, No Use For A Name, Tilt, and The (aforementioned) Dickies just to name a few. Though the label released most of NOFX’s stuff, they had just finished their final album on Epitaph the previous June called “Pump Up The Valuum”. They as you might of guessed had to alter the name as to not incur a lawsuit from the makers of that notorious pill.

They had once again constructed the wrestling ring smack dab in the middle of the dance floor of The Fillmore and before the action began, the first opening band of the evening had their short set on the main stage. Bottles & Skulls as they were called were painfully loud and despite the singer’s best efforts, no one could make out a single syllable of whatever he was screaming and yelping through his set. Having the ring in the middle of the floor also insured that it was practically impossible to form a mosh pit of any notable size. But just as well, since the place was about to become a godforsaken mess without one anyway.

If you haven’t read my previous entry about ISW, let me mention one of their more memorable traditions. God knows how it started or what genius thought it would be a good idea, but it was customary to throw taco sized tortillas around like frisbees throughout the proceedings. Granted, as a patron, it was entertaining to fling them around all night. In fact, I admit that I once again embraced the sadistic pleasure of getting one or two embedded in the Fillmore’s chandeliers. Sadistic, because I knew full well that the house crew would have to fish them out eventually, not to mention clean up the revolting mess that the other tortillas would wrought on that poor abused venue. I knew many of that crew and cringe now at the very thought of what they faced at the end of the show. By then, many of the tortillas had been ripped, stepped on, and generally pulverized into floury shards that found their way into every nook and cranny of the place. 

Of coarse, the performers undoubtably resented getting pelted by the low carb discs all night as well. Sure, the wrestlers were expecting it, but the punks were understandably peeved. Trying to play that music, especially at the speed they play is challenging enough without being assaulted by these things and a few made their displeasure known as the night went on which I’ll get to later. The first matches took place during the set break before The Oozzies. Our emcee for the night was Count Dante, a big bear of a man who always wore silk kimonos and did some wrestling himself before for this, and his sidekick Alan Bolte. The Count announced in his deep, theatrical voice, “Are you ready for hot man on man action!?! Are you ready for Incredibly Strange Wrestling!?!” He reminded everybody that they should only throw tortillas and “don’t throw your girlfriends in the ring”.

The night was coincidentally timed to be on the same night as Cinco De Mayo and they took the occasion to have a Quinceanera for the wrestler El Homo Loco who the Count described as a “delicate flower”, but a “savage beast when provoked”, and that “after this ceremony, somebody’s going to be a woman… There’s a new homo in town and he’ll not be ignored!” El Homo Loco was flanked by his “beautiful dyke ring girls” who despite being charged with protecting him, would often become distracted while making out with each other. I’ve included a couple pictures as usual in this entry, so I advise you take a look since as they say a picture is worth a thousand words. To try to describe this pink tutu wearing athlete adequately seems daunting right now. Thank you for your understanding. Following his match, The Poontangler was up next, sporting her enormous, bright pink merkin in her crotch which she used to suffocate her opponent and claim victory that night. Then there was El Macho Sasquatcho, a missing link from the “Pacific Northwest” who did battle with 69 Degrees, a Scientologist boy band with members such as Dancin’ Joey and Bad Boy Corey. Clearly, the crowd was on the side of Sasquatcho. 

The second opener that night after the first set of matches was The Oozzies, a local band comprised of ex-members of Samiam and Fang. They too were loud as fuck, though I could make out most of their lyrics and could decipher all the song titles of their set except for the last one. I appreciated that they did a respectful cover of “Beat On The Brat” by The Ramones. The singer introduced it, “This one goes out to Joey”, paying tribute to that seminal punk band’s singer who had just passed away from lymph cancer 3 weeks before this show. He lightened the mood later asking if anybody in the crowd wanted to wrestle, boasting, “Back in ’68, I used to wrestle alligators!” No one took him up on his offer, though there was more wrestling from the professionals to follow.

The batteries in my tape deck were starting to run out of juice by the time the next wrestling match started, so it was actually kind of humorous to hear Count Dante’s breathless intense commentary gradually speed up faster and faster like he was breathing helium or something. I replaced the batteries and didn’t lose much. Entering the ring to the tune of “YMCA” by the Village People, El Homo Loco would go on to be victorious in his bout with Ms. Sugar Shack. The following match had a pompous Frenchman called L’Emperor taunt the crowd about Cinco De Mayo claiming that “Mexico would have been better off if the French won! Vive La France!” Clearly he was the villain of the match against his opponent, the Mexican Viking.

NOFX stormed on stage and promptly warned the crowd “Don’t throw tortillas!… Unless you have some carne asada… When I go to a club, I don’t want a fuckin’ apple! Don’t get in the ring while we’re playing!” Then Fat Mike complained about his drink that got some tortilla bits in it, “I got a new drink! No tortilla in my drink. I hate unsalted tortillas. Taste like shit!… I dedicate this to anyone under 21” and then they opened their set with “Fuck The Kids”. Afterwards, guitarist Eric Melvin joked with the other guitarist, El Hefe, that next song was about Fat Mike’s mom. Eric went on to tell us that he had “visited my mom the other day, sitting in a chair, her legs uncrossed, just like ‘Basic Instinct’. I saw my mom’s crotch and my wife went like, ‘I can’t believe you saw your mom’s crotch’” Then he turned to Mike and said, “You’re mom’s fat and Jewish too!” and continued the set appropriately enough with “What’s The Matter With Parents Today?”, one of their new tunes.

A few songs later, Mike mentioned, “We just got back from Japan on Monday.” Then somebody in the crowd said “Fuck Japan!” and he countered, “Fuck Japan?… These guys hate everything… I got Misfits cufflinks in Japan!. I bought magic mushrooms with my Visa card in Japan!” Some of the songs in the second half of the set, I couldn’t figure out the titles, but one song I was surprised to hear that I knew was “All Of Me”. They said it was a Billy Holliday song, but lots of people sang it, all the way back to the vaudeville days. I knew it like most people my age from the 1984 film comedy of the same name with Steve Martin & Lily Tomlin. But rest assured, NOFX’s version was quite different, all punk. One of the guitarists busted out a trumpet for an instrumental song near the end of the set, but pleaded to the crowd once again, “Don’t throw tortillas. It’ll fuck me up.”

Before they wrapped up, one of them clumsily sang a little bit of the chorus from “I’ll Stop The World & Melt With You” by Modern English. Fat Mike took us all aback a touch when he said, “We have no business playing The Fillmore cus’ it’s not our kind of place. What I hate the most about this place is the curtains. You don’t need curtains that big. I don’t like the apples. I don’t like the hippies. I don’t like the posters everywhere.” Then another one complained, “$7.50 for a rum and coke!… Buy a CD so we can buy something to eat. Help El Hefe get his nationality change operation!” Of coarse $7.50 was a lot of money for a well drink back in 2001. Still, they did return to The Fillmore at least two more times, once in ’09, the other in ’12. Those shows got posters and this one sadly didn’t and remains the only time I’ve seen them live. But they’re still together and are touring in fact with Karina Henike, the singer from my brothers old band the Dance Hall Crashers. She sings back up and plays keys for them now amongst her many other musical projects. I would see Incredibly Strange Wrestling one more time at The Fillmore, that time with Fear headlining, but they stopped doing them around 2003. Still, it was fun while it lasted and there were some sights from those shows for better or for worse than I simply can’t unsee.  

https://archive.org/details/nofx-fillmore-5501

https://archive.org/details/the-oozies-fillmore-5501

https://archive.org/details/incredibly-strange-wrestling-fillmore-5501

https://archive.org/details/bottles-skulls-fillmore-5501

The Disco Biscuits, Fill., SF, Fri., May 11

SETLIST : (Set 1) Nughuffer, Shelby Rose, Basis For A Day, Helicopters, Basis For A Day (reprise), Spectacle, (Set 2), Home Again, Magellan, Jigsaw Earth, Magellan (reprise), And The Ladies Were The Rest Of The Night, Little Lai, (encore), Spacebirdmatingcall, Munchkin Invasion

It had been almost six long years since Jerry Garcia had ascended to hippie heaven and though his fellow Grateful Dead alumni had regrouped in various musical efforts, many new jam bands were claiming ground in the genre. Sure there were guys like Phish and Widespread Panic who had been around for a while and now were attracting arena sized crowds during this hippie power vacuum, but there were also talented lower card entries new to the jam band scene like the Disco Biscuits. Recent California transplants hailing originally from Philadelphia, they had been making music since ’95 and had just released their third studio album, “They Missed The Perfume” a month before this show. This would also be the first time they would be performing at The Fillmore. 

It was “an evening with” show, so no opener and I had to work through the first set into the beginning of the second one. Being a jam band, they had a group of folks in the taping section blocked off by the front of house soundboard where I always ushered. Having them around ensured that the folks would shut up and listen to the music, not to mention that their bootlegs are totally superior to mine. I found a good one on archive.org again, clear as crystal. When they came out on stage, one of them mentioned that it was the last night of their tour and the first time they were at The Fillmore, though he incorrectly called it the Fillmore West, an entirely different venue, but a common mistake to make. They thanked the staff and their tour crew before beginning with “Nughuffer”, a song whose lyrics are mostly comprised of the song title and “I want to go”. Indeed, I actually appreciated that they didn’t sing much during their songs, being mostly an instrumental band. That’s probably why I like Sound Tribe Sector Nine more than any of them who don’t sing at all. 

Still, it was nice that people chilled out and paid attention to their music and these guys were impressive musicians with a wide variety of musical tastes, everything from reggae to electronica. They seemed like really nice guys too. One of them before they started their second set said, “I was sitting out by the pool earlier today. It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful day. It was sunny as hell in California and I thought to myself, this is the first time that we’re ending our tour in California. And it’s the first time when we end tour in California, we don’t go anywhere else. This is where we live now. We live in California. We are a California band, the Disco Biscuits are! And I was sitting there by the pool and I was looking up and there was a palm tree. The sun was beating down on my face and I was thinking to myself, Good Lord, it’s so great to live in California! It’s just so great to live in California. It’s so great to be ‘Home Again’”. And then they played the song of that title. 

Sure, I am by no stretch of the imagination a jam band fanatic, but I would impress on any detractors of their genre, that they have stamina at least. Guys like the Disco Biscuits go off in multi-song medleys that stretch well past a half an hour, we’re talking P-Funk long here. I liked what I was hearing, so I stuck around to the end. At the end of their second set, one of them said, “I like to thank The Fillmore for allowing us and our scene here to come on in for the night. Very, very, very honored of coarse. Probably the most honored I’d ever be being that this room is the most historic room in the country. So thanks to them for giving us a chance to bring it in” and then they began their encore with “Little Lai”. They came back on stage for their encore and thanked The Fillmore for having them again, thanked “the crew, Pauly Shore” and somebody called “Footboy”. Somebody in the crowd shouted, “Lobsterfari!” and one of toasted, “To a great tour and many more”. They would return to The Fillmore just six months later, but this sadly is the only time I would see them, though they are still together to this day.  

https://archive.org/details/the-disco-biscuits-fillmore-51101

https://archive.org/details/disco-biscuits-bootleg-fillmore-51101

Tony Bennett, BG Civic, SF, Sat., May 12

SETLIST : All Of Me, Speak Low, I Got Rhythm, Somewhere Over The Rainbow, People, I Wanna Be Around, I Left My Heart In San Francisco, Steppin’ Out With My Baby, A Foggy Day, You’re All The World To Me, Old Devil Moon, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Caravan, Mood Indigo, It Don’t Mean In A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing), Fly Me To The Moon (In Other Words), A Little Street Where Old Friends Meet, How Do You Keep The Music Playing?

As a San Franciscan, I took particular pride in finally being able to see Tony Bennett. His signature song “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” will echo throughout eternity as our fair city’s undisputed anthem. So, you can only imagine my surprise and delight when I received the call from my union hall to go down to the Civic Center to be an audio assist for this night. I had been taking calls with the union for over three years by then, but had never attempted to tape a show I was working. I wasn’t sure what kind of risk I was taking or if the Hall would even care, but it being Tony, I felt the urge to tape irresistible. The good news was that during the show, I was free to wander, so shortly after it started, I blended in with the audience and was able to record the whole thing.

This was a benefit for the ASCO Foundation, the American Society Of Clinical Oncologists, cancer doctors for all us laypeople out there. I would work their conventions several times in my career as a stagehand, but this would be the only time I’d be doing one of their parties. Clearly, as doctors they had the money to get Mr. Bennett and afford to book a venue as large as the Civic. They were even able to score Elton John for their convention in Chicago two years later and everybody knows that man doesn’t come cheap. I suppose this show was one of the upsides to our nation’s criminally unequal and hilariously unaffordable health care system. But like I said, this was a benefit, so these doctors at least had the common decency to find a way to give back some of their bloated income to help, or at the very least get a write off on their taxes and/or assuage their consciences. 

Tony had never stopped working in his already very long and illustrious career, but he had a BIG resurgence in the last few years before this show. He found an unexpected new found audience through MTV’s “Unplugged” series, releasing his album from it in 1994 which was such a surprise hit, it chalked up two Grammy Awards, one for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance, the other stealing the show with Album Of The Year. It made him some serious money and catapulted him back into the limelight. By the time I’d see him, Tony had already had 9 Grammies under his belt and by the time he passed away, he’d have 20, not including the Lifetime Achievement Award he bagged that year. Tony also founded the Frank Sinatra School Of The Arts in Queens, New York that year, a high school with a focus on the performing arts.

As the title audio assist implies, I was just there to help set up the audio gear that night. Clearly, they wouldn’t let a squirt like me mix such a prestigious show. I helped get the front of house and monitor stations set up, run the mic snakes, push and store road boxes, etc. What made this set up memorable was two things, first being the grand piano. Few artists play live with a grand piano. For starters, you have to be an artist as rich as Tony to afford one and second because of the intense labor it requires to set it. The main body of the piano has to be raised up to the stage by a forklift, wrapped in packing blankets on its side. From there, the legs are attached and then VERY carefully tipped upright. I can’t tell you how terrifying a moment this one was for me. Firstly, this piano easily cost more than what I made in wages in a year, probably two years, and second, if it fell on me, I would die or at the very least whatever part the piano landed on me would be crushed into powder. Thankfully, we all breathed a sigh of relief as the piano was constructed safely as it was deconstructed safely at the end of the night. A grand piano also requires a professional to come in and painstakingly tune the thing, charging hundreds of dollars every time they do it.

The second unusual thing I had to take part in during that set up was putting the pianist’s monitor in place. Now most folks would simply put a wedge monitor on the floor, maybe on a small box to elevate it, next to the player or have the player near one of the larger side fills, but this was a horse of a different color. They had one of those tall, rectangular side fills hooked by its corners on rigging points and hoisted horizontally about ten feet in the air over the piano’s spot and angled diagonally downward. To this day, I have never seen this “sword of Damocles” set up as I like to call it. Thank God, those rigging points are as solid and dependable as they are, but either way Tony’s pianist is a brave man to play under one of those things. Like the piano itself, if one of those fell on you, especially from that height… well, you get the idea. 

And speaking of the pianist, Tony was joined on stage that night by Ralph Sharon, who has been his faithful man on the keys since waaaaaay back in 1958. Most bands don’t make it past ten years if they’re lucky, but these guys had already been together for over 40! Hailing from London, it was Ralph who first discovered the song “I Left My Heart In San Francisco”, at first disregarding it and putting its sheet music in a bureau for a year. But thankfully, he dug it up for a tour they would do together that included a stop in S.F. and they were initially just going to play it there in the Venetian Room of the Fairmont as a sort of novelty song. But it turned out to be a hit and the rest is history. Also joining them on stage would be venerable session players Clayton Cameron on drums and Gray Sargent on guitar.

Little could prepare me to hear the angelic voice of Mr. Bennett. Despite just being a few months shy of his 75th birthday, he sang each song with his unmistakable panache, charisma, and frankly sheer power. People don’t give him credit enough for that juggernaut of a voice of his, especially when he gives a song one of his big finishes, belting out the last word or line with a crescendo that would floor anyone with ears. And he brought the house down that way for many of his songs, starting with “People”, one of the early tunes that made Barbara Streisand big. In a miracle of coincidence, he opened his set with the standard “All Of Me”, a song which I had heard performed by NOFX at The Fillmore the week before. Where Tony and his band played it rather traditionally, let’s just say NOFX’s version was a little faster and louder and leave it at that. I doubt NOFX could have known Tony was playing in town the following week, it being a benefit and not advertised to the public, so that was a weird one.

Tony and the guys covered most of the classic material that they did for the “Unplugged” album, but he did some standards even the kids would know like “Somewhere Over The Rainbow”, “Caravan”, and “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing)”. Clayton did a brilliant drum solo for that last one as well as a shorter solo during “Steppin’ Out With My Baby”. He got “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” out of the way early in the set, but later on mentioned that because of that song, many people thought that he was from there. Tony corrected them, reminding us that he was actually from Queens, but dedicated “A Little Street Where Old Friends Meet” to all the “blue collar workers… the secretaries, teachers, bus drivers, writers, laborers”. He got a big round of applause when he mentioned that he had been doing this for 50 years and “if I get lucky, I’d love to sing for another 50 years”. 

Though Tony wasn’t able to do another 50, he managed to keep performing another 22, passing away last July, just ten days shy of his 97th birthday. I had actually finished wrapping up a gig at the Fairmont the day before he died and there isn’t a day that goes by when I work there ever where I don’t pass by the Venetian Room where he debuted his signature song or the statue of him on the lawn out front, where I don’t think of him. But in those 22 years, Tony didn’t slow down one iota, quickly going on tour later that fall with K.D. Lang and releasing a album of blues songs called “Playin’ With My Friends : Bennett Sings The Blues” that November, singing duets with K.D. as well as other greats such as Dianna Krall, Stevie Wonder, and Billy Joel. 

He’d gain further fame, fortune, and respect from the young people when he would make the unlikely alliance with Lady Gaga in 2014. Together, they would release their “Cheek To Cheek” album, which debuted number one on the Billboard charts and also won him a Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Performance. And if that wasn’t enough, that album would gain him the distinction in Guinness Book Of World Records as the oldest person to debut a newly recorded album at number one in the U.S. Tony would tour and perform with Lady Gaga for years, even up to the time of his death when he was suffering from a seven year battle with Alzheimer’s, but could still sing. I would be lucky enough to see him perform one more time three years later at the Bridge School Benefit, even doing a duet of “The Very Thought Of You” with Paul McCartney, for which I’m eternally grateful. He was one of those rare artists that once you’ve heard him, that voice stays with you forever and ever.  

https://archive.org/details/tony-bennett-bg-civic-51201

Badly Drawn Boy, Fill., SF, Fri., May 18

SETLIST : Rocky & Jesus Christ Superstar Intros, Fall In A River, Camping Next To The Water, Once Around The Block, Everybody’s Stalking, Shake The Rollercoaster, The Star Spangled Banner – My Country Tis Of Thee, Outside Is A Light, Another Pearl, Distant Town, Bottle Of Tears, Road Movie

Like vacations, one may not always remember all the good concerts, but nobody ever forgets the bad ones as is the case, you guessed it, with Mr. Damon Gough AKA Badly Drawn Boy. This was the first of two sold out nights with the mysterious singer songwriter from the U.K. and anticipation (as well as the hype) was high. He had only performed once before at Bimbo’s and had just been awarded the Mercury Music Prize back home for his new album. He had not-so-humbly accepted that award saying, “I always assumed I was never going to win because good thins don’t happen to good people.” Though a few EPs had been released of his stuff in the previous few years, he had just put out his first LP, “The Hour Of The Bewilderbeast” the previous June. Incidentally, he clearly got that “beast’s” name from the Monty Python “Confuse-A-Cat” sketch.  He had a hit with his music video of “Spitting In The Wind”, (cleaned up from “Pissing In The Wind” as it is titled on the album), which featured strangely enough the famous English actor Dame Joan Collins from primetime TV soap opera “Dynasty”. 

His stage name, he got from an English TV kids show called, “Sam & His Magic Ball”. Speaking of entertainment for the young people, the animated film comedy “Shrek” came out that day too and speaking of ridiculous fairy tales involving repulsive ogres, Silvio Berlusconi had just been re-elected as Prime Minister of Italy the week before this, despite having been forced to resign in disgrace only six years earlier. Anyway, speaking of disgrace… back to the show. Even though it was “an evening with” show with no opener, Badly Drawn Boy was still 45 minutes late getting on stage, not a good start. Then, we had to wait through a long introduction first with the theme of “Rocky” blasting over the speakers. Coincidentally, the band Grand Theft Audio who had just opened for Gary Numan on that very same stage two weeks before this had also used that theme as their intro music. But we’d have to wait even further listening to an additional intro of a recording of the bellringer portion of “Jesus Christ Superstar”. 

So, seven minutes later, he, donning a “Canadian Tuxedo” and a wool cap just above his eyes, and the band finally took the stage, opening the set with “Fall In The River”. Everybody in earshot instantly became annoyed to the point of torture by his screeching guitar sound. Granted, English artists were notorious for being deaf as posts, consequently making them play loud as holy hell, but it was if he tuned his axe like he was trying to fuck with us. Seriously, this was one of the few bootlegs I would listen to where I would actually have to turn it down to make listening to it tolerable. Usually, I would have to crack it all the way up to maximum volume just to make it audible, particularly the acoustic shows. His horrifying sonic assault continued with the second song, “Camping By The Water”, which he dedicated to all those who had attended that first show at Bimbo’s. That was followed by “Once Around The Block” where that fingernails scratching across the chalkboard guitar sound would be front and center with him singing solo, frustratingly stopping and starting riffs between and in the middle of his verses. 

Now him being a “sight unseen” show to me, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, especially considering all the hype that had been raised over these shows, but after a few of these songs, my friends and I were beginning to get that “What Just Happened?” look on our faces. I had even offered to rip one of my earplugs in half and give it to my friend Matt, suffering under the unendurable din. He declined, but you can hear mentioning Lemmy from Motorhead, another English musician who’s deaf as a post and also plays notoriously loud adding superfluously, ‘Know what I mean, jellybean?” The annoyance was taken up another level when he had the audacity to play “The Star Spangled Banner” solo on his guitar. Now anyone with half a brain knows to never even think of attempting that on guitar after Hendrix did it at Woodstock, especially at the hippie holy site of The Fillmore. 

It seemed to go on for eternity morphing into “My Country Tis Of Thee”, though he being English was probably done as the “God Save The Queen” version. We at least got a break from that banshee of a guitar of his for the next song, “Outside Is A Light” which he did solo on a keyboard. Such a relief. it felt as if someone had been twisting a knife deep into our ear canals and finally relented. During that brief respite, I heard my friend and fellow usher Carol ask me, “Is that you in the dark?” and she offered me her extra drink tickets. She’s such a sweetie. I had already drank my beers from the two drink tickets I had, but offered them to my friends, warning them that the bar next to the front of house soundboard was out of beer and to go to the other bar. 

By the time Badly Drawn Boy was playing “Distant Town”, my friends and I were already at the point where we began to heckle him. You can hear me singing “Feel My Heat” and “You Got The Touch” from the film “Boogie Nights” after that song comparing Badly Drawn Boy to the character Dirk Diggler’s obliviously grating lack of musical talent. You can also hear me talking to my friends about DMC from the rap titans Run DMC who I had recorded at the Maritime in ’97 and how he was having vocal trouble that night. I would learn later that at least DMC had an excuse, suffering from a vocal disorder called spasmodic dysphonia at the time. Badly Drawn Boy had no such pass to let him off the hook for this disaster of a show.

Which ultimately led my friends and I to leave the show early, something I would never do, even during a show I hated. That’s how bad we thought the night was going. I didn’t even care that I wouldn’t be getting the extra poster which I would pick up on my way out after the very end of the encore in addition to the one I received as my work as an usher. And it was a good thing I left when I did, because this boring disaster went on for nearly another two hours. The setlist above contains only the songs I made it through before I threw in the towel. I would understandably never see Badly Drawn Boy again, though his career continued with considerably less hype and drastically less commercial success as the years went on. But he will always remain in my memory, setting a new standard of which one measures a bad musical performance. Shuggie Otis would come close, playing The Fillmore a couple months later, but he was just unprepared and sloppy, not nearly as irritating or arrogant as Badly Drawn Boy. His failure that night was only amplified in comparison to the stellar, humble, and (most importantly) professional performance I saw of Tony Bennett only four nights before this at the Civic Center. It’s that attitude and work ethic which is why Tony is lovingly revered to this day and Badly Drawn Boy is not. 

https://archive.org/details/badly-drawn-boy-fillmore-51801

Dave Matthews Band, Macy Gray, Angelique Kidjo, Pac Bell Park, SF, Sat., May 19

SETLISTS :

(MACY GRAY) : Caligula, Why Didn’t You Call Me, Do Something, Sex-o-matic Venus Freak, Gimme All Your Lovin’ Or I’ll Kill You, I’ve Committed Murder, I Can’t Wait To Meetchu, I Try

(DAVE MATTHEWS BAND) : What Would You Say, Granny, Don’t Drink The Water, When The World Ends, I Did It, Recently, Digging A Ditch, Lie In Our Graves, The Space Between, What You Are, So Much To Say, Anyone Seen The Bridge, Too Much, If I Had It All, JTR, Angel, Tripping Billies, Stay (Wasting Time), (encore), Two Step

Conflicts between my professional and personal lives have often played out around concerts and this blog is filled with examples of them, but this night was a doozy. For starters, I had already been charged by my union to help put this Dave Matthews Band show at the ballpark together, the first concert or rather first two back to back concerts at the then named Pac Bell Park. But shortly after I accepted the call for this job, I was informed by my landlord that I would have to be temporarily moved out of my studio apartment in the Tenderloin on the morning of the second show. You see, they were doing much needed earthquake retrofitting in my ancient building and I needed to move into the studio directly one floor below me for a couple weeks while they did their work upstairs in my place. So, the timing was tricky, but I knew with the proper preparation that I could pull it off.

So, the day before on Friday I was able to load in the gear for the show aided by an army of fellow stagehands as all stadium shows have and still have time to make it to The Fillmore to see a very disappointing show of Badly Drawn Boy at The Fillmore. The less said about that show the better, but if you want to hear the gruesome details of that one, feel free to check out the previous entry. Anyway, I would wake up bright and early the following morning and joined the handful of movers the landlords sent over to help take my stuff downstairs. Having a few days notice, I was able to police up my gear and have it ready to move, so with a little elbow grease, we were able to get it done in a couple of hours. From there, I hightailed it back down to the ballpark, got in with my work pass to watch and record the show, and then rejoined my union crew at the end to dismantle it. Easier said than done and rest assured I was a bit limp by the end of it all, but I pulled it off.

Like I said, this would be the first public concerts held at this brand spanking new ballpark, the new home for The Giants, who would no longer have to share the field of Candlestick anymore with the 49ers. That stadium would ultimately get demolished in 2015 and the Niners would relocate (shamefully) to Levi’s stadium waaaaay down in Santa Clara. I still haven’t been to that one and have heard only nightmare stories about the commute in and out of it as well as how hilariously expensive it is to see anything there. No thank you. But I’m happy to report that Pac Bell Park was quite a pleasant experience and I’ve enjoyed shows there ever since, either as a stagehand or a patron. Pac Bell Park is easy to get to by public transit, the construction was well thought out for getting events set up and taken out smoothly, and its modest size makes it just large enough to get the big tours, but small enough that even in the very back of the top deck, the sight lines are still good. 

But finally to the show at hand. I was no stranger to Dave Matthews by then having seen him fours times, twice at The Warfield and twice at the Bridge School Benefit. And though I wasn’t the biggest fan, I wasn’t entirely surprised that he would fill those two ballpark shows to the brim. He was BIG by 2001, but although both shows were sold out at $50 a ticket (a lot back then), there were tons of extras floating around out front before the show and the scalpers took a bath of these ones. Dave had just released his fourth studio album, “Everyday” that February and it was another hit, certifying triple platinum and becoming his second number one album in the U.S. He was at the top of his game then for sure. 

In addition to that, unreleased songs from the recording of that album had been floating around Napster called “The Lillywhite Sessions”, named after Steve Lillywhite, the album’s producer. Though never officially released, many of the songs were recorded again and released on his next album, “Busted Stuff”. I got to hear a couple ones from those sessions that night, “Diggin’ A Ditch” and “JTR”. And if that wasn’t enough, he put out a couple live albums that year too, “Live In Chicago 12.19.98” and “Live At Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado”. The latter would be taped that July and because the show went 15 minutes over curfew, Dave and the band were charged $15,000, a grand a minute. Apparently, the folks who ran that stadium were so butthurt by it, they didn’t have any concerts there again until 2016 when they finally allowed Dead & Co. to do a couple shows. Sheesh…

Despite my lukewarm opinion about Dave, one thing I appreciate about him is that he always had excellent choices for his opening acts including many acts of color. That night he had Angelique Kidjo and Macy Gray warming up for him. Other venerable acts he’d have tour would be Jimmy Cliff, Robert Randolph, Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, NERD, and Ozomatli to name a few. I was especially glad to see Angelique there, having had recorded her at the Maritime Hall back in ’97 and was very impressed. As all first acts at a stadium show, she started to rather hollow venue, most folks just arriving there as she was wrapping her all too short set. But it being empty, I had no trouble getting down to the outfield area, covered in a modular, heavy duty plastic, flooring called Terraplast. These interlocking white squares a few feet wide on each side would protect the turf, but believe me, they are painful to put in place, very labor intensive. The infield was off limits and the new greenskeeper was understandably nervous and short tempered. 

Angelique startled everybody including myself with the first note she sang which rang out like a gunshot. That got their attention and to her credit, she kept it with her undeniable talent. Being from Benin, she mostly sang in her native tongue, so I was only able to make out a couple songs in her set, “Okan Bale” and her last one, “Tumba”. She won over the crowd with the little time she had and I was glad I could see her not once but twice the following year, both times at The Fillmore. This would be the first time I’d see Macy Gray and it was hard not to love her. There was something intoxicating about her raspy, almost drunken voice and her songs were brilliant. I liked how she riled up the crowd before “Do Something” shouting, “All the ugly people keep quiet!!!” Her band was tight and did a couple funny riffs of the TV themes from “Sanford & Son” and “I Dream Of Genie” before they began “I’ve Committed Murder” and also a few bars of “No Woman No Cry” at the very end of their set. I just found out too that Macy had done the voice for Seeiah Owens, a snowboarder in the video game “SSX Tricky” which I dedicated untold hours to mastering. Thankfully, like Angelique, I would also see her headline at The Fillmore as well as enjoy watching her open for David Bowie at the Shark Tank in San Jose in 2003.

It was quite a different set for Dave from the previous night which I missed but Dave had a couple surprise guests each show. The night before the one and only Carlos Santana himself came out for three songs including a cover of “All Along The Watchtower”. Frankly, I was a little jealous. But we got Trey Anastasio from Phish who came up and joined the band for a 17 minute long version of “Lie In Our Graves”. Dave played an acoustic guitar all night and the crowd was pretty well behaved, though I did overhear someone on the tape telling a guy to “get off the chair, please”. I was able to stick around until “If I Had It All” before I had to regroup with my fellow stagehands backstage, waiting to take the whole thing apart. The load out went pretty fast and I limped on home, totally exhausted from that marathon of a day and conked out on my bed, freshly brought down one flight of stairs that morning in my new, though temporary studio apartment. 

In the aftermath of that show, the good people of San Francisco soon learned that the sound from the ballpark easily made it all the way out to Bernal Heights, much to the dismay of the affluent NIMBYs that reside there. Oh boo hoo. They have to hear bands like the Rolling Stones for free through their windows until 11 PM. Which reminds me, one of the good things about the new ballpark is that there were fences along the field level where you can get a partially obstructed view of the field from outside. So, to those who were shit of luck for whatever reason could still catch a distant glimpse outside for free. The park would change names a few times since, going from SBC Park in 2004, to AT&T Park the following year, to finally Oracle Park in 2019. As much as I despise most corporate named stadiums, I do have to admit, I liked the way Pac Bell Park sounded. It’s a pity they changed it. 

https://archive.org/details/dave-matthews-band-pac-bell-park-5901

https://archive.org/details/macy-gray-pac-bell-park-5901

https://archive.org/details/angelique-kidjo-pac-bell-park-5901

David Gray, Nelly Furtado, War., SF, Tues., May 22

David Gray, Nelly Furtado, War., SF, Wed., May 23

SETLISTS: 

(TUESDAY) : 

(NELLY FURTADO) : Get Ur Freak On, My Love Grows Deeper (Part 1), Hey Man!, Party, Turn Out The Light, Shit On The Radio (Remember The Days), I’m Like A Bird

(DAVID GRAY) : Sail Away, White Ladder, Wisdom, Nightblindness, Everytime, Real Love, Babylon, This Year’s Love, Flame Turns Blue, We’re Not Right, Say Hello Wave Goodbye, Gathering Dust, Please Forgive Me, Silver Lining, My Oh My It Just Don’t Stop, Late Night Radio, Faster Sooner Now, All The Love

(WEDNESDAY) : 

(DAVID GRAY) : Sail Away, White Ladder, Nightblindness, My Oh My It Just Don’t Stop, Babylon, This Year’s Love, We’re Not Right, Silver Lining, Twilight, Please Forgive Me, (encore) Shine, Twilight, Late Night Radio, Faster Sooner Now, Say Hello Wave Goodbye

I knew nothing about David Gray before these nights, but I had seen his opener, Nelly Furtado, briefly at one of those Alice In Wonderland gigs where she easily stole the show. In fact, she was so popular by this time, this was more of a co-headlining gig for me in my opinion, though her sets were shorter. Nelly would go on to be nominated for four Grammies the following year, winning one for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and would join Moby on his Area One Festival tour. Not that David was half bad. He won me over pretty quickly. Yeah, his stuff is a little radio friendly but he has an excellent voice and his songs are well written and sophisticated. David isn’t Slayer, nor is he trying to be. Still, I can see why he got that big, though he didn’t start that way.

He struggled for years and almost threw in the towel before his breakthrough fourth record “White Ladders” took off, becoming the 5th best selling album in U.K. in the 2000’s, though technically not from Britain himself. Mr. Gray is Irish. Incidentally, that album was on Dave Matthews’ ATO label, whom I had just seen with his band two days before playing the first concerts at the then named Pac Bell Park, the new home of The Giants. In a strange coincidence, another Gray, Macy Gray was opening for Matthews, who is also named Dave. Both of David Gray’s shows were sold out and they had a pretty nice poster for us at the end of the show too. We were fortunate that The Warfield got two nights of this, being the only other venue on his 33 date tour with back to back shows apart from Seattle. David was busy in 2001, having just finished a European tour briefly earlier that year which had been delayed briefly due to a family illness. 

The crowd went nuts both nights for Nelly, but I only recorded all of her set the first night, getting just two songs from the second, “Turn Out The Light” and “Shit On The Radio (Remember The Days)”. In hindsight, that was a mistake, especially since these shows were the last time I saw either act. I liked the way she opened up the first day with a cover of Missy Elliot’s “Get Ur Freak On”. I know I worked all night on the second day because I had an usher badge, but I can’t remember if I did on the first. Either way, the crowd was pretty easy to wrangle, even for sold out shows. David came out on stage to the sound of Bob Marley’s “Rovers Of Babylon” coming through the speakers, perhaps a nod to Dave’s hit song “Babylon”. He was a handsome young man and of coarse that accent of his made all the girls melt. Before he did “Real Love”, he asked them “Are there any girls here tonight?” Of coarse their screams rang out like they were seeing The Beatles. A little taken aback, he joked, “Not frightened girls, just girls… Thought so.”

He mentioned that they filmed the music video for “Babylon” at The Fillmore last time he was in town and when the audience cheered, he said, “You sound like you were all there.” I was actually quite moved when he quieted things down later, playing “This Year’s Love” solo on a grand piano. Seriously, it’s a very beautiful song. But he brought us back up again with “Flame Turns Blue” joking before it, telling us about the bus driver from their last tour who was a “complete fuckin’ psycho” who “abandoned us in the middle of nowhere.” They did a cover both nights of “Say Hello Wave Goodbye” by Soft Cell and on the first night before it he sighed, “The road has taken its toll on my delicate voice. Some songs are like nicking around the corner to get a packet of fags, but this one is like walking five miles, getting on a ferry, and climbing up a mountain to buy a fuckin’ bag of crisps.” I was particularly impressed by songs like “Late Night Radio” and Dave’s singing of a few lines from “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin during “All The Love”. It was ambitious to try to go toe to toe with Robert Plant on vocals, but he did alright. 

On the second night, he introduced “Babylon” saying “It was a day like any other. I picked over the scattered bones of my career. Suddenly, a small pigeon alighted on a branch near me and whistled me this tune.” Later, he once again expressed his fatigue groaning softly, “Well… It’s been a long, long tour” and then one of the band members agreed, “Yeah, still is.” He went on, “We’re approaching the end of it. Inside these bodies, it’s just like strange… melted… substance” and then they did “We’re Not Right”. I was able to find good bootleg copies of both nights on archive.org, but they only had about two thirds of the second night, ending on “Please Forgive Me”. Thankfully, I have both of David’s sets in their entirety. I’m glad I went to both days and though like I said, these shows were the last time I saw both of them, though they are still alive and kicking, making music to this day.

https://archive.org/details/david-gray-warfield-52201

https://archive.org/details/nelly-furtado-warfield-52201

https://archive.org/details/david-gray-warfield-52301

https://archive.org/details/nelly-furtado-warfield-52301

Project Logic, Robert Randolph, Fill., SF, Sat., May 26

SETLIST : (ROBERT RANDOLPH) : (unknown), (unknown), The March, Pressing My Way, New York City Freaks, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), I Don’t Know What You Come To Do

Ever since the death of Jerry Garcia, the realm of hippie music was expanding year after to year, filling the void he left with new bands with new directions for the genre. The umbrella term of “jam band” for better of worse envelop many a band under its long shadow and the two acts at The Fillmore that night were amongst them. Though I wouldn’t have guessed a few years before this that jam bands would begin to incorporate elements from hip hop, but lo and behold, it happened. Speaking of strange bedfellows, two days before this show, Jim Jeffords had switched political parties, being coming an Independent caucusing with the Democrats, thus taking the evenly divided Senate out of the recklessly incompetent hands of George W. Bush and his gang of chickenhawks. This would be the only time a Senator ever tipped the balance of power in the Senate by switching parties, though his brave action was short lived when the GOP retook the Senate in 2002.

But back to the show at hand. I had already seen DJ Logic apply his skills on the turntables alongside the jam band masters of Medeski, Martin, & Wood two years before this on that very stage and I was intrigued by this new sub-genre they were creating together. He had released his second album, “The Anomaly”, that year and assembled a live band together for this side band, Project Logic. He brought with him Stephen Roberson on drums, Mike Weitman on keys, Lamont McCain on bass, and Casey Benjamin on sax and flute, and with his mind boggling skills on the ones and twos, they made quite a sound indeed. It was mostly instrumental, but he had a rapper named Subconscious come out from time to time and spit some lyrics. Their new sound would help introduce lily white, suburban hippies to genuine hip hop from The Bronx and in turn would give him and others a whole new audience and commercial success.

Opening that night was the steel pedal guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph. Emerging from a long history of gospel music, he originally played for the House Of God Church back in New York. Indeed, this would actually be his first non-church related tour. Robert would bring his “Family Band” of cousins Danyel Morgan and Marcus Randolph on bass and drums respectively as well as John Ginty on the B-3 organ. He was being billed that night simply by his name, but he would add The Family Band to the act’s title the following year. He was pretty new to the hippies and like DJ Logic, Robert would collaborate with a number of jam bands including Dave Matthews who I had just seen play the first gigs at Pac Bell Park, the new home of The Giants. Robert’s skill on the pedal steel quickly spoke for itself, an instrument I had adored for years and a welcome addition to any band. I was able to decipher all but the first two of his songs in his set that night, including a smoking cover of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return) by Jimi Hendrix.

Calling back to his gospel roots, Robert introduced “Pressing My Way”, preaching that it was a “song that will help anytime in your life… Whenever you think about things that are bothering you at your home, or your job, on your way to The Fillmore. All you got to do is press on!” Afterwards, he told the crowd the next song “we named after our number one fan back home in New York. We heard there were some Nor-Cal freaks too! Marcus ‘bout to give you a beat!” and then they did “New York City Freaks”. Later, he introduced the band, giving his cousins and John a little time each to play solos and then introduced himself saying that his instrument in fact was a pedal steel guitar and not keyboards or turntables. I liked that Danyel did a few bars from the theme song from “The Flintstones” too. Robert then led the crowd to stomp the feet, clap their hands, and scream during “I Don’t Know What You Come To Do”, adding, “Take off your coats! Take off your sweaters! ‘Cus it’s gonna get real hot up in here!”

I was immediately impressed by the sophistication of Project Logic’s songs, not to mention every member’s skills on their chosen instruments, experts one and all. The songs were so dense and complex, that it was frankly a little exhausting taking all of it in at first. Like I had mentioned, most of their songs were instrumentals, but I did know a couple of covers they performed including “Watermelon Man” by Herbie Hancock and “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” by Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel. I was probably one of the only people in the house that recognized when DJ Logic did a little scratching of the theme song from “Dave Allen At Large”, an obscure (at least to Americans) comedy show on the BBC from the 70’s. 

For their encore, they brought up Robert Randolph to finish the night with “Thank You (For Lettin’ Me Be Mice Elf)” by Sly & The Family Stone, who like Hendrix was another musical artist of color who found appreciation early on with the hippies at places like The Fillmore. This would be the last time I would see DJ Logic, but I’d have the pleasure of hearing Robert Randolph & The Family Band two years later as one of the acts on the Sprite Liquid Mix tour headlined by N.E.R.D. and among many other respected artists like The Roots. In a dramatic stylistic left turn musically, I would return to usher for the bleak, industrial metal stylings of Ohgr at The Fillmore the following night, about as different genre of music as one could get from this show. 

https://archive.org/details/robert-randolph-fillmore-52601

https://archive.org/details/project-logic-fillmore-52601

OhGr, Hate Dept, Fill., SF, Sun., May 27

SETLIST : SunBurn, suhlEap, dEVil, EARTHwORm, SolOW, DoG, craCKer, wAteR, HiLo, luSId, WaTergaTe, kettLE, miNUS, chaos, (encore), maJiK

This was a side project of Nivek Ogre from the Canadian industrial band Skinny Puppy, newly formed just the previous year. Skinny Puppy had taken an eight year break before reforming that year as well and cEvin Key from that band would tag along on this tour playing drums and keyboards. The two Kevins, (Nivek is Kevin spelled backwards incidentally), had just put out OhGr’s first album “Welt” and they originally wanted to call the band that name, but another punk band laid claim to it first. Their version of the name was actually an acronym for “When Everybody Learns the Truth”. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this genre is that the artists change hats between bands constantly, incestuously collaborating with each other. Sometimes the songs they write together end up getting used by other bands like Ministry who used Ogre’s song “The Fall” and their hit “Thieves” which he co-wrote. Nivek had also been a touring member of the Revolting Cocks and Pigface who I’d seen at The Fillmore in 1998 as well.

Opening that night was Hate Dept., fronted by Steven Seibold who likewise had been a member of Pigface amongst other industrial bands. Hate Dept. had been around for a decade by then, though this was also the first time I’d be seeing either bands that night. I didn’t record their entire set, just four songs, but I know they started with “Fiend”, then “Bitch”, “Anger Impulse”, and “Release It”. For that second song, Steven began by saying, “San Francisco is beautiful. You all look a little sad. What’s up with the darkness?” When I heard the song’s title, I overheard myself reassuring who I was with that the song was actually about a female dog. Later, Siebold joked, “The people up front are admiring my apparel… This next song is called ‘Anger Impulse’. Try not standing with your arms folded. They did that in Los Angeles. It’s not cool.” Hate Dept. was pretty heavy stuff and was extremely loud as expected, a real departure from the hip hop infused jam band stylings of Project Logic which I had just seen on that very stage the night before this.

I was pleasantly surprised to see none other than Jim Rose from the Jim Rose Circus come out and introduce OhGr. Speaking in his usually carnival barker cadence, he declared, “I gotta tell you Ogre is one of my best friends and I know you’re gonna have a fuckin’ rockin’ time tonight!” He told the audience that he and his circus were doing seven shows that week at the comedy club The Punchline and treated us to a new act he wanted to try out for the first time on a live audience. He barked, “We got the lizard man over there. You’ve seen him on ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’. He’s attaching a metal chair to his ears and he’s going to attempt to lift it up… He’ll have earlobes to his shoulders! Make sure everyone gets a view.” 

And then the Lizard Man did just that, lifting the chair by the piercings with his elongated hooped earlobes causing everyone to simultaneously cheer and cringe in disgust. Jim asked if they should leave it in his show and the crowd overwhelmingly cheered again in approval. “San Francisco, you fuckin’ rock”, Jim shouted, “We’ll see you next week at The Punchline!” Then he tossed out some “special shock flyers” for those shows adding, “Now if you happen to catch one and don’t want it, throw it up! We’ll throw it till someone gets what they want… By the way, I want to warn you, beware of Ogre imitations. There’s about a thousand of those fuckers out there now and we all know where it started… With Ogre! Let’s hear it for him!” and the audience cheered again.

Nivek and his fellow tattooed and pierced scary looking compatriots took the stage and began their set with “SunBurn” quickly followed by “sulEap”. Like the band’s name itself, OhGr had the interesting practice of mixing up the capital and lowercase letters in each of their songs, a distinction I’d only seen in a couple of acts like Prince and King Crimson, the latter just doing it with their “K”’s. Though they didn’t do it on stage during this particular performance, Nivek would with Skinny Puppy hold fake “decapitations” of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. Perhaps that was why the interrogators in Guantanamo Bay ended up using his music to torture their prisoners. Upon hearing about this unauthorized use of their work, Skinny Puppy would send an “invoice” to The Pentagon demanding compensation, but I doubt they got any. Seriously, these guys are Canadians. We should torture people with music from our own country… or just use Yoko Ono. She’s a naturalized American citizen now. 

For the encore, Nivek quipped, “OK… Time for a little spoken word… PIGFACE!!!… It’s getting a little tepid… You heard that song ‘Do You Believe In Magic?’” and then he sang a few bars of that hippie anthem by The Lovin’ Spoonful. I suppose it was appropriate being The Fillmore, though none of us expected to hear it from a band like OhGr. I wonder how John Sebastian would have felt about it. Anyway, they finished the night with their song, “maJiK” and that was that. Sadly, there was no poster at the end of the night for this horde of somberly dressed folks, but there would be ones for the following three shows I would see at The Fillmore in the next couple weeks for David Byrne, Tortoise, and Mogwai. 

https://archive.org/details/oghr-fillmore-52701

https://archive.org/details/hate-dept.-fillmore-52701

David Byrne, Joe Henry, Fill., SF, Thur., May 31

SETLISTS :

(JOE HENRY) : Stop, Rough & Tumble, Want Too Much, Trampoline, Great Lake, Like She Was A Hammer, Monkey, Scar, Edgar Bergen

(DAVID BYRNE) : The Revolution, Nothing But Flowers, God’s Child (Baila Conmigo), Soft Seduction, Buck Naked, And She Was, Once In A Lifetime, The Great Intoxication, Marching Through The Wilderness, Sax & Violins, Dura Europus, What A Day That Was, Desconocido Soy, Like Humans Do, U.B. Jesus, (encore) The Dream Police, I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me), The Accident

This was a difficult but necessary show for me to revisit, but fear not, for it has a happy ending. David Byrne was the first show I saw at The Warfield in August of 1997 after my friend Casey was killed on his bike, hit by a van on Market Street. It was the day after he died in fact and if you read about that one, you’d know I wasn’t entirely ready to hear it, but instinctually knew that I had to be there. The same was the case for this show Byrne did at The Fillmore almost four years later. Though that time had passed, the loss was still fresh in my mind and hearing this music again naturally took me back to that mental state I was in previously. But having tasted those feelings once again then and even re-listening to the tapes and writing about it now all these years later, Mr. Byrne and his music helped me face these feelings head on and made space for me emotionally to deal with them. There, you see? Happy ending like I promised. 

So, I will depart from this maudlin introduction and get down to the show at hand. Like I said, it had been four years, but Byrne was back touring in promotion of his new album, “Look Into The Eyeball” which has just come out a little over three weeks before this night. This would be his 8th solo album and though it was only 38 minutes long, it would help further solidify his catalogue of work beyond just his tenure with the Talking Heads. We’d have the honor of hearing six of the new songs at this show and I thought the new material was quite good. He wrote most of the new stuff in a small town in Andalusia, Spain, a place he described as “an ugly town where the wind blows incessantly”. And as you might have guessed, he incorporated some Latin grooves and percussion on this one. 

Opening that night was alt country singer-songwriter Joe Henry from Michigan by way of Charlotte, North Carolina. I hadn’t heard of him before, but I was impressed by the company that joined him on his new album, “Scar”, which included such venerable musicians as Ornette Coleman on sax and guitarist Marc Ribot. I appreciated that he dedicated that album to the comedic legend, Richard Pryor, whose health had been declining then from multiple sclerosis which would ultimately take his life in 2005. In fact, the first track of the new album was called “Richard Pryor Addresses A Tearful Nation”. Incidentally, Joe is married to Madonna’s sister, Melanie Ciccone, and good ol’ Midge repurposed some of his lyrics from his song “Stop”, (which he opened his set with that night), for her song “Don’t Tell Me”. After that tune, he introduced himself, “My name is Joe Henry. I have a new pair of shoes on. It’s all about the shoes, isn’t it?” Later, he described “Great Lake” as a “talkin’ blues song”. Though I never saw him again, Joe would continue to make music and even won three Grammies as a producer. 

The moment I caught sight of David taking the stage, it was if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. That microsecond, I knew coming there to hear him again was the right decision. He opened with “The Revolution”, one of his new ones, but then quickly dusted off the Talking Heads golden oldie “Nothing But Flowers”. He joked, “We’ll do the first part like Caetano, (referring to Caetano Veloso, the famous Brazilian composer), then PFFT! We’ll quick switch it over”. He introduced the next song “God’s Child (Baila Conmigo)” saying, “The next song is written about a very young transvestite. She used to work on the far end of the street where I lived and through an odd turn of events, people in L.A. were making a movie called “Don Juan DeMarco” with Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando. And it had a singer in it named Selena and appeared briefly in the movie. They thought wouldn’t it be great to have someone sing with Selena and they called me up… They called that guy who does the Latin stuff. Yeah, I know who she is. She’s a great singer. Let’s do it. We did this song together. She didn’t need to know what it was about. They decided not to use it along with a lot of other songs they decided not to use, but it ended up in another movie called ‘Blue In The Face’ (a 1995 New York City comedy with an ensemble cast).” 

In a strange coincidence, coming back to the Richard Pryor thing, I knew Pryor was bisexual, but I didn’t know that he hooked up with the aforementioned Marlon Brando once. Seriously, I’m struggling to even picture that now. Any-who, a couple songs later, they did “Buck Naked” which David described as “a song in retrospect I think I wrote for my daughter and possibly myself. When her auntie… Is that how you say it? When her auntie passed away from old age I had to try to explain it to her.” He followed that with another Talking Heads classic, “And She Was”, and I know he has told the tale about it before, but it’s a good yarn which is why I suppose he feels it bears repeating, “This is a song written about a girl I knew in high school who used to take L.S.D. and went out and hung out by the Yoohoo chocolate factory. They make Yoohoo chocolate drink in Baltimore, chocolate drink that has no milk in it, possibly milk chocolate. I thought it was an odd place to go and have your cosmic visions.”

And then the moment came for me to hear “Once In A Lifetime” again which immediately followed. I’m sure you can appreciate that this one above the others resonated with me as sort of an anthem for Casey and my grief and always will really. But hearing the recording of it once again still moves me and gives me goosebumps as it most certainly that night. Afterwards, David graciously introduced his fellow band members while they tended to some technical stuff on stage and he asked the audience, “Can everyone hear me in their earholes?” A couple songs later, he mentioned another song titles “Sax & Violins” that he had written for another movie called “Until The End Of The World” by Wim Wenders, adding “I hadn’t seen it when I wrote the words, but I had read the script”. Speaking of violins, the band had the welcome addition of a bone fide, six piece string section consisting of the Tosca String Quartet from Austin, Texas and an additional cello and violin player for the second half of their set starting with “The Great Intoxication”. Seriously, it is a VERY rare occasion when a band has a string section of any size. 

Bryrne would play “Like Humans Do”, the first single off the new album, for the second to last song of the set and that tune would go on used by Microsoft XP as sample music for its Windows Media Player. Byrne had to edit out a part in it that was a marijuana reference for their version, but I can’t necessarily blame him. He must of made a fortune on that deal. For the first song of his encore, he introduced “The Dream Police” (No, his song, not the Cheap Trick one, though that would have been cool), as “sort of a paranoid lullabye”. But after declaring, “You can crank the mirror ball up for this one”, David followed that with a very, VERY surprising cover of “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)”. Oh yes, you know the one, the unforgettable 80’s dance classic that helped make Whitney Houston famous. Hearing David’s very straight forward and respectful version of it actually made me appreciate the song more, maybe even more than Houston’s actually. 

He finished the set with a subdued ballad called “The Accident” and that was that. I was thankful that the show was given a poster at the end and frankly would have been furious if they hadn’t. Believe it or not, I would only have to wait two short months before David would return to town with his band and play The Warfield and once again, I was grateful. And if that wasn’t enough, I would see him yet again at The Fillmore the following February, though that would be the last time I’d see him perform live. But Mr. Byrne is still recording and performing new music to this day and the Heads got together last year to promote the re-release of their seminal concert film “Stop Making Sense” for its 40th anniversary, remastered to be shown on IMAX. Still, it’s doubtful that the Heads will ever do a reunion tour since they recently turned down an offer of $80 million to do it which would have included a performance at Coachella. I suppose after the Microsoft thing, Byrne doesn’t need the money. 

https://archive.org/details/david-byrne-fillmore-53101

https://archive.org/details/joe-henry-fillmore-53101

Tortoise, Nobukazu Takemura, Jet Black Crayon, Fill., SF, Wed., June 6

SETLIST : Blackjack, In Sarah Mencken Christ & Beethoven There Were Women & Men, Magnet Pulls Through – Eden 2, Tin Cans & Twine, Firefly – Six Pack, Djed, Benway, The Taut & Tame, Seneca, TNT, Speakeasy, Swung From The Gutters, Eros

I had heard the name of Tortoise before floating around because I knew they had collaborated with Stereolab, one of my favorite bands of all time, on a number of musical projects. But other than that, I knew nothing of their music and this would be the first time and last time I’d be seeing any of the acts on this bill. Upon hearing their music, I could immediately hear similarities between them and Stereolab and could see why they worked well side by side. Tortoise was from Chicago and would join a new breed of so called “post-rock” indie bands that would edge out the dour grunge and obnoxious nu metal scenes. They had just put out their fourth album, “Standards” that February and were promoting a limited edition, 2 track tour CD with the odd title of “Gently Gripping The Chin Of An Ape”. This would be the second of two nights they were booked at The Fillmore and like most two show stints, they got a poster and it was a good one.

There were a couple opening acts that night who like Tortoise were purely instrumental bands and the first of the two was called Jet Black Crayon, a local act that was fairly new. When I heard that the guitarist was named Tommy Guerrero, it took a minute for me to make the connection that he was in fact the same guy who was a member of the legendary skateboard crew, the Bones Brigade. I suppose it is a good thing that he has his music since one can’t skate forever, at least not without accumulating some serious scar tissue. Just ask fellow Brigade alumni Tony Hawk. I was downright impressed with Tommy’s improvisational skills on the guitar and the atmospheric sound of the band altogether. They had just put out their first album, “Low Frequency Test” the year before and had a regular gig playing every Sunday at Amnesia in the Mission. Johnny Herndon, the drummer of Tortoise, also played for them that night. 

I liked the samples Jet Black Crayon’s DJ used, including whale song for their first tune of their set and later some snippets of Nixon saying to the Apollo 11 astronauts,  “Because of what you have done, the heavens became a part of man’s world. And as you talk to us from the Sea Of Tranquility, it inspires us to redouble out efforts to bring peace and tranquility to Earth”. Their last song had samples of a woman laughing too. The second opening act was a musician named Nobukazu Takemura and if you guessed he was from Japan, you would be correct. He had a prolific list of releases on his own, but he had also collaborated with some of us yanks like Yo La Tengo and Dj Spooky. He wasn’t on very long, but I liked how he used one of those “talk box” voice distortion devices for his first song, the kind that guys like Peter Frampton made popular. Other than that, like Jet Black Crayon, his stuff was instrumental, sounding a little like Tricky’s slower trip hop numbers. 

It was quite a relaxing night in fact and like the Stereolab crowd, the audience was placid, polite, and easy to usher. After I was cut from duty, I got my beer and had no problem getting up front. Their sound was layered and complex, but not so far out that it would exhaust you listening to it, pretty lo-fi stuff. My tapes came out loud and clear, but I found a better recording on archive.org made by somebody up in the balcony. I did appreciate that Tortoise busted out a vibraphone for a few tunes, an instrument rarely seen in any band and even more rarely seen at The Fillmore. I had actually been spending a lot of time at that venue, this being the fourth of five shows in a row there in only two weeks. Off the subject, I thought it was cute that Ed Reyes, a jovial veteran usher, the oldest of us there most likely, originally thought he was seeing the hippie band The Turtles that night, quite a different sound indeed. But it being The Fillmore, I thought it would have been a pleasant surprise if Tortoise did a cover of “Happy Together”. 

https://archive.org/details/tortoise-fillmore-6601

https://archive.org/details/nobukazutakemura-fillmore-6601

https://archive.org/details/jet-black-crayon-fillmore-6601

https://archive.org/details/tortoise-bootleg-fillmore-6601

Mogwai,Bardo Pond, Fill., SF, Sat., June 9

SETLIST : Sine Wave, Mogwai Fear Satan, D To E, Like Herod, Ithica 2709, Cody, You Don’t Know Jesus, 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong, New Paths To Helicon Pt. 1, (encore), Christmas Song, My Father My King

It had been only three days since I saw Tortoise, another purely instrumental band, grace the stage of The Fillmore and now it was time to hear their noisy Scottish counterparts, Mogwai. Hailing from Glasgow, they were touring the states that year while back home, Tony Blair had just reclaimed his title of Prime Minister by a landslide. Not that they probably cared in the slightest. Mogwai would most likely describe their beloved Prime Minister as a “tosser”. Both they and the opening act, Bardo Pond, had released albums on the Matador label about six weeks before this show, “Rock Action”, being Mogwai’s third one and the first using synthesizers. In case you were wondering, Mogwai claims to have no relation to the 1984 horror comedy film “Gremlins” and their name means “devil” in Cantonese. Still, I couldn’t help periodically blurting out their name using that adorable chirp that Howie Mandel used to do the voice of “Gizmo”.

Bardo Pond however derived their name from the Tibetan Book Of The Dead and though their first song of the evening was an instrumental, their violinist, Isobel Sollenberger, also sang for them. She played rather disturbingly discordant sounds from her instrument and I was taken aback frankly by just how loud Bardo Pond were. Isobel’s voice was actually pretty spooky, making their music have a sort of “haunted house” vibe to it. I wasn’t able to transcribe their whole set, but I do know they played “Sunrise”, “Inside”, and “Favorite Uncle” that night. Bardo Pond were from Philadelphia and though they had encouraged their fans to tape their shows, I wasn’t able to find this one online, though I found one of Mogwai’s set on the always dependable site, archive.org. 

Chino Moreno, the frontman from The Deftones, was in the house that night, though I didn’t spot him personally. He commented in an interview later that this Mogwai gig was “both the loudest and quietest show I’ve seen in my life. I was so impressed with the dynamics. At one moment, it was so quiet. Everyone in the venue would be silent. You could hear a pin drop. Then, the next moment my chest was caving in because of the noise.” His description was especially apt for their second song, “Mogwai Fear Station”, a sprawling 11 and a half minute long back and forth between almost a lullabye to an ear splitting juggernaut of shoegazer guitars. Seriously, I’ve heard some loud bands in my time, but these guys could go toe to toe with Motorhead or My Bloody Valentine any day of the goddamn week. Indeed, I overheard one guy after “2 Rights Make 1 Wrong” declare, “I can’t hear anything! I don’t care!”

They continued their sonic ear assaults throughout their set and into the encore songs, “Christmas Song” clocking in at 12 minutes and finishing the night with “My Father, My King” at 15 minutes. The final three minutes was pure feedback and when it was all over, I thought I should check the fillings in my teeth to see if they had been rattled out of place. This would be the last time I’d see them at The Fillmore, though I know they returned to play there in 2003, 2006, and just two years ago in 2022. I did however had the honor of helping set up their gear at the ballpark in 2004 when they were one of the opening acts for The Cure at their “Curiosa” festival. Still, I think their music is pretty original, though I wonder what would compel a person to listen to it since you certainly can’t dance, drive, or make love to it. Maybe it would come in handy to the interrogators at Guantanamo Bay. But they did get a lovely poster and seeing Spinal Tap at The Warfield the next night seemed downright placid by comparison. 

https://archive.org/details/bardo-pond-fillmore-6901

https://archive.org/details/mogwai-fillmore-6901

https://archive.org/details/mogwai-bootleg-fillmore-6901

Spinal Tap, The Folksmen, War., SF, Sun., June 10

SETLISTS : 

(THE FOLKSMEN) : Old Joe’s Place, Blood On The Coal, Start Me Up

(SPINAL TAP) : Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight, Cash On Delivery, Hell Hole, Back From The Dead, Rainy Day Sun, Heavy Duty, Clam Caravan, Sex Farm, Stonehenge, The Majesty Of Rock, Stinking Up The Great Outdoors, Rock & Roll Creation, (Listen To The) Flower People, Christmas With The Devil, Bitch School, Break Like The Wind, (encore), All The Way Home, Short & Sweet, Big Bottom

They say that all comedians want to be rock stars and vice versa, but Spinal Tap is one of those rare acts where the members wore both hats successfully. I can only think of a handful of others like Tenacious D, The Lonely Island, and Flight Of The Conchords that even came close to Spinal Tap’s notoriety. For those few of you who are unfamiliar, Spinal Tap is a semi-fictional English heavy metal band, the hilarious brainchild of comedians Michael McKeon, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer. Respectively, they play the roles of blond haired frontman David St. Hubbins, Jeff Beck doppelganger Nigel Tufnel, and handlebar mustachioed bass player extraordinaire Derek Smalls, bearing a striking resemblance to Lemmy Kilmister from Motorhead.

Together and with help from director Rob Reiner, they starred in the seminal 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap”, though they first appeared in a sketch on “The T.V. Show” five years before that. Reiner, himself playing the role of Marti DiBergi, the director of the movie, would help Christopher Guest refine the mockumentary to perfection as an artistic medium. Guest would go on to direct himself, his fellow Spinal Tap alumni, and many brilliant comedians in other such mockumentaries as “Waiting For Guffman”, “Best In Show”, “A Mighty Wind”, and “For Your Consideration”. Taking a page from Guest’s efforts, many other notable and brilliant additions to the genre would emerge elsewhere like the films “Drop Dead Gorgeous”, “Borat”, and “Fear Of A Black Hat”. I was extremely fortunate to see this show, since it would be one of only six shows Spinal Tap would do on the west coast.  

And coming back around to the aforementioned “A Mighty Wind”, we had a bonus encounter with the Spinal Tap guys as The Folksmen who would perform that night as the opening act. This also semi-fictional band, a send up of folk vocal trios of the 1950’s and 60’s like The Kingston Trio, The Weavers, and Peter, Paul, & Mary, was created by Guest and Shearer for a taped comedy sketch when they were briefly members of “Saturday Night Live” during that show’s 1984-85 season. Harry would joke about it calling them, “the fake folk music being written in office buildings in Manhattan’s Upper West Side”. Once again respectively, Michael, Chris, and Harry would portray baritone Jerry Palter, bald tenor Alan Barrows, and the also bald, but with a pronounced chinstrap beard, upright bass player Mark Shubb. This was a full two years before “A Mighty Wind” hit theaters, and though I personally remember their old SNL skit fondly, I imagine many people in the audience that night were a little perplexed that this weird folk trio would be opening for their heavy metal counterparts. They were actually booed a little when they opened for Spinal Tap in New York City. You’d think the home city of SNL would get the joke, but whatever.

The emcee for the night introduced them as “First seen on the stage in San Francisco in 1963 at the Lazy Onion cafe, (obviously a parody of the famous S.F. comedy club the Purple Onion). Tonight they return to the bay area to celebrate the 30th anniversary of their first great show. Please welcome, self-released recording artists, The Folksmen!” They opened with their song from the original sketch, “Old Joe’s Place”, a jaunty and infectious acoustic number and I always crack up when Chris would do his little nervous vibrato opening to the chorus, “We-e-e-e-e-l-l-l-l….” They had a new song called “Blood On The Coal” and “Jerry” (I will continue addressing them by their stage names now), prefaced it by saying that “many wonderful folk songs come from tragedy”. The tune detailed a 19th century rail/coal mining disaster when a train was accidentally routed on a collision coarse with a mineshaft, described eloquently in the chorus, “Blood on the tacks, blood in the mine, brothers & sisters, what a terrible time, Old 97 went in the wrong hole, now in mine number 60, there’s blood on the coal.”

What came next was a REAL surprise to us all when they did joyfully silly folk cover of “Start Me Up” by the Rolling Stones. Before I continue, they and Spinal Tap did so many jokes and wisecracks between songs, when I recount them now, I’m going to format it in screenplay form just to save time and to avoid the tedious “He said” introduction every time, so here goes…

JERRY :  You know, you never know where a few of these are going to come from. This one we learned from a young lady who had spent a lot of time traveling with various groups, bands.

ALAN : Well, she was doing other things too.

JERRY : Enough of that, please Alan. This is a family crowd.

MARK : Are you sure of that?

JERRY : An extended family crowd. We learned this little ditty from her and we hope you like it.

MARK : And if you know it, sing along!

ALAN : Yeah, we’d love to have you join us is you remember it. Thank you!

It was particularly funny near the end of the song they did a little cutesy call and response cadence to the line, “You make a dead man cum – Cum!” and they finished the song with a long drawn out “Cu-u-u-u-u-m-m-m-m!” So that was it for them, just three songs. But two years later, when “A Might Wind” came out, they will have expanded their repertoire and as luck would have it return to The Warfield in 2003 on a tour with all the folk bands from that movie, one of only 12 shows they would do in total. So I was very lucky that lightning would strike twice for me. 

The emcee came out and mentioned that the tour was being sponsored by “Endure Undergarments” which reminded me of the time I interviewed my brother Alex’s punk band, The Cat’s Pajamas, for my high school newspaper, where they claimed that they were sponsored by Depends Undergarments. Great minds think alike I suppose. They opened with “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” followed quickly by “Cash On Delivery”.

NIGEL : Thank you so much! We are the aforementioned Spinal Tap from the U.K…. We can feel wave after wave of love coming at us and of course it’s very dirty love, isn’t it?

Then they did “Hell Hole” followed by their new song, the appropriately titled “Back From The Dead”, which they released online on their own file sharing service, the hilariously named Tapster. I was cut from ushering during that song and made my way up front with my beer after that. They made a reference before they did the Kinks-esque “Rainy Day Sun” to their history of drummers meeting their untimely deaths. 

DAVID : And of course on the drums… He has no immediate family. He’s heavily insured and he’s always wanted to meet Keith Moon, Mr. Skippy Skuffelton of California!

Afterwards, Nigel taunted the crowd up in the balcony a little.

NIGEL : Everyone down here, say hello to everyone up there… Everyone up there, say fuck you to everyone down here!

They did a little jazzy intro to “Heavy Duty” before they continued with it’s heavy metal dirge. 

DAVID : There’s been a large increase of panties thrown on stage since we started.

DEREK : Why do you get them all?

DAVID : I don’t know. I have radar.

NIGEL : You’re a panty magnet.

DEREK : Great panty magnet of the north.

NIGEL : I’ve traveled all over the world. I’ve met people speaking very strange languages which I don’t understand. I don’t really know what the point is frankly. It’s just confusing. I think it’s really a conspiracy.

DEREK : Nigel, those are real other languages. 

Nigel then went on to explain that he had written a song called “Calm Caravan”, but there had been some kind of mix up and it had been listed as “Clam Caravan”, so they didn’t bother to change it. Near the end of the song, Nigel brought out a didgeridoo which they referred to as a “didgeri-don’t” and he, with great anticipation from the audience, blew out bellowing fart noises from it, much to all our delight. They followed it with a new funky rendition of “Sex Farm” where Nigel described David as “our own blonde bombshell”. 

DAVID : Wherever we go around in this world, we are asked two questions. Number one, why are you still doing this? And number two, are you going to do “Stonehenge” tonight?… Are you ready for a history lesson?

And yes, they did the bit from the movie with the ridiculously truncated Stonehenge set piece lowered from the rafters and danced around by dwarves. It was silly and we all saw it coming, but upon seeing it happen live, it was irresistible not to burst out in laughter.

DAVID : We were invited to Woodstock, but we ended up in Tee Neck, New Jersey or someplace.

NIGEL : Which was fucking great! 

Then David muttered something about rock festivals in England like the Redding Festival before they did “Stinking Up The Outdoors”. It occurred to me a couple songs later that “(Listen To The) Flower People” was clearly a parody of the hippie anthem “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)” by Scott McKenzie, so I suppose Spinal Tap were in the right place to perform it. They took a stylistic left turn afterwards with “Christmas With The Devil” and Nigel wondered “what Christmas must be like for Satan… Lonely man, lonely at the bottom.” We got a very welcome surprise at the end when none other than guitar god Joe Satrioni, (a man I incidentally share a birthday with), for the final song of the set, “Break Like The Wind”. They all thanked Joe for sitting in a doing one of his signature mind boggling guitar solos, but they soon returned, starting their encore with the Buddy Holly-like acoustic number, “All The Way Home”, which they claimed was the first song they had written. 

DAVID : This is a little number first performed at the Electric… something…. Oh yeah, the Electric Banana in New York City. It’s called “Short & Sweet”!

Then the three of them strapped on a bass guitar each signaling which song they were going to wrap up the night with.

DEREK : And now we’ve come to the end. We have nothing left but to come to the Bottom!

And yes, they did indeed play that triple bass ode to the female gluteus maximus, “Big Bottom”, gleefully accompanied by an assortment of buxom young ladies dancing around them. And as much as I wanted the night to go on forever and ever, it was over. They at least were giving out a brilliant poster at the end of the evening. As I mentioned, I got to see The Folksmen two years later on that stage again, but this would be the only time I’d see Spinal Tap, like the song they played, “Short & Sweet”. I can still picture Harry Shearer’s hilarious faces and rock star body language when he performed, probably the funniest aspect of the band to me at least. It’s the sign of a great comedian when you crack up just looking at them. I can think of only a few off the top of my head like Rodney Dangerfield, John Candy, and Harpo Marx. The memory of that night is still fresh with me and hopefully always will be, being a show so rare and so enjoyable. And for years afterward, The Warfield put up a large framed photo in the front its lobby of the band backstage from that show. It was a big one and impossible to miss when you walked inside from the front door. 

In a related story, my brother Alex who had been making a living as an actor in Los Angeles had the good fortune to be cast on the spoof talk show “Primetime Glick” alongside Michael McKeon, a hero to him as well as me. The first episode of “Primetime Glick” would actually air just ten days after this night. Michael was portraying Adrian Van Voorhees, the effeminate band leader in heavy, bright face make up to Jiminy Glick, the obnoxious and incoherent interviewer, played by Martin Short disguised under a morbidly obese “fat suit”. Alex would be the “lead guitarist” of the band, and I use that in quotes because the band never actually played a note, instead just obviously playing along to the recorded music unconvincingly, including “Adrian” playing on a full size harp. 

The irony was that Alex was the only member of the Glick band apart from Michael that could actually play his instrument, though I can’t say for sure if Michael could actually play a harp in real life. Knowing him and his talent as a prolific musician and songwriter, I imagine he at least made an effort to learn it a little. Anyway, Alex and Michael got along well during the three seasons it was on the air and they would often hang out and talk between takes, smoking cigarettes outside the studio where it was being recorded. One of the first things Alex did when he was cast in the role was to bring his vinyl copy of the soundtrack from “This Is Spinal Tap” to have him sign. Naturally, he signed it under his stage name, David St. Hubbins. 

https://archive.org/details/spinal-tap-warfield-61001

https://archive.org/details/the-folksmen-warfield-61001

Doves, The Webb Brothers, Erland Oge, Fill., SF, Wed., June 13

SETLISTS :

(THE WEBB BROTHERS) : (unknown), Summer People, The Liar’s Club, Fluorescent Lights, Sour Grapes, (unknown), I Can’t Believe You’re Gone, All The Cocaine In The World, In A Fashion, A Funny Ol’ Kind Of Music, Marooned

(DOVES) : Sire Suite, Rise, Sea Song, Break Me Gently, Catch Sun, Satellites, The Man Who Told Everything, Lost Souls, A House, The Cedar Room, New York, (encore), Here It Comes, Hit The Ground Running, Space Face

It was another glorious evening at The Fillmore with yet another addition to the recent invasion of extremely LOUD new indie bands from the U.K. My ears were still ringing from onslaught of the Mogwai concert there just four days before this. Hailing from Manchester, England, the Doves had actually been the backing band for fellow Manchester resident Badly Drawn Boy, who had just performed a disgracefully unenjoyable gig at The Fillmore that May. And though Badly Drawn Boy had beaten the Doves out for the Mercury Prize back home that year, I can assure y’all that the Doves were at least listenable and seemed like pleasant people. Like Badly Drawn Boy, they had only played once in San Francisco before at Bimbo’s 365 Club and were on tour also promoting their debut album. 

They were one of those rare bands like The Breeders that had a set of identical twins in it, being Jex and Andy Williams (No, not the “Moon River” guy), on guitar and drums respectively. They had formed the band literally out of the ashes of their previous band, Sub Sub, when their studio back home burned to the ground taking all their gear and recordings with it. If that wasn’t bad enough, the fire happened on the twin’s 26th birthday and bassist Jimi Goodwin’s girlfriend had just left him. Still, they rose like a phoenix from those ashes and with their new album, “Lost Souls”, they found a new audience and commercial success. This show would be the third date of the new tour and Jimi had such a swell time, he declared it “their best show yet”.

Opening that night was a Norwegian singer-songwriter by the name of Erland Oge, quite a subdued departure from their painfully screechy headliner, whom he hooked up with when he moved to Manchester in 1999. He had been taking a self described “holiday in San Francisco” from his usual “partner in crime”, the other half of the folk duo, Kings Of Convenience. Erland was a brave man playing solo acoustic and even once shushed the disinterested audience members jibber-jabbing away during his set. He was only on for the usual half hour for the first of a two opening act show and though I didn’t get a set list, but I know his final song was “Everybody’s Got A Friend In Stockholm”. It was a brand new song about his “neighbors” and joked that now he had “a lot of friends in San Francisco”. 

Next up were The Webb Brothers, Christaan (Yes, with two ‘a’s at the end), Justin, and James, sired by the great singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb. Still in his early 20’s, their dear ol’ dad Jimmy penned such late 60’s classics as “Wichita Lineman”, “MacArthur Park”, and “Up, Up & Away”. His kid’s music was quite different though, noisy yet well written indie rock. Incidentally, there’s another band called The Webb Brothers from Queensland, Australia, but they play country music and are much older. Anyway, after giving a shout out to “the legendary Fillmore”, one of them said the second song, “The Liar’s Club” was “about a bar in Chicago we probably hang in a little too much”. The following song, “Fluorescent Lights” was similarly “about what happens to some people when they go to The Liar’s Club at the end of the night”. 

The Brothers seemed in good spirits during their set, one of them noting that it was “the first time I’d see people sing along… Yeah, San Francisco!” A few songs later, they brought out one of their cousins from Oklahoma, a young man named Zebediah who “wants to play some licks for y’all”, though for a “very serious song about drug abuse”. Then they did a rather dreamy lullabye called “All The Cocaine In The World” which was actually quite soothing to hear, more of a heroin song really. I liked it though and also enjoyed it earlier when they played it during their soundcheck. Speaking of Oklahoma, I’m afraid it’s worth noting that convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was executed two days before this show. I had seen The Flaming Lips from OKC at The Fillmore shortly after the Tulsa bombing in 1995 as well. My cousin Abra actually went on a group date to one of her high school dances with McVeigh, (dating someone else, thankfully for her). That was back when McVeigh lived in Buffalo, New York, before he went to Gulf and went meshuggah. 

But I digress, back to the show. The Doves finally came on and they lit up themselves and a giant screen behind them with video projections. During the second song, they showed pictures of the moon and for “Lost Souls” they had a picture of Nico of Andy Warhol-Velvet Underground fame cutting her hair. When they finished their set with “New York”, they showed projections of that city’s skyline, torpedoed ships, and the Hindenburg disaster. In hindsight, it was rather creepy and prophetic considering that 9/11 would take place only three months later. Sorry to bring up another building related disaster, promise it’s the last one. For their encore, the Doves’ first of three songs, “Here It Comes”, sounded suspiciously like “Werewolves Of London” by Warren Zevon. It was so loud, at first I thought it actually was that song and wrote it down accordingly in the original tape case. At least they chose a good song to rip off.

I don’t really remember much about this show otherwise and wasn’t a big fan off of the acts I saw, so it wasn’t surprising that this would be the last time I’d see any of them. What was very unusual about this show was it had the extremely rare distinction of it being a show that got a poster at the end of the night and I can’t locate mine. Seriously, ask anyone who knows me, I have been, am, and always shall be overprotective of all my posters to the point of psychosis. The only other show that comes to mind that shares this rare defect is Superchunk with Overwhelming Colorfast, also at The Fillmore, but in 1994, one of the earliest shows after its reopening. Can’t find that one either. Regardless, I was there and I’m thankful I have the tapes to prove it. I might have forgotten about this one by now.

https://archive.org/details/doves-fillmore-61301

https://archive.org/details/the-webb-brothers-fillmore-61301

Live 105’s BFD 2001: Blink 182, Staind, 311, The Cult, Disturbed, Fuel, Alien Ant Farm, Pennywise, Mix Master Mike with Mike D, Dyloot, Mystre, The Living End, New Found Glory, Saliva, Shoreline, Mountain View, Fri., June 15

SETLISTS :

(SALIVA) : Click Click Boom, Superstar, After Me, Faultline, Your Disease

(DISTURBED) : Conflict, Voices, (unknown), Fear, (unknown), Shout, Down With The Sickness, Stupify

(FUEL) : Jesus Or A Gun, Comfortably Numb Intro, Innocent, (unknown), Scar, Bad Day

(THE CULT) : Rise, War (The Process), Fire Woman, Peace Dog, Wild Flower, Breathe, The Saint, The Witch, She Sells Sanctuary, Love Removal Machine

(311) : Freak Out, You Wouldn’t Believe, Homebrew, Beautiful Disaster, Misdirected Hostility, Flowing, From Chaos, All Mixed Up, Sick Tight, Come Original, Do You Right, Down

(STAIND) : Mudshovel, Open Your Eyes, Pressure, (unknown), Fade, Outside, It’s Been Awhile, Crawl, Spleen

(BLINK 182) : Anthem Part 2, (unknown), Dumpweed, Aliens Exist, The Rock Show, All The Small Things, Blow Job, Mutt, Stay Together For The Kids

Another summer was upon us and once again Live 105 was putting on their B.F.D., the eighth time the modern rock radio station would be hosting this cavalcade of (radio friendly) stars, making it the longest running festival show in the bay area. The line up for this year didn’t have many big draws (in my humble opinion) except for Blink 182 maybe and they were still pretty new then, but each of the others were respectable and really, there were no stinkers. Still, truth be told, the only band that really stood out for me personally on the bill was Pennywise who were headlining the smaller “Dysfunctional” stage. Regardless, like all festival shows with so many acts stretched out over the day and night, writing about it becomes lengthy and consequently, I will only post this entry on its own without its customary pairing to an adjacent show.

I uncharacteristically arrived there a little late, missing both Tantric, who I’ve never seen before, and Stabbing Westward who I had and enjoyed. Saliva’s set had just began when I got inside and this time I wasn’t stuck up on the lawn and had seats up in the front section, good ones. It was VERY loud and easy to see the stage, especially at the beginning when nobody was there yet. This would be the first time I’d be seeing Saliva, a nu metal band from Memphis, whose singer, Josey Scott, basically looked like a giant six and a half foot baby with stringy, long black hair. Don’t get me wrong, he had very deep and thunderous voice and his band was all butch. They had just put out an album called “Every Six Seconds”, named after the theory that man think about sex that often… OK, maybe every five for me. Saliva made sure to give a shout out to their home town, hoping that we liked their “Memphis style shit”. 

After their short set ended, I ran, as I did at all of these multi stage festival shows to catch the next act on the second stage, The Living End, during the set change. I was able to catch three songs, “Pictures In The Mirror”, “Roll On”, and “Revolution Regained”, before I had to haul ass back to the seats to catch the start of Disturbed. Though they’d been around since ’94, Disturbed didn’t hit it big until the year before this when their debut major label album, “The Sickness”, exploded on the scene, quickly certifying platinum five times over. Sure, there were a lot of nu metal bands around then, especially at that show, but these guys from Chicago were pretty heavy. Their frontman, David Draiman, was a stocky bald brute, kinda’ looked like The Thing. Well, let’s just say David had some issues to work through emotionally in his music, a touch on the intense side.

So, it came to no surprise soon after he and the gang took the stage, they were disappointed by the sea of half empty seats sprawling out in front of them. David grunted, “You know something. I’ve been disrespected right now. We’re here in the bay giving our blood, sweat, and our soul. So the least you lazy motherfuckers can do is GET UP OFF YOUR ASSES IN FRONT OF THOSE SEATS!!!!” He piped down from his blood curdling tirade and joked that our asses might to be “starting to feel numb anyway”. And though his frustration was understandable and I’ve heard many acts in their situation playing at Shoreline say the very same lament, when it’s that early, even such a goading would only get a handful of reluctant patrons to get on their feet. It always came off as ineffective, even counterproductive. Whether anybody stood or sat, there was clearly no problem hearing these guys. Disturbed had to be the loudest act that played that day.

I was a little surprised that they did a cover of “Shout” by Tears For Fears, not a band one necessarily associates with metal music. David introduced it, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. It’s time for our own semi-private group session of primal scream therapy. All your anger, all your hate, everything that is evil and loathsome inside all of you… I want you to pour that shit into me! I want you to pour that shit into me!!!” Later, he caught his breath, “That’s a little bit fuckin’ better. Are you awake now?!?… Are you down with the sickness?!? Show me!!!” Then they did that hit single, followed by “Stupify” which ended their set. And though, like I said, this would be the first time I’d be seeing them, I’d only have to wait two very short weeks until I saw them once again on that very same stage as one of the earlier acts for Ozzfest. That very well might have been the shortest time I’d wait to see a band on two different bills. 

I was able to catch a couple songs during the set change of Alien Ant Fram from Riverside including their rather manic cover of “Smooth Criminal” by Michael Jackson. Of course this was years before the sexual abuse stuff came out about Wacko Jacko, so even though it was an amusing cover, it hasn’t aged well. Fuel was next on the main stage and they were just about as loud as Disturbed. I wasn’t a huge fan of their stuff, but they had the good taste to do a little intro to their song, “Innocent”, of “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. I’d see them again in November headlining The Warfield also with Saliva as the first of their opening acts. I often would skip most of the artists in the DJ tents at festivals, preferring to see ones with real instruments, but I made a point to catch one special duo who were featured at this one.

Actually, I lied earlier about not being too drawn to anybody on the bill besides Pennywise, because I was curious to hear Mix Master Mike with Mike D from the Beastie Boys. The two Mikes were a welcome sight, particularly since I hadn’t seen them since the “Hello Nasty” tour they did three years before this. They were doing a DJ set in the “Subsonic” tent, named after the electronica music segment on Live 105 that aired nightly from midnight to 4 AM. There was no rapping from Mr. D this time, but it was a rare pleasure to watch him assist the Mix Master cut it up on the ones and twos like nobody else can. As feared, there was the predictable amount of shirtless mooks in the tent trying to get rowdy like it was a bone fide B-Boys show, so Mike had to calm them down between songs. He scolded them a little saying, “People here jumping around, you should watch Staind. If you wanna get your dance on, get your dance on”. I thought it was strange to site Staind as a mosh pit band though. Their music is more of a sit and brood variety. I would have picked Disturbed. Anyway, the Mikes got the crowd moving, busting out a little of “Shake Ya Ass” by Mystikal and “You Gots To Chill” by EPMD. Coincidentally, Mike D’s wife, Tamara Davis, directed the aforementioned Alien Ant Farm’s music video for their song “Movies” that year.

I hated to leave the two Mikes, but I wanted to catch a few songs of The Cult. They were the obligatory “old man” act on the bill and I thought they deserved at least a little attention from me. So I bolted back to the seats, got three songs, before I bolted back to catch the end of the Mikes’ set, followed in the Subsonic tent by Mystre. I managed to catch Mike D plug his website and lectured us a little saying, “President Bush has this environmental plan that’s goin’ on and I don’t want to preach or anything, but like everybody here, it’s your world, right? It’s not his world. So if you could go to our website, send a letter in if you’re over 18. If you’re not over 18, just spread the word. Let the people know because it’s your world. You want alternative energy, not from oil wells, destroying our world and whatnot.”

I was disappointed that I missed The Cult’s cover of “Peace Frog” by The Doors though. Their very Jim Morrison-esque singer, Ian Astbury, and the band had recently contributed to a Doors tribute album playing “Wild Child” with Doors keyboardist Ray Manzerak backing them up. Unfortunately, “Peace Frog” was covered by Smashmouth (shutter!) on that one. Ian would soon afterwards, join the surviving members of The Doors to tour together calling themselves various names, including Riders On The Storm when I would see them four years later at The Fillmore. Ian also took issue to Shoreline’s seating arrangements musing, “I don’t know what it is, but this thing creates a mystical boundary which doesn’t really exist. Come up if you want to… If you like the heavy metal music with the hip hop sound… this is our heavy metal music with the hip hop sound song. Jump around!” and then they did “The Witch”, followed by the signature hit, “She Sells Sanctuary”.

I was able to catch only a couple songs from New Found Glory, a young punk band from Florida, before I had to bolt back to catch the beginning of 311’s set, but I liked what I heard. I had seen 311 three times by then, but it had been five years since the last time, so I was eager to hear them once more. They were steadily on the up and up before, but by this time, they had hit the height of their popularity. Their new album, “From Chaos” was just about to be released four days from this show and we got to hear one of the new ones, “You Wouldn’t Believe”, though “Amber” would ultimately go on to be the big hit from that album. Their set was the only one I was able to find on archive.org though. Singer Nick Hexum had just recovered from getting his tonsils removed and thanked the crowd adding a ,”Shout out to all the bands. It’s a great bill and a great place to have a fuckin’ show. Know what I mean?” He also mentioned that five days before this evening, it was their 11th anniversary and dedicated “Down” to their fans. And though I like 311 and always will, I regret that I missed most of Pennywise’s set on the other stage because of them. I still managed to catch Pennywise’s last three songs, “Society”, “Alien”, and “Bro Hymn”. They’d play the Warped Tour two weeks later which I would miss, but I would go on to see them a few more times in the future.

But this would be the first and only time I would see Staind. Their hit album, “Break The Cycle” had just come out about six weeks before this show and already it was on its way to be certified five times platinum. They were introduced by the Live 105 DJ Jerod who declared that he was having a “beer party at my house! You guys get the beer! Just come over!” Staind opened with “Mudshovel” and though I wasn’t really moved by their music, I did appreciate their clean sound and quality of their melancholy song writing. Their singer, Aaron Lewis, brought the noise down a bit halfway though their set, playing solo acoustic for “Outside”. He first asked the crowd if, “You guys wanna sing along with me?” which they did, though he goaded them on later saying, “I know you can sing louder than that”. They followed that with their moody metal ballad “It’s Been Awhile”.

The sun had gone down and the only one left was Blink 182. I had just seen them for the first time a mere six weeks before this show at The Warfield and seeing how they were headlining this festival, it was obvious that they had hit it big time. Feel free to revisit that show for further backstory on the band. They were introduced by another Live 105 DJ who declared parodying the famous intro to “Number Of The Beast” by Iron Maiden, “When Blink 182 comes out, we must all raise the sign of rock & roll! We shall read from the Blink Bible, so please stand up, rock & roll signs! Get em’ up. Let’s show these suckers some bay area love. Know what I’m saying? Woe to you, oh the Earth and sea, for the Devil sends the Beast with wrath because he knows the time is short. Let him who hath understanding reckon the number of the Beast, for it is a human number… Its number is Blink 182!!!”

Blink 182 wasted no time, launching straight away into the breakneck paced “Anthem, Part 2”. Afterwards, they greeted us, guitarist Tom DeLonge yelling “Hi, San Francisco!” and bassist Mark Hoppus adding, “And all the surrounding metropolitan areas like San Jose and the silicone people who make all the circuit chips”. I was able to get most of their set, nine songs total, including the new single “The Rock Show” and their big hit “All The Small Things”, but the long day had taken its toll on my tape supply. Just as well, as usual I was pretty zonked out from the long stretch bolting between stages. I would return to see B.F.D. the following year with an all new line up, though they did bring back New Found Glory, promoted to the main stage for that one.

https://archive.org/details/blink-182-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/staind-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/pennywise-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/311-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/new-found-glory-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/the-cult-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/mix-master-mike-with-mike-d-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/mystre-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/fuel-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/alien-ant-farm-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/disturbed-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/the-living-end-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/saliva-shoreline-61501

https://archive.org/details/dyloot-shoreliine-61501

https://archive.org/details/311-bootleg-shoreline-61501

Live Nude Bands: The Gun & Doll Show, Black Kali Ma, Zen Guerrilla, The Hail Marys, PBR Street Gang, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Bonfire Madigan, The Pre-Teens, Fill., SF, Fri., June 22

SETLISTS : 

(BONFIRE MADIGAN) : Mad Skywriting, 7 Mile Lane, Running

(SLEEPYTIME GORILLA MUSEUM) : (unknown), Sleep Is Wrong, 1997 (Tonight We’re Going To Party Like It’s…)

Well, I give the concept of this show points for originality. Somewhere, sometime, somebody dreamt up the idea of having a sort of battle of the bands where the loser would have to perform their set at the end of the night, you guessed it, sans clothing, in the buff, jugs out and rugs out, wearing nothing but a smile… yes, nude. I must also give props to the elegance and simplicity of this strange competition as well. The rules were relatively simple. First, each band competes against one another in three separate tug of war matches. The winning group would play the next set and the losers would advance to the next round. After the tug of war matches, there would be a spelling bee between the acts that lost during the first three rounds and the winner would play the next set. And lastly, the final two bands would compete in one last tug of war and the loser would have to, you know, go the Full Monty. Incidentally, the event was appropriately sponsored in part by adult entertainment store chain Good Vibrations and Pizza Orgasmica. All jokes aside, this was also a benefit for the Bay Guardian Community Fund, so at least we were getting our jollies for a good cause. 

This was all brand new to me at the time, but what I didn’t know before writing this was that The Fillmore had actually hosted this unique event the year before as well. The singer songwriter Essence was the one who had to do her set in her “birthday suit” and I must say, I would have enjoyed that. Essence is as fine as May wine, especially compared who did their set nude on this night which I will address later. Truth be told, considering the bold showmanship of many of the acts on this bill, having to perform nude would seem more akin to a reward than a punishment, but all involved seemed genuinely interested in defeating their opponents. Nobody was pulling their punches that night. There were eight bands duking it out on The Fillmore stage over that long evening, each getting a set of only a handful of songs. Also, it must be noted that they were showing on a big screen above the stage, unedited excerpts from the infamous 1995 Pamela Anderson sex tape between set changes. Yeah, we got to see a lot of that tape over the course of the evening and really, it got icky pretty fast.

First up were The Pre-Teens, a local riot grrl punk band trio. They were truly taking on the mantle of DIY artists, releasing their debut album “Why Don’t You Marry It” on their own record label, Sassy Wench Records, booking their own tours, and living frugally together in a one room studio in town. They were followed by Bonfire Madigan led by the incomparable Madigan Shive, a brilliant cellist and singer. She would be performing in a trio that night, missing one from her usual quartet, and together with another violin player and contrabass player, Sheri Ozeki, they would hammer out a few of her tense, yet soulful tunes for us. Like The Pre-Teens, Bonfire Madigan was struggling to make ends meet in San Francisco, which was becoming more and more inhospitable to artists of all kinds with the recent invasion of dot-com assholes. Madigan was in fact trying to raise money then to fight against her impending eviction from her place and to raise awareness of tenant’s rights. Before they played their last song “Running”, Madigan handed Sheri’s glasses to a girl in the front saying that she thought her “glasses would fit well on her head… assuming that you are a girl or a trannie”. Afterwards, they had one of the tug of war matches between sets, pitting PBR Street Gang against The Hail Marys, truly a “girl on boy” match, three band members on each side. I’m afraid PBR’s male upper body strength ruled the day on that one. 

But easily the most memorable and my personal favorite of all the bands on the bill that night would be Sleepytime Gorilla Museum who came on next. This would be the first of many times I would see this act and believe me when I say that they defy adequate explanation. Seriously, I’ve written before of the difficulty in describing a band and their music, but these guys are not only from another planet, they’re from a whole different dimension. Let’s back up a bit. You might recall a few years before this, I was honored and lucky enough to record the band Idiot Flesh at the Maritime Hall opening for Giant Robot II with Buckethead. It was there that I first met their bassist, Dan Rathbun, who had startled me half to death when he magically appeared right behind me when I was recording wearing, well, (sigh)… once again, hard to describe. Let’s just say that the giant bulbous black and white headpiece protruding prominently towards me drew most of the attention.

Idiot Flesh soon parted ways after that show, but its members went on to form this new musical experiment as well as other acts like Charming Hostess and Faun Fables. Their first album “Grand Opening & Closing” wouldn’t actually be available for another four months, so many people like myself were hearing their music for the first time, though legend has it that they actually performed their first concert to a banana slug exactly two years to the day before this night. Together with Dan, there was Carla Kihlstedt on violin, Nils Frykdahl on guitar, and Moe Staiano and David Shamrock on drums and various homemade percussion pieces. To lump their sound into the umbrella term of experimental music feels like a cop out, but there are certainly elements of metal and prog rock in their works, as well as some classical and chamber stuff too. Really, take a moment to hear them when you get a chance if you haven’t already. You won’t be sorry. 

Sleepytime started their set with a blistering instrumental piece, with Moe striking bells and Nils on flute, before taking us down their freakish musical rabbit hole with “Sleep Is Wrong”. I know when I’m turned on by a new band when I have to literally ask myself, “What the fuck kind of music is this?!?” and it was never truer than with these guys. When that first song ended, I had to sort of take a deep breath and really think about what had just happened there. But don’t think that these guys were, you know, menacing or anything negative. In fact, Nils is possibly one of the funniest frontmen I ever heard in my life. For example, after that song, he drolly addressed the crowd in a calm, rather scholarly tone, “Ladies & gentlemen, in case you didn’t know, we are Sleepytime Gorilla Museum from Oakland. It is our greatest pleasure to play for you tonight, to be back in our homeland after our long wayfaring across this wonderful, wonderful land you all live in. Now we would like you to enjoy the following sounds of sexless, ladies & gentlemen. We’d like to dedicate this show to the sexless and the toothless, yes sir.” 

Moe and David launched into an extended drum and percussion solo and when they finished, I’ll never forget that Nils introduced their last song saying that they would be allowing us to get back to our… “Hrrrhrrhuuuuuhh”, (which was sort of a semi-sexual utterance but was totally hilarious). He then wrapped up saying, “Ladies & gentlemen, to prove it is a celebration we’re having, ladies & gentlemen, we are going to play some salsa music. Now we’re going to share with you another party song. If you were alive in the past, why not? Everybody does it and this song is called ‘1997’”. And they finished their set with this sprawling, avant-garde sonic assault that once again left me dumbfounded. Obviously, I was moved by them and made a point from then on to see them as often as I could. I was able to see them nine more times live on stage before they disbanded in 2009, but I’m happy to report that 15 long years later, they reformed and I caught them playing their first show in the bay area after all that time just a few weeks ago at the UC Theater. They still got it.

But the show had to go on, there being plenty of more acts to entertain us and there was also the competition at hand. Next up, they had the spelling bee hosted by a couple members of The Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence, Gina Tonic and Dana Inequity. As luck would have it, this Live Nude Bands show was happening on the weekend of Pride Week. It was a touch chaotic, the emcees clearly just fucking around at first asking the correct spelling of “faux”, but claiming that correct spelling was actually “F-O-apostrophe”. They then asked some more joke words like “Aguilera” and “Sean Cassidy”. They started to get a little less silly hoping to wrap it up asking the spelling of “pique”, “strait”, “vane”, “poseur”, and “fuchsia”. Gina used the last one in a sentence, “The blouse that Dana is wearing is fuchsia!” Sadly, neither Zen Guerrilla nor The Hail Marys got any of them. Every time they got a wrong answer, Dana would set off an airhorn in disapproval. Ultimately, The Hail Marys were victorious when one of them finally spelled “mayonnaise” correctly. 

PBR was a fun band, a real gritty rockabilly sort of group. The banjo player they had was quite skilled actually. I liked that they did a little intro from “Eye Of The Tiger” by Survivor before one of their songs. They didn’t last long as a group, but another act overseas also bears their name now, though they are a DJ duo from Leeds in the U.K. Obviously, both acts got their name from the call sign of the PT boat in the film “Apocalypse Now”. The Hail Marys also had a short, but respectable set. Their lead singer mentioned that “We got songs for sale… We got sex for sale… We got whatever you need, OK?” and then they encouraged everybody to support local music before shouting, “We’re still here! We’re still queer!” The final tug of war took place between The Gun & Doll Show and Black Kali Ma and I’m sad to say that the latter was victorious for reasons I will go into later. Between acts, they had DJ Swift Rock spin some tunes and I was very impressed with his scratching skills. He had been a member of the Supernatural Turntable Artists and the Beat Junkies, but I was sad to learn that he had passed away in 2015 and rumor has it, that it was suicide. Poor guy.

Another piece of bad new befell the world the day before this show, it being the death of blues legend John Lee Hooker. His “Boom Boom Room” bar and venue still puts on shows just across the street from The Fillmore to this day. I’m glad that I got to see Mr. Hooker play a few times during those final years of his and that he made it to the ripe old age of 83. The next act on stage was Zen Guerrilla and their singer, Marcus Durant, mentioned, “On a personal note… John Lee Hooker… Without him, I definitely  would not be playing music… See you on the other side.” I had been familiar with Zen Guerrilla’s music before, having worked as an intern at Alternative Tentacles which was their label, but this was the first time I’d be seeing them live. I was blown away by their manic, bluesy punk energy, akin to stuff by guys like Jon Spencer and Gallon Drunk. This was a band that clearly deserved to be bigger though sadly they never did and they broke up only two years after this. 

OK, one last bummer I have to lay on y’all. This would be the first time I would write after just recently hearing about the passing of Gary Floyd, who was the singer of Black Kali Ma. Amongst such other great bands as Sister Double Happiness and The Dicks, Gary had been around the city doing his thing for years. Near the end of his life, I would see him often riding the N-Judah train with me and I’m glad I got the nerve to speak with him the last time I saw him. We had met before, but it had been many, many years prior, so I introduced myself on the train and asked if he was Gary Floyd. He calmly asked if I was with the I.R.S. which I said no and he confirmed that it was indeed him and I simply thanked him for his work and said I was a fan. That was it. He was really a sweet guy and a very talented singer and songwriter. I was able to catch him perform one more time with The Dicks at the Great American in 2005, but this would be the only time I’d see him play with Black Kali Ma. Gary, though being a rather burly Texan bear of a man, was gay, out and proud for decades, a brave stance for a Texan back in the days of his youth. As the name of his new band suggested, he actually was also a devout Hindu and often would sing lyrics of their teachings in his music. 

Which leads to the last band, which was not so much a bummer, but still infuriates me to this very day. Let’s set aside that I think The Gun & Doll Show sucks as a band. There had been an agreement from the outset of this show that the final losing act would have to play their ENTIRE set COMPLETELY naked and these double crossing bastards had the nerve to not undress until their very last song. I mean, it’s the principal of the thing. I know in my heart that the members of any of the other bands would have honored this agreement, but these jerk face cowards cynically kept us on the hook through their tedious set so we had to hold out to the very end to get what we were promised. And to make matters worse, the only attractive woman in the act just went topless. Their leader, Killian MacGeraghty, was downright ugly and he was one of the only ones to go Full Monty at the end. They brought up a bunch of their friends for the last number, a so-called 50 guitar army, though their numbers were more like in the mid 20’s. My blood was boiling at the injustice of it all and frankly it’s still boiling. Seriously, nothing would have made me happier than to beat living hell out of Killian for that and I’ll never forgive him.

https://archive.org/details/the-gun-doll-show-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/black-kali-ma-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/zen-guerrilla-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/pbr-street-gang-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/the-hail-marys-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/pbr-street-gang-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/sleepytime-gorilla-museum-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/bonfire-madigan-fillmore-62201

https://archive.org/details/the-pre-teens-fillmore-62201

Mike Clark’s Prescription Renewal, B-Side Players, Fill., SF, Sat., June 23

SETLIST : Four String Drive, (unknown), Watermelon Man, (unknown), Red House, (unknown), Is There A Jackson In The House?, Funky Good Time, (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Chameleon, Viper, (unknown)

I was blissfully unaware of the talent involved with this show when I signed up to usher it, but I was glad I did. Ironically, Mr. Clark was the one member of this band that I had no knowledge of previously. As you might have read before in my earlier entries, I had many encounters with Charlie Hunter and his baffling skills on the 8-string hybrid bass/guitar including a stint working as an intern for his manager.  Likewise, I had seen trombonist and vocalist extraordinaire Fred Wesley and keyboard virtuoso Robert Walter do their thing on stage as well. I had even seen and recorded guitarist Will Bernard, who had showed up to this gig as a guest, on a number of occasions including the T.J. Kirk band which he was a member along with Charlie. And though I had the honor of helping record Herbie Hancock at the Maritime Hall, his former drummer Mike Clark wasn’t with him then. And just to be clear, this is a different Mike Clark than the one who plays with Suicidal Tendencies. 

So yes, Mr. Clark, a local boy from Sacramento originally, had played at a young age with Herbie & The Headhunters in the the early 70’s, but by this time at the ripe old age of 56, had amassed an impressive list of credits under his belt, including drumming alongside such greats as Chet Baker, Tony Bennett, and Albert King. Hell, he even did the drumming for “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” with Vince Guaraldi, you know, the one with The Great Pumpkin. Anyway, he had gathered this acid jazz super group in the wake of the disastrous 2000 election and thought his music would help provide the country some relief with their “prescription renewal” of the presidency. Sadly, his efforts would come to crashing halt with 9/11 less than three months later, but the music helped in the meantime all the same. Still, I was glad to catch this gig, being the second night of only 13 shows they would do on this west coast tour. 

Opening that evening were the always dependable B-Side Players from San Diego whom I had seen them open for many acts by then, recording them three times at the Maritime in 1999 alone. Their singer-guitarist Karlos “Solrak” Paez did complain that he was “feeling a little sick earlier”, but halfway through the set he felt “a lot better”. I wasn’t able to make out most of their song titles, having sung many of their numbers in Spanish, but I know they played “Movement” and closed their set with “Souldier”. Solrak stuck around during the set change meeting people in the crowd and handing out sample CDs of their stuff. 

Likewise, I was only able to make out about half of Mike Clark’s set since they were primarily an instrumental band. But there were a few covers that were unmistakable like “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix and “Funky Good Time” by James Brown, who Fred had played with for years. Fred got the crowd to sing along with the chorus, bellowing, “I want to take you hiiiiiigher!” and they chanted “Fred! Fred! Fred!” during his trombone solo. Naturally, Mike dusted off a couple of Herbie’s unforgettable numbers including “Watermelon Man” and “Chameleon”. 

I heard myself on the tape talking to somebody next to me in the audience that night who had asked me if I had ever had my nose broken before. I replied no and added that I in fact hadn’t even broken a bone before, (and thankfully still haven’t [knock on wood]). I did however tell this person about Pete, my partner in the recording room at the Maritime Hall who had his nose broken so many times that it no longer had any cartilage in it. Pete relished showing folks how he could completely fold his nose over sideways, flat as a pancake, truly a sight to behold. 

Anyway, it was a hell of a show and every player demonstrated their expert skills on their instrument of choice. Mike’s drum kit was pretty standard, no crazy heavy metal gear for him, a real jazz kit. And though he graciously left the solos mostly to the other members that night, he did quite an impressive one of his own near the end of their set. I’m glad I stayed all the way through this late night, but it was a little exhausting since I had already gone through the Live Nude Bands marathon on the very same stage the night before and was facing the colorful hordes of the Gay Pride scene at the Civic Center with The B-52’s the following day. It was an enjoyable, though tiring stretch indeed. 

https://archive.org/details/mike-clarks-prescription-renewal-fillmore-62301

https://archive.org/details/b-side-players-fillmore-62301

The B-52s, Abigail, Civic Center Plaza, SF, Sun., June 24

SETLISTS :

(ABIGAIL) : If It Don’t Fit, You Set Me Free, Let The Joy Rise

(The B-52’s) : Is That You Mo Dean?, Dance This Mess Around, Roam, Private Idaho, Good Stuff, Strobe Light, Channel Z, Love Shack, Rock Lobster

It had been nine long years since I had seen The B-52’s for the first time on their “Good Stuff” tour, where I was happily tripping balls on mushrooms at the Concord Pavilion. But it had been much too long for a fan of their music as I was. So you can imagine my surprise and joy when I found out they would be headlining the main stage of the Gay Pride celebration for FREE just down the street from where I was living in the Tenderloin. Yes, there were all sorts of colorful attractions and artists on the nine different stages for this 31st annual celebration of all things fabulous, but I was laser focused on the B-52’s and staked out a spot up front early, planting myself stoically like a tree in the blazing sun until they took the stage.

This would also be the first time I’d be seeing The B-52’s with Cindy Wilson, who had taken a break from the band to raise her two young kids when I saw them in ’92, briefly replaced by Julee Cruise, David Lynch’s famous musical muse. Cindy had also taken another maternity leave from the band in 1999, replaced by the multi-talented Gail Ann Dorsey, who I had seen perform as David Bowie’s bassist a number of times. The band had gone on tour co-headlining with The Go-Go’s the year before this, but tour dates sadly didn’t include the bay area. But in their absence, I did enjoy that The B-52’s did a parody of their hit “Love Shack” for “The Simpsons” in 1999 as well, singing the chorus “Glove Slap” instead, accompanying Homer’s habit that episode of casually challenging people to duels by slapping them in the face with a pair of gloves. But Cindy had just rejoined the group in time for me to see her alongside her old bandmates for this one. They hadn’t put out any new material since the aforementioned “Good Stuff” album, but they would soon release a 2-CD compilation album, “Nude On The Moon : The B-52’s Anthology”, the following year, celebrating the band’s 25th anniversary. 

I did manage to record the very short, three song set of Abigail Zsiga, simply known by the stage name of Abigail, before the main act that day. Introduced by Sister Roma,“the sweetest & nastiest” of the Sisters Of Perpetual Indulgence, Abigail was a fairly successful dance music artist from England who had made a name for herself doing electronica covers of popular rock tunes like “Losing My Religion” by R.E.M. and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana, though she played neither of those that day. She brought some dancers on stage with her that impressed Sister Roma who had praised her for being so cute, young, and petite for being a recording artist. Roma also wondered how she and her dancers could “move in those damn shoes? It’s all I can do to hobble up here in these heels and trust me, my flats are in the car.” 

Afterwards, the Sisters bantered on, thanking sponsors like the San Francisco Chronicle, United Airlines, and JK Sound. I didn’t know him back then, but I would soon become intimately acquainted with The B-52’s venerable sound man Frank Gallagher. At a recent conference we were working together at, I did confirm that Frank was in fact there that day applying his infinite aural skills at the front of house soundboard. He remains their loyal sound guy to this very day and will in fact be at the helm for them when they play in Oakland at the Mosswood Meltdown just six weeks from now. Frank also hosts a delightful podcast called “Sound Man Confidential” where he interviews famous rock & roll people he’s become friends with over the years which is very entertaining and informative. Check it out. Anyway, the Sisters chatted up the audience while the gear was being set up asking folk up front where they were from pondering if they were from New Jersey, Boston, Philly, Venus, or Planet Claire. Roma declared that it was a “queerific day”, a day bigger than just being queer or terrific. She was especially proud of folks who came from places like “Podunk, Iowa” since it was so much easier to be gay in S.F.

The crowd and I went nuts when the band took the stage, opening immediately with “Is That You Mo Dean?”. Cindy’s singing doppelganger Kate Pierson got everybody moving, ordering us to “shake those gay asses!” before they continued with the old classic “Dance This Mess Around”.  Fellow singer Fred Schneider introduced the jitterbug paced “Strobe Light”, a rather obscure number from their “Wild Planet” album, sarcastically as a “ballad for all you lovers, swingers, & stuff” adding it was a “Broadway ballad” that was “slow and long”. Continuing to ham it up with the crowd afterwards, Fred asked, “How many of you are gonna be shackin’ up tonight?”, and then they did, you guessed it, “Love Shack”. He egged us all on near the end of the song getting everybody to chant, “Bang, bang, bang, on the door, baby!”

Finally, they shouted, “Let’s go to the beach!” and finished their set with “Rock Lobster”. Naturally, I would have loved to hear them for hours and hours, but we had to settle for this short and sweet one of a mere 50 minutes. I can’t complain though. It was free after all. As the band took their bows, Roma joked, “Look how close to them I am! Do you hate me?” It was all over, ending an exhausting weekend after back to back shows of the Live Nude Bands marathon and Mike Clark’s Prescription Renewal at The Fillmore. Thankfully, I would have to wait only a single year before I would see The B-52’s on that stage with Puffy Amiyumi, a much more intimate venue than this overwhelming horde of sexually liberated revelers. 

https://archive.org/details/the-b-52s-civic-center-plaza-62401

https://archive.org/details/abigail-civic-center-plaza-62401

Ozzfest 2001: Black Sabbath, Marilyn Manson, Slipknot, Papa Roach, Linkin Park, Disturbed, Crazytown, Shoreline, Mountain View, Fri., June 29

SETLISTS : 

(CRAZYTOWN) : Think Fast, Darkside, Hollywood Babylon, Lollipop Porn, Face The Music, Black Cloud, Butterfly, Toxic

(DISTURBED) : Conflict, Voices, Violence Fetish, (unknown), Fear, Droppin’ Plates, Shout, Down With The Sickness, Stupify

(LINKIN PARK) : Papercut, Points Of Authority, By Myself, Crawling, In The End, A Place For My Head, One Step Closer

(PAPA ROACH) : Dead Cell, Blood Brothers, Between Angels & Insects, Snakes, Infest, Walking Thru Barbed Wire, Broken Home, Last Resort

(SLIPKNOT) : People = Shit, Liberate, Eeyore, Disasterpiece, Purity, Eyeless, New Abortion, The Heretic Anthem, Spit It Out, Wait & Bleed, [sic], Surfacing

(MARILYN MANSON) : Irresponsible Hate Anthem, Disposable Teens, The Fight Song, The Nobodies, Rock Is Dead, The Dope Show, Cruci-Fiction In Space, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This), The Love Song, The Death Song, Antichrist Superstar, The Beautiful People

(BLACK SABBATH) : N.I.B., Snowblind, Scary Dreams, War Pigs, Iron Man, Into The Void, The Wizard, Black Sabbath, Paranoid

It was quite the different scene from seeing The B-52’s headline the Gay Pride Celebration the previous Sunday, indeed perhaps the polar opposite. The joyful explosion of color had been usurped by the dark lord of heavy metal himself, Ozzy, as well as an unstoppable avalanche of toxic masculinity. Rest assured, there was no waiting in line at the women’s restrooms for this show. This would be the first and most likely only time, considering his recent health problems, I would see the one and only Mr. John Michael Osbourne. I had seen his bandmates however back in 1995 when Sabbath was touring with a different singer, Tony Martin, at The Warfield, but this was obviously a bigger deal. Ozzy had rejoined the band to do this brutish cavalcade of heavy metal stars and had even been in the works with producer Rick Rubin with the other original members of Sabbath to make a new album, though it had been tabled then so that Ozzy could finish some solo stuff he had been working on that summer. Little would any of the heshers in attendance that night predict that Ozzy would find a completely new audience and notoriety the following year when his reality series “The Osbournes” would debut on MTV and become an unexpected sensation.

But there were plenty of other bands at this thing to focus my attention on that very long day and evening. Zakk Wylde, the touring guitarist for Ozzy’s solo work, had opened the festival with his band, the Black Label Society, on other legs of the tour, but weren’t on this one, leaving Crazytown to begin the day. Disturbed had originally been slated to headline the second stage, but got promoted to the main stage to follow them. Though I was up on the lawn, it was predictably loud as fuck, so the tapes came out loud and clear and I obviously had no trouble hearing any of it. Crazytown, a rap rock act from L.A., had a huge hit back then with “Butterfly” which had the distinction of being the #1 song on the Billboard charts for two straight weeks and paradoxically also been ranked as the 34th Awesomely Bad Song Ever by VH1. They had been originally supposed to be on the Ozzfest the year before, but their troubled frontman, Seth “Shifty” Binzer, had gotten himself arrested, drunkenly throwing a chair through a window somewhere. They were out of place to say the least, but I bet Papa Roach felt a little heat taken off of them by their obnoxious presence. 

It was a foregone conclusion that at least one of the bands that gig would say something about the empty seats up front, but Shifty got the day off to an early start. He immediately pointed to us folks up on the lawn asking, “Don’t they deserve to come up here and party with us too?” and then they played “Hollywood Babylon”. Heavy metal fans are notoriously hard to please and these guys were already being openly mocked as “The Butterfly Boys”, so Shifty had no trouble getting everybody to put their middle fingers in the air and shout, “Fuck you, Crazytown!” I may not be the biggest Disturbed fan in the world, but they were a welcome sight afterwards. I had just in fact seen Disturbed a mere two weeks to the day on that very stage as one of the early acts for Live 105’s B.F.D. and just like before, their chrome domed frontman, David Draiman, couldn’t help himself from persistently ripping on the people in the seats up front. 

He growled, “OK, apparently I have to do this way too often. These motherfuckers right here, you don’t like what you see? Are you not down with the sickness? Then why don’t you get the fuck out of my front row!… Get the fuck out of your goddamn seats! I feel like I need to whip my dick out and piss on you! Anyone else wants to disrespect this band? You’re outnumbered, motherfucker!” It’s the same every time. The few people up front during these early hours scattered in clumps here and there amongst the sea of hundreds of empty orange, plastic seats would shrug and reluctantly get up for a while, only to eventually sit back down again. You’d think after B.F.D. that David would have given up by then. But he and the band continued with their bombastic nu metal and David did that introduction to their cover of “Shout” by Tears For Fears he did before, encouraging the crowd to pour all their hatred and negative whatnot into him. He tried one last time to egg them on before they did “Down With The Sickness” pointing out, “I see a cloud of dust rising in the pit”, up on the lawn while ridiculing the “industry section sitting down… Get the fuck up!” I was relieved when their set ended, just so I could stop hearing his bellyaching.

Next up was Linkin Park, who were quickly on the rise with the release of their debut album, “Hybrid Theory”, that had come out the previous October. I had seen them headline a show at The Fillmore that January, but this would be the final time I would see them live. Poor Chester Bennington, one of their two singers, would hang himself in 2017. Listening to their lyrics, one would get the impression that they were a touch on the melancholy side, but the band was all smiles that day for sure. Their other singer, Mike Shinoda, was much nicer to the people up front, praising them, “Give it up to the back up singers in the front row! I love those people. Chester, she likes you. This chick has been singing along to every song! She’s hot as hell! She’s in a Linkin Park jacket. You’re the best! People up top, you wanna help us sing a song?” And then they did their hit, “Crawling”. 

I had been infinitely familiar with Papa Roach by then, having recorded them a whopping six times in only two years at Maritime Hall, every time as an opening act often the first of many. Though they were a lower card act for this festival, they were by no means the humble opening act they once were. Their major label debut on Dreamworks, “Infest”, had been out over a year and they were raking in some serious money and attention from it. The album would go on to certify platinum three times over and earn the group a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. They were working on their follow up album, “Lovehatetragedy”, at the time and we got to hear one of the new songs that day called “Walking Thru Barbed Wire”. Yes, their clean cut singer, Jacoby Shaddix, might have been less intimidating than most of the other frontmen on that bill that day, but he did manage to get a ribald zinger in, casually mentioning, “It’s kinda hard to find classy girls that’ll let you spit right in their asshole.” He then dressed down a heckler up front, joking, “Hey buddy, do I slap a cock out of your mouth when you’re trying to make a buck? Shut the fuck up now!… Everybody lift your middle finger!” He did give a shout out to his fellow northern Californians and gave a “special thank you for all the roadies that made this all possible” before they finished their set with their hit single, “Last Resort”. 

It had been a year since I’d seen Slipknot headline the second stage at the B.F.D., but like Disturbed, they had graduated to the main stage. They had been busy touring nonstop, performing a mind boggling 260 shows in 2000 alone. In fact, they became so big after this tour that they would soon be headlining arena shows of their own, usually down in San Jose when they would pass through in the future, so this would in fact be the last time I’d see them live. They are still around mind you, but their original bassist and drummer have both passed away since then. “Iowa”, their follow up album to their blockbuster debut, was still one day shy of two months away from being released, but we were lucky to hear four of the new songs that day. Their masked singer, Corey Taylor, declared that the new song, “Disasterpiece”, would “rip your fuckin’ balls off!” He went on later that “the new album is coming out in August. It’s not doing a thing but piss you off, open your eyes, and hip you to the fuckin’ fact that everything, everyone involved in the fuckin’ record industry is lying to you. Everyone involved in the record industry is sucking the soul out of music today and I’m sorry, but I’m not going to let that shit happen anymore! I’ve seen too many people get duped by the sucky shitty fuckin’ bands and we’re sending them a fuckin’ message!” 

Keeping the motif of righteous indignation going, Corey followed that by grunting, “We are done! We have had it! Fuck off and fuckin’ die! Are you with me?!? Right now, we’re going to take you someplace cold and dark. This song is called ‘Purity’”. A couple songs later, he asked, “You still with me Ozzfest? This song is the biggest middle finger to the record industry” and then they did “The Heretic Anthem”, another new one. Seriously, I would hate to be the poor record executive that has to negotiate with Corey. Afterwards, he barked, “I smell a hippie! You guys smell a fuckin’ hippie?!? You know I don’t think we have any hippies here. I think we have crazy motherfuckers here! Do we get the crazy motherfuckers?!? Ozzfest fuckers! If you didn’t come for metal, get the fuck out! We’re going to rip the fuckin’ cock off this motherfucker! This is called ‘Spit It Out’!” Yes, Slipknot is an impossible act to follow, but Marilyn Manson had to try anyway.

Manson was continuing his “Guns, God, & Government” tour which had began the previous October promoting his new “rock opera” album, “Holy Wood (In The Shadow Of The Valley Of Death)”. He had been getting hit from all sides since the Columbine massacre in ’99 where the killers had been reportedly fans of his music. And yes, once again instead of trying to pass sensible gun control legislation, America chose Manson as their convenient scapegoat/punching bag to lean in on. Everywhere he went, he was faced with boycotts and the bitter, pointing fingers of Christian fundamentalists. He would address this issue head on when he was interviewed about the subject for the Oscar winning documentary “Bowling For Columbine” the year after this. In the meantime, he founded his record label, Posthuman Records, broke off his engagement to actress Rose McGowan, and quickly hooked up with Dita Von Teese shortly after.

This would be the fourth time I’d be seeing Marilyn do his over the top grotesque theatrics and at this point, nothing he did was particularly shocking or even arousing to me anymore. I mean, I thought some of the tunes from his first couple albums were provocative and catchy, but by then, I just found his stuff grating, especially his shrill singing voice. But there he was once again in all his lanky glory donning the fishnet stockings, garter belts, thong, and corset, shrieking and gyrating to his black heart’s content. Manson got the audience to put up their devil horns and declared, “Hail Satan! You are some devil worshipping motherfuckers! I love you for that and you mother loves you for that”, and then they played “The Fight Song”, one of his new ones. In the middle of his obligatory cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” by The Eurythmics, he asked us to look at the “person next to you and give them a nice big hug. Then stick your fist in their ass, because that’s what they really want.” Ewww. Sorry, Marilyn. Not these guys.

I’m sure some of the more butch heshers in the crowd took issue with his gender bending and probably split off to check out the second stage which is what I should have done frankly. I actually stayed put on the lawn for most of the show, skipping the other stages, missing guys like Hatebreed and Taproot, though I would soon see Godhead opening for Rammstein at The Warfield just six days later. Marilyn and the band wrapped up their set with “The Beautiful People” and left the stage after setting off some explosive pyro followed by a minute or two of ear splitting feedback. Manson would get in trouble again a month later on the tour, being charged with sexual misconduct against a security officer at a show in Clarkston, Michigan, though the charges would be eventually be reduced to misdemeanor disorderly conduct. Marilyn would plead no contest, pay $4,000, and settle the suit later. I guess that what Marilyn gets for trying to stick his fist in that poor officer’s ass.

But the time had finally come for the man we all came to see, the man whose moniker the festival is named after. By this time, Ozzy was only 53 years old, just a year older than I am now, but he was already shuffling around and ranting like some deranged geezer off his meds. Being an old English rock star, it was a safe bet that Ozzy was deaf as a post, so it came to no surprise that when he repeatedly urged the crowd to scream, he would just as often follow it with, “I can’t fuckin’ hear you!” Still, everybody there loved this maniacal, bug eyed coot and happily traded lines back and forth with him during the first verse of “War Pigs”. Afterwards, he joked that “you can smell the Sweet Leaf out there” and got everybody to chant, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” before they launched into “Iron Man”. They wrapped up the festival goading us that “the crazier you go, the longer we will play” and did a smoking version of their classic hit “Paranoid”. And lo and behold, it was over. I drove home understandably spent from the show, but would be at it again the next two days seeing Kool Keith at the Maritime Hall and then Phil Lesh with Les Claypool opening at the Greek that Sunday.

Which leads me to a final last shout out, though totally unrelated to Ozzy and his merry band of headbangers. Two days before this show, the venerable actor Jack Lemmon passed away. I mention this because I was a fan of his work and Jack had unintentionally tied himself into one of my earliest rock & roll memories. I was only 8 years old in 1980 when John Lennon was gunned down and really didn’t know anything about The Beatles at the time. But strangely enough, I knew who Jack Lemmon was and at first misheard the name on TV and thought that he had been the one killed. Naturally, being so young, I couldn’t imagine why anybody would shoot him, but it didn’t take long to learn of my mistake. It was from there that I learned about John Lennon and by extension, The Beatles, and like most kids, that band would establish a beach head for my musical taste to expand from there. Well, 21 years later, Jack would join John in heaven and I can’t help but wonder if I was the only person on Earth who had mixed those two up all those years ago. 

https://archive.org/details/black-sabbath-shoreline-62901

https://archive.org/details/marilyn-manson-shoreline-62901

https://archive.org/details/slipknot-shoreline-62901

https://archive.org/details/papa-roach-shoreline-62901

https://archive.org/details/linkin-park-shoreline-62901

https://archive.org/details/disturbed-shoreline-62901

https://archive.org/details/crazytown-shoreline-62901

Kool Keith, Pier 30/32, SF, Sat., June 30

SETLIST : Break North, Ease Back, MC Ultra, Neighbors Next Door, (freestyle), Blue Flowers, Girl Let Me Touch You

Kool Keith, Esham, Natas & Mastermind, Maritime Hall, SF, Sat., June 30

SETLIST : Break North, Ease Back, San Francisco Harvey, MC Ultra, (freestyle), Blue Flowers, Girl Let Me Touch You, Neighbors Next Door, Sex Style, (unknown), Spankmaster, Livin’ Astro, Papa Large

This was an awkward but mirth filled day for my friend Tory and me. We had recorded Kool Keith together at the Maritime in 1999, I on audio Tory on video, and the footage from that show was in fact used as a bonus concert on his “Ultra-Octa-Doom” live DVD, which was recorded from a show he did at The Mezzanine in 2007. But we were both returning to the Maritime that night as members in exile. The long tragic tale of our exit from the employment of that venue, I’ve been over all too many times, but feel free to go back to previous entries for more explicit details. But the Maritime show would be a second helping of Kool Keith for us in that 24 hour period, because as luck would have it, he was also performing a set earlier that day, just down at the bottom of Rincon Hill below at Pier 30/32 at the Van’s Warped Tour. 

Usually acts performing in a city have an exclusivity agreement to not play other venues in town on or around the same day, but whatever, I wasn’t complaining. Still, apart from Esham who would also open at the Maritime later, Kool Keith was not only the lone hip hop act on the bill, but the only act with people of color in it. Warped Tour and punk music in general is pretty notoriously caucasian. But thank god they chose him at least. I managed to get my recorder into the Pier, but for some reason I don’t rightly recall, I only taped Kool Keith there. He naturally was the main reason we were there in the first place, but there were also many notable acts playing that festival as well such as Rancid, The Vandals, Pennywise, and The Distillers to name a few. I think also that I was wiped out from the day before at Ozzfest, so I was pacing myself a little. Warped Tour is always fun though, lots of skaters, ramps, vendors, and copious sunshine. But out on the tarmac for a couple hours in all that can wear anyone out pretty fast, especially if they’d been drinking.

Keith had DJ Evil E, who had been touring with Ice-T, introduce him, busting out some skillful scratching for the crowd first. He broke down one solo with a sample from “Peter Piper” by Run DMC, hitting the line, “Not bad meaning bad but bad meaning good!”, over and over, stalling on the words “bad” and “good”.  And though it was a pretty short set, clocking in around a half an hour, Keith was able to get those suburban white kids to throw their hands in the air and chant along. Jacky Jasper was on tour with Keith and they did his song “Neighbors Next Door” together. Jacky joked afterwards that he was going to join the skaters up on the ramps and is “gettin’ ready to break my legs up there!” Incidentally, Jacky is from Canada and had served eight months in prison for “living off the avails of prostitution”, easily now my favorite way to describe pimping. We didn’t stay long after Keith’s set ended, having little time to get something to eat before climbing Rincon Hill to the Maritime.

Strangely, the most distinct memory I had of that long day was the moment Tory and I had literally just walked through the front door of the Hall. We were there not very long before the doors were to open and though we were no longer working there, our old work passes allowed us in and they were gracious enough not to give us the side eye. We had made it up to the third level where the dance floor was and we couldn’t help but notice that the floors were still sticky, littered with plastic beer and cocktail cups, stinking to high heaven of old, stale alcohol. There had been some crazy DJ show there the night before and I had just blurted out, “What happened to the night crew?”, as we were walking onto the dance floor where I saw Boots the owner and his family frantically trying to sweep it all up. I knew he had to have heard me, but Tory and I remained casual and kept on walking, though I have to admit, I felt sorry for Boots despite how cruelly he treated everybody over the years and for a moment even considered joining in to help him.

By this time, I and everybody else in town had known that the Maritime was on its last legs. It’s weird, but during a venue’s last year, you can almost, (or rather literally in this instance), smell it. I had heard rumors of more bounced checks, shows lost to Bill Graham, supply shortages, insane utility bills, and so forth circulating from Boots’ remaining disgruntled employees. Boots had also been tangling with the city and the local cops ever since the Maritime opened and the chickens were finally coming home to roost. There were many other reasons why the Hall sunk, but I will revisit when it finally plunged into the briny deep for good three months later in due time. Technically, this would be the last official show at the Maritime that I would attend as a patron.

The first opener that night at the Hall was Natas & Mastermind. Like Esham, the duo hailed from Detroit and were in fact former high school chums with him. They were carrying on Keith’s “horrorcore” genre and if you hadn’t noticed yet, Natas is Satan spelled backwards, though he does insist that his name is actually an abbreviation for “Nation Ahead of Time And Space”. Natas’ first album “Life After Death” in 1992 was steeped in some controversy when a 17 year old fan was killed playing Russian Roulette while smoking herb and listening to it. Once again, America chose a musician as their convenient scapegoat/punching bag rather than to enact sensible gun control legislation. Esham’s stuff was pretty dark too though, with songs having titles like “I’m Dead”, “Devilshit”, and “Mr. Negativity”. 

We noticed Little Boots, the owner’s son circulating around trying to sell albums from his fledgling hip hop band The Earthlings and his buddy BOAC in the crowd. They were playing their stuff through the P.A. between sets hoping I suppose that it would help, though I imagine everyone there didn’t know them from Adam. We all were there to see the Kool one and the crowd went wild when DJ Evil E did his thing introducing him, “Make some noise for Mr. Blackula! Mr. Octagon!… Kool Keith!” opening their set with “Break North”. Before they followed it with “Ease Back”, Keith actually gave a shout out to Boots and declared that they were “makin’ a movie… Rated X!” and joked about having to climb the staircases backstage all day. The Hall was indeed taping the show that night as we did for the other times Keith performed there, but to this date, none of the footage from this particular show had ever been made public… as far as I know.

Keith had just released his “Spankmaster” album just a few days shy of four weeks before this show, though the title track was the only new one they performed for it that night. He did however repeat the line “Dark Vader & may the Force be with you”, from the new “Dark Vader” song, between other songs. Jacky asked Keith to “tell them about the hotels” they had been staying in and Keith invited us to “go to the Econo Lodge for $49” before they did “Sex Style”. It’s a pity actually that they didn’t play anything else from that new album. Despite it not being nearly as commercially successful as “Black Elvis”, I thought it had some enjoyable and creative numbers like “Mack Trucks” and “Girls In Jail”. In a surprising move, they brought up some fried chicken that they had been eating backstage and offered it to the folks up front, Keith saying, “Around this time, people want to get fed. Are you hungry? Chicken is good!” Jacky and the others countered that they wanted the crowd to “throw some dank on stage” and asked if they “got some paraphernalia? cigarettes? T-shirts?” and such.

They finished the show with a one two punch of “Livin’ Astro” and “Papa Large” and that was it, like most hip hop shows, short and sweet, clocking in at about an hour. Tory and I didn’t know of the Maritime’s impending doom, but it came to no surprise to us or anyone else when it happened. Writing about this show is yet another part of my long process in letting that venue rest in peace. That being said, we were in no way done with seeing Kool Keith ever again though. He would return to town the following year to play at Slim’s which would ultimately be one of the most, if not the most, infamous shows Keith would ever play, or rather not play as was the case that night. But for the gruesome details of the what I like to call the “O Keith, Where Art Thou?” show, well… You’re just going to have to wait until I get there.

https://archive.org/details/kool-keith-maritime-hall-63001

https://archive.org/details/esham-maritime-hall-63001

https://archive.org/details/natas-mastermind-maritime-hall-63001

https://archive.org/details/kool-keith-pier-3032-63001

Phil Lesh & Friends, Col. Les Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade, Greek, Berkeley, Sun., July 1

SETLISTS :

(COL. LES CLAYPOOL’S FEARLESS FLYING FROG BRIGADE) : Thela Hun Ginjeet, Highball with The Devil, Hendershot, Precipitation, Holy Mackerel, Cohibas Splenditos, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Black Sabbath, 2000 Light Years From Home

(PHIL LESH & FRIENDS) : (Jam), Here Comes Sunshine – China Cat Sunflower – Lay Of The Sunflower, Uncle John’s Band – Celebration, Lovelight, )Jam), Cumberland Blues – Rock & Roll Blues, Sugaree, Viola Lee Blues – Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys – Viola Lee Blues (reprise) – Doin’ That Rag – Bertha – Viola Lee Blues (reprise), (encore), Night Of A Thousand Stars

It was a daring combination, putting Phil and Les together. On the surface, it seemed like an ideal pairing, these two masters of bass, but ever since Les and Primus hit the scene, my friends and I always feared that they would blow Phil and the Dead out of the water if they ever opened for them. Indeed, veteran rock stars like Rush and U2 who had employed Primus to open for them on their massive arena tours undoubtedly found themselves with quite the tough act to follow. Even Geddy Lee of Rush, a formidable and legendary bass player in his own right, admitted that Les taught him a thing or two and inspired him to up his game. Naturally, with these two powerhouses of the low end gracing the stage of the Greek for the first time together, there would be no way I’d miss it and the same went for my friend Jeff Pollard who accompanied me that night. And at the ticket price of only $30, even in 2001 dollars, that concert was a steal. 

I had been no stranger to Les’ new Frog Brigade project by then having seen them a whopping six times before this show in only two years, including the two Great American Music Hall shows where they recorded their “Live Frogs” albums. Claypool had just performed at the Gathering Of The Vibes festival in New York just two days before this, alongside such respected musicians as Bruce Hornsby, Soulive, and the Tom Tom Club. The Frog Brigade would be opening for Phil on dates around the country for that entire month of July and the folks in the bay area would be lucky to have all three days that entire weekend to enjoy Phil at the Greek in Berkeley, though Les would be only opening on that last Sunday show which I attended. The first day would be just Phil, playing two sets, the second with The Disco Biscuits opening, who I had just seen that May for the first time headlining a show at The Fillmore. 

It had already been a long weekend for me starting with a doozy, Ozzfest at Shoreline. As luck would have it, Primus had been on that tour the year before and had to have known that Ozzy was just in town. Les mentioned during his set, “It’s been an interesting year. I don’t know if you listen to rock radio, but in the past year, there was a song by Primus & Ozzy Osbourne. I find it odd at the contrast you know, doing a year with playing with Ozzy Osbourne, today opening for Phil Lesh. You know, sitting here thinking about it and the THC is starting to tickle me in a certain way. You know, what is the difference between someone like Ozzy and Phil? You know when you think about it, you know I did Ozzfest, there was a shit more black T-shirts in the audience and it’s not necessarily a good thing. It’s not necessarily a bad thing. What it is and I’ve soaked it all up.” 

Les played a few licks of the minor chord bass line of the song “Black Sabbath” and commented, “That’s the dark side”, and then he changed the lick to a cheery major chord and chuckled, “Hey, how ya’ doin? I’m feelin’ good today. Floatin’ around in the sunshine. I’m feelin’ mighty fine as opposed to…” Then he changed back to the minor chord, “Hey… I wish I had more sunscreen.” Yes, Ozzfest that Friday was a brutal metal marathon, but I had also the next day just seen a double dose of hip hop with Kool Keith, first playing at the Van’s Warped Tour at Pier 30/32, followed by another performance later that night at Maritime Hall. My friends noticed my fatigue during Phil’s set when I had to sit down for a spell where I explained to them what I had been through, not to mention that I had just given blood the day before the weekend started in the first place. But I was much younger then and had the energy for such things. 

This would be the second city Phil would play at on his summer tour, the first coincidentally being also at the Greek, but in Los Angeles. He would be joined once again with John Molo on drums, Rob Barraco on keys, Jimmy Herring on guitar, but this time he had the one and only Warren Haynes from Gov’t Mule also on guitar, a real bonus to the band since he also sang. Phil had done a couple small, discrete warm up gigs earlier in June, one at the Sweetwater in Mill Valley and the other at the Expression Center for New Media in Emeryville. It was a particular treat on that sunny Sunday afternoon because the city of Berkeley took this opportunity to declare at that show that it was “Phil Lesh Day”. Yes, the prodigal son of Berkeley High was getting his just due with this prestigious proclamation which Phil accepted with his customary humble graciousness. It was heart warming to see him accept this honor, really. Phil is an outstanding citizen as well as a brilliant musician and a friend to all and it was uplifting to see him recognized for that. 

And as Phil spoke as he does during shows, sparingly and briefly, Les was his usual verbose self, cracking jokes, making wry comments, and saying downright weird stuff from time to time. As he began the Frog Brigade’s set, he was muttering something like, “Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends… Come inside, come inside… The Greek is one of the most wonderful places on the planet. So, enjoy yourself, enjoy the facilities, and here we go!” There was a loud electric crunch that startled everybody when his guitarist, Todd Huth, plugged in and there was an eerie flute intro played in the background. They had a sampler in the band for the only time I can recall, but it was pretty subtle. Once again they opened with “Thela Hun Ginjeet” by King Crimson, their take on the epic prog rock aria that stretched to nearly twenty minutes long. 

Afterwards, Les’ friend and long time partner in comedy, Adam Gates AKA Bob Cock, came on stage being introduced by Les, “This afternoon, we are blessed with the appearance” of what sounded like Senor something or other and Bob proclaimed, “I bless you in the name of the great one… The giant, effervescent, turning slowly mushroom in the sky. I assume you’re already flying into the ether with us. Just to let you know, we respond to enthusiasm.” The crowd let out an enthusiastic “Woo-hoo!” and Les continued, “You’re a good lookin’ bunch. This song is called ‘Highball With The Devil’. I wrote this. I used to have this Scottish tour manager who turned me on to Highland Single Malt Scotch and he told me, ‘Les, you’ll never have a hangover from this lovely stuff. You’ll never have a hangover’… Well, I have had many a hangover from Highland Single Malt Scotch, much to my dismay, so this song is about wrassling with the big brown booze and a little friend that comes and visits you the next day.” 

They let Jay Lane the drummer do a spirited drum solo during that one and the sampler was sending out what sounded like someone speaking Chinese and then a voice asking, “Can you identify these everyday sounds?” Les broke out his upright bass for the following song, “Hendershot”, giving the song sort of a creepy intro with a violin bow. It was another long one and Les improvised a line during the final chorus adding, “Warren Haynes called him Hendershot!” Les dusted off an old Sausage tune, the proto-Primus band that Jay and Todd had also played in, called “Precipitation” and amused us a little with the first verse of “Wynonna’s Big Brown Beaver” in the middle of it. Les also had Jeff Chimenti in the Frog Brigade that time around, a long time collaborator with all things Dead, and he did a lovely keyboard solo during “Holy Mackerel”. 

Les mentioned that they had “just got back from New York, Jet Blue airlines and the woman in front of us was flaggelating the entire trip. New York was good. Played the Jammies. Played with Junior Brown the other day. That was amazing. There was Junior Brown right there jammin’ up a storm. I think he is the one of the better guitar players on the planet. It was an extreme pleasure.” He went on to introduce the Frog Brigade members one by one and when he was finished, he simply said, “I am just the bass player” and then they did “Cohibas Splenditos”. We were surprised at the end of the set when they did a cover of “2000 Light Years From Home” by the Rolling Stones, the first time I ever heard them do it. In the middle of the song, Les broke it down a bit and did the first verse of “Walking On The Moon” by The Police. He would tour with that legendary supergroup’s drummer Stuart Copeland in another new supergroup, Oysterhead, alongside Trey Anastasio from Phish, later that October, but I would have to miss that show. Oysterhead would also play at The Greek, but I would be roped into recording the last official show at Maritime Hall that night for BT, the famous electronica DJ. I chose wrong, but I’ll get into that later.

Like I said before, Phil was a man of few words, letting Warren do most of the singing that show, but they definitely had their shit together musically. They went from one epically long Dead tune flowing into the next and reprise earlier ones again, rarely stopping to regroup. They did a sort of calypso intro and middle portion of “Uncle John’s Band”, an interesting take on that hippie anthem. We were pleasantly surprised to hear them cover “The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys”, a song by Traffic. I had heard the Dead cover “Mr. Fantasy” a number of times, but that was a new one. I had actually heard that former song for the first time when I saw former Traffic frontman, Steve Winwood, do a show at The Warfield four years before this. Though they only did one set it was a looooong set, clocking in at just a couple minutes shy of three hours, easily matching a typical two set Phil show in length if you put the sets together. 

At the end of it all, Phil gave a shout out to Robert Hunter, the Dead’s longtime lyricist mentioning that “practically every show is a Robert Hunter festival” because of all the songs of his that they do. He also added that they were playing four of his new songs that night as well, finishing the encore with one of them, “Night Of A Thousand Stars”. I survived that long, long weekend of music and mirth, wearily shuffling out with my buddy Jeff to the recording of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” playing over the P.A. This wouldn’t be the last time I’d see Phil and his collection of various “Friends”, not by half. In fact, I would see him play at The Warfield five times over the next five years alone and God knows how many times I’ve seen Les since this one. Seriously, I’ve lost count. It’s been 23 long years since Les opened for Phil, but I just saw him yet again at the Greek with Primus, A Perfect Circle, and Puscifer just six weeks ago. 

https://archive.org/details/phil-lesh-friends-greek-7101

https://archive.org/details/col.-les-claypools-fearless-flying-frog-brigade-greek-7101

https://archive.org/details/phil-lesh-friends-bootleg-greek-7101

Consolidated, Mark Pistel, Guilding The Lily, Slim’s, SF, Tues., July 3

It had been seven long years since I had seen Consolidated do back to back shows only a month apart at both Slim’s and The Fillmore, so I was eager to see them again. They had just released their sixth studio album, “The End Of Meaning”, the year before and this time they had none other than Kevin Carnes from the Broun Fellinis on drums! It was a marriage made in heaven and with the ticket prices at the low, low price of only $8, I would have been a fool to miss it. Opening first that night was Guilding The Lily who at the time had only a self titled album under their belt released a few years before this. Their name is an obscure metaphor meaning to spoil something that is already beautiful or perfect by trying to improve it or by praising it too highly. It being the day before Independence Day, it was sweltering in Slim’s that night, so much so that one of the guys in the band said, “Hot enough for ya?”, between songs. As usual, being on stage first, there were only a handful of people in the audience to watch them and I haven’t seen them since. I did manage to snag one of their stickers though.

But the place filled up a bit more by the time Mark Pistel took over with his blissfully etherial drum and bass sounds. He on the other hand I have seen since, having joined my stagehand union some years ago. IATSE Local 16 is lucky to have such a talented master of audio in its ranks, spoiled really. Mark has an incredible ear as well as sophisticated taste in music, which makes him a virtuoso producer and engineer. He also is a swell guy, friendly as the day is long and I’m glad to know him and consider him a friend. I remember at the end of the first gig we did together at the Marriott, I thanked Mark for his hard work during our little “Dog & Pony Show”, a corny reference to Consolidated’s song of that title. He grinned and I coyly chuckled, “See what I did there?”

If you get a chance to see Mark perform or listen to his stuff, I highly recommend it. And we were lucky to get a double dose of him that night as he would also join Kevin and Consolidated frontman Adam Sherburne on stage for the main event.

Adam was his usual verbose self, lamenting early on about the ever growing invasion of “huge dot coms and rock climbing gyms” in the Mission where he used to live and enjoy “good burritos down at El Farolito”. Later, he introduced another song saying that it wasn’t so much a song but “it’s just a feeling and it’s a feeling about the adults who recognize that we want to protect freedom of speech. That for all the stripper ladies’ unions out there, there are a lot of women out there, out on Folsom Street and our on Capp Street & 18th.” Then some rude jackass in the audience laughed and shouted out, “I know!”. Undeterred, Adam countered, “They are prostituting not because they want to and I don’t find it a funny thing and I think those who do have a lot of misogyny and violence to work on. This is dedicated to all the women who support the women who survive the sex industry and is dedicated to all the men who support those women too.”

Later, he introduced the song “Falling Through You” saying, “This is definitely for someone who loves someone more than anything in the world and until we get to that place, we’re not gonna love anything more than the shit we buy and the way we get ahead.” It was no secret that Adam was a militant vegan and made a point later before they played “Cutting” to make the connection between violence against women and children to “violence against people who are not human”. Finally, he dedicated a song “for anybody that’s involved with activism and for anybody who wants to be but it’s like the rest of the world. It’s pretty damn scary. It’s for anybody who has a heart. This is for you if you’re confused about what to do.” 

Yeah, Adam can be a touch on the preachy side, but I have to admit that I found his words inspiring and try to remember them especially these days when we’re facing the horror of another four years under the merciless Trump regime. It’s good to know that there are people like Adam out there still and I just sincerely wish there were more of them. Activism aside, I wish there were more Consolidated’s out there as well because I find their music brilliant, covering genres ranging from hardcore industrial to soulful funk. It was a foregone conclusion that Kevin’s drumming would be a welcome addition to their sound and I wasn’t wrong. I do have to confess that I haven’t seen perform since, though I believe they got back together briefly a few years ago, playing some shows and releasing the “We’re Already There” album in 2021. Like I said, the world needs more bands like these guys and with some luck, I’ll get another chance someday.

On a sad note, a learned that a couple months after this show, Slim’s ever present doorman, Bob Johnson, passed away from cancer at the all too young age of 53. He was a tough one to miss, being as tall as a tree, and not only did a framed picture of him grace the entrance of Slim’s until the venue closed a few years ago, but also that his ashes were placed in an urn that remained on a shelf above the bar. He was a quiet, but slightly intimidating presence whenever I entered that venue, but those are exactly the qualities that every door person should have and clearly he was revered by all who worked alongside him. On a happy note, one of Bob’s co-workers, Lis Maguire Coyle, more commonly known by people who know her as Tigi, was working monitors that night and though we weren’t acquainted then, I got to know her like Mark when she too would bless my union with her remarkable audio skills. She remembered me vaguely as I would approach her at the end of the nights at Slim’s when she was working the front of house board to delicately pester her for the setlist and/or schedule of the night’s show. She has since relocated back to her home in England, but we remain in touch on Facebook and I wish her as well as Mark all the best.

https://archive.org/details/mark-pistel-slims-7301

https://archive.org/details/gilding-the-lily-slims-7301

https://archive.org/details/consolidated-slims-7301

Rammstein, Godhead, Crossbreed, War., SF, Thur., July 5

SETLISTS : 

(CROSSBREED) : (unknown), Breathe, Pure Energy, Severed, Regretful Times, Underlined, Seasons

(GODHEAD) : 2000 Years Of Human Error, I Sell Society, Inside You, Sinking, Tired Old Man, Penetrate, Eleanor Rigby, The Reckoning, Break You Down

(RAMMSTEIN) : 5/4, Mein Herz Brennt, Links 2-3-4, Feuer Frei!, Rein Raus, Adios, Mutter, Stripped, Zwitter, Weisses Fleish, Sehnsucht, Asche Ze Asche, Du Hast, Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen?, (encore), Rammstein, Sonne, Ich Will (encore), Pet Sematery

Once you’ve seen a Rammstein show, take it from me, you are not likely to forget it any time soon. And though it had been almost three years since I had witnessed their insane carnival of pyrotechnics and industrial metal on the Family Values Tour at the Cow Palace, I was more than happy to feel the heat once again. They had just released their “Mutter” album that April and they played 9 out of the 11 new songs that night, leaving out only “Spieluhr” and “Nebel”. Having seen these crazy Krauts do their thing three times by then, I was nonetheless still amazed by the sheer amount of flammable ordinance they would set off on just a single show, making me ponder the sheer volume of firepower they must travel with on a whole tour. Rest assured, the fire marshal was in the building that night keeping a watchful eye on these pyromaniacs. It was also a safe bet that Ruben Goldberg, our stagehand union’s top pyro guy was around shadowing Rammstein’s people. That wise but eccentric fellow swore me in when I became a Journeyman with the local. And as luck would have it, this would be the second night I’d see an impressive fireworks display since the night before had been the Fourth Of July. 

I was in my usual spot clearing the house left bar aisle and my good friend Dan Rubin was also there ushering with me. Opening first that evening would be Crossbreed from Clearwater, Florida, a state renowned for its output of metal bands. They were fairly new, having released their debut album, “Synthetic Division”, on Artemis Records, a label founded by Canadian all female metal band, Kittie. I have to say, I’ve heard some screamers fronting bands before, but their singer James Rietz, was a doozy. Hearing his blood curdling shrieks was frankly painful to listen to and I’m shocked that he has any voice at all after even the short set they did that night, much less that he continues to belt out tunes like that to this very day. James made a wisecrack between songs saying that “it smells like weed in this fuckin’ place” and complained that yet it was illegal to smoke cigarettes. Though they didn’t play it that night, they had been known for doing a heavy metal cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game”. It was a pity they didn’t since Chris is well known as one of San Francisco’s favorite sons and frankly, it would have been awesome if he had been in the house to sing a verse or two or at least to witness them do it. 

I was relieved to see Godhead follow them because I had actually just missed them play at Ozzfest on the second stage only six days before this. I think I was taping Marilyn Manson on the main stage at the time they were on. Hailing from Fairfax, Virginia, this industrial band had originally wanted to call themselves Blind, but another band had bagged it first. Godhead too had been noted for an unlikely metal cover, theirs being “Eleanor Rigby” by The Beatles, though they did play it that night unlike Crossbreed. It was strangely appropriate pairing their brutal sound with McCartney’s uncharacteristically tragic lyrics. I thought it was funny that their singer Jason kvetched between songs that the airlines had lost his luggage coming there. Now that’s genuinely something to cry about. But the crowd all decked out in their darkest finery was there to see Rammstein and the band didn’t disappoint as usual.

Opening with the first song on the new album, “Mein Herz Brennt”, which translates to “My Heart Burns”, singer Till Lindemann literally had a firework explode from his chest in the middle of the it. They followed it was the second song off the new album, “Links 2-3-4”, a march of sorts which their nerdy keyboardist Christian “Flake” Lorenz did, stepping in place on his riser next to the drums behind his moveable key rig. I had just finished ushering when I rushed back to see Till strap a flamethrower rig to his head during “Feuer Frei!”, (appropriately meaning “Open Fire!), which spewed out bursts for flame from his mouth every time he sang. We earned a well deserved break from the hot stuff for a few songs, though the guitarists somehow were able to make their jackets billow smoke during “Mutter”. I couldn’t help but think about the scene from the immortal film comedy “Airplane!” when Ted Stryker booked a seat on the ill fated flight and when asked if he wanted smoking or non-smoking. He replied “Smoking” and the lady behind the desk handed him his ticket which was puffing out a steady stream of smoke. Maybe that’s where Rammstein got the idea. Anyway, Till sucked his thumb at the beginning of that song and there was a sample playing of a baby crying too.

Like their openers, Rammstein too played a cover that night, theirs being that of “Stripped” by Depeche Mode. They had contributed that one as the last song for the 1998 “For The Masses” Depeche Mode tribute album which I had in my collection of CDs. There were some great covers on that album, even the one of “Enjoy The Silence” by Failure, a band I’ve never been fond of. Rammstein resumed their pyro antics after during the new song “Zwitter”, when one of the guitarists pretended to have technical trouble with his instrument and their guitar tech came out and in a humorous display of phony frustration, hurled his guitar into a prop amplifier that immediately exploded. Next, Till had a stream of white sparks shoot out of the boot of his left foot during “Weisses Fleish” while Flake did one of his silly dances and also had sparks shooting out of his chest. 

They set off a line of small flamethrowers shooting green fire straight up in front of the drums for “Sehnsucht” but during the next song, the guitarists had an effect that was truly mind boggling. Somehow, they figured out a way to set their microphone stands on fire and still managed to sing into them. Sound gear is notoriously adverse to high temperatures as is all electronics really, so hats off to the guys who figured that one out. Till pointed to random people in the crowd when they did their hit song “Du Hast”, singing the opening line “Du… Du Hast… Du Hast Mich”, meaning, “you hate me”. He didn’t point at me, so I guess we’re still good. I don’t hate him in fact, though we’ve never actually met. Seems like a fun guy. And final proof of that, he put on a strap on dildo flamethrower which shot blasts of fire from his crotch for the final song of the main set, “Wollt Ihr Das Bett In Flammen Sehen?”, the first song off of their debut album, appropriately translating to “Do you want to see the bed in flames?”

A set like that demanded at least one encore, but they were kind enough to give us two. They began with their self titled “Rammstein” song which they had previously played as their opener for the other times I saw them. Once again, Till donned his metallic silver, 100 pound fireproof coat which was engulfed in flames. They did a funny, though unnerving bit near the end of the song where with some help from a couple assistants, the coat was extinguished and removed from him, but his leg was still on fire. Till feigned distress and the band also leaned towards him pantomiming concern. Clearly Till had another fireproof suit on as the flames spread all over his body and he fell to the floor pretending to succumb to them. I have to admit, I and I’m certain the rest of the crowd that wasn’t in on the gag was understandably freaked out by what we were seeing. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that such an accident could occur considering how often these guys would literally play with fire. But the assistants came out again, doused Till with a fire extinguisher and he bounced back on his feet, all smiles. I shouted out, “He’s alright everybody!”, in my best sportscaster voice and got a handful of laughs from the folks around me. 

They finished the first encore with “Sonne” and “Ich Will”, but were generous enough to return to the stage to give us one more. The band had taken off their shirts and Till let Flake sing that last song, a cover of “Pet Sematery” by The Ramones. Joey Ramone, the esteemed singer of that seminal punk band, had just passed away from lymphoma just shy of three months before this show and it was a very respectful rendition of that tune really and I was grateful that they did it. 16 years later, I would actually visit a Ramones museum near where I was staying in Berlin, Rammstein’s home town. But sadly, this would be the last time I’d see these lunatics, though they’re still literally blowing it up to this very day.  So, who knows, I might get another chance… if they can manage to not explode on stage for real in the near future. God knows, they have somehow managed to beat the odds so far… auf holz klopfen (knock on wood). 

https://archive.org/details/rammstein-warfield-7501

https://archive.org/details/godhead-warfield-7501

https://archive.org/details/crossbreed-warfield-7501

https://archive.org/details/rammstein-bootleg-warfield-7501

El Tri, Orixa, Fill., SF, Sat., July 6

One of the things I loved about ushering at The Fillmore was because of its prestige from its long history, from time to time, musical acts who are arena sized successful from other countries would pop in to play there. I knew next to nothing then and still to this day about the music of Mexico, but El Tri was one of their big ones. They had been making music since 1968, over 30 years by then and had just released their 18th album, followed by “Sinfonico II” six and a half weeks after this, recorded alongside a symphonic orchestra. Hailing from Mexico City, they originally called themselves “Three Souls In My Mind”, and began their long career singing their songs at first in English. In due time, they would soon be honored with the title of “Godfathers Of Mexican Rock”. The national Mexican soccer team is also commonly known as “El Tri”, but they derive their name from the three colors in the Mexican Flag. Like many foreign superstars who do a Fillmore show, the place was sold out with local ex pats, who I’m sure were delighted to see them in such a small venue. But this fervor also unintentionally denies curious bay area locals from seeing them though, limiting the band’s ability to reach new audiences in America. 

Opening that night was Orixa, a bay area afro-cuban band that blended many genres from funk to ska to rock and so on. I’d seen them once before at The Fillmore three years before this opening for Cypress Hill and I liked their stuff. Like El Tri, Orixa’s songs were all in Spanish, so I wasn’t able to figure out either setlist, but I know their name mean a family of spirits, though is also the name of a genus of moths.  The band, fronted by Rowan Jiminez, consisted of a pair of brothers Juan & Mark Ciapo, and their cousin Eddie. Rowan and Juan met working in town at Guitar Center. They were again a lively way to start the show, warming up the crowd who definitely gave the bartenders in the house probably one of their busiest nights ever. I’m sad to say that this would be the last time I would see Orixa since Rowan passed away in 2020 after a long battle with scleroderma, a rare autoimmune condition. 

Coming into the show sight unseen with El Tri, I was pleasantly surprised how accessible their music was, though I could only understand a handful of words. Curses on me once again for taking German in high school instead of Spanish, not my wisest life decision. El Tri’s music is pretty straight forward rock & roll, sometimes accompanied by a harmonica. Whatever they were singing, the audience clearly knew every song, every word, singing along LOUDLY to everything they played. There was no shortage of top of the lung screaming and ear shattering whistles between songs as well. I liked that during one of their songs later in the set, they broke it down a little bit and played a few licks of “The Pink Panther Theme” by Henri Mancini. I remember their frontman, Alex Lora, had an impressive head of black, curly hair, looking a bit like Brian May from Queen. He had quite a strong voice and got the crowd to do call and response “Yeah’s” and “Hey’s” in a sort of Cab Calloway fashion. 

What stuck with me even before I re-listened to this one again was a thing Alex did near the end of their set that night. He led the crowd to sing along to “I’ll Stand By You” by The Pretenders, but the only lyric he had them sing to the tune was the phrase… (a-hem)… “Chinga Tu Madre”. Now, like I mentioned before, I only knew a little bit of Spanish, but there was no mistaking that phrase and its meaning for me. And as there might be impressionable, non-Spanish speaking young people reading this, I’ll just say… ask your parents what that one means. Anyway, it was a fun night and I thought it was an interesting contrast to seeing another band from another land, Rammstein at The Warfield, the night before this one. At least, at that show, it would be one of the only times where my German actually came in handy. Granted, there weren’t any pyrotechnics at the El Tri show, but they did hand out an awesome poster at the end of the night, one of a Mayan stone mandala, painted by Jimbo Phillips, one of my all time favorite poster artists.  

https://archive.org/details/el-tri-fillmore-7601

https://archive.org/details/orixa-fillmore-7601

Shuggie Otis, Geggy Tah, Fill., SF, Sat., July 7

SETLISTS : 

(GEGGY TAH) : (unknown), One Zero, Dumb Submarine, Whoever You Are, I Forgot, Holly Oak, Aliens Somewhere, Sweat

Like vacations, with concerts, you remember little from the ones that went smoothly, but will carry every last gruesome detail to your grave for the ones that went south, especially ones that went as badly as Shuggie Otis. One of the reasons this show tanked so spectacularly was due in part to all the hype that had been generated around it. From that height, he had quite a long way to fall. Shuggie, the son of legendary R & B musician Johnny Otis, had made quite a name for himself back in the day in the late 60’s early 70’s. His virtuoso electric guitar skills landed him gig playing alongside such greats as Frank Zappa and Etta James, even turning down an offer to replace Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones to work on his solo stuff. He had dropped off the map in 1974 at the very young age of 21 after releasing his seminal “Inspiration Information” album and become a bit of a recluse until David Byrne’s record label, Luaka Bop, decided to re-release it that April. David coincidentally had just performed on that very same stage six weeks before this show and would return to town three weeks later to play at The Warfield. 

But I knew nothing about Shuggie or his music then and was coming in to see him and his opener Geggy Tah sight unseen. They too were signed to the Luaka Bop label and their name comes from the two original members, Greg Kerlin and Tom Jordan, and the mispronunciation of their first names by their little sisters, hence “Geggy Tah”. Their new album, “Into The Oh” (originally titled “Music Inspired By The Fragrance” which I think is better personally), had just been released after a two year delay and six of the songs from their eight song set were new ones.  The show for me was already off to a strange start since it followed two days of first Rammstein at The Warfield, and then El Tri right there on the very same stage at The Fillmore the night before this. I went from Germany, to Mexico, and now… to the Land Of Confusion. 

My friend Matt Thayer was there ushering with me that night and we bumped into his friend John, all of us blissfully unaware of the train wreck we would soon be witnessing. The show started harmlessly enough with Geggy Tah, who had their shit together at least and chatted up the crowd between songs. They mentioned after they did “Whoever You Are”, that they had made a “Spanglish” version which had been added to the “Red Hot Latin” album, one of the series raising money for AIDS research. Greg also mused about during the first time he saw a show at The Fillmore, under a beautiful full moon, his mother had to be lifted in her wheelchair up to the ballroom level by a forklift. I guess the elevator was busted again and though I wasn’t there of course, I doubt OSHA would have approved. Later, Greg dedicated “Holly Oak” to “George Dawson who just died at 103. He learned to read at 98 and he wrote a book that’s called ‘Life Is So Good’”. They finished their set with “Sweat”, Greg saying, “This is for all the people sweating on public transportation”. He politely asked the lighting guy to turn the lights down and joked that he took a shower earlier at the Best Western with all the lights off. It was a hot weekend as usual during the first week of July. 

I was unaware for a long time at the beginning of that gig that my tape deck’s batteries were slowly running low, so most of what I got sounded sped up until it was unlistenable. But what I heard from Shuggie that night was enough to confirm my memory of the event. It didn’t bode well from song one when he came out with his band and was woefully out of tune with his guitar. It took him at least a few minutes to finally get it right and I wondered why he or a guitar tech wouldn’t have tuned his guitars ages ago. But whatever, I gave Shuggie the benefit of the doubt since it my first time seeing him and knowing it had been a minute since he’d performed live. But the night didn’t improve from there, not by a long shot. For starters, when he finally got in tune, the guitar was painfully loud! It’s high pitched, nails going down a chalkboard tone instantly grated every nerve in the house, easily and mercilessly overwhelming his entire backing band. That shrieking guitar fed back all the other mics as well and I can only guess the stress that put the sound people under all evening. 

Now I’d seen my share of inebriated people perform on stage by then, but I wasn’t getting that vibe from Shuggie at all. It was a bit of mystery, since although he was just shy of his 48th birthday, he seemed to act like an elderly person with severe dementia. He shuffled around like Mr. Magoo all night, easily getting distracted, stopping and starting songs over and over again, even playing the same one twice that night. And for the love of god, the man couldn’t keep the beat to save his life, despite his rhythm section’s best efforts to keep it together. I’ll never forget the look on his brother Nicky’s face, playing on drums and the uncomfortable glances he would share with the bass player as they did their darnedest to muddle through the tunes and endure Shuggie’s ramblings. Between songs, he asked, “Can I say some bad words to you?” and one of the guys in the band suggested “George Bush”, but he continued, “Guess what it is… It’s love”. I didn’t know any of his songs, but he did a handful of well known covers including two by Sly Stone, “Everyday People” and “Thank You (For Lettin’ Me Be Mice Elf)”. After another rambling introduction talking about how he bought “Are You Experienced?” by Jimi Hendrix in a record store when it first came out, they did “Little Wing”. 

But even hearing them do those renown hippie classics at The Fillmore, Shuggie and the band found themselves quickly losing the crowd’s attention and folks were starting to conspicuously dwindle out. I’m sure that some of them had demanded a refund at the box office. Even the sound man at front of house had enough of him, especially when Shuggie kept relentlessly bugging him to turn the organ up. I very, VERY rarely leave a show early myself, but this one was warranted and my friends Matt and John concurred. I wanted out so bad, I didn’t even care that I wouldn’t be getting my second poster of the show which I would pick up leaving at the very end in addition to the one I got when I got cut from ushering. The good news is the one they made for the show was a pretty nice one. But despite that, now every time I look up on the long wall of The Fillmore balcony, my eyes are invariably drawn to Shuggie’s poster and the dread from that fateful evening returns just a teensy bit. Shuggie fell off the map again after this tour, but resurfaced in 2013 for another one. I can’t report if it went well, but it’s a safe bet it couldn’t get much worse than this one that I saw. Let’s just say that I’m not eager to see him a second time. 

https://archive.org/details/shuggie-otis-fillmore-7701

https://archive.org/details/geggy-tah-fillmore-7701

Air, Sebastien Tellier, War., SF, Mon., July 9

SETLIST : Electronic Performers, How Does It Make You Feel?, Talisman, Radio #1, Lucky & Unhappy, Playground Love, J’ai Dormi Sous L’eau, People In The City, Le Soleil Est Pres De Moi, Sex Born Poison, Don’t Be Light, (encore), Radian, La Femme D’argent, (encore), Sexy Boy

In a strange coincidence, as I begin writing this installment, I am listening to Air unintentionally. My brother Alex has a radio show on Mixcloud called “The Far Out ‘In’”and I like to write to it sometimes and in this most recent show, he opened it with their song “La Femme D’Argent”. This was my first encounter with Air, but Alex had seen them when they played Bimbo’s in 1998 and again at the Greek in L.A. in 2007. When I saw them that night at The Warfield, I was only aware of Air from their soundtrack for the film, “The Virgin Suicides” directed by nepo-baby Sophia Coppola and Air would go on to also do the score for “Lost In Translation” for her. Honestly, I hated that movie but loved the soundtrack as I do all of Sophia Coppola’s works. She gets great actors and the cinematography is always brilliant too, but Sophia seems absolutely determined to only do dreary and dull stories about wealthy and attractive yet utterly miserable young women. At least Kirsten Dunst in “Marie Antoinette” had cause to be mopey seeing that she was going to be beheaded. But I digress. 

Air is the collaboration between Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel from, you guessed it, France. They brought along in tow an impressive band with them including Jason Falkner from Jellyfish on bass and Brian Retzell, the former drummer of Redd Kross. I learned that their name is actually an abbreviation for “Amour, Imagination, Reve” which is French for “Love, Imagination (obviously), Dreaming”. They had been about since ’95 and were just 6 weeks shy of releasing their second album, “10,000 Hz Legend” and we were lucky enough to hear 8 new songs, more than half of their 14 song set.  My friend Chris Kuckenbaker recently told me that he caught Air on that tour at the Vic Theater in Chicago. Opening that night was fellow Frenchman Sebastian Tellier who was pretty new, having just released his debut album, “L’incroyable Verite” which translates to “The Incredible Truth”. I liked that he had a woman named Pamela Kurstin playing a theremin in the band, not an instrument you hear everyday. It was a short set, only six songs, and though I took a semester of French in college, I couldn’t tell you what the songs were called, much less what they were about. 

Being also unfamiliar with their music, I couldn’t understand Air’s lyrics either and it didn’t help that they sang through copious layers of vocal effects. But I loved their music right away as did all attending in that sold out crowd. One of them mentioned early in the set, “On my last tour, this was my favorite place to play. So let’s play a song that will remind us of the old times” and then they played “Talisman”. I liked that the duo dressed in capes with high collars, making them look a little like magicians or space vampires. They wrapped up the night with a rockin’ guitar version of “Sexy Boy” and left the stage saying “Thank you, sexy people. Have a good night, make sweet dreams. Please, no nightmares tonight, OK? A lot of French kiss and more.” I would immediately go out and pick up their album, “Moon Safari”, at Amoeba and it remains one of my favorites to this day, especially the song “Remember”, though they didn’t play it at this show. I was glad that they gave out a poster at the end of the night and it was a cool one. 

Sadly, this show remains the only time I have seen Air and it’s kind of a sore spot for a couple reasons. Bear with me on this. First, I had a chance to see them in 2016 when I was recruited to work at Outside Lands and Air was on the main stage. But I was double crossed into spooling out the optical fiber runs to the record truck there for the three grueling set up days, but was cut from the crew for the show. For three godforsaken days, my crew and I had to unspool 1500 foot long runs to each of the festival’s stages in the blazing sun, breathing intolerable amounts of dust and diesel fumes. The spools of this cursed bright yellow wire would also become hopelessly tangled as they were laid out leaving us no choice but to struggle over and over again to untangle them. To say it was physically demanding was an understatement, but I especially felt bad for my co-worker David who did it having only one arm, the other he lost in an accident when he was a teenager. I made sure to at least not complain in front of him. 

To add insult to injury, my crew and I were replaced by other video techs for the show and we had to come back after the weekend was over to re-spool the runs. That also denied us a sixth day at work which would have been paying us at time and half all day. We even had to link 4 spools together just to make it to Sutro stage, 6000 feet, well over a mile away, attaching the cable to fences with zip ties and through countless bushes and trees. In short, it sucked donkey dick and I nursed my extremely sore muscles that weekend watching Air and the other acts from that festival over the internet broadcast of their set in my pajamas at home on my computer. Thankfully since then, Outside Lands instead broadcasts the feed at separate stations at each of the stages instead of running it to one big truck. Air’s set was pretty short that day, but they were one of the only bands that year at that festival that I was genuinely eager to see.

The second reason I’m a little miffed about Air is that they are coming to play at The Masonic this coming October, but the cheapest ticket available is currently $333.90. It stings because they’re going to be play “Moon Safari” in its entirety as well. A big a fan as I am of them and that seminal album, they’re out of their fucking minds if they think I would even shell out half of that money to see them on that night or any other. Even if I had that kind of money to blow, I wouldn’t do it out the principal of the thing. But there are people that rich and/or stupid enough to hand that king’s ransom over to those merciless, greedy scumbags at Live Nation. So, in the unlikely event that any of the Air guys are reading this, I will simply say, “Merci, mais je suis desole… Non”.

https://archive.org/details/air-warfield-7901

https://archive.org/details/sebastien-tellier-warfield-7901

Boubacar Traore, Ashkenaz, Berkeley, Thur., July 12

One of my best friends, Matt Thayer, has always had the uncanny ability to score free tickets to all manner of events and that night, he got us ones to see singer-guitarist Boubacar Traore at Askenaz in Berkeley. He had called in to local radio station KPFA who were interviewing Traore earlier that day and bingo, we were in. God knows how many shows he scored over the years calling in to radio stations. It was a very rare occasion that I would see anything at Ashkenaz and it had been years in fact since I’d been there, probably seeing Strictly Roots or some other reggae act. It was renown for bringing in world music and hippie acts, but before that show, I hadn’t thought about Ashkenaz and even assumed that the venue had been closed. But it hadn’t and still remains operational to this very day. During the show that night, the emcee was promoting their effort to replace the dance floor, offering to put donors name on a plaque for making a $200 donation to pay for the new planks. 

I had seen a handful of musical acts from Africa like Femi Kuti, Baaba Maal, and Angelique Kidjo, but Traore is the only one I’ve seen from Mali. “Kar-Kar” as he was affectionately known was 59 years old by this time and as you might expect, was a big deal back in his native country, though he recently had re-emerged from a long absence. The regime of Modibo Keita who Traore was associated with had been overthrown in 1968 and he disappeared, many thinking that he was dead. But he simply moved to France was living a humble life as a construction worker raising his 6 children. Coincidentally, I had just seen the French band Air at The Warfield just two days before this show. Sadly, Traore’s wife died giving birth in 1987, but he began to gradually make music again, getting a record deal three years later. He would write the song “Les Enfants Des Pierrette” as a tribute to his late wife. 

Traore had gotten new attention from his “Mali To Memphis” album in 1999, incorporating his native music with Delta Blues and a portion of the proceeds going to the Music Maker Relief Foundation and L’institut National Des Arts in Bamako, Mali. The year of this show, there had also been a documentary made about him by Swiss director Jacques Sarasis called “Je Chanterai Pour Toi” which is French for “I’ll Sing For You”. One new fan he thankfully picked up along the way was none other than Bonnie Raitt, yes THE Bonnie Raitt. A fellow blues singer-guitarist, she had helped produce his latest album, “Macire” the year before this and was in the audience that night accompanied by another fellow who I think was Jon Cleary, who was in her band. As luck would have it, Bonnie was rehearsing extensively up in the north bay at 101 North studios, ran by my old recording partner Pete Slauson from the Maritime Hall. I came over one day to visit and Pete proudly showed me a stack of Bonnie’s CDs about two feet tall that she had given him. I did my best like everyone else there not to intrude or stare at Bonnie as she sat politely and watched the show. Still, it was hard to resist peeking over at her during the music. I love that woman big time. 

Accompanied by a percussion player, Traore took the stage and quietly sat together on a couple of chairs being introduced by the emcee who praised him for bringing us the “joys, sorrows, and history of the Malian people” through his music. It’s not often that I’m instantly entranced by a musician, but the moment he started strumming that steel guitar of his, I was hooked. His deft skills on that instrument was only matched by his powerful and melodic voice and though I couldn’t understand a word he was singing, the emotional content he expressed was undeniable. He had all of us sitting in our chairs at our small round tables utterly spellbound while he and his percussionist played and we applauded generously between songs. It was an evening with Traore, so there were two sets and during the beginning of the set break the emcee came back on to point out his CDs that were on sale at the merch table.

He eventually came back on on stage and was introduced by Bonnie, who said, “I’m here not because I’m African, but because I love Boubacar Troare and was so honored to have been asked to be representing guitar players of equal genres, to celebrate and welcome the return of the legendary, the rockinest two men in this town, probably in this country in this combination… the inimitable Kar Kar.” It’s a pity that she didn’t play anything with him, but the second set was just as rapturous as the first and because of how close Matt and I were to the stage and the respectful silence of the audience, the tapes came out loud and clear. This would be the only time I’d see Traore, but I’m happy to say he’s still alive at the ripe old age of 82 now. Hopefully, the recent civil war and humanitarian crisis that has engulfed his home country of Mali will be resolved, but it’s a bad scene there now to say the least. This also was the last time I’d see at show at Ashkenaz, though like I said, it’s still open. Now that I’m living in Alameda, I’ll make a point to see another one there sometime. I’m glad I went, a show I would have never known about, and if you’re reading this, many thanks again  to Matt for scoring the tickets. 

https://archive.org/details/boubacar-traore-ashkenaz-71201_202502

Shawn Colvin, Kim Richey, Fill., SF, Sat., July 21

SETLISTS : 

(KIM RICHEY) : Can’t Lose Them All, I Know, Those Words We Said, Come Around, Hello Old Friend, Bring You Down, If You Don’t Mind, Baby’s Got It Bad, Fading, Our Big Mistake, (unknown), I’m Alright, Straight As The Crow Flies

(SHAWN COLVIN) : Heart Of Saturday Night, Anywhere You Go, Bound To You, Polaroids, Shotgun Down The Avalanche, You & The Mona Lisa

I was no stranger by this time to the honey sweet voice of Shawn Colvin, having seen her once before at The Fillmore and at the Bridge School Benefit. It was a downright placid evening especially since she and her opener, Kim Richey, were both performing solo acoustic. Kim would make a wisecrack later saying that her “favorite part about playing solo acoustic are the stunning rhythm guitar solos” and Shawn would also joke about The Fillmore putting up the barricade in front of the stage. Yes, I think we all agreed with her that there would be no mosh pits that night and praised the audience for being quiet and polite, before going on some tangent about Courtney Love and her favorite perfume being ground up raisons and brown sugar. Shawn claimed it was her “mosh pit smell… sticky & icky”. Indeed, she and Kim would talk so much between songs, that it was nearly just as much a spoken word show that evening. So bear with me as I try to rehash some of the highlights of their ramblings. 

But first, a little backstory for y’all. Shawn had just released her sixth album, “Whole New Year” that March, her first one in four years. She had been busy having given birth to her daughter in ’98 and raising her while dealing with her crumbling marriage which would ultimately end in divorce the year after this. In the meantime, she also lent her voice and singing to “The Simpsons”, playing a character called Rachel Jordan, a gospel singer who would befriend Ned Flanders and help him overcome the grief from the death of his wife Maude. I had hoped she would sing “He’s The Man” that her character sang in that episode and I even drunkenly shouted out for her to play it between songs that night, but to no avail. Seriously, it was a nice tune. That year, her hit song “Polaroids” was also featured in the soundtrack of the film “Heartbreakers” with Sigourney Weaver and Jennifer Love Hewitt. 

Kim Richey had a honey sweet voice too and was well received by the audience that night. Originally from Canton, Ohio, Kim had been working around Nashville for years, playing gigs, writing songs for other people, and doing odd jobs until she finally landed a recording contract of her own at the age of 37, just one year younger than Shawn. She joked that “yesterday I was in Merrillville, Indiana. Glad to be here!” and that “Kevin Costner did three baseball movies. Two were hugely successful. I got a song in the third one which I’d like to play for you now” and she did “Come Around”. Afterwards, she told us a little story about how she got a call late at night while sitting on her porch in Tennessee from an old boyfriend. He was way too friendly and probably drunk and that the next song “Hello Old Friend” is “kind of how the conversation went.”

A couple songs later, she told us a story saying, “A lot of people ask me what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done. This one is hands down the most bizarre thing I’ve ever done. I was asked to go to Switzerland to play a show and I said yeah, sure that’ll be great. Free trip to Switzerland. I’ve never been. That sounds good, get some side gigs, see more places in Switzerland. It turns out all the side gigs fell out except for one gig and we got there and nobody would tell me what the show was and I kept asking what is it, what’s the audience?” She knew it was going to be bad when she saw a hitching post for horses and a banner reading “Welcome to the grand opening of the Authentic Western American Saloon”. And it got worse from there, having to play to a crowd of faux Swiss cowboys who also were allowed to drink all they wanted for free.

Like I mentioned earlier, she had written for people in Nashville and one prospect had wanted a song that was “uptempo and positive”, though she wasn’t a fan of such songs. So she thought she’d be sneaky and do one that was “uptempo and negative… This is a little break up number with a singalong chorus”. It was a catchy one, but I still don’t know its title. She played a lot of stuff that weren’t on her albums that night, one of which was a song that she had become so obsessed listening to that she decided that if she learned to play the song, that she “wouldn’t have to get off the couch and press repeat” anymore. But Kim’s yarns seemed laser focused and brief compared to Shawn’s that followed.

I will give Shawn credit for her excellent diction as well as her angelic voice which made it easy for me to transcribe her setlist. Unfortunately, I ran out of tape before she finished only getting the first six songs of her set. To my defense, I would have gotten more if she wasn’t blabbering for so long, including one story that went on for nearly 15 minutes. I’ll get to that one in a second. She started off right to business in the beginning, opening with “Heart Of Saturday Night” and almost immediately following it with “Anywhere You Go”. But soon, she would become easily distracted, reacting to everything anyone in the audience would blurt out asking “What?” over and over again. Before she played “Polaroids”, she talked a little about the Tour de France that was going on then as it does every summer and joked, “I don’t care what he’s taking”, a reference to Lance Armstrong and the early suspicions of his illegal doping. Little did she know how right she was. Shawn followed it with “Shotgun Down The Avalanche”, and though it might be one of her oldest songs, its lyrics might have been a bit of venting for her considering her impending divorce. 

And speaking of venting, it’s time to recall the long 15 minute story she told that night, a diatribe so long that I will do my best to summarize and not quote word for word. The infamous boy band N’Sync were in town the night of this show, staying at the hotel where Shawn was and she talked about an embarrassing incident that occurred during the one time she got to work with them. She had just given birth to her aforementioned daughter in the summer of ’98 when she got the call for her to participate in some Christmas special for Disney that was being taped that fall. Shawn herself had put out a Christmas record which is why she thought she got the call in the first place. So, she came into one of Disney’s studios to rehearse the song she was going to do alongside N’Sync and instantly began flirting with Joey Fatone. 

The time had come to rehearse and she noted that whenever N’Sync sang, they would “bust a move” and she “wanted to please them”, so she made an effort to dance as well. But she quickly added that “any woman will tell you who has had a child, it sort of stretched out your pelvic floor, a delicate way to put it, basically kind of incontinent for a while”. Well, you guessed it, she jumped around one time too many and peed herself leaving a large, conspicuous stain on the crotch of her pants. The crowd, not yet impatient with the length of the story, erupted in laughter and applause, but she went on. Humiliated, she said that she “couldn’t look at Joey anymore”. 

Shawn apologized to us, but insisted that she “could do worse” and that she was an “enormously scatalogical person… Urine is only the beginning”. From there, people were wanting the show to go on, but she countered, “No more singing. I went on the road and had to give up psychotherapy. Now you’re going to pay. You are now my shrinks… Like the time that I tore a scab off my leg and told my sister that it was a burnt potato chip. Don’t get me started. I’m anal expulsive to the extreme!” Then some joker in the crowd pretended to count her off to begin a song yelling “1-2-3-4!”. She finally relented saying, “OK, I got you. Sorry about that. I won’t talk anymore” and then she did “You & The Mona Lisa”. 

Before my tape ran out, she did introduce a song saying that she had started writing it during the period she was living in Berkeley across the bay. Shawn had later moved into a house in Oakland with a bunch of Deadheads and occupied the attic room on the top floor and drank a lot of beer. Ramblings aside, I did love her music, so I stuck around until the end anyway and there was a nice poster that was given out too. I would usher again the following night for Echo & The Bunnymen, a stylistic left turn in music and a quantum leap louder in volume. I would see Shawn return to that very stage almost exactly a year later and I believe she had a band with her that time and most certainly didn’t talk as much.

https://archive.org/details/kim-richey-fillmore-72101

https://archive.org/details/shawn-colvin-fillmore-72101

Echo & The Bunnymen, The Rosenbergs, Glide, Fill., SF, Sun., July 22

SETLISTS :

(THE ROSENBERGS) : If You Wanna Be My Lover, (unknown), (unknown), Paper & Plastic, After All, Overboard, Soaked In Polyester, Secret, Keep It To Yourself, Little Lie, In Pursuit, 

(ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN) : Lips Like Sugar, Rescue, King Of Kings, Seven Seas, SuperMellowMan, Bring On The Dancing Horses, As Eternity Turns, The Back Of Love, The Killing Moon, The Cutter, Silver, Villers Terrace, Flowers, Heads Will Roll, Over The Wall, Nothing Lasts Forever, Do It Clean, Roadhouse Blues, Angels & Devils, Ocean Rain

I followed the very subdued, feminine, and chatty Shawn Colvin show at The Fillmore with its practical opposite the next night featuring Echo & The Bunnymen, a cavalcade of extremely loud goth rock with male singers who were quite brief in comparison with their remarks between songs. This would be the fourth time I’d see Echo in only four years, first at the Great American in ’97 when they had just reformed, followed by a larger show that year at The Warfield after they got their feet wet a bit, and then two years later recording them at Maritime Hall. This would be the first time The Bunnymen would play at The Fillmore, but they must have liked it since they came right back later that December, though I didn’t attend that one. I was disappointed not to catch a bonus free set of Echo at Amoeba Records earlier that day. I either was working or didn’t know about it, but I would have been there if I could have. 

The band had just put out their 9th studio album that May called “Flowers” which had sort of a creepy cover, taken from the cover art of the book “Wisconsin Death Trip” by Michael Lesy. Their music has always been a bit melancholic, punctuated by the somber appearance of their vampirish frontman Ian McCulloch. The Bunnymen were breaking in a new bass player, Alex Germains from The Mountaineers, who was filling in for Les Pattinson who left the band to take care of his ailing mother. Les would rejoin the band four years later. The new material was pretty good and we got to hear four of the new songs that night. We listened to a DJ called Glide spin some ambient stuff early on, at one point almost hypnotizing us with samples of a guy droning, “Relax… You are getting sleepy…” 

First up were The Rosenbergs from New York City. The singer, David Fagin, joked, “Actually, three of us are from New Jersey, but we like to say we’re from New York. Wouldn’t you? We’d like to kiss Echo’s butt for bringing us on their North American tour. You guys are in for a big treat. They sound amazing. They sound like a god.” The Rosenbergs had just put out their debut album “Mission : You” on the Discipline Global Machine label ran by Robert Fripp from King Crimson, but they would soon be blacklisted for their partnering with Napster. This would be the only time I would see them and they would stop performing after the release of their second album just three years later. 

Still, I liked them and their loud energy and humor. We were all taken a little aback when they started their set by playing the chorus of “If You Wanna Be My Lover” by The Spice Girls, who were ridiculously huge at the time and an easy target for parody. Giving a literal shout out to The Bunnymen, David yelped “Lips Like Sugar!” in the middle of their second song and introduced themselves afterwards saying, “Thanks a lot. We are Bon Jovi!”. I was working next to a tall usher named Michael that evening and I heard him asking some questions about video gear since he knew I was a stagehand. He was interested in breaking into working with video and possibly motion capture stuff, though I don’t know if he ever pursued it further. He liked The Rosenbergs and compared them to Oasis of which I could see a bit of their similarities. Like Oasis, they enjoyed drinking and David mentioned, “Last time I was here, I came down with a slight case of alcohol poisoning.”

Before Echo came on, I chuckled with Michael about the end of the night I when I recorded them at the Maritime saying, “I’ve seen Ian with all the lights on and without his sunglasses”. My god… the ghoulish visage of that gaunt, alabaster Liverpudlian under those cruel florescent lights will haunt me to the end of my days. Apart from the new songs, their set was most of the same stuff I had heard before, though I was glad to finally hear them do “Silver” live. Once again, Ian did a couple lines from “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” by James Brown near the end of “Do It Clean”. They did their cover of “Roadhouse Blues” by The Doors as well, a fitting tribute to that seminal rock band that had graced that very same stage in their heyday. When they came back in December they did “People Are Strange” instead, their Doors cover made famous in the opening credits of the film “The Lost Boys”. 

This would be the final time I’d see The Bunnymen, though they still tour to this day and in fact just did a show at The Warfield last month, though I opted to see The Damned at The Regency that night instead. It was a tough call, but it was the first time The Damned were touring with their original drummer Rat Scabies in almost 30 years, so I couldn’t miss it. The good news is my cousin Greg went to the Echo show and I’m sure he had a lovely time. On a sad note, this Fillmore show would be the last time I’d see their keyboard player Jake Brockman alive since he’d die in a motorcycle crash on the Isle Of Man eight years later. In a somber coincidence, Jake would be the second member of The Bunnymen to die this way, having lost their original drummer, Pete de Freitas, to another motorcycle crash in 1989. Still, I have the solemn yet joyful memories of this last show as well as a poster to remember Jake by and hopefully I’ll be able to see Echo again someday.

https://archive.org/details/echo-the-bunnymen-fillmore-72201

https://archive.org/details/the-rosenbergs-fillmore-72201

https://archive.org/details/glide-fillmore-72201

Youssou N’Dour, Fill., SF, Wed., July 25

SETLIST : Baykat, Misere, Immignes, Shaking The Tree, My Hope Is You, Dounya, Birima, Set, Ligueye, Lang, No More, Mbadane, New Africa, (encore), Aziz, Lang

I suppose I took for granted back then how many opportunities I had to see musical acts from the four corners of the Earth, acts like Youssou N’Dour. He had just been in town the year before at The Warfield and this would be the second time I’d be seeing him at The Fillmore, the first being in 1994. For more insight into his back story, feel free to check out his other reviews. But for all you who are new here, I’ll just rehash a little about this musical legend from Senegal. Like so many international stars who play the modestly sized Fillmore, N’Dour is a superstar in his native country, his infectious afro-pop stylings remain renown throughout African diaspora as well as the rest of the world to this day. His reputation and talent attracted many western artists to collaborate with him, guys like Peter Gabriel. That was Youssou’s voice backing Peter up on his song “Shaking The Tree”, which was the fourth one he performed that night.

Coincidentally, I had just had the pleasure of seeing Babacour Traore from Mali, a neighboring country to Senegal just a day shy of two weeks before this show at Ashkenaz in Berkeley. Traore was brilliant, but quite different, he just on stage playing guitar with a single percussionist. N’Dour as before brought along his rather impressive army of drummers, multi instrumentalists, singers, and dancers, dressed to the nines in the most colorful clothes ever seen. And like the other times I had seen him, his transcendent voice was only matched by his boundless energy. It was a master class in rhythm as each of his drummers played their hearts out all through the set, especially during numbers like “Lang”. 

Youssou and members of his band also took turns joyfully dancing their asses off and had no problem from song one getting the crowd dancing and clapping along too. He even got a handful of enthusiastic audience members to come on stage to bust a move as well. Youssou led everyone a few times singing call and response stuff in his native tongue, though most of us in crowd had no idea what we were singing. Whatever it was, it was joyful and I’m glad I went. Pity that N’Dour never got a poster those three times I’d see him since he certainly deserved one and this was the last time I’d see him live. Still, as of today he’s only 64 years old and has always been in Olympic shape, so I’ll probably get another chance. At least I got the setlist this time to remember him by, especially since apart from “Shaking The Tree”, I had no idea what his songs were titled. 

https://archive.org/details/youssou-ndour-fillmore-72501

David Byrne, Si Se’, War., SF, Mon., July 30

SETLIST : The Revolution, Nothing But Flowers, God’s Child, Soft Seduction, Buck Naked, Broken Things, And She Was, Once In A Lifetime, The Great Intoxication, Marching Through The Wilderness, Sax & Violins, This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody), (encore), What A Day That Was, Desconocido So, Like Humans Do, UB Jesus, Dream Police, I Wanna Dance, (encore), The Accident, (encore), Moment Of Conception

It had only been a mere 60 days on the dot since I saw Mr. Byrne do his first pass through the bay area on his “Look Into The Eyeball” tour at The Fillmore. With a small venue leg of that tour complete, he was back once again battle tested with his people to play the bigger houses, this time The Warfield. This would be the third time I’d see him there, first in ’94 and again in ’97. It was the day before that fateful show in 1997 that my friend Casey was killed riding his bike in downtown S.F. and seeing him at that aforementioned Fillmore show helped me get back on the horse emotionally. This one did too, especially since it was at The Warfield this time, the same as ’97. And though David’s playing in town the night after Casey’s death was just coincidental, I would recommend his music to anyone grieving anyway. For me, it was “Once In A Lifetime” that moved me the most as it always has since that terrible day and Byrne played it that night as he had every time before. Maudlin associations aside, I can objectively say it was a terrific show, which had sold out so quickly that they added an additional day on Tuesday. I couldn’t see that one though, since I would have my hands quite full at Moby’s Area One Festival down at Shoreline. 

There was an enjoyable opening act called Si Se, a sort of electronica lounge act from New York City. They were brand new then having just released their debut, self titled album, produced by Mr. Byrne himself on his Luaka Bop record label. They had a lovely singer of Dominican descent calling herself Carol C., but the songs were composed by their keyboardist/programmer U.F. Low. Though Si Se definitely had an EDM element, they had a full band with a drummer, bass player, a percussionist, and even a viola player too. I thought they kind of sounded like Morcheeba and were an easy band to listen to, a good choice for an opener. Carol C praised the crowd a couple songs in saying, “We got some dancers in here!” This would be the only time I’d see Si Se perform, but their music would go on to be used in a bunch of commercials and television soundtracks for series such as Project Runway, Six Feet Under, and Sex And The City.

DJ Rosie Lee came out to introduce David giving us a “big KFOG welcome at The Warfield Theater”. She said, “I’m here tonight because after the show a couple weeks ago at The Fillmore, all my colleagues at KFOG came back to the radio station and talked about nothing else for five days! Now these are jaded industry types. It takes a lot to blow them away so I was determined. So, be prepared to face a big Foghead welcome for David Byrne!” As one would expect, the setlist was practically identical to the Fillmore show, except for one surprise of David dusting off the old Talking Heads song “This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody)”. Likewise, he told almost the exact same introductions to songs throughout the set as he had two months before starting with “Buck Naked” being about his daughter and her aunt who passed away from AIDS. David also mentioned again that “And She Was” had been about his friend in high school in Baltimore who used to drop LSD and hang out at the Yoohoo factory and that “Sax & Violins” had been in the soundtrack of the Wim Wenders film “Until The End Of The World”.

Rest assured, Mr. Byrne played “Once In A Lifetime” again and it was the cathartic release I had hoped it would be. Casey’s friendly ghost is always with me, but thanks in part to David, I was eventually able to navigate the grief to a good place. After that song, he brought out his string section again to accompany the band for the rest of the night and I’m happy to say that it was a long and satisfying set ending with three encores. It felt like we were being spoiled actually. There was no poster at the this one, but I’d only have to wait until the following February to see David once again at The Fillmore. Looking back, it’s still hard to believe that I was lucky enough to catch this “Look Into The Eyeball” tour three different times in only nine months which I think must be the a record for me. 

https://archive.org/details/david-byrne-warfield-73001

https://archive.org/details/si-se-warfield-73001

Area One: Moby, Outkast, The Orb, New Order with Billy Corgan, The Roots, Paul Oakenfold, Rinacerose, Shoreline, Mountain View, Tues., July 31

SETLISTS : 

(THE ROOTS) : Respond/React, The Next Movement, Panic!!!, Water, Dynamite, Double Trouble, Pussy Galore, You Got Me, Questlove drum solo, Kamal key solo, Ben solo, Scratch solo

(NEW ORDER) : Atmosphere, Regret, Crystal, Love Will Tear Us Apart, Your Silent Face, Turn My Way, Bizarre Love Triangle, Touched By The Hand Of God, True Faith, Temptation, 60 Miles An Hour, Blue Monday

(OUTKAST) : Gasoline Dreams, ATLiens, Skew It On The Bar-B, Elevators (Me & You), Da Art Of Storytellin’ Part 1, The Cut Song, So Fresh So Clean, Spaghetti Junction, Better Dayz, Humble Mumble, Rosa Parks, Ms. Jackson, B.O.B.  

(MOBY) : Hymn, Machete, Go, Porcelain, James Bond Theme, Honey, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?, (unknown), Bring Back My Happiness, (unknown), Troubles With God, The Sky Is Broken, South Side, Body Rock, Feeling So Real, Thousand

I have to give Moby credit. This was an ambitious festival tour, done in a way I think was actually ideal, but only replicated again the following year with his Area Two tour. Since the demise of the annual Lollapalooza tour, this one stood alone as the one genuinely diverse travelling festival around. Not only did Moby choose brilliant acts, he allowed them longer set times because there were fewer acts on the main stage. I remember Blues Traveler’s H.O.R.D.E. tour did that too, another extinct musical gathering. It’s a pity that the days of the diverse touring festival have come to an end, replaced by gargantuan three day ones in a single location like Coachella or Outside Lands. It’s understandable, I suppose since one can only imagine the logistics and stress involved in organizing and undertaking such an adventure. There were only 17 dates on this tour with only 4 ones on the west coast, so I consider myself lucky. 

Moby was obviously big by then, possibly able to fill some of those amphitheaters by his lonesome. The songs from his blockbuster album, “Play” seemed to be everywhere, on the TV, the radio, commercials, movie soundtracks, you name it. I knew his stuff well having first recorded him at the Maritime in ’99, then seeing him three times the following year, once on that very stage for B.F.D. and then twice more at The Warfield. He was already working on his next album “18” which would be out the following May and if that wasn’t enough, in whatever spare time he had, Moby started his Little Idiot Collective in New York City, a combination clothing boutique, comic book store, and animation studio. Busy guy.

There was no second stage at this festival, but they did put up a massive DJ tent out in the Shoreline’s promenade with a veritable who’s who of EDM talent at the time. Ford had been one of the sponsors, so they had conspicuously parked a Ford Focus near the entrance of tent with a cartoon of a girl in cargo pants and the word “TECHNO” painted on it. I made a point to get a few snippets of jams from there between the sets on the main stage and naturally it was loud as fuck. There was such an abundance of talent in that tent that day, that it was the one of the rare festival DJ tents that I wished I could have spent more time in. But the guys on the main stage came first and first up was Rhinocerose.

As their name suggests, they are indeed French, an EDM band fronted by Philippe Freu and Patric Carre, one of a growing number of acts in that genre that incorporate live instruments and percussion. I was there with a young woman whose identity shall remain anonymous… That and I frankly can’t remember who it was. It was a long time ago and I was a shameless, swinging bachelor back then. But I noted to her coming in that Shoreline had done the audience the courtesy of already turning on the delay speakers on, high up in those steel blue towers. Often, they would wait until later when the lawn was full to do so, but mostly I believe because they did it to save money on their electric bill. Rinocerose were a pleasant, mellow way to start, and though I thought they were quite good, I haven’t seen them since.

The following act on the other hand I had seen plenty before this day and would also see plenty afterwards. Yes, the ever-present Roots were on the bill, a band I had personally recorded on five separate occasions at the Maritime and had seen on several other stages since they were a three piece way back in 1996. You can always rely on The Roots and they were having fun that day, playing a respectable set of seven songs before allowing each member to play solos and cover bits. Their rapper, Black Thought, did a little a cappella in the middle of the song, “Pussy Galore” and later covered a bit of “Peter Piper” by Run DMC. He joked afterwards that “we not just, we not the type of brothers that’ll get all the hits all up in here all at once. You know, we like to let it accumulate, like to let it slowly build up till it gets to the point where it comes back… 1,2,1,2,1,2… Uhhh (sort of a sexual groan)”. I liked that they did a little jazzy arrangement at the beginning of “You Got Me” too. 

Questlove did his solo with a sort of slow build in the beginning and brought that modest drum kit of his into a whirlwind of beats. Then, Kamal Grey the keyboardist led the band through a blues number which sounded suspiciously like “Hoochie Coochie Man” by John Lee Hooker, but I’m not sure. Their DJ followed that with bits from “Push It” by Salt N’ Pepa, “Trans Euro Express” by Kraftwerk, “Simon Says” by Pharoah Monch, and strangely enough, Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit”. By this time, human beatbox extraordinaire Rahzel had left the band, but Scratch had no trouble dazzling everyone with his mind boggling vocal abilities. It’s that diversity of talent which made them an ideal band for “The Tonight Show” and I was fortunate to see them so many times back then during their meteoric rise. The Roots pleased everyone which also made them ideal for festivals and it would only be just a couple weeks shy of a year from then when I’d see them again on that same stage, performing at the Smokin’ Grooves festival.

I high tailed it back to the DJ tent to hear the last couple minutes of “Little Fluffy Clouds” by The Orb, one of the best EDM songs ever created. The Orb are a weird couple of blokes though and they would follow that iconic literally atmospheric song with “Jambalaya” by Hank Williams, Sr. and then a bit of “A Few Of My Favorite Things”. The Roots weren’t the only act who weren’t afraid to make a sharp, stylistic left turn. I’ve always loved The Orb and was glad to catch them if only for a brief time. But I definitely had to get back to see New Order, a band I’ve foolishly and disgracefully neglected to see in their hey day, but was relieved to at last add them to my musical bucket list. They had just reformed in ’98 and would release “Get Ready”, their first new album in 8 years later that October, and we would hear three new ones that day. 

I was too young to see their first band, the post punk pioneers of Joy Division. It had been twenty years that year since their former singer Ian Curtis hung himself. Pity I never could see that sad git alive. Ian and I share the same birthday, you know. What made seeing New Order this time especially irresistible was the unexpected addition of Billy Corgan from Smashing Pumpkins in the band playing guitar. I’ve made no secret to my bitter distain for Billy’s voice, but I always thought his guitar playing was exceptional, one of the few rock musicians who can sing and also play lead, making him a worthy addition to New Order. 

When I had returned to my female companion napping on the lawn, I overheard myself saying that “I didn’t want to wake you. You looked so peaceful”. It was the middle of summer and all day shows at Shoreline are always taxing. When they opened their set with the Joy Division song, “Atmosphere”, she joked, “Man, this is really going to make me feel old.” New Order dusted off their old band’s moody classic “Love Will Tear Us Apart” as well. They allowed Billy to sing the song “Turn My Way” and he casually pleaded with the others on stage saying, “Take my hand and don’t let go”, the songs opening line. He recorded that song with New Order on the new album as well.  As I had feared, Billy’s nasally shrieking voice instantly got under my skin from the first word he sang. I cringed through it and thankfully, he left the rest of the singing to New Order. 

Afterwards, bassist Peter Hook pointed in the crowd and chuckled, “Please welcome our producer Arthur out in the audience. Hello Arthur! He’s got a big dick just like me” and then they played “Temptation”. They wrapped things up with their seminal 80’s dance number “Blue Monday” and then I dashed back to the DJ tent to catch some of Paul Oakenfold. Like The Orb, I was pressed for time and caught just a little of him. I regret that I haven’t seen New Order since, but I did catch Peter Hook with his other band Monoco at The Fillmore just two and a half months later. Peter still tours playing that trademark low slung bass of his, regaling his fans with tunes from both New Order and Joy Division and I’ve been meaning to catch him again. He’s coming in September to play The Warfield, but I will regretfully be out of town for it. Next time, Peter, next time…

I was honored to have recorded Outkast twice in 1998 back at the Maritime just as they were getting big, but by this time, they were HUGE. It had only been three short years, but they went from dressing in street clothes to looking as if they were pimps rom outer space. With the release of fourth album, “Stankonia” the previous Halloween and its smash hit song, “Ms. Jackson”, they would soon be certified a whopping five times platinum and that song would win them a Grammy for Best Rap Performance. The days of seeing them in small venues were officially over. And even then, they would get only bigger a couple years later with “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” and blockbuster hits like “Hey Ya” and “The Way You Move”. They were at the top of their game and the energy in the air was palpable as they took the stage, bringing with the band three back up singers and four dancers.

Andre 3000 was sporting a platinum blonde surfer wig with a tan captain’s jacket, blue bell bottoms, and wide sunglasses. Both he and Big Boi also had an impressive collection of shiny gold chains around their necks. A couple songs in Andre announced, “We’re Outkast from Atlanta, Georgia! We specialize in having a good time!” and “Hey San Francisco! Do we have any cool people in the house? All the fresh people, put your hands in the air!” Later, Big Boi said something like, “If I look different, I put my hair up in a bun the other day. They’re trying to figure out if I’m an impostor or the real deal. I tell you what we’re going to do. We’re gonna move everybody to the back of the bus, is that alright?” and then they did “Rosa Parks”. 

Outkast actually got into a little lawsuit that year over that song, upsetting the then-alive titular civil rights icon. She didn’t appreciate some of the vulgar language Outkast used apparently. The band hired THE Johnnie Cochran himself to fight the charges and eventually settled in 2005 agreeing that there was no wrongdoing and to develop and fund education programs concerning Rosa Parks in the future. Anyway, the show went on, the guys on stage periodically egging on the crowd yelling “Crowd check!” between songs, yelling for them to get out of their seats and throw their hands in the air.. Andre wrapped things up introducing “B.O.B.” asking, “Can we speed it up a little bit?” in an English accent for some reason, calling the song “hip hop on crack”.

To be fair, Outkast was a very difficult act to follow, but it was Moby’s baby and that meant he was the headliner. I caught the very end of Oakenfold’s set in the DJ tent and I came back up the lawn hearing some guy next to us screaming, “Moby!!! I love you, Moby!!!” The set was similar as expected to the other times I had seen him, once again opening with “Hymn”. After they did “Porcelain”, he once again messed around with his guitar doing various solos including a bit of “Zero” by Smashing Pumpkins “in honor of Billy Corgan”. Moby was his usual talkative self once telling the story how he was offered to do the theme to the 1997 James Bond film “Tomorrow Never Dies” and couldn’t pass it up having grown up on James Bond movies, joining the likes of such bands as Duran Duran doing the opening song. He made a point for us to pay attention to his DJ and percussionist for that one. 

A few songs later, he talked about the first time he was in San Francisco around late 1991 early 1992, calling them his “halcyon days” and his “most wonderful experiences, full moon raves, being outside, surrounded by people you really care about… hugging and loving each other and dancing”. Moby then went on to play three “rave anthems” he wrote, but I only knew the title of the middle one, “Bring Back My Happiness”. Always stubbornly determined to prove to the public that he’s not just a DJ, he then went back to noodling on his electric guitar, joking “maybe when I’m 45 I could get kinda fat, grow a beard. That would be so much fun. Play in a crappy little bar, sit around and play stupid music all day, drink beer”. Well, Moby is 58 today and is still hairless and skinny as a rail. 

He introduced “Body Rock” saying, “If I may be so immodest, I think this song kicks ass”. Moby continued his heavy handed graciousness afterwards, “Something that I feel compelled to do, something that I have to do is say a very, very special thanks to all the musicians and DJs who performed here today. Special thanks to Derrick May, to The Orb, Paul Oakenfold, Rhinocerose, to Timo Maas, The Roots, New Order, and to Outkast. What an amazing bunch of musicians. That’s so cool. I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have so many amazing talented musicians. I’m the luckiest little festival organizer in the world. Now again, if I might be so arrogant and immodest, I think this next song is a beautiful, beautiful disco song”. And then they played “Feeling So Real”, Moby once more scurrying about frantically shouting, “Love make you feel it now!!!”

It had come to the end and Moby knew he was running out of time so he made one final goodbye saying, “Last but not least, I have to say a special thanks to everyone in this wonderful audience. I don’t want to sound like some sleazy showbiz guy. In all honesty, it means the world to me that you’d come down and support our open minded festival.” He finished the night in what was their “time honored tradition in the last eight years” with “Thousand”, literally “the fastest song in the world”. I was drained by the end of it of course, especially since I had seen David Byrne at The Warfield the night before this, but I was glad I went. It would be the last outdoor festival show I’d see that year and on a sad note, it would also be the last one I’d see before 9/11.  

https://archive.org/details/moby-shoreline-73101

https://archive.org/details/outkast-shoreline-73101

https://archive.org/details/paul-oakenfold-shoreline-73101

https://archive.org/details/new-order-with-billy-corgan-shoreline-73101

https://archive.org/details/the-orb-shoreline-73101

https://archive.org/details/the-roots-shoreline-73101

https://archive.org/details/rinacerose-shoreline-73101

Afro Celt Sound System, Pina Kollars, Fill., SF, Wed., August 1

SETLISTS : 

(PINA KOLLARS) : (unknown), Cold Storm, Josephine, I Loved The Way, Debt Song, I See The Blue, On A Day Like Today

(AFRO CELT SOUND SYSTEM) : Eireann, Big Cat, Whirl-y-Reel 1, Perc & Pipes, Further In Time, Lagan, Shadow Man, When You’re Falling, Colossus, Riding The Waves, N’Faly

So much in music depends on timing in every sense of the word. It was such serendipitous timing that brought British producer Simon Emmerson to Senegalese afro-pop star Baaba Maal once upon a time which hatched the idea for Afro Celt Sound System. Simon had been working with Baaba on one of his albums when the notion of the similarities between the Gaelic music of Ireland and the Pulaar music of Senegal flipped on the proverbial cartoon light bulb above his head. With the help of two of Baaba’s band members and others from six different countries, being the U.K., Senegal, Guinea, Ireland, and France, they began piecing together songs for their first album, “Volume 1 : Sound Magic” in 1996. That and the two other volumes to follow were released on the Real World record label fronted by the one and only Peter Gabriel.

In another welcome bit of good timing, Mr. Gabriel had just wrapped up his three day WOMAD festival up in Redmond, Washington that weekend. I had just seen another Senegalese afro-pop star, Youssou N’Dour, at The Fillmore just before he performed at that festival as well as David Byrne at The Warfield the day after he performed there. As luck would have it, I would also see Baaba Maal at The Fillmore ten days after this, though he strangely wasn’t at WOMAD with the others. We are occasionally blessed with acts playing at festivals like that one and Coachella that they would also swing by the bay area. I was already a little exhausted coming into this show having seen David at The Warfield on Monday followed by a whole other festival, Area One, Moby’s big bash with Outkast, New Order, The Roots, and others down at the Shoreline. This would also be the first of three Fillmore shows in a row I would see in nine days, this one, Patti Smith, then Baaba. 

Afro Celt Sound System had only toured in America once before in ’99 supporting their second album, “Volume 2 : Release” and though it earned them a nomination for a Grammy for Best World Music, the band took a steep hit in their wallet financing that tour. This time they were playing stuff off of their third one titled, you guessed it, “Volume 3 : Further In Time”. Like I mentioned before, they had in tow a motley crew of talented musicians from several countries including Iarla O’Lionaird and N’Faly Kouyate on vocals, Moussa Sissokho on talking drum, and Johnny Kalsi on percussion. Simon would be front and center for their set armed with his trusty bouzouki. I caught a bit of their soundcheck as I came in before the doors opened and liked what I heard immediately. 

Opening that night would be a young singer/songwriter named Pina Kollars from Vienna, Austria who often just went by her first name Pina. She had relocated to Cork, Ireland and had just been picked up also on Peter Gabriel’s Real World label, though her debut album, “Quick Look”, wouldn’t be released until the following year. Unlike Afro Celt, she was all by her lonesome singing solo acoustic, but she held her own just fine. She came on stage and greeted the crowd saying, “Hello, hello you beautiful people of San Francisco. I’m Pina Kollars. I’ve come with the Afro Celt because I’ve done one of their songs on the new album. I won’t sing with them tonight, but I’ll support them instead. These are a couple songs that got on my new album which will come out in February 2002. This is a song about birth. It’s for my daughter. That was really hard work!” And then she started her set with the song “Cold Storm”. Pina had recorded the song “Go On Through” on the new Afro Celt album singing alongside Iarla, but they didn’t perform it that night. She thanked the crowd later and introduced “Debt Song” calling it one “about a sad couple”. Yes, Pina’s songs were pretty but subdued, so by the time Afro Celt came on, we were ready to liven up ourselves.

A DJ from KFOG named Dusty Rhodes came on to kick off their set praising Afro Celt’s new album and adding, “If you haven’t added it to your collection already, you’re probably gonna want to do it before the night is over. But you’re in luck because it’s available to you at the Fillmore store along with Afro Celt Sound System’s previous two releases. You’re in for a great show tonight. I know you’re going to have a fabulous time. Join me in a big KFOG welcome for Afro Celt Sound System!” From song one, they had my complete attention with their unique mash up of musical styles, especially the mallet and percussion work they did on songs like “Big Cat” and “Whirl-y-Reel”. Simon was all smiles and said between songs, “Great to be back! We said we’d be back, didn’t we?… And without any further ado, we’re going to dance on!” and then they played “Further In Time”. 

There wasn’t a poster at the end of the night sadly and this would be the only time I would see them play. I’m glad that we got to hear five of the new songs that night. But as all great things come to an end, Simon would eventually have a falling out with the other band members and they would acrimoniously split the band in two in 2015, one version of Afro Celt going with Simon, the other with members multi-instrumentalist James McNally and programmer-engineer Martin Russell. And to make matters worse, there will be no reunion in the future since poor Simon passed away just last year, the day after his 67th birthday in fact. It’s a pity that I missed when they played at Stern Grove in 2003 with Sound Tribe Sector Nine. That would have been a hell of a show. Still, I’m glad I saw this rare bird of a band when I did and wish there were more multi-national fusion acts like that around these days. 

https://archive.org/details/pina-kollars-fillmore-8101

https://archive.org/details/afro-cult-sound-system-filllmore-8101

Patti Smith, Grant Hart, Fill., SF, Tues., August 7

SETLISTS : 

(GRANT HART) : Remains To Be Seen, Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill, 2541, Pink Turns To Blue, Back From Somewhere, Sorry Somehow, You Don’t Have To Tell Me Now

(PATTI SMITH) : Privilege (Set Me Free), So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star, Birdland, Gone Pie, Redondo Beach, The Lamb, Boy Cried Wolf, Grateful, Beneath The Southern Cross, Frederick, Lo & Beholden, Seven Ways Of Going, Summer Cannibals, Don’t Say Nothing, People Have The Power, Gloria, (encore), Because The Night, Pissing In A River, Radio Ethiopia, Rock & Roll Nigger

It had been almost five years since I saw Patti Smith, though I saw her perform three times in that year of 1996 alone, twice at Bridge School and once at The Warfield. Since then, my opinion of her, at least her politics had cooled a bit since she chose to support that schmuck Ralph Nader, helping bring about the draconian George W. Bush regime we all were living under then. Patti redeemed herself somewhat campaigning for Kerry in 2004 and speaking at the first protests of the second Gulf War, but the damage was done. Too little too late. And though it can be difficult at times to separate and forgive an artist from their ill advised politics, I still appreciated Ms. Smith for her musical contributions to human civilization and her other altruistic efforts in political activism. 

This was the first of two sold out nights she was performing at The Fillmore and she was still touring in support of her most recent album, “Gung Ho” which had been released in March of the previous year. Her latest single from that album,“Glitter In Their Eyes”, would go on to receive a Grammy nomination for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance that year, though she didn’t perform it that night. Still, we did get to hear four of the new songs from that album. I was getting some quality Fillmore time then, having just seen the Afro Celt Sound System there a week before this and would see Tricky also on that stage two days after this.

Patti Smith fans were treated to a handful of covers on both nights, both shows getting her reading of “The Lamb” by renowned English poet William Blake. On our night, she sang “So You Want To Be A Rock & Roll Star” by The Byrds and “Gloria” by Them, two venerable hippie acts that graced The Fillmore stage back in its earliest days. On the second day, Patti spoiled the crowd with even more covers starting with “The Wicked Messenger” by Bob Dylan, then “The Last Time” by the Rolling Stones, “Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly, “Dark Star” by the Grateful Dead, and “Heart Shaped Box” by Nirvana. One would think that this member of rock & roll royalty would get a poster at the end of the night for these back to back sold out shows, but alas everyone went home empty handed.

Before the opener, I took a moment to listen to a pair of musicians up in the poster room, one on a sitar, the other beating a pair of tabla drums. With the aforementioned hippie covers Patti sang, this duo reinforced the sort of flower power flavor seeping in and co-mingling with Smith’s New York proto-punk persona. First on stage was former Husker Du drummer, Grant Hart. I had seen his former bandmate, Bob Mould, a few times since that seminal early grunge band parted ways in 1988, and though I was well aware of Husker Du’s reputation and influence, I was unfamiliar with their music. It was just him by his lonesome playing at first solo acoustic, then quickly switching to solo electric and he dusted off three Husker Du tunes, “Girl Who Lives On Heaven Hill”, “Pink Turns To Blue”, and “Back From Somewhere”. 

Grant had been keeping busy during the intervening years having been in Nova Mob until that band’s break up in 1997 and having released his second solo album, “Good News For Modern Man” two years before this show. He had played piano and Farfisa for the song “Persuasion” on Patti’s “Gung Ho” album too. Grant seemed comfortable on stage alone and chatted with the people up front between songs joking, “You guys have any good ideas? Is this a Mensa convention?” Grant followed that by wishing somebody in the audience a happy birthday. This would sadly be the only time I would hear him perform since he passed away in 2017 from liver cancer and Hepatitis C at the all too young age of 56. Obviously, there will be no Husker Du reunion now. Shortly after Patti took the stage she took a moment between songs to say, “I’d really like to thank Grant Hart for playing with us tonight. Grant is one of our national treasures”.

Patti was just a few months shy of her 55th birthday, but she had no hesitation embracing her middle age, complaining that she need “her spectacles” calling it “a Ben Franklin moment”. After her reading glasses were found, she said, “Thanks to Patty Hudson for finding my glasses. She’s bailed me out of many situations” and then she sang “Gone Pie”. A couple songs later, she continued the hippie ambience introducing the tune “Grateful” with, “Anyway, we were in Hawaii an August 1st, which was Jerry Garcia’s birthday. So we officially kicked off Jerry week. Jerry week lasts from his birthday, August 1st, to August 9th when Jerry passed on to another realm. I’m sure the other realms were saying, ‘Whoa! Jerry’s here!’ Can you imagine the other realms thinking they’re hot shit cus’ they’re other realms, wishing something new would happen. But they hear Jerry’s on his way… like lucky them.”

Despite her short sighted decision to back Nader, Patti continued pushing the fight for progressive causes, making a lengthy appeal to the crowd before she did “Don’t Say Nothing”. She began it by declaring, “I got a public service announcement. It’ll only take a minute. Friends… San Francisco is going to have an election in November. Are you aware of that? I don’t even live here and I know there’s going to be an election in November. Alright, calm down for a second. Hearing my voice so loud… It’s making me sick. Alright, anyway… There’s going to be an election in November and when that election comes, people get to decide whether they own their own utilities or leave them in the hands of PG&E”. There was a resounding “Boo!” from the audience, myself included. She followed up asking, “Do you like PG&E?” The boos continued and she asked, “Would you rather have your utilities in your own hands? Well then, don’t be assholes in November. Don’t sleep through November. The only party day in November is November 28th, William Blake’s birthday. You can have a party, but on election day, you have to…”

She paused a moment to listen to what people up front were yelling at her, but she continued, “You’re distracting me. Man, we can get this all over painlessly if you just shut the fuck up. Anyway, the campaigns here are friends of yours. There are people out there who are working night and day on your behalf. Fellow citizens, they’re not being paid. They care and have asked me to talk about it. Their campaign is called the MUD campaign. The San Francisco…” Then she sort of trailed off trying to come up with the words for the abbreviation, “You know what I mean. I know I’m not even a citizen of San Francisco. Anything you can, take out of others, out of business’ hands, out of government’s hands, and put back in your own hands is probably a good idea. No matter who owns the utilities… What’s really important is to understand that our resources are not infinite… Like my dad used to say, ‘You live in a barn?’ My dad used to yell at me for not turning out the lights. He was right. Turn out the fuckin’ lights if you’re not using them. Alright, that’s the end of that… Let’s have some fun!”

It was appropriate that she would follow that with her working class anthem, “People Have The Power” and she punctuated its message at the very end of it shouting, “Don’t forget it!” I regret to say that the MUD, (which I assume stood for Municipal Utility District or something like that), initiative was narrowly defeated at the ballot box that November and San Francisco remains under the cruel, greedy thumb of PG&E. I’m just glad that I now live in Alameda which had the wisdom to have its own public utilities. Sorry, SF. They say you can’t fight city hall, but they gave it a try nonetheless. My tape ran out just before she finished her set with “Gloria”, so I wasn’t able to get the songs of the encore either, but I naturally stuck around to the end to hear them. She opened the encore with her hit “Because The Night”, made famous for a second time in 1993 when 10,000 Maniacs covered it for their “MTV Unplugged” album. This would be the last time I would see Ms. Smith, but she’s still performing to this day at the age of 77, though her hair has turned white as a ghost. 

https://archive.org/details/patti-smith-fillmore-8701

Tricky, Emiliana Torrini, Fill., SF, Thur., August 9

SETLISTS :

(EMILIANA TORRINI) : Sea People, Tuna Fish, Easy, Finger Tips, 10 To 20, To Be Free, If You Go Away, Baby Blue, Unemployed In Summertime, Dead Things, Telepathy

(TRICKY) : You Don’t Wanna, (unknown), Pumpkin, Give It To ‘Em, Lyrics Of Fury, (unknown), Evolution Revolution Love, Black Steel, (encore), (unknown), Vent

I was all too familiar with Tricky by this time, making this the 7th performance, count ‘em, seven times that I had seen him play in only six years. This would be the third time in a row I’d catch him at The Fillmore, the last time being just that April.  And if that wasn’t enough, I’d see him one more time less than three months later opening for Tool at Shoreline. Coincidentally, Tool would be performing back to back sold out shows across the bay in Berkeley that weekend of which I would see the first day. Tool and Tricky had both been on the main stage for Lollapalooza back in 1997 and I guess they hit it off. Tricky had just released his “Blowback” album a month before this show and I know he played at least three new songs that night. I say “at least” because despite all the times I saw Tricky back then, god help me trying to decipher his lyrics, even during the quiet parts.

Opening that show would be Emiliana Torrini from Iceland. If you thought her name was suspiciously Italian, you would be correct that she is of that decent. Fun fact, her father Salvatore Torrini literally had to change his name to an Icelandic one when he moved there, calling himself David Eiriksson. Believe it or not, that was the law there at the time and likewise, Emiliana had to change her name to Eliliana Davidsdottir. Thankfully, later the laws changed and they were able to go back to their original handles. I am glad to say that whatever name Emiliana would go by, she still was an impressive act to listen to and I thought her music was brilliant. I was able to catch her rehearsing the songs “Easy” and “Telepathy” during her soundcheck and I knew right away that I liked her sound.

Her music sort of melded into that genre of trip hop, drum and bass lounge stuff like Morcheeba and Si Se that was popular around that time, though her voice was powerful and intense, operatic really. Because of her vocal prowess and thick Icelandic accent, it was also hard not to compare her to fellow Iceland citizen Bjork and likewise difficult to comprehend the stuff she was saying between songs. I actually heard myself let out an audible “Huh?” a couple times after she addressed the audience. Though this would be the only time I’d see her live, she’d go on to have a successful career, even singing “Gollum’s Song” for the film “Lord Of The Rings : The Two Towers” and a blistering cover of Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit” for the “Suckerpunch” movie. 

Tricky also did a couple covers of his own that night including their version of “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” by Public Enemy and Eric B. & Rakim’s “Lyrics Of Fury”. Actually, before they even began their set with the new song “You Don’t Wanna”, they walked onstage to the sounds of “Sympathy For The Devil” by the Rolling Stones over the loudspeakers. Once again, Tricky had brought along Ambersunshower and Hawkman to assist him on vocals, the first cooling us off with her silky smooth, come hither siren song and the latter barking out manic, dancehall style rapping with his thick Caribbean patois. All the while, there was Tricky again convulsing and jittering non stop to the point where it was uncomfortable to look at him for too long. 

Amidst the din of their relentless beats, I overheard my friend Liz finding me in the crowd and catching my attention halfway through the show yelling, “Nick! Nick Baker! How you doing!?!” She was there with her friend Bernadette and we chatted a bit and hung out until the show wrapped up. Tricky would also later play a new song called “Pumpkin” which vocals were recorded on the new album by a young , aspiring singer named Allison Goldfrapp, a brilliant musician who I would fall in love with and adore in the years to follow as (you should know if you don’t know by now as), Goldfrapp. 

Just a mere two minutes before the end of the encore, some poor young woman passed out right beside Liz, her friends, and me on the dance floor, dropped like a fleshy stone totally without warning. I told her to stay put until the helpful people from Rock Med showed up to assist her. They came by just as the band was finishing “Vent” with an intense drum solo. It was the middle of summer, so it was a hot one that night and seriously, if you’ve ever heard that song, it’s a perfectly appropriate one to lose consciousness to with its seemingly endless barrage of bombastic rhythm and Tricky screaming, “Can hardly breathe!!!”, at the top of his lungs over and over again. Well, everybody earned a breath of fresh air after it all was over and luckily Tricky got a poster this time. The show he did in April didn’t get one. This would be the first in three shows in a row that weekend for me, the next being the aforementioned Tool gig, and then back once again to The Fillmore for Baaba Maal. 

https://archive.org/details/tricky-fillmore-8901

https://archive.org/details/emiliana-torrini-fillmore-8901

Tool, King Crimson, Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley, Fri., August 10

SETLISTS : 

(KING CRIMSON) : Dangerous Curves, The ConstuKction Of Light, Into The Frying Pan, Level Five, The Deception Of The Thrush, Larks’ Tongues In Aspic (Part IV), Coda : I Have A Dream, Thela Hun Ginjeet, Red

(TOOL) : The Grudge, Stinkfist, Undertow, Prison Sex, Schism, Pushit, Reflection, Soundscape (with Robert Fripp), Sober, Parabol, Parabola, Aenima, Lateralis

I had been looking forward to writing about this particular show for a few reasons, but primarily because it was one of the few concerts I took my dear mother to. At first glance, taking one’s mom to a Tool show might seem a little severe, borderline punishing and I would normally agree, but this one was civilized enough that I felt she was in good hands. For starters, the show was at Berkeley Community Theater, the only time in fact to this day I’d ever seen a show there. Being the auditorium for Berkeley High School, it was all seated and there was not a drop of alcohol served on the premises. That way, I knew my mom would be able to see the band alright and the heshers in the crowd would be unable to mosh and too sober to start any trouble. That and Tool’s new album, “Lateralis”, released just that May, was a distinct departure from their previously moshable music, evolving into more sprawling, even symphonic epic tunes that were so dense and rhythmically complex that they’re practically impossible to interpret with any kind of dance, honestly. No one is really sure what the album title means, possibly a reference to the Vastus Lateralis leg muscle or lateral thinking. 

It had been five long years since Tool had put out “Aenima” and I and their ever growing legion of fans were starving for new material and another tour. Maynard James Keenan, their brilliant, yet enigmatic and reclusive singer, had been busy during those intervening years with his other band A Perfect Circle as well as laying the groundwork for yet another side project of his, Puscifer. The new album had been also delayed do to a lengthy legal battle with their label, Volcano Entertainment. Anticipation for the new album was so great, that the band initially disguised early versions of it, giving the album the title “Systema Encephale” as well as giving each of its songs alternate titles to trick people like Napster. When the album finally broke, it was an instant hit, eventually certified triple platinum, and I listened to it nonstop until the day of this show. The single “Schism” which they played that night would also go on to earn them a Grammy for Best Metal Performance. I was also pleasantly surprised that the riff from that song would later often be used by Paul Shaffer during commercial breaks for “The Late Show With David Letterman”.

The pent up demand for Tool’s return was more than enough to overwhelm the box office the day the tickets went on sale and unless you were very lucky the microsecond the tickets hit the market, you hadn’t a prayer in hell of getting one of them. Well, I wasn’t very lucky. I had to swallow my pride and go to a broker, because I loved the new album and was absolutely determined to see Tool again, hell or high water. As luck would have it, tickets went on sale on my birthday. The initial sticker shock of $125 a ticket was a very, very, VERY tough pill to swallow and my shelling out the loot for not one but two of those tickets is proof enough to my devotion to that band and my dear mother. Mind you, these days $125 isn’t that alarming, but consider that these were 2001 dollars and such ridiculous ticket prices weren’t nearly as commonplace then. This was the first of two back to back shows and naturally I would have loved to come again the next night if it wasn’t for the ticket price. I had to settle for just one. (Sigh…)

Another significant reason to bring mom to this one was their choice of opening act, King Crimson. I had seen them a few times already and thought their undeniable musical chops would, as a teacher of music, impress her, not to mention that the members were also around the same age as my mom’s. Indeed, I suspect I wasn’t the only person in the crowd who brought one of their elder relatives to this show for the very same reason. Clearly King Crimson was a strong influence on Tool and their sound, so much so that Maynard joked near the end of their set, “As many of you have probably already discovered if you arrived early, King Crimson is pretty much who’ve we’ve ripped off over the years… Don’t tell anyone… Especially them.” But I imagine many of Tool’s younger fans had no idea and they were hearing those prog rock pioneers for the first time. Maynard also joked, “For me, being on stage with King Crimson is like Lenny Kravitz playing with Led Zeppelin or Brittany Spears on stage with Debbie Gibson”.

I was a little surprised that mom didn’t like King Crimson more, considering their unmatched skills as musicians. But after thinking about it, that band can be a little jarring to the uninitiated. They were for me when I saw them for the first time in 1995. Even in the Adult Swim animated show “The Venture Brothers”, Dr. Venture warns teenage Dean that we wasn’t ready for “The Court Of The Crimson King” when he was educating him about prog rock. But mom listened patiently nonetheless and though she wasn’t a fan in the end, I could tell she was at least paying attention. Obviously, she hadn’t heard any music quite like that before, especially when singer Adrian Belew would sing through that weird Peter Frampton-esque electronic voice box for “The Deception Of The Thrush”. 

Near the end of their set, Adrian thanked Tool and said, “This one goes out to someone you may also know… This is for you, Les!”, and they played “Thela Hun Ginjeet”. The Les being Les Claypool of Primus who had covered that song with his side project the Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. I had seen the Brigade many times already since they had formed two years before that and they would play that song every single time I saw them, often as either their opening or closing number. If Les was in the bay area that weekend, there was a good chance he was in the house either that night or the next one. King Crimson’s version of that song was at least half as short as the versions Les would do, but being an opening act that night, I suppose King Crimson had to cut some of their more sprawling tunes short lest their setlist be only 2 or 3 songs in length. Still, I’m glad I caught this once in a lifetime combination of musical talent, especially since Tool and King Crimson would only perform a mere 10 shows together in total. 

This was also a new stage set for Tool who like before had set up projection screens to show guitarist Adam Jones’ beautiful though haunting video montages, but this time had set up a riser beside the drum kit for Maynard to sing from the back of the stage. Backlit by a second smaller screen showing the same graphics as the larger main screen hoisted above the stage, Maynard would sing in silhouette and would pretty much continue to do so with Tool up until this day. By then, Maynard had already taken to elaborate disguises and face painting, partially in an effort to remain anonymous when in public, but this new singing from the back in the shadows thing made clear that he wanted to be left alone as well as intended for his audience to focus more on his music. 

In fact, this was also the first Tool show I would see where there had been an announcement just before they started where a guy said, “The show’s going to start in a few minutes. I’ve been sent out here by Tool and King Crimson to ask a favor. Please don’t take any photos during the show. It’s distracting to the show, the musicians… Give the musicians a break and let them play.” Cell phones that could take pictures were still fairly new back then, but the scourge of obnoxious idiots holding them up during concerts of all kinds was just beginning. Tool, especially Maynard, has remained steadfastly against their use and currently orders those who do in their audience to be ejected if they dare do so. But Maynard always makes an exception for the very last song of their sets now to placate his fans.

Anyway, the wait was finally over and Tool opened their set appropriately with the first song on the new album, “The Grudge”. There was then a long, creepy intro to “Stinkfist” and we were all a little surprised when Maynard sang a few bars of “White Lines (Don’t Do It)” by Melle Mel in the middle of it. Tool would often make extended arrangements of their songs, but rarely would they mess around like that. Afterwards, Maynard commented, “It’s been a while. Seems like there are less hippies now… That’s good.” and then they played “Prison Sex”. Their bassist, Justin Chancellor was having some technical difficulties early on with his bass rig, but they eventually sorted it out. Like I said before, I knew my mom wasn’t really moved at all by King Crimson, but after Tool finished an epic version of “Pushit”, the look on her face said it all. I know when she’s faking interest in something to be polite, saying something like “That’s interesting”, but she was clearly blown away by what she had heard. 

Tool took a new direction from their previous live performance schedule this time and continue from then out by doing a sort of drawn out, instrumental interlude in the middle of their set. I know it comes to an unlikely comparison, but the kind that the Grateful Dead would do. Maynard strapped on a guitar himself, something I’d never seen him do so before or since, though I couldn’t actually tell if he was playing anything for the song “Reflection” and then the band was joined later by King Crimson’s legendary guitarist Robert Fripp for the aptly titled “Soundscape”. That atmospheric instrumental interlude almost spanned a half an hour between just those two songs. But in doing so, it gave the crowd a moment to decompress and for the less gung ho fans, take a break to use the can or get a drink, a non-alcoholic one in this case.

And speaking of sobriety, they brought us all back to Earth once the opening riff of their hit song “Sober” began, followed by the new songs, the introductory slow overture “Parabol”, followed by the brilliant, full throttle volume “Parabola”. Before they finished their set with “Aenima”, Maynard said, “Thanks for coming. I hope to see some of your smiling faces tomorrow night”. There was the customary encore break and he came back and asked of  the crowd, “What I would like you to do is remember this feeling you’re having tonight. Whether you had a good experience, a bad experience, and indifferent experience… a patchouli experience… In the coming weeks, make something positive with it” and then they finished the night with “Lateralis”.

The crowd clapped along to the beginning of that song, and to this day I don’t believe I’ve ever heard a Tool crowd clap along to any of their songs before or ever again. Their time signatures would change so often, most people couldn’t keep up anyway. But it was a satisfying show as always. The two night’s set lists were mostly identical, but on our night, we got “Undertow”, “Prison Sex”, and “Aenima”, and the second night, they got “Eulogy”, “46 & 2”, and “Opiate” instead. Like I mentioned before, it would only be a few short months before I would see Tool again at Shoreline, but I’m very, VERY glad I caught both these shows that year since the band would once again take their dear sweet, but well earned time before touring with a new album, “Vicarious”, yet another five years later. At least Maynard would come back with A Perfect Circle in 2003 to help pass the those long years waiting. 

https://archive.org/details/tool-berkeley-community-theater-81001

https://archive.org/details/king-crimson-berkeley-community-theater-81001

Baaba Maal, Karsh Kale, Fill., SF, Sat., August 11

This would be the third show in a row for me that weekend and the fourth Fillmore show out of a whopping ten I would do that month alone. I had just seen Tool with King Crimson the night before at Berkeley Community Theater and they were doing a second night there, but considering the astronomical ticket price I had shelled out to the ticket broker to get into that one, I decided that one of those Tool shows was enough. Thankfully, it also freed me up to see this show. I had recorded Baaba Maal, the Senegalese afro-pop star, at the Maritime Hall in 1998 and was impressed to say the very least by his raw talent and boundless energy. I was actually getting quite a look in with a handful of beloved African performers around that time, having seen fellow citizen of Senegal, Youssou N’Dour on that very stage just a two weeks before this and Babacour Traore from Mali at Ashkenaz in Berkeley shortly before that. 

Even with my utterly non-existent knowledge of music from that part of the world, I knew how lucky I was to see such talent, particularly in venues that small. These guys would be playing stadiums back in their home countries. If you have read the last entry from Mr. N’Dour, you might recall that he had been in town followed by David Byrne and the Afro Celt Sound System, who all had been up north in Redmond, Washington around then to perform at the WOMAD festival, the brainchild of Peter Gabriel. Baaba and members of his band had been part in the creation of the Afro Celt Sound System, but for some reason, probably scheduling conflicts, he and his band weren’t part of that WOMAD line up that year. Regardless, I was lucky enough to see both Baaba and Afro Celt at The Fillmore, so I wasn’t complaining. Baaba was accompanied once again by his 12 piece Dande Lenol or “Voice Of The People” band including blind guitar virtuoso Mansour Seck. They were touring in support of their new album, “Mi Yeewni”, which translates as “Missing You”, the last new studio recording they’d release until Baaba’s “Television” album eight years later.

Karsh Kale was there to warm things up with his lightning fast tabla playing on top of some freaky trip hop beats. He was an Indian American, originally born in the U.K. and was also in town that weekend with Tabla Beat Science, a world music supergroup with Zakir Hussain, Bill Laswell, Talvin Singh, Trilok Gurtu, and Sultan Khan. They would go on to play at Stern Grove the following day and in hindsight, I’m sorry I missed it. I was blissfully unaware of the Stern Grove scene, a weekly free concert series that is put on every Sunday in the summertime, until many years later. Now I go to every show if work allows. Tabla Beat Science’s debut album, “Realize”, had just come out that year and songs from it would be used as sample music for Microsoft’s Windows Vista, which most assuredly earned Karsh and his fellow bandmates a pretty penny. Thankfully, Tabla Beat Science would return to the bay area the following June and I’d have the pleasure of seeing them also performing at The Fillmore. 

Baaba started his set gradually, allowing his drummers to start the tempo, joining each other one at a time before the whole band joined in. His music was so joyous that he had no problem getting the audience to dance almost immediately. That band would continue together until about halfway through the set when Baaba would continue for a couple songs, just him and an acoustic guitar. Even without the band, the entire crowd clapped along and were transfixed on him and his incredibly powerful voice. Incidentally, Mr. Maal has to be one of the skinniest performers I’d ever witness, up there with Richard Ashcroft from The Verve or Iggy Pop, though I suppose all those hours of dancing that he does would keep anybody in marathon shape. Sadly, this would be the last time I’d see Baaba perform and there was no poster at the end of the night, though he certainly deserved one. But he is doing quite well for himself to this very day, collaborating with composer Ludwig Goransson just five years ago on his Oscar winning score for “Black Panther” as well as for that film’s sequel. 

https://archive.org/details/baaba-maal-fillmore-81101

https://archive.org/details/karsh-kale-fillmore-81101

Whoopi Goldberg, Fill., Tues., August 14

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past thirty odd years, there’s a good chance that you’ve heard of the one Miss Caryn Elaine Johnson AKA Whoopi Goldberg. For those few who are unfamiliar, Whoopi is one of only nineteen people in history to achieve EGOT status, that is a person who has earned an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. But she had a significant tie to the bay area which helped propel her meteoric rise to stardom. Once upon a time, she had been a struggling stand up comedian and actor recently relocated from New York City to the east bay where she became a part of a small theater group called the Blake Street Hawkeyes. In that troupe, she developed what would become “The Spook Show”, her one woman comedic collage of characters which would soon lead her to Broadway, an HBO special, and ultimately, a Grammy winning debut comedy album. 

Her stage name came from her notorious habit of passing gas on stage and just talking through it, sort of a human “whoopie cushion”, and though she chose the last name of Goldberg, a recent encounter with Henry Louis Gates on his PBS television show “Finding Your Roots” concluded that she had neither German nor Jewish ancestry. Whoopi had the good fortune to have her debut film role to be the lead in Steven Spielberg’s “The Color Purple” which would win her a Golden Globe and earn her first Oscar nomination. Her second Oscar nomination for “Ghost” would win her that little gold statue for Best Supporting Actress. Incidentally, she is probably the only Oscar winner in history who smoked marijuana before giving her acceptance speech, well, the only one who has admitted it anyway. She has since helped found a medicinal cannabis company called “Whoopi & Maya” specifically to help women seeking relief from menstrual cramps. 

Along her ascension to glory, she did however make one bomb of a film in San Francisco called “The Telephone” with Rip Torn and John Heard. But thanks to that commercial failure, there is a piece of pavement on Harrison and 7th Street next to the sound stage they used that still has Whoopi’s hand and footprints embedded in the concrete to this day. She would also collaborate with bay area royalty Robin Williams and fellow New Yorker Billy Crystal for Comic Relief, a charity organization to help raise funds for the homeless. I would see Robin on stage at The Fillmore two years later doing a brief impromptu comedy set/introduction for The Rock Bottom Remainders, a band comprised of famous authors. Now if they could only get Billy Crystal to do a show there, I could say I have seen all three.

Anyway, if that wasn’t enough, three years before this show, Whoopi would become an icon to sci-fi nerds like me everywhere when she joined the cast of “Star Trek : The Next Generation” as her character, Guinan. That was brilliant piece of casting which helped make that series the success that it was. It wouldn’t be for another six years before she joined “The View”, so I won’t go into that or any other of her myriad of accomplishments, save one, since it happened around the time of this show. She was honored later that year with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, an annual award given to such comedic geniuses as her since 1998, save for 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID pandemic. Bill Cosby rightfully had his prize revoked in 2018 after everybody found out what a scumbag he was. 

It had been a long time since I had seen any comedy show and I’m pretty sure this was the first one I had ever seen at The Fillmore. The was as she put it “the first I’ve tried to something remotely like stand up” in 11 years and we were the last night of that tour, a finale of sorts. It was just her that evening, so it was a short one, beginning with her being greeted with thunderous applause and Whoopi shouting, “San Fran-fucking-cisco! Hello, home!” Citing her relationship with The Fillmore’s own late founder, Bill Graham, she declared, “I got a whole history with the man who put this together. He used to say to me, ‘Why don’t you play my fuckin’ house?’ So Bill, I’m in your fuckin’ house!” She joked about a wide range of topics during her set from jokes about menopause, menstruation, to unruly pubic hair and politics. Though she had first been forgiving of our then idiot president, George W. Bush, she thought that he “has given drugs a bad name and I don’t like that”. Whoopi also told stories about hanging out with Bill Clinton and eating BBQ and neck bones, complimenting that he “had a little nigga’ in him”. 

By then, she was only a couple months shy of her 46th birthday and Whoopi already had three grandchildren of which she mused about how recently she thought showing them “The Wizard Of Oz” was politically incorrect since the film contained “no black people, no asians, and no straight people”. However, Whoopi didn’t mention any stories about her love life that night, though she had just ended a five year relationship with actor Frank Langella the year before this. Anyway, it was a trip to see her in the flesh, up close and personal during her first time on stage at “Bill’s House” and the night wouldn’t have been tragically incomplete if that show didn’t get a poster. Thankfully, it did and it was a good one too, done by one of my favorites, the brilliant mosaic artist, Jason Mecier. The unforgettable one he did for Willie Nelson is still on the wall near the main bar at The Fillmore to this day.  

Nadine’s Wild Weekend: Spike 1000, The KGB, Vegas De Milo, The Moss Brothers, Fill., SF, Thur., August 16

SETLISTS : 

(THE MOSS BROTHERS) : Heaven Got Overpopulated, Earth Quakes, Frustration, Psychomonkey, TV Crisis, (unknown), Whiner

(THE KGB) :  Fortune & Fame, Ain’t No Fakin’, Goodbye Girl, Captain Max, Once Upon A Time, Plastic Soul, Time Machine (Schoolhouse Blues), New Wave Song, Reefer Madness, Longshot, Lover Undercover, Player

One thing I always appreciated about The Fillmore back then was that they would occasionally put on showcases of local acts at affordable ticket prices. Though most of the acts on those bills never broke through to fame and fortune, many if not most of them were quite talented and to be sure, to grace that legendary stage would be one of if not the highlight of their musical careers. Such was the case for this show, the flagship concert for “Nadine’s Wild Weekend”. The Nadine in question would be Nadine Condon, a well known and respected promoter, producer, and publicist, (a triple P if you will), of bands in the area and this was partially a celebration of her birthday that weekend. Originally hailing from Louisville, Kentucky, Nadine had first settled in Arizona as a humble hospice worker in Arizona before making a go at breaking into the bay area music scene. Through years of diligent work and most certainly abject poverty, she would mentor and promote bands at such south of market venues as the Transmission Theater, the Paradise Lounge, and others for years, earning her the unofficial title locally of “The Godmother Of Rock”. By this time, she had produced 14 gold and platinum records and recently published a memoir called “Confessions”, a name after my own heart. 

Before I continue, I do have to reluctantly tarnish her stellar reputation a bit for her choice of bands that she helped elevate, starting with Jefferson Starship. For all those who live in the bay area, their beyond cheesy anthem, “We Built This City”, will forever haunt us. I remember catching them years ago opening for Los Lobos at the Marin County Fair and I openly booed them when they played that vile ear worm. Though she had left working for that band in 1988, she would continue to help the careers of Counting Crows, Smashmouth, Third Eye Blind, and (sigh)… Train. And if you’ve read any of my writings involved with any of those bands, you would know of my utter contempt of those four, though the contempt grows exponentially more severe in the order of those band’s listing. I have to give credit to Counting Crows singer Adam Duritz for being a genuinely nice guy and frankly I’m jealous that he got to date Winona Ryder for a brief time. I do relent the fact that all those bands made millions of dollars and I’m still working like a schnook. As an American, I have no choice but to admire them for being rich. But I digress.

I am happy to say that the bands on this bill were in fact enjoyable and talented, especially The KGB. But the evening began with The Moss Brothers and I was surprised to discover when they took the stage how young they were. Brothers Evan on drums was just 15 and his brother Ruben on vocals was only 12. They were accompanied by Kyle Wilson on bass who was the tender age of 14. Their young age aside, I was instantly impressed with their musical chops just a few bars into the opening song of their set, “Heaven Is Overpopulated”. It took very little time for me to see why Ruben was the youngest musician ever to be endorsed by Fender guitars. That kid could play circles around guys several times his age even back then. 

Nadine came out early to introduce them saying, “People of San Francisco, are you ready to get wild!?! Welcome to Nadine’s Wild Weekend 2001. We all know this is really a San Francisco crowd. We have 135 bands in 30 shows in 20 clubs over 4 days and nights for 1 wild weekend!” She thanked her fellow producers and the band Echobrain that would be ending the long weekend of shows with their debut gig at Bimbo’s that Sunday. Echobrain was fronted by Jason Newsted who had just left his duties as the bassist of Metallica after 14 years with that band and had helped produce The Moss Brothers first album, “Electricitation”. Fun fact, Jason and his new band would be taken to court by a Texas based plumbing company called Echo Drain over the name the following year, but the case was rightfully dismissed. You’d think Jason’s band would have actually helped that business, but whatever. I didn’t see Jason around that night, but I imagine he was somewhere in the house enjoying their music. Everybody liked The Moss Brothers and they graciously thanked Nadine at the end of their short set.

They were followed by another set of siblings, Foster Calhoun Johnson and his brother Alec, and their band Vegas De Milo. They were taking this opportunity to hail this show as their record release party for their third album, “Motel California”, a title parodying that ever present, yet overrated song by The Eagles. Once again, Nadine came out and shouted, “135 bands this weekend, 134 to go!” She went on to say that they believed in giving back to their community, so she helped produce a compilation album that was being sold for only $5 at the merch booth and the proceeds would help fund the SIBL project, (Songs Inspired By Literature). That project helped fund 26 reading programs throughout the bay area. She joked, “Will you please welcome to the stage direct from the Nevada State Boys Correctional Institute, Vegas De Milo!” The band came on to the recording of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Strauss followed by some scratch work from their DJ’s turntables. 

They were a fun band, though loud as fuck, incorporating some EDM beats side by side with their rock & roll stylings. I couldn’t figure out their entire setlist, but I know they played “Radio”, “Chemical Girl”, and “Payback”, before they ended their set that night with a lively cover of AC/DC’s “It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock & Roll)”. They introduced “Payback”, a song that would go on to be used by Fox Sports and a few commercials, saying, “This is a little taste for everybody who said we’d never get out of the garage”. Foster also made sure to thank Nadine and told us that if we see her, to buy her a drink for her birthday. 

Like I said before, I really liked The KGB. They had just in fact been signed to Dreamworks and had recently released their self titled album through them, but were unceremoniously dropped soon thereafter. It’s a pity. Those guys had skills. Not to be confused with the notorious Russian intelligence agency, their name in fact stood for “Kensington Garage Band”, Kensington being a small town just north of Berkeley. Like Vega De Milo, they were quite loud, but I loved their energy and so did several spunky young ladies in the audience that night. Their screams for them between songs were almost as loud as they were. Likewise, they also did a cover that night, “Goodbye Girl” by The Squeeze, described by their singer Toby as “a song we love from the 80’s”. He pumped up the crowd between songs yelling, “People, we made it to The Fillmore! How does it feel!?!” Later, he mentioned that they had made their own refrigerator magnets and said, “If you’ve got a refrigerator, throw your hands in the air!” I actually got one of those magnets that night, but have sadly since misplaced it. Toby also dedicated “Time Machine” (Schoolhouse Blues)” to “all you who have to go back to school in September”. 

The KGB were only on for 45 minutes and though this would be the only time I’d see them, I’m glad I caught them when I did. That band deserved more credit and didn’t deserve the humiliation of having to open for Third Eye Blind for one of their tours. The KGB were followed by the last act of the night, Spike 1000, a nu metal band from Bakersfield. They had played the year before at the previous Nadine’s Wild Weekend at the Transmission Theater and were signed to Portrait Records shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, my tape supply ran out and I only got the first few songs, “Manwhore”, “Nowhere”, and “Spare Change”. They were calling this their “Pain & Suffering” tour, promoting their latest album, “Waste Of Skin”, and as you might imagine, like most nu metal bands, they were very loud and totally bombastic. This would be the only “Nadine’s Wild Weekend” I believe I would witness and sadly The Fillmore would gradually discontinue doing these local act bills as the years went on, so it came to no surprise that there wasn’t a poster that night.  

https://archive.org/details/vegas-de-milo-fillmore-81601

https://archive.org/details/the-moss-brothers-fillmore-81601

https://archive.org/details/the-kgb-fillmore-81601

https://archive.org/details/spike-1000-fillmore-81601

The Monkees, Little Fuzzy, Fill., SF, Sat., August 18

SETLIST : Overture, Last Train To Clarksville, Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow), For Pete’s Sake, The Girl That I Knew Somewhere, Valleri, Randy Scouse Git, Mary Mary, Your Auntie Grizelda, I Wanna Be Free, I’ll Love You Forever, Goin’ Down, Can You Dig It?, Girl, (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher, A Little Bit Me A Little Bit You, Two-Part Invention In F Major, No Time, Long Title : Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?, She Hangs Out, Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, Since I Fell For You, Lucille, It’s Nice To Be With You, That Was Then This Is Now, Porpoise Song (Theme From “Head”), Listen To The Band, Daydream Believer, (encore), I’m A Believer, I’m Not Your Stepping Stone, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Overture

It occurred to me while I was doing the prep work for writing about this show that The Monkees was probably the first band that I ever liked when I was a boy. I had always thought that band was Kiss for me, but even before I heard song one from those painted rock stars, I had been watching syndicated reruns of The Monkees’ seminal musical comedy show on TV since I could remember and knew all their hits. One tends to erase these earliest childhood musical memories once they hear The Beatles for the first time, but upon some meditation on the subject, it became clear to me that The Monkees came first. This is obviously ironic since they were clearly a Hollywood studio reaction to Beatlemania in the early 60’s, prompting the recruitment of the so-called Pre-Fab Four and though they and their show were a smash hit, by the time I was first aware of them, they had long since disbanded.

By this time in 2001, the band had already made a couple reunion tours in the mid 80’s and 90’s, marking their 20th and 30th anniversaries, or at least three of the members, Mickey Dolenz, Davey Jones, and Peter Tork, were on board for it. Mike Nesmith had opted out for many reasons, the first being that he didn’t need the money. Believe it or not, his mother invented “White Out”, you know, liquid paper, and having sold the her company to Gillette in 1979 for a whopping $47.5 million, Mike was flush with cash and could do as he pleased. Likewise, Mr. Nesmith had a respectable solo career as well as producing a few notable movies such as “Repo Man” and “Tapeheads”, two films which I consider to be a couple of the finest comedies ever created. Still, Mike kept cordial relations with the others, occasionally appearing on stage with them from time to time and even writing and directing their TV reunion special in ’97. Sadly, Mike wouldn’t be joining them at this show, a real disappointment for me since it being The Fillmore, would have been epic.

I had actually met Peter Tork face to face briefly while I was working at the Maritime Hall in 1997, though I can’t recall what show was there that night. I was instantly star struck when he entered our recording room and found him quite friendly and disarming. Strangely enough, the one thing that I remember most from our conversation was my mistakenly hearing him say that he’d just finished a tour of Europe where they performed in “Reims”. Peter corrected me and said he had actually said “arenas”. Reims, for those who don’t know is a small city in northern France which I had visited with my father years ago that is the birthplace of champagne. I was understandably nervous and distracted. Anyway, little would I have guessed that night that I would see Mr. Tork and his bandmates only four years later. 

The Monkees had been busy during those intervening years, being interviewed by VH1 for their “Behind The Music” special the year before and Davey Jones had recently released his “Just Me” solo album. VH1 had also put out a made for TV biopic movie about the band in 2000 called “Daydream Believer : The Monkees Story”. Davey was also into horseback riding and even competed as a jockey from time to time, a perfect hobby for a man of his diminutive stature. A quick fun fact, while doing research, I learned that he also was the inspiration for the character Chekov on “Star Trek”. Creator Gene Roddenberry saw Davey and thought his show needed an element that appealed to the young people, which would easily explain why Chekov and Davey have the same groovy haircut.

When the show was announced, I was ecstatic and knew I had to be there, hell or high water. The evening opened with some obscure band called Little Fuzzy, who played cute, but catchy pop songs with both a male and female singer. I can’t say where they came from or what became of them, but they were only on stage for a mere five songs. The night belonged to The Monkees and we all knew it. Their set began with their supporting band coming on stage and playing an overture medley of their songs. Though the riffs came fast and furious, I did make out the tunes of “Mary, Mary”, “Daydream Believer”, “Daddy’s Song”, “I’m A Believer”, and of course the “Theme From The Monkees”. Everyone erupted in thunderous applause as the three of the Pre-Fab Four made their way up and began the night with their hit, “Last Train To Clarksville” quickly followed by “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)”. They had a great bunch of session players in tow with them including a horn section.

They then did “For Pete’s Sake” after which will lead me to a sort of elephant in the room subject that had plagued the band for decades. Peter had co-wrote that semi-eponymous song, which was always played for the ending credits of their TV show and indeed each member of the band were accomplished musicians in their own right. In fact, many of their songs like “Mary, Mary”, “The Girl That I Knew Somewhere”, and “Can You Dig It?” were written by them. But despite the band’s talents and their understandable and loud protests, the show runners insisted that the instruments on their albums be performed by session musicians, mostly done by The Wrecking Crew, a rotating collection of virtuoso musicians such as Hal Blaine, Glen Campbell, Carol Kaye, and others. These expert musicians laid the tracks for dozens of A-list musical stars back then ranging from Frank Sinatra to The Beach Boys and if anybody was going to have ringers play their songs on an album, they couldn’t find a more qualified group of musical geniuses to do so. But when word came out that The Wrecking Crew were responsible for playing all those hits The Monkees had on their albums, their adoring public turned against them in the most cruel and severe way.

The band did their best following the backlash to tour playing their own instruments and doing songs like “Listen To The Band” written by Mike to try to address the issue head on, but it was too little too late. Their fickle, fair weather fans had already coldly written them off. They would spend the rest of their lives trying to climb out of that pit of bitter disrespect, yet another reason why Mike left the band to pursue his solo career. There even was a flashback bit on “The Simpsons” once where Marge was in grade school and a classmate teased her about her Monkees lunchbox, taunting Marge about them not playing their own instruments and claiming, “That’s not even Mike Nesmith’s real hat”, a reference to Mike’s trademark wool cap. Later, Marge’s psychiatrist would reassure her, “The Monkees weren’t about music, Marge. They were about rebellion, about political and social upheaval!” Anyway, now that this issue has been addressed, I will continue.

Mickey joked with the crowd, “Fillmore! I spent two years here one night!” Davey claimed that they had “400 dancing girls” behind the curtains and that he had written over 200 songs and “that was just this morning” before he sang “I’ll Love You Forever”. Afterward, Mikey praised him saying, “In old Greek mythology, they said Helen Of Troy had the face that launched 1000 ships. Davey Jones had the face that shipped 1000 lunchboxes!” Davey then treated to us to his song “Girl” which he sang years ago when he was a guest star on “The Brady Bunch”. Incidentally, Barry Williams, the actor who played Mike Brady on that show would actually open for The Monkees when I’d see them return to The Fillmore the year after this. Later, Peter strapped on a 5-string banjo informing us that the instrument was an American invention and Mickey joked, “David, remind me not to river rafting with Peter”. Peter responded by playing a riff from “Dueling Banjos”, both gags being references to the film “Deliverance”. Peter then at first began singing the Jackie Wilson classic “(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher” alone and was gradually joined by the rest of the band. 

They took a moment to thank a long list of songwriters that penned some of their hits like Neil Diamond, Carole King, and Boyce & Hart. Davey added “Neiman Marcus”, but claimed that his songs were too expensive for them to play now. Peter said that we can still visit him down on Union Square before introducing a song written by a guy “not 3 decades, but 30 decades ago… That’s 300 years for those who can multiply or for those who can’t multiply, Johann Sebastian Bach”. Mickey wisecracked that he is currently known as “Puff Bach” and from there Peter did a solo harpsichord rendition of “Two-Part Invention in F Major”. It obviously was another in a long line of efforts of the band members to reassure their fans that they actually were legitimate musicians, but to be fair, Peter nailed it. He then followed it with “Long Title : Do I Have To Do This All Over Again?”, a brilliant song that Peter wrote for their psychedelic comedy film “Head”. 

The band played a couple riffs of “Day Tripper” by The Beatles during “She Hangs Out” and continued with a handful of covers. Mickey was joined by his sister Coco and talked about his childhood being raised in Los Angeles which he claimed was populated by granola, thus being comprised of “fruits, nuts and flakes”. He said he was one of the nuts and that his father used to come into their living room stark naked singing such torchlight light opera tunes as “Some Enchanted Evening”. With his sister who then lived in San Jose, they would cover a song that his mother used to sing to him in the womb. He joked that it sounded a little different then and made a bunch of muffled singing sounds into his microphone. The two of them did a respectful cover of “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”, the swing hit made famous by The Andrews Sisters. Coco gave him a hug, left the stage, and Mickey went on to tell us, “Before The Monkees, in another life I had a band called Mickey & The One Nighters because it was just for one night, but what a night!” They used to sing a lot of rock and blues tunes calling it his “pre-Monkees singing… my PMS” and then he sang the jazz standard “Since I Fell For You” by Vince Guaraldi, a song made famous by Ella Fitzgerald. 

Next, Peter did a little biographical introduction as well saying that his folks mostly raised him on classical music saying at first he was “skeptical of rock”, thinking that it all sounded alike. But he then heard a song that brought his preconceptions down, adding that “Joshua didn’t bring the walls down so fast” and he “went totally bonkers for the song and I lost any objectivity”. And since then, playing rock to him was like having “a birthday party every night”. The band then joined him in a rollicking version of “Lucile” by Little Richard which featured an impressive saxophone solo. The boys finished their set with their smash hit “Daydream Believer” and they took a moment where they did the chorus a cappella with the audience. Naturally, the came back for an encore, starting with “I’m A Believer” and quickly going into their famous cover of “I’m Not Your Stepping Stone” by Paul Revere & The Raiders. Mickey did a funny bit where he was tossing his microphone between his hands stretched out to his sides, yelling words to the last beats of the songs, and pretending to accidentally toss the mic into the wrong hand he was singing into. They wrapped things up with “Pleasant Valley Sunday”, took a bow as their band reprised the overture, and that was it. 

I would have thrown a total hissy fit if there wasn’t a poster at the end of the night, but rest assured there was and it was a great one, probably one of the best posters The Fillmore ever issued. It was a cartoon image of a semi-submerged Statue Of Liberty with a monkey head, sticking its hand up in a peace sign instead of holding a torch with the skyline of San Francisco in the background, an obvious parody of the ending of “Planet Of The Apes”. It was a timely image too since Tim Burton had just released his well meaning and technically impressive, though mediocre remake of that movie the month before this. Regardless, this was a night to remember, one of those shows where us lowly ushers were spoiled rotten to the core. It relit my love for the band, especially Mickey’s incredible voice, a voice he doesn’t get enough credit for in my opinion. 

The band continued their tour down to the south of the state where they did a show in Anaheim at the Sun Theater. At that show, they recorded a live DVD for the King Biscuit Flower Hour, but Peter abruptly left the band immediately afterwards. Little did I or anybody know that Peter was falling into alcoholism and butting heads with the other two, complaining that he wanted to tour with his own band, Shoe Suede Blues. Peter would never tour with The Monkees again and never will since he sadly succumbed to cancer in 2019. Like I mentioned earlier, I would see The Monkees grace The Fillmore stage one more time the following year, that time only with Mickey and Davey, which once again was an excellent show, though it didn’t get a poster. As of today, Mickey is the last surviving Monkee having lost Davey first in 2012 at the all too young age of 66. I was lucky to catch Mike Nesmith in 2019, just two years before he passed playing at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. He was on the Rooster stage and though it was at a considerable distance, I have the solemn pride that can go to my grave saying that I at least got to see all four of the Pre-Fab Four in the flesh. 

https://archive.org/details/the-monkees-fillmore-81801

https://archive.org/details/little-fuzzy-fillmore-81801

The Go-Go’s, Imperial Teen, War., SF, Tues., August 21

SETLISTS :

(IMPERIAL TEEN) : Butch, Ivanka, Our Time, Sugar, Water Boy, Lipstick, Teacher’s Pet, Million $ Man, You’re One, Yoo Hoo

(THE GO-GO’S) : Head Over Heels, Skidmarks On My Heart, Stuck In My Car, How Much More, Apology, Vacation, Insincere, Tonight, Sonic Superslide, Automatic Rainy Day, Automatic, This Town, Unforgiven, Beatnik Beach, Our Lips Are Sealed, La La Land, We Got The Beat, (encore), Fun With Ropes, Has The Whole World Lost Its Head?, (encore), Throw Me A Curve, I Wanna Be Sedated

May The Go-Go’s forgive me for my neglectful delay of getting to write this installment, for like so many occasions, my work life interceded. Having just finished a grueling stretch in the Golden Gate Park Polo Fields setting up three days of Outside Lands and the big System Of A Down/Deftones show, I have finally come to a point where I’m physically and mentally ready to take on this one. Like before, the CD’s and notes from this show had been collecting dust on my desk, a visual reminder during that marathon of the work to be done. So, in the spirit of divine forgiveness, it comes as serendipitous that I would be writing about The Go-Go’s tour promoting their fourth and final studio album, “God Bless The Go’s Go’s”, released just four months before this show. It was their first batch of new material in 17 years and we were “blessed” to hear eight new songs that night. 

It had only been a year since I had seen them at Sharon Meadows, another show in the park, at one of the big Alice festivals. Such shows around then paved the way for larger ones like Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in the future. At that Alice show, Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day joined them on stage for “Our Lips Are Sealed”. Billy would go on to collaborate with The Go-Go’s on the new album, co-writing the song “Unforgiven”, which they played that night, though there was no surprise appearance from Billy Joe this time. They had recently had two big events in the Big Apple, recording their “Live In Central Park” DVD and joining the likes of rock & roll royalty as Elton John, Billy Joel, David Crosby, and Paul Simon for “An All Star Tribute To Brian Wilson” at Radio City Music Hall. 

Guitarist Jane Wiedlin had added to her acting credits a regular role in MTV’s teen soap opera “Spyder Games”, playing an ex-rocker running a coffee house and though it was only on for one season, it still managed to churn out 65 episodes. Last but certainly not least, singer Belinda Carlisle would fulfill the teenage fantasies of countless young men, and probably quite a few women, when she agreed to do a series of nude pictures for Playboy magazine. I of coarse never looked upon them for hours and hours on end with my yearning, lustful eyes, but I hear that they were clearly touched up to the point where they almost looked fake… so I hear anyway. (A-hem)

An added bonus for the night would be the addition of Imperial Teen. the opening act on that bill. It had been four years since I had seen them open for Dinosaur Jr. at Slim’s and as I’ve said before, they are one of the best opening bands a headliner could hope for. In between those years, their single “You Hoo” had been in the soundtrack for the indy hit film “Jawbreaker” in ’99, they had recently left their label at Universal, and were on the cusp of releasing their next album, “On”. We would hear five new songs that show. It was a packed house when they took the stage and singer/guitarist Will Schwartz introduced the band, “Good evening! Were you expecting someone else? We’re Imperial Teen. Thanks for being here. So we’re from here.” Bassist Jane Stebbins then asked,  “Has anybody seen us before? We’ve never played here!”, and they opened their set with “Butch”.

Keyboardist Roddy Bottom later pumped up the crowd saying how excited he was to see The Go-Go’s and “It’s been a good tour. We’re exhausted, but it’s a good tour… besides our first night”. He went on to gush about how fun it was to check out “the Empire State Building with Jane” and to explore “The French Quarter with Belinda… Those miles slip away” and he followed all that sweet talk appropriately with the song “Sugar”. A couple numbers later Roddy introduced “Teacher’s Pet” as “our New Wave song… New Wave is a kind of music that came out in the 80’s, like after punk rock. It was sorta like a kind of homogenized version of punk rock, kinda had a life of its own”. 

It was enjoyable as always to see Imperial Teen again, especially playing in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd from their home town. Thankfully, I would only have to wait two short months to see Imperial Teen once again at Slim’s, opening for The Breeders. It’s always an exquisite pleasure to hear their hard hitting drummer Lynn Truell on the skins. She and Go-Go’s Gina Schock are two of the best rock drummers I’ve ever heard and it was gratifying to hear them playing together on the same bill. There had been a handful female drummers at that skill level before, but thanks partially to their work and inspiration they have since passed along, there are many more now. 

They had erected a large, portable screen, what is commonly known as a fast-fold screen in my profession, and The Go-Go’s began their set with a funny video of a young woman playing God floating in the clouds, addressing us along backed by a choir of angles, “Hello?… This is the only way, so be it. Good morning! This is God. I can say it is also a good evening because I made it. It is good, isn’t it? They’re all good. There’s a couple things I’d like to share, kind of pat myself on the back. You know, I never really get to take credit for anything. I do a lot. Well for one thing, I made breasts!… Check this out!” The crowd cheered and then there was a thunderclap. She went on, “Yes!… I made light. That was a good one, huh?”, there was a bit of harps playing then, “I am good, aren’t I? Coming to the stage, something I’m most proud of. I’d like to introduce my finest creation… Please welcome The Go-Go’s!”. The audience erupted in applause as they opened the set with “Head Over Heels”. 

From there they went into “Skidmarks On My Heart” followed immediately by “Stuck In My Car”, one of their new songs. After they finished their hit, “Vacation”, they did a little banter with Belinda saying, “This song’s about the creep we’ve all been with… I don’t know if we’ve been with the same creep.” bassist Kathy Valentine interjected, “I liked him!”, and then Jane said, “He gets around”. Belinda continued, “I think collectively, I’d say about 500 to 600 creeps. This song is for that creep we all dated”, and then they played “Insecure”, another new song. They kept the hits coming as always finishing their set with their iconic, breakthrough hit, “We Got The Beat”. It wasn’t long until they returned for their first encore, starting it with “Fun With Ropes”, which Belinda described as an “early song” that “never was on any album”. 

They came back for a second encore and began it with another new one called “Throw Me A Curve”, Belinda introducing it as a song “for all you full figured gals out there. Maximum respect!” Jane asked, “What about Size 2?… Uh oh, babe is getting annoyed”. People gave the band bouquets of flowers throughout the show and Belinda graciously thanked them for it before they finished the night with a respectful cover of “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones. As you might have read from previous entries from around this time, many musicians were paying tribute to that seminal punk band’s recently departed singer, Joey Ramone, who succumbed to lymph cancer that April. And though the last time The Go-Go’s played The Warfield back in 1994, there was a poster given out at the end of the night, alas there wasn’t one this round.

I’m happy to report that I would see The Go-Go’s again in the future, at The Fillmore in 2011 to be precise, celebrating the 30th anniversary of their smash hit album, “Beauty & The Beat”. That one got a poster, a brilliant Jason Mecier collage rendition of that album’s iconic cover made out of feminine bathroom products. The Go-Go’s had even received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame that year as well. But by that time, I had given up bootlegging the year before, so this show would be the last one I’d tape personally. This gig would also be the final time I’d see them with Kathy, who would leave the band, filing a bitter lawsuit over royalties. Gina Schock had done the same years before and I’d be lucky to see Gina up close and personal in 2022 when she made a surprise appearance playing drums for The Go-Go’s” song “Tonite” alongside The Linda Lindas at Outside Lands. I shook Gina’s hand and told her she played wonderfully. She confided that she felt a bit of relief joking, “That’s good… I couldn’t hear a thing from my monitors”. 

The Go-Go’s were at long last inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame three years ago, but have since announced their retirement. Of coarse, I don’t believe any band when they say that, but we’ll see. Also, I was lucky enough to attend one of the first showings of The Go-Go’s musical “Head Over Heels” at the Curran Theater in 2018 before it moved on to Broadway, a shout out to Matt Thayer who somehow managed to score us free tickets for stuff yet again. Jane had helped produce it and for a rock & roll musical which by and large have historically been corny as hell, but I admit that it was actually pretty good, funny and well produced. The music wasn’t bad either. 

https://archive.org/details/imperial-teen-warfield-82101

https://archive.org/details/the-go-gos-warfield-82101

https://archive.org/details/the-go-gos-bootleg-warfield-82101

Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts, Danielle Spencer, Fill., SF, Fri., August 24

SETLISTS :

(DANIELLE SPENCER) : White Monkey, Blast Off, Forgive Me, 200 Steps, Jonathon White, (unknown)

(THIRTY ODD FOOT OF GRUNTS) : Photograph Kills, Things Have Got To Change, What Do You Want Me To Forget? The Night That Davey Hit The Train, All The White Circles, Wendy, Sail Those Same Oceans, She’s Not Interested, Great Big Sea, Swept Away Bayou, Afraid, Oblique Is My Love, Somebody Else’s Princess, (encore), Full Length Of The River, David, The Legend Of Barry Kable, (encore), What’s Her Name?, Hold You, Folsom Prison Blues

From time to time, I’ve been privy to a handful of shows from so-called “celebrity vanity bands”, but this one probably leads the pack in star power, or at least of that time without question. Russell Crowe had just won the Best Actor Oscar for “Gladiator” that March. Granted, I think in the long run, Keanu Reeves, playing bass for his band Dogstar, won the overall box office draw contest, but suffice to say Russell was on top of the world and his band, the cryptically named 30 Odd Foot Of Grunts, who were just about to release their “Bastard Life Or Clarity” album a month after this show. There had been gossip about Crowe’s boorish behavior off screen, but those stories tend to get exaggerated. He did however had just ended a whirlwind affair with Meg Ryan when they filmed “Proof Of Life” together, but it fizzled almost as soon as it started. As luck would have it, the opening act at this show was Russell’s once and future girlfriend, Danielle Spencer. They had been together since ’89, meeting on the set of the film “The Crossing”, and had reconciled after the Ryan thing. Back together both personally and professionally, they’d marry two years after this, go on to sire two sons together, but ultimately divorce in 2018.

What I and most folks didn’t know that night was that Mr. Crowe had actually been a musician long before he broke through as an actor, that and he was originally from New Zealand, not Australia. There, he performed under the name “Russ Le Roq”, (no kidding), in the early 80’s, busking on the streets of Wellington and even did a stint playing Eddie and Dr. Scott in a stage production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”. By 1992, Russell formed The Grunts and had been touring and recording music as his film career brief respite times allowed. So, by this point, it was understandable that his work on the silver screen would eclipse this obscure band and this would be in fact, The Grunts’ last tour. Incidentally, this will be my last entry for some time since I’m going overseas for a month. Apologies in advance. I’ll miss you too. 

This night would be the first of two sold out shows and rest assured, there was no shortage of nubile young ladies in attendance ready to pledge their undying devotion to the one and only Maximus himself. There was even a sign in the ladies room that said to use the men’s room if the line was too long, something I don’t remember The Fillmore ever doing before or since. That being said, there were certainly a number of celebrity stalker nerds in the audience too. I should know. I was one of them. But at least I had the good taste not to be the dipshit who clumsily blurted out “Maximus!!!” between songs, which drew a frustrated rebuke from Russell during that show. There’s always has to be one and I suppose it was inevitable.

Though Danielle Spencer had been billed as the only opening act, they actually started the evening with a spirited, but mediocre Australian stand up comedian whose name I didn’t catch. He was a burly and surly, a real Bruce. He rambled on a number of subjects that came so rapid fire, I really could only make out a few of them, like about the time he went to Chicago nightclub where they “played music in the toilets louder than on the dance floor”. He also said that he went into a bank in Chicago and asked a teller to “take out $200… She asked how’d you like it? Never thought about it before… said put it in the crack of your ass. I’ll take it out with my teeth!… In Australia, we only get one option. They just hand it to ‘ya.” He later told a story about confronting a crying toddler in a grocery store, yelling at him, “You’re not having a Hershey’s bar!”Pretty rowdy stuff, but it grew tiresome quickly. 

There was another opening act, a graceful Aboriginal tribal dancer accompanied by someone playing percussion sticks and a didgeridoo, introduced as a “warrior for peace”. Rarely do we get dancers for any show, but it was short and sweet. Danielle came on stage finally with a cello player and a guitarist playing songs off her recently released debut album, “White Monkey”. I liked her stuff, sort of Tori Amos/Regina Spektor-esque, a popular sound around that time. That infernal comedian came back out to entertain the crowd during the set change and somehow managed to get them so sing “Shake, Rattle, & Roll” with him. Obnoxious as he was, it did help pass the time.

But we all knew what we were there for and soon enough, they played a bit of “Weather With You” over the loudspeakers, a catchy song from fellow citizens from Down Under, Crowded House, and at long last, there he was front and center. There is a strange chemical reaction, at least with me anyway, the first half second of seeing a celebrity in the flesh for the first time. It’s like a switch in my head gets turned on. Yep, that’s him. That’s Russell. A couple songs in, it wears off a little and tried giving the band’s music an impartial listen. But by the third song, I was sort of.. meh. I was standing next to venerable Fillmore veteran Bill Garby when Russell called the venue “The Fillmore West” between songs. Bill and I looked at each other knowingly and shook our heads, knowing that The Fillmore West was an entirely different venue that had been located about a half mile away. We shrugged and forgave him for it. It’s an easy mistake to make.

Russell was quite talkative between songs, giving lengthy explanations of their meaning, such as for “The Night Davey Hit The Train”. A little backstory of my own, my first encounter seeing Crowe act was a showing of the film “Romper Stomper” at The Roxie in The Mission. Even back in 1992, I could recognize his undeniable acting skill and charisma, though I wouldn’t see him again until his breakthrough role in “L.A. Confidential” five years later. Anyway, “Davey” was a character in “Romper Stomper” played by a young man named Daniel Pollack. Sadly, Daniel was addicted to heroin, fought depression, and was facing an upcoming court case, when he decided to walk in front of train and end it all. He was good actor too and the film was a hit, unfortunately released seven months after his passing. A couple songs later, The Grunts livened the mood back up again a bit having one of the members bust out a trumpet between songs, belting out a few licks of “The Theme From Hawaii 5-0” by The Ventures as well as the theme from “I Dream Of Genie”.  

As expected, the women went nuts for Russell, so it came to little surprise that one of them would throw her unmentionables at him. He chuckled and said, “So, we got a new rule. We don’t need your shit… Don’t throw your underwear if you’re planning on it.” He made a joke later about Tasmania calling it the part of Australia “where people have sex with their own relatives” and asked which was America’s equivalent, “Texas?… Arkansas?” Crowe ended their set, giving another lengthy introduction to a song called “The Legend Of Barry Kable”. That one was about the 9 year old son of a Longshoreman in the 60’s who had been “told by his mates that his wife was having an affair. So, he went back home and he got a kitchen knife. While Barry was sitting on his mother’s lap, he cut off her head… took it back down to the pub and showed it around just to prove that he wasn’t a man to be trifled with… When it came to the trial, the eyewitness refused to testify. Police tied him up, beat him up, ran him over with their squad car. Left him for dead in front of the Royal Opera House in Sydney.” At that point, I just let out a nervous, “OK!”, and hoped he’d change the subject soon.

The band came back for a three song encore, the last one being a cover of “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash. Crowe told one final story before it saying “I’ve been a fan of his for years and years and years” and that “he got a letter” from him that was “quite complimentary”. Crowe said that Cash had his CDs and seen some of his work. Now, I have to real reason to doubt this story, I’m sure he has the letter to prove it, but it felt a little self congradulatory at the time. Still, I’ll give him it. Like I said, he was on the top of his game then after all. He pumped up the crowd before the song, urging them to “try to make the curtains come down! Try to bust up those chandeliers! Try to make people fall out of the balcony!… Don’t fall out of the balcony.” By the end of it all, his voice felt battered and he was pretty much just yelling, but he got an A for effort.

As I had hoped, there was a poster that night, a funny cartoonish rendering of two kangaroos facing each other in front of the Transamerica Building and Coit Tower. If there hadn’t been a poster, I would have been surprised and obviously disappointed, but the women would have flipped out. Crisis averted. Like I said before, the Grunts would soon disband, but four years later Russell would poach a few ex-members as well as Alan Doyle from Great Big Sea to form The Ordinary Fear Of God, (sharing the same initials as Thirty Odd Foot Of Grunts). That same year, Crowe would get into that mess over him throwing a cell phone at someone. Anyway, it was the only time I’ve ever seen him and probably the last time as well. But as the last line of “Gladiator” says… “I will see you again. But not yet. Not yet.”

https://archive.org/details/thirty-odd-foot-of-grunts-fillmore-82401

https://archive.org/details/danielle-spencer-fillmore-82401

Ween, The Chantigs, Fill., SF, Tues., August 28

SETLIST : What Deaner Was Talkin’ About, The Golden Eel, Spinal Meningitis (Got Me Down), The Stallion Part 3, Waving My Dick In The Wind, Take Me Away, Nan, papa Zit, The Stallion Part 5, Voodoo Lady, Back To Basom, Bananas & Blow, Piss Up A Rope, Marble Tulip Juicy Tree, Don’t Sweat It, Dr. Rock, I’m In The Mood To Move, I’ll Be Your Jonny On The Spot, Touch My Tooter, Mister Would You Please Help My Pony?, Buckingham Green, Sorry Charlie, Birthday Boy, She’s Your Baby, The Mollusk, Band On The Run, (encore), Ocean Man, Roses Are Free, Licking The Palm For Guava, Mushroom Festival In Hell, Never Squeal, You Fucked Up

Forgive me once again gentle readers for my prolonged absence. Between the long stretch at work doing Outside Lands and the following System Of A Down show in the park in August and my adventures in Europe in September, I had been derelict in my duty to this blog. So, I’m now taking the baby steps back into the shallow end of the pool here to regale you with the tale Of Ween at The Fillmore. I had seen them only once before as an opener for the Foo Fighters at The Warfield in 1996 with Jawbreaker, but I enjoyed what I heard. But this time their set wouldn’t be just a modest 45 minute sample, but a feast of 32 songs spanning a solid two and a half hours. It was the first night of a two show stint and with both nights sold out, it was a safe bet that there would be a poster at the end of the show and it would be a good one. It was. 

On a sad note, the R & B pop star Aaliyah just died in a plane crash in the Bahamas three days before this evening. She was just beginning a promising film career at the all too young age of 22, having finished making “Queen Of The Damned” and just beginning to film her scenes for the sequels of “The Matrix”. Jada Pinkett Smith would ultimately take over the role of Zee in those movies and if that wasn’t bad enough, the role of The Oracle would have to be recast because Gloria Foster who played her in the original past away from diabetes only one day after this show. That’s two principal actors just four days apart from each other. I thought it was ironic that Foster died from diabetes too since her final character would be one who was known for liking candy, but let’s return to the show at hand. 

It was a transitional period for Gene and Dean, having just left Elektra after the “White Pepper” album to form their own label, Chocodog Records. There had been some legal wrangling as usual before they were free but eventually they released their “Live In Toronto Canada” record that year, though they wouldn’t release any new material until they put out their “Quebec” album in 2003. In the meantime, Ween had made some notable friends in the animation business, collaborating on a number of projects with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of “South Park”. They even contributed a song called “Loop De Loop” to an episode of “SpongeBob SquarePants” the previous November. It’s a jaunty little number about tying your shoes, entertaining as well as educational. SpongeBob’s creator Stephen Hillenburg said Ween’s album “The Mollusk” was one of the things that inspired the show. Ween played “Ocean Man” during the encore that night which had also been used in the closing credits for “The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie” in 2004. As you might of read in previous entries, my brother Alex appeared in the beginning of that film with other live actors playing a pirate. It’s a funny movie. Check it out.

I don’t believe there was an opening act on the main stage that night, but up in the poster room, The Chantigs were performing. They were a modest acoustic band with a mandolin player and their harmonies weren’t half bad, though I believe this show was the only time I’d see them play. Between songs, one of them lamented about forgetting to bring their T-shirts to sell, though they did remember to bring their CDs. But as I mentioned, Ween played a long time that night, covering plenty of material that more than made up for the five years waiting to see them once again. When I first saw Ween, it was just the two of them, but this time they were touring with a full band, Claude Coleman Jr. on drums, Dave Dreiwitz on bass, and Glenn McClelland on keys. Together, they were tight.

Once again, I was impressed by the technical skills of Gene and Dean and diversity of genres between their songs. I don’t think Gene and Dean get enough credit for their guitar chops as well, especially in songs like “Voodoo Lady”. Likewise, they kept us in stitches with their hilarious lyrics for numbers with such bawdy titles as “Wavin’ My Dick In The Wind”, “Touch My Tooter”, and “Piss Up A Rope”. But then, they could turn it down on a dime with tender, acoustic tunes like “She’s Your Baby”. Gene said after that song, “I’ll spare you ‘The River’ by Bruce Springsteen right now.” They did however do one cover that evening, “Band On The Run” by Wings, which ended their main set. They finished their encore with squealing feedback and Gene joked, “We’ll see you tomorrow… Hopefully… I mean, we’ll try.” I’m disappointed to say that this was the last time I saw Ween perform and probably won’t again in foreseeable future. Last August, Dean said he’s taking a little mental health break and they would stop touring. After 40 years, I suppose he’s entitled to take a breather. 

https://archive.org/details/the-chantigs-fillmore-82801

https://archive.org/details/ween-fillmore-82801

https://archive.org/details/ween-bootleg-fillmore-82801

Billy Idol, War., SF, Thur., August 30

SETLIST : Cradle Of Love, Dancing With Myself, Flesh For Fantasy, Don’t You Forget About Me, Walking The Monster, The Fire Song, White Wedding, Sweet Sixteen, Got To Be Your Lover, Eyes Without A Face, Don’t Need A Gun, (encore), Blue Highway, Ready Steady Go, Rebel Yell, Mony Mony, L.A. Woman

It had been a long time coming for me to bear witness to a headlining concert with the one and only Mr. William Michael Albert Broad, otherwise known as Billy Idol. I had seen him do a brief set at the Bridge School Benefit in 1996, but this show was “An Evening With…”, just him, no opener. This one counts for sure. Of coarse, I had familiar with all his big hits and his snarling, sleeveless visage throughout the 80’s. His videos permeated the airwaves all over the world and clearly he was on top of his game then. But his career came to a crashing halt literally in 1990 when he was in a motorcycle accident that nearly cost him one of his legs. That put him out of the running for a while from touring and even cost him the part of the villainous T-1000 in “Terminator 2 : Judgement Day”. His “Cyberpunk” album in 1993 bombed and for a while, it seemed Mr. Idol was fading into obscurity.

But as predicted, the inevitable forces of nostalgia brought renewed interest in the 80’s around this time, having 20 odd years passed. VH1 had recently aired an episode of “Behind The Music” with Billy and a few days later, he and his longtime guitarist Steve Stevens appeared on VH1’s “Storytellers”. Steve was performing with Billy that night at The Warfield and the show was actually being billed in the ads as “Billy Idol featuring Steve Stevens”. I learned researching this show that Stevens had won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for his lead guitar work in the theme for “Top Gun” and he did a pretty impressive guitar solo after they played “Eyes Without A Face” that night. Billy had also released a Greatest Hits album in 2001 and we certainly heard most of them at that show.

Before the band came on stage, they played some swingin’ 60’s, London go-go dancing music over the speakers, sort of Austin Powers sounding stuff. Then the crowd went wild, especially the women, when Billy stormed on dressed in leather opening the show with “Cradle Of Love”, immediately followed by “Dancing With Myself”. Billy was doing his signature fist pumping moves, snarling away all evening beneath his trademark blonde hair spikes. I overheard a conversation I had with a young woman who had backstage passes, but I couldn’t remember who she was. I couldn’t join her regardless, so I made my way up front to get a closer look. He and Steve did an acoustic version of “White Wedding”, just the two of them and everybody sang along. It was quiet at first, but then Billy got a cheer when he belted out “Start again!!!” I liked how they did a little breakdown of the James Bond theme during “Don’t Need A Gun” too. 

In concerts, like vacations, one might not remember everything that went right though one certainly remembers vividly when something goes spectacularly wrong. That was the case near the end of Billy’s show when he was having trouble with his wireless handheld mic. The monitor engineer quickly gave him another one and when that one wasn’t working, Mr. Idol flipped his lid. I will never forget the sight of him hurling that mic overhand like a German hand grenade at that poor, cowering monitor guy. Billy missed him, but seriously, you could hurt somebody with one of those things. He abruptly stormed off stage shouting something to the effect of “Make it bloody work!!!… They’ve got a fucking fifth grader on monitors here!” After a good five minutes or so of the crowd cheering “Billy! Billy! Billy!” and the “Let’s go Billy! (clap, clap, clap, clap, clap)” baseball chant for his return, he relented and came back on stage for a five song encore, ending the show with a rousing cover of “L.A. Woman” by The Doors. Incidentally, Billy had a small role in Oliver Stone’s movie “The Doors” playing Cat, one of Jim Morrison’s entourage. I’m happy to say that there was a poster at the end of the night and it was a brilliant one, made by Chris Shaw, one of my favorite poster artists. 

https://archive.org/details/billy-idol-warfield-83001

Rollins Band, Mother Superior, Superfuzz, Fill., SF, Fri., August 31

SETLIST : You Didn’t Need, Up For It, I Want So Much More, What’s The Matter Man, Stop Look & Listen, 10X, The Rocker, Nowhere To Go But Inside, Always The Same, All I Want, Hello, One Shot, Going Out Strange, Starve, Thinking Cap, Get Some Go Again, Your Number Is One, (encore), Too Much Rock & Roll, (unknown), Are You Ready, Do It

It had been four years since I had seen Henry on that very stage with Skunk Anansie opening, but he disbanded that old group and enlisted Mother Superior to be his new one just a year later. Mother Superior would be serving double duty this night as the opening act as well. Together, they would record “Nice”, his third one with his new band and would be his final studio album, which had just been released only ten days before this show. Henry had been busy putting that album together in between his work on the “Night Visions” show on MTV, sort of a “Twilight Zone” knockoff that was ultimately short lived and had also leant his voice talents that year playing the character Mad Stan on the animated series “Batman Beyond”. Also in 2001, Mr. Rollins put out a couple spoken word albums, “A Rollins In The Wry” and “Live At The Westberth Theater”. Henry and the band released a live album as well from their performance at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark the year before called “A Clockwork Orange Stage” which I own and revere. Few bands have the raw energy of Henry and company and that album captured it about as well as any live album could. I always found it baffling that his spoken word shows sold at least three times as many tickets as the ones he did with his band. Still relatively young, having just turned the ripe old age of 40 that February, we were all a little surprised when he put performing music behind him for good. 

I would see Rollins perform one more time on the Fillmore stage with a band two years later, but that was it. Sadly, none of his performances at The Fillmore got posters, a cruel oversight. Of coarse, no one would have predicted at the time that ol’ Hank would hang it up so soon, with his brand new album and fresh off of the Warped Tour that summer playing with bands several years his junior. Seriously, Rollins would rock circles around those squirts, making them look downright flabby and weak. And anyone who had the honor of seeing Henry make music will know that his muscular sound was only matched by his mind boggling physique. I’ve said it before. Once you’ve seen that beet red, tree trunk neck of his flexing with its throbbing, ropey veins as he would belt out his lyrics, well, it’s for life. There actually was a third act on the bill that evening, a group called Superfuzz from Denmark, though a rock band from Delhi, India also shared that name, though they formed four years after this. Mother Superior gave them a shout out later between songs, along with “Kim & Jiffy Lube & not necessarily in that order”. 

It didn’t take long for Henry to warm up the crowd and get the mosh pit going. Between songs, he told the story about how he had met Bill Graham ten years earlier at Shoreline, presumably when he was the opening act on the first Lollapalooza tour. “I went up to him and said, ‘Mr. Graham, it’s a honor to meet you. You’ve done a lot of amazing things’ and he looked at me and said, ‘I know’”. Coincidentally, I actually listened to Henry tell that same story while I was putting together my annual holiday CD for friends last week from the time he played Shoreline at Live 105’s first B.F.D. festival in 1994. Graham died in a helicopter crash shortly after he met Henry, just three months later. He went on to say that “Stop, Look, & Listen” was a song about “people who talk too much” and added “I wrote this song about me!” Henry dusted off a Thin Lizzy cover called “The Rocker” saying, “It’s like a band habit, man. We just started playing it last year. We can’t stop playing it!” A couple songs later, he introduced “Always The Same” as “this is something that will hopefully shake the nuts and bolts off your fine, fine frame”. 

The pumped up audience chanted “Rollins! Rollins! Rollins!” just before they did “Get Some Go Again” and they followed it, finishing the set with “Your Number Is One”. He came back out for the encore and addressed us, “I know you’ve all heard the rap at least 50 times, a rap where the guy in the band says without you we’d have no show. He says that partially ‘cus he’s trying to kiss your ass, but mostly because it’s true. In the year 2001, if you’ve noticed, passionate hardcore soul music by people who can actually play their instruments like these guys, (followed by a cheer from the crowd), and the mighty Superfuzz. That kind of music, that audience is drying up and everyone goes to that ball-less La-La-La shit. So if years go by and our audience becomes more exclusive, we’ll love you even more… This song is about that feeling. This song is about being too much, having too much soul, it’s called ‘Too Much Rock & Roll’”. I suppose that speech would have been a hint that Henry was soon going to call it quits with his band, but that night, we were all just stunned in awe of his intensity as his encore continued, finishing the night with “Do It”. Hank appropriately ended it with a crescendo, belting out “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!!!” at the top of his superhuman lungs. 

https://archive.org/details/mother-superior-fillmore-83101

https://archive.org/details/superfuzz-fillmore-83101

https://archive.org/details/rollins-band-fillmore-83101

Cake, Deke Dickerson, War., SF, Wed., September 5

SETLIST : Ruby Sees All, Frank Sinatra, Love You Madly, Sad Songs & Waltzes, Comfort Eagle, Satan Is My Motor, I’m Coming Down, Sheep Go To Heaven, Daria, Shadow Stabbing, Stickshifts & Safetybelts, Nugget, I Will Survive, Never There, Friend Is A Four Letter Word, Short Skirt/Long Jacket, (encore), You Part The Waters, Italian Leather Sofa, Jolene

I can probably safely say that Cake were at the height of their popularity at this time. Their new album, “Comfort Eagle”, their first one signed on Columbia, had just come out that July and though it didn’t sell as well as the one before, “Prolonging The Magic” which had gone platinum, it would still certify gold. Cake were packing houses from coast to coast anyway and that certainly was the case at The Warfield where I would see the first of their two sold out shows there where I had last seen them there two years before this for their “Unlimited Sunshine” tour. They had recently replaced their drummer Todd Roper with Pete McNeal, though Todd would ultimately rejoin the band in 2016. 

The new album was only a brisk 36 minutes long, but they were definitely getting some airplay with their new single “Short Skirt/Long Jacket”. In fact, I remember MTV using it around then in a commercial segment where they would approach random people on the street and play it to them through headphones to gauge their reactions. There was a tall, black fellow who wasn’t sure at first, but after a few more bars, started to warm up to it and there was another older, balding white guy who was more dismissive, claiming that they were ripping off better big swing bands from the 40’s. That may or may not be true and perhaps some of the members of Cake would even agree with him, but it was a catchy little ditty nonetheless and an instrumental version of it would be used as the theme song for the TV show “Chuck” four years later. 

Cake had the knack of picking out talented opening acts and they continued their winning streak bringing on stage Deke Dickerson that night. Deke is truly a master rockabilly musician, a real virtuoso on his guitar. That music with its frenetic pace demands a level of musicianship that folks in that genre seldom get credit for. In between gigs, Deke would even write articles for Guitar Player magazine. He quickly got the crowd’s attention, storming the stage asking, “San Francisco, are you ready to fuckin’ rock?!?” The bad news is once again the batteries on my recorder ran low during his set, making his songs sound like they were gradually speeding up faster and faster. Though I couldn’t decipher most of his set, I do know that he played “Hot Rod Queen”, followed by “Red Headed Woman”, and later did “Mean Little Mama” and “Hello Blues”. Thankfully, I noticed that my batteries were exhausted by the end of Deke’s set and changed them before Cake was on.

As you might have read before in my previous tales of Cake’s performances, I have noted singer John McCrea’s humorous though prickly attitude. But on this occasion, he at least had the excuse of being sick to warrant his customary snarkiness. It was nothing life threatening, probably just a bad cold or a case of the flu. Keeping his balding head warm under a wool, woodsman’s cap, John said something to the effect that he was considering throwing in the towel on that night or the following one, but he was glad he stuck it out and I’m pretty sure he made it to the next one, though I didn’t attend it. He asked the crowd after “Sheep Go The Heaven” if he could get a cough drop and he got so many offers he had to tell us, “Don’t throw them at me like I’m a zoo animal!… That’s enough!” Part of me was glad he got pelted a little… whiny primadonna that he is. He mentioned it again before they did “Part The Waters”, the first song of their encore declaring, “Every time I come to San Francisco, I get sick… Let’s boo sickness!” and we all booed along with him.

John’s ill health notwithstanding, Cake managed to put on a delightful show as usual all the same, getting the whole house to sing along to “Satan Is My Motor” and clap along to “Comfort Eagle”. Though like I said, the new album was a short one, we still got to hear four of the new songs that night. I enjoyed their wistful cover of Willie Nelson’s “Sad Songs & Waltzes” especially as well as their cover of Gloria Gaynor’s disco anthem “I Will Survive”. Before they did “It’s Coming Down”, John described it as a song about how “Aztecs had a special god” to pray to when one didn’t want to “bother the main god ‘cus he would get really pissed” when “you had an acknowledgement of guilt or something that you did wrong”. He went on, “So, there’s this other god who played cards and drank a lot” that folks could “confess your sins to”. 

Later, during the encore, John admitted, “Cake doesn’t use a setlist… What’s up with that? In order to best serve you, we have to actually feel like what we feel like playing. We really want to play this one” and they did “Italian Leather Sofa” and finished the night with a long version of “Jolene”. I believed his admission considering that this would be the first occasion seeing them perform where they didn’t play their hit single “Going The Distance” since it came out, arguably their most famous tune. But I’m happy to say like their previous Warfield show, that they gave out a poster at the end of the night. This time it was a cartoon depiction of a Wagneresque opera singer, an ironic reminder to Mr. McCrae that sick or not, the show must go on and indeed is not over until the fat lady sings. 

https://archive.org/details/cake-warfield-9501

https://archive.org/details/deke-dickerson-warfield-9501

Belle & Sebastian, Jonathan Richman, War., SF, Sat., September 8

Belle & Sebastian, Jonathan Richman, War., SF, Sun., September 9

SETLISTS :

(SATURDAY) :

(JONATHAN RICHMAN) : Couples Must Fight, Hey Mystery Not Of High Heels & Eye Shadow, Me & Her Got A Good Thing Goin’ Baby, Let Her Go Into The Darkness, The Night Is Still Young, Vampire Girl, I Was Dancing In The Lesbian Bar, Pablo Picasso, Nineteen In Naples, Springtime In New York

(BELLE & SEBASTIAN) : Leader Of The Pack, Le Pastie De La Bourgeoisie, There’s Too Much Love, The Magic Of A Kind Word, I Fought In A War, My Wandering Days Are Over, Jonathan David, Slow Graffiti, The Model, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side, Simple Things, The Boy With The Arab Strap, The Fox In The Snow, Family Tree, The State I Am In, Dirty Dream Number Two, The Wrong Girl, Women’s Realm, Legal Man, Everyday People

(SUNDAY) :

(JONATHAN RICHMAN) : I Took A Chance On Her, Give Paris One More Chance, Couples Must Fight, Springtime In New York, Her Mystery Not Of High Heels & Eye Shadow, Nineteen In Naples, Girlfriend, You Can’t Talk To The Dude, Me & Her Got A Good Thing Going Baby, Lonely Financial Zone

(BELLE & SEBASTIAN) : Sleep Around The Clock, There’s Too Much Love, The Magic Of A Kind Word, San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair), Mayfly, Jonathan David, Don’t Leave The Light On Baby, The Model, Wandering Alone, Billie Jean, Simple Things, The Boy With The Arab Strap, You Made Me Forget My Dreams, Judy & The Dream Of Horses, Family Tree, Dog On Wheels, The Wrong Girl, Woman’s Realm, Legal Man

I have been dreading writing about these shows as time marched on knowing that I would once again be reliving the dreaded days of 9/11. Truth be told, I knew pretty much next to nothing about Scotland’s own Belle & Sebastian, but I quickly became smitten by their music and by the end of night one, I was hooked. So, I was especially glad that I had booked both of these two sold out nights at The Warfield. I am ashamed however to say that these ones were the only time I saw them live, though they still tour and were just in town at The Fox Theater in Oakland a couple months ago. I was working that night, but in hindsight, I should have tried to go anyway. But on these nights, I and everyone else was blissfully unaware of the horror that awaited us the following Tuesday. I did manage to catch Modest Mouse also at The Warfield that Monday, but I didn’t care for that band much, so I can say with total certainty that these Belle & Sebastian shows were the last GOOD shows that I saw before the world went to holy hell.

Belle & Sebastian were still relatively new back then, at least new to Americans. Though they had been together five years by then, this was actually their first tour of the West Coast of our fair nation. Selling out back to back shows at The Warfield was a good way to start. The core members met in Glasgow as music students at Stow College, naming their band after a children’s TV program about a 6 year old boy and his Great Pyranees dog. I recognized their name when they were mentioned in the 2000 film comedy “High Fidelity” where Jack Black dissed their sound as “old sad bastard music”. Granted, “Seymour Stein” was playing during that scene, which is in fact a rather sad song, though they didn’t perform it at either of these shows. But rest assured, they have plenty of cheerful, uplifting tunes like “The Magic Of A Kind Word” which they played both nights. 

They were a rather large band actually with eight core members along with a five piece string section, something you very rarely see with any band. Their cellist, Isobel Campbell, who also sang back ups, had joined the band at the tender age of 19, but this would be her last tour. She would go on to a solo career and several collaborations with Mark Lanegan from the Screaming Trees. Their original bassist, Stuart David, had just left the band the year before to form the band Looper and to write novels. Belle & Sebastian had just put out their third studio album, the cryptically titled “Fold Your Hands Child, You Walk Like A Peasant” and they were then working on songs for the soundtrack of “Storytelling”, the dark comedy film by Todd Solondz. Sadly, only five minutes of music from that would actually make it onto the film itself. 

One musician I was slightly more familiar with giving me further incentive to witness these shows was the venerable singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman. He had found a new audience recently with his appearance as the singing narrator/Greek chorus for the 1998 Farrelly Brother’s masterpiece “There’s Something About Mary”, but he had long been around being the frontman for his first band, The Modern Lovers, as far back as the 70’s. With that seminal group, like Isobel Campbell, Jonathan started at the tender age of 19 years old and would pen such brilliant tunes as “Pablo Picasso” and “Roadrunner”. Ironically, Jack Black would endorse Belle & Sebastian’s opening act, playing a version of the latter song two years later in “The School Of Rock” movie. I was intimately familiar with “Pablo Picasso” which he played on the first night, from the legendary soundtrack from the greatest motion picture of all time, “Repo Man”, and the incredible cover of it that I recorded at the Maritime with Siouxsie Sioux and John Cale with The Creatures. “Roadrunner” had been a punk standard for years being covered by such notable acts as the Sex Pistols and Joan Jett and there’s actually a music venue named after it in Richman’s home town of Boston that just opened two years ago. 

In honor of his many years of fine work, a tribute album had just been put out six months before these shows called “If I Were A Richman : A Tribute To The Music Of Jonathan Richman”. He was joined on stage those nights by his drummer Tommy Larkins, who along with his minimalist drum kit and brushes also accompanied him on his songs in “There’s Something About Mary”. Though we didn’t hear “Roadrunner”, they did play the golden oldies “Girlfriend”, “Give Paris One More Chance”, and “Lonely Financial Zone”. I was impressed how polite the crowd was shutting up and actually listening which was fortunate because his music is pretty quiet. Jonathan introduced “Couples Must Fight” both nights saying that he and his girlfriend don’t fight and that is wrong, insisting that couples need to let it all out to clear the air. He was an enjoyable and appropriate opener for Belle & Sebastian, so managing the crowd was pretty easy, which I especially appreciated at the Saturday show because I had to work all night. 

I’ve said it before but it bears repeating that the bands that impact me the most are the ones that I when I hear them for the first time, after just a few bars I ask myself, “What the fuck kind of music is this?”. My inevitable devotion to these bands doesn’t always happen immediately with them, but with Belle & Sebastian, it was nearly instantaneous. Strangely enough, the first song I would hear them play would actually be a cover of “Leader Of The Pack” by The Shangri-La’s. And though like I said, I didn’t know anything about them, I imagine even their hardcore fans didn’t expect that one coming. They even brought a motorcycle on stage and pantomimed revving the throttle the “Vroom” bit at the end of the chorus. Nice touch. 

Halfway through the set, they began a cover of “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side” by The Smiths, but Murdoch broke down laughing, soon realizing that he’d forgotten the lyrics and quickly brought a fan on stage named Brian to finish it. That cracked everybody up. A little later, they brought up another fan on stage to play percussion and sing along to “Dirty Dream Number Two”. At the end of their encore that night, they did “Everyday People” by Sly & The Family Stone. Their singer Stuart Murdoch introduced it, calling it “a song by one of the greatest bands to come out of San Francisco… No, it’s not fuckin’ Green Day”. To be fair, Green Day came out of the East Bay, but whatever.

Speaking of the city by the bay, the following night they did a cover of “San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)”, the ubiquitous hippie anthem by Scott McKenzie. Belle & Sebastian would follow that with another stylistic curveball, playing “Billy Jean” by Wacko Jacko himself. We didn’t see that one coming either. But their original tunes immediately got and kept my attention both nights, particularly with such brilliant melodies as “Judy & The Dream Of Horses”, “The Wrong Girl”, and “There’s Too Much Love”. Seriously, to this day “The Boy With The Arab Strap” is one that will make me feel so moved that I get get a little misty. The crowd clapped along to that one on both nights. And I would need such inspirational songs soon after and indeed after these shows, I collected quite a few of their albums. That music help get me through that dark time and I imagine helped quite a few others as well. I was happy as always that there was a poster for those nights, a well deserved one, but that happiness is tinged with the bitter knowledge that it would be the last one I’d get before 9/11. Writing this now and having listened to those nights again, I do feel a touch of shame for having not seen them since and I hope they come back soon, so I can rectify that error. I don’t want these shows to be my last time, but if they were, they were at least good ones. 

https://archive.org/details/jonathan-richman-warfield-9901

https://archive.org/details/belle-sebastian-warfield-9901

https://archive.org/details/jonathan-richman-warfield-9801

https://archive.org/details/belle-sebastian-warfield-9801

Modest Mouse, The Glands, Atlas Systematic, War., SF, Mon., September 10

SETLIST : 3rd Planet, A Life Of Arctic Sounds, Paper Thin Walls, What People Are Made Of, Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset, Tiny Cities Made Of Ashes, Broke, Trailer Trash, Teeth Like God’s Shoeshine, I Came As A Rat (Long Walk Off A Short Dock), Doin’ The Cockroach, Wild Packs Of Family Dogs, Interstate 8, Never Ending Math Equation, (encore), Night On The Sun, A Different City, Alone Down There

This is it, the last show before the world changed. Part of me is grateful that this grim distinction would fall to Modest Mouse, a band I don’t particularly care for. If this show had been one of a band I loved, the trauma that followed would forever taint my feelings for them. But it being Modest Mouse, I would be spared that pain. Don’t get me wrong, at the time I had wanted to see them play. This indy rock group from the Pacific Northwest fronted by Isaac Brock had garnered a reputation for their original sound and I have to admit, I thought the band’s name was clever. But Isaac also had a reputation for being a bit of a drug fiend and having rather erratic on-stage behavior, going as far as cutting himself up there. Modest Mouse had just released the “Sad Sappy Sucker” album that April and they were just about to put out their new EP, “Everywhere & The Nasty Parlor Tricks” two weeks after this show. We got to hear a couple new songs off that upcoming EP at that gig, “Night On The Sun” and “I Came As A Rat (Long Walk Off A Short Dock)”.

I had just finished two back to back sold out nights with Belle & Sebastian at The Warfield, and unlike Modest Mouse, I was actually impressed with them and have since become a fan. And in a case of cruel irony, 311 was supposed to play the Warfield the following day on 9/11 and I was signed up to usher that one as well which would have been my fourth Warfield show in a row. But when my dear old Mom insisted that I get out of San Francisco just as a precaution, I couldn’t really say no. There had been people that morning expecting the Golden Gate Bridge to be attacked, some even going so far as to set up cameras out on Crissy Field in anticipation of it. I already had to go into my union gig at The Palace Hotel earlier that day to take apart a conference for none other than Lehman Brothers, yes, THOSE Lehman Brothers, the ones who nearly single handed sunk the American economy during the housing crisis just seven years later. 

At the time Lehman had an office in the World Trade Center and that morning their members were clearly inconsolable and the ones from that WTC office were understandably having total nervous breakdowns. None of them knew then who was alive or dead, but thankfully I would learn later that all the people from that company made it out of the Towers safely. That show wasn’t supposed to be taken apart until the following day, but Steve, the business agent in the office at the time pleaded with me to keep it together and take it out. But it was difficult to get through that day, especially since I was also tasked to set up TV monitors around the lobby of The Palace showing, you guessed it, footage of the disaster over and over again. Suffice to say, I wouldn’t be in the mood to see any show that night and not 311 to be sure. But on this unremarkable Monday the night before, there I was in my usual spot clearing the left bar aisle at The Warfield with everyone else, blissfully ignorant to the impending age of darkness.

There were a couple opening acts that night, beginning with Atlas Systematic from Canada. From the get go, I knew it was going to be a loud one, so I’m glad I wore ear plugs. Seriously, the volume on that band’s keyboards was truly grating. Their singer encouraged folks to buy their new album at the merch booth, saying “We’ll sign it!… You can sell it on eBay to your friends!” Good God, that man screamed his head off during the last song of their set and as you might imagine, I wasn’t upset to see them go. They were followed by The Glands who were much more pleasant. They were from Athens, Georgia and were brand new, having just released their debut, self titled album the year before this. Somebody passed out in the crowd during their set and I heard my fellow usher Dave Fineman tell me to stay put while he went to get help. They managed to fish the drunk out of the crowd before he got back though. I never saw The Glands again and sadly never will since their singer-guitarist Ross Shapiro passed away from lung cancer eight years ago.

My batteries were once again running out on my tape deck, so the first half of Modest Mouse’s set sounded sped up until I replaced them. I wanted to like them, really. They are amongst a handful of bands like Phish that are utterly revered by their fans, but I just can’t get into them no matter how I try. It’s an unpleasant feeling for me, the kind of feeling like being left out of the party. But I wan’t having it that night and swiftly lost my patience. Near the end of the set, I overheard myself talking to another usher dryly quipping, “I don’t know if I like it, but it’s art”. I also didn’t appreciate that they took over six goddamn minutes to get back on stage during their encore break. I’m a patient man, but even three minutes is pushing it. Still, like Phish, I would give Modest Mouse the benefit of the doubt and I would see them again to make sure it wasn’t some sort of fluke. I would go on to see Modest Mouse not once, but twice more, first at The Fillmore in 2003, then setting up their gear at Live 105’s Not-So-Silent-Night at Bill Graham Civic in 2006 with The Killers. Even with Johnny Marr from The Smiths playing guitar with them on that latter show, I still couldn’t bring myself to enjoy their music. 

There was no poster to mark the occasion and with what followed the next morning, I suppose the less I remember from this show the better. I learned that Isaac got into a bit of hot water when they played at The House Of Blues in West Hollywood that Wednesday. Apparently, he thought it would be a clever, if not provocative to choose to play videos of buildings being demolished in reverse on a screen behind the band while they played. He even introduced the band coming on stage that night, “Hi, we’re Modest Mouse and we’re going to put America back together again!” Yes, perhaps his drug addled heart was in the right place, but with hardly 24 hours having passed since the Twin Towers crumbled to the ground into fiery, twisted mountains of debris, I think most people would agree that his artistic angle here was entirely too soon. Indeed, I would see seven more shows that month and it wouldn’t be until the last one with Earth, Wind, & Fire that I would even begin to feel a thimbleful of joy again at a concert.

https://archive.org/details/modest-mouse-warfield-91001

https://archive.org/details/the-glands-warfield-91001

https://archive.org/details/atlas-systematic-warfield-91001

Megadeth, Endo, Fill., SF, Fri., September 14

SETLISTS : 

(ENDO) : (unknown), Penicillin, (unknown), Listen, (unknown), Malice, Suffer, Save Us

(MEGADETH) : Dread & The Fugitive Mind, Kill The King, In My Darkest Hour, Burning Bridges, She-Wolf, Reckoning Day, Wake Up Dead, Almost Honest, Use The Man, Train Of Consequences, Hanger 18, Angry Again, A Tout Le Monde, Devil’s Island, Tornado Of Souls, The Conjuring, Mechanix, Sweating Bullets, Trust, Symphony Of Destruction, Peace Sells, Paranoid, (encore), Holy Wars… Punishment Due

It was time to get back on the horse or at least attempt it. 9/11 had just gone down that Tuesday, a mere three days before this show. I was uncertain whether I was ready to see another show as I really didn’t know what to feel exactly then. But it being Megadeth felt strangely appropriate, so I squared up my shoulders, took a deep breath, and showed up. This would be the second time I’d see Megadeth and they were two for two preceding a piece of bad news. Yes, back in 1995, Megadeth had the dubious distinction of playing at The Warfield the day that Jerry Garcia died. Indeed, I was beginning to wonder if Dave Mustaine and his crew had become the harbingers of death incarnate. So when they returned to play The Warfield fifteen years later with Suicidal Tendencies and Children Of Bodom opening, I braced myself for the worst. Thankfully, nothing bad of note happened that time, so I consider the previous two shows to be just unfortunate coincidences. 

In the intervening years since I had seen Megadeth, they had gone through some line up changes. They had completed an acoustic tour that spring and just finished opening for AC/DC that summer. But this time, they were headlining on their own tour, promoting their ninth studio album, “The World Needs A Hero”, which had just come out that May. It was their first new album after signing to Sanctuary Records, having just left Capitol after 15 years with them. Dave was reconnecting to his thrash metal roots again after the commercial and critical failure of their last album, “Risk”, and continued his rebound appearing in an episode of VH1’s “Behind The Music” that year as well. And though we got a diverse selection of songs from their extensive catalog up till then, they only played two new songs that night, opening the set with “Dread & The Fugitive Mind” and later playing “Burning Bridges”. 

They brought along Endo, a nu metal band from Miami, to start the night and there was no question that you could cut the tension in The Fillmore with a knife. Security was understandably terse and thorough with everyone who passed through the doors and guarded the stage with steely gazes, just waiting for a reason to pounce. Endo was brand new back then, having just released their first album, “Evolve”, only six months before this. I managed to figure out a little more than half of their setlist, but Gil Bitton, their singer made it challenging with his blood curdling screaming of his lyrics. As you can imagine, it was loud as hell in there too. 

Gil got into a bit of a disagreement with somebody up front after they played “Penicillin”, barking, “Hey, Fuck me? Fuck you! I might flip out and kick your fuckin’ ass you fuckin’ piece of shit! San Francisco, let me ask you one fuckin’ question. Is everyone here cool like this dude?… Everybody say ‘Fuck You, Dude!’ We’re here to party and have a good time. Listen up. It’s all about fuckin’ respect, know what I mean? We’re up here playing a show for you people. We love to do this. We don’t need people talkin’ shit like that. I think everyone’s morale and consciousness is a little down by everything that fuckin’ happened this past week and it’s fucked up. People are fucked up. Shit needs to change in this fuckin’ world, more positivity than negativity.” As you might have noticed, Gil enjoyed dropping F-bombs. 

Later, between songs he said, “Listen, I fuckin’ grew up on Megadeth, OK? It’s fuckin’ old school, new school, whatever you call it, it’s still rock & roll. Know what I mean? I’d like to give a shout out to Spike 1000. I think they’re in the building.” I had actually just seen Spike 1000 play at The Fillmore headlining the Nadine’s Wild Weekend show a month before this and I thought they were pretty good. Later Gil went on, “San Francisco, listen to me… Whatever we are, we’re all Americans. We’re all fuckin’ human. I think it’s going to change so much for our future and I hope for a positive way, not a negative way. Fuck terrorism! Let’s kill those fuckin’ bastards! I fuckin’ love my country! People are people, assholes are assholes. This song is about paranoia.” Then they played “Malice”, their new single that had been featured in the “Dracula 2000” film soundtrack that year. Yeah, that was a good start, but the heshers in the crowd that night had waaaaaaay more tension to unleash and as we waited for Megadeth to get on stage, that tension only regrew.

By the time they made it on, the audience had already been chomping at the bit, loudly chanting “USA! USA! USA!” and “Megadeth! Megadeth! Megadeth!” for a while. I was pleasantly surprised that they played over the speakers just before they started a spoken word piece by Jello Biafra from the Dead Kennedys called “Shut Up, Be Happy”. Jello recorded it as an intro for Ice-T’s album “The Iceberg” and it was a satyrical public service announcement beginning with “America is under martial law”, saying that “curfew is at 7 pm”, and those “out after curfew will be shot”. It went on to announce several other draconian measures and the punishment for disobedience will likewise being shot and so forth. Considering the considerable jingoistic attitude everyone was feeling, especially in that crowd, even me, it was a daring choice to make. Jello is about as far as one could get from being right wing and he certainly wasn’t a fan of W. Dave and the gang tore through the first three songs of the set in rapid succession and when the crowd started chanting “USA!” again, he paused and said, “It’s going to take more than a couple of chickenshits crashing airplanes into a building to stop us from playing to you” and then they performed “Burning Bridges”. 

Megadeth was trying something new on that tour, playing songs that their fans had requested on their website, a novel idea back in those days. Their guitar work was stellar as it was the time before and I still don’t think Dave gets enough credit for his chops. Dave was a pioneer in the genre of thrash metal and his tenure in the early days of Metallica helped lay the foundation for its sound. He thanked his lead guitarist, Al Pitrelli, after “Sweating Bullets”, and the crowd cheered so loudly, Dave joked, “You know, this is the first city I haven’t had to do that twice”. He then turned around and pointed to his drummer, Jimmy DeGrasso smiling, “This motherfucker actually lives up here!” They finished their set with an intense mash up of “Peace Sells” and a cover of “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath. Dave broke it down a little in the middle declaring, “I can sing all night! And now I wanna hear you. So for a moment, we’re all gonna be in Megadeth. So when I count to four… some of you can’t make it there… I want you to start singing along with me. If you don’t know the words, it doesn’t matter.” He then got the crowd to sing one of the verses of “Paranoid”with him, then repeated it on their own a cappella, reprising back to “Peace Sells” for the big finish. 

Of coarse they were coming back for an encore with the crowd chanting “Megadeth!” at the top of their lungs and I mean everybody. Dave did a little call and response with the crowd, playing a couple notes on his guitar, taking turns with people yelling, as they gradually began “Holy Wars… Punishment Due”, the final and very eerily appropriate song, ending this night of bombastic thrash and existential peril. At the very end, Dave reassured us, “I want to thank you for coming down to join us tonight. Remember, we’re safe in this fuckin’ country. We’ll get ‘em.” We all knew what he meant and roared in applause. Then it was all over. I got through it. I asked the front of house sound guy if he need the setlist, but he said he did, though he did allow me to have the show’s schedule. I was relieved that there was a poster that night, which would be the first one I’d get after 9/11. I got that milestone out of the way as well. 

Megadeth hit a rough patch shortly after this show. They had to cancel most of the remaining dates of that tour because of this national calamity, but they managed to record and release their first live CD/DVD appropriately titled “Rude Awakening” from the shows they would do that November in Arizona. Dave would soon fall victim to a case of kidney stones which got him hooked on painkillers, ultimately causing him to relapse back to old drug habits. Though he attempted to get straight again in rehab, there he accidentally fell asleep with his left arm over a chair, compressing his radial nerve, which lead to a case of severe radial neuropathy, otherwise known as “Saturday Night Palsy”. While recovering in physical therapy, unable to even make a fist with his left hand, Dave obviously couldn’t continue playing, so he broke up the band, Al and Jimmy leaving for good. 

But he’d be back on his feet and playing again in 2004, clean and sober, and with a new lease on life. Yes, Mr. Mustaine found God and became quite the Christian. Sure, laugh if you want, but Dave clearly needed to turn his like around and J.C. helped him do it. From many accounts, he needed it, including from my friend Jim Koehler who was his tour manager for some time in the 80’s. Jim said Dave was totally a drunken, obnoxious wreck and it was one of the worst times of his life having to wrangle him around back then. But after his recovery, I also remember hearing a story from a fellow stagehand who drove Dave in a car to one of his gigs and when they arrived, Dave asked him, “Can I ask you a favor?… Can I pray for you?” The guy naturally said yes and though one might think that I little corny, I thought it was a very kind and considerate gesture. Personally, I think it would be cool to have a rock star pray for me, or any celebrity for that matter. I can use all the help I can get. Sadly after his recovery, Dave also turned into a right wing basket case, accusing Obama of being born out of the country and refusing to play with any metal band from then on who he considered to be satanic, bands like Rotting Christ and Dissection. Maybe he would have been better off as a junkie. But poitics aside and in hindsight, one could at least be thankful that through the age of darkness that was the George W. Bush presidency, that at least Dave would bounce back from his abyss.

https://archive.org/details/megadeth-fillmore-91401

https://archive.org/details/endo-fillmore-91401

https://archive.org/details/megadeth-bootleg-fillmore-91401

P.J. Harvey, Morris Tepper, War., SF, Tues., September 18

SETLISTS : 

(MORRIS TEPPER) : (unknown), Tears Of Love, Copperhead, Frankenstein’s Daughter, Sandpiper, (unknown), Moth To Mouth, (unknown)

(P.J. HARVEY) : This Mess We’re In, 66 Promises, Mansize, Sky Lit Up, The Whores Hustle & The Hustlers Whore, One Lane, A Place Called Home, 30, Send His Love To Me, Beautiful Feeling, Will’s Song, Dry, Somebody’s Down Somebody’s Name, Kamikaze, Big Exit, Horses In My Dreams, (encore), Angeline, This Is Love, Losing Ground, Down By The Water, Nina In Ecstasy 2

It had been exactly one week since the attacks of 9/11 when P.J. Harvey came to town to play The Warfield. It was just one week before that P.J. herself personally saw the smoke bellowing in the distance from the grisly aftermath at The Pentagon from her Washington D.C. hotel window. She had been in town to play a gig and coincidentally had won the Mercury Prize back home in London for her latest album, “Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea” the very same day, thanking the people giving it to her for it via telephone. She was the first female artist to win that coveted prize and would win it again a decade later with her album “Let England Shake”. This would be the fourth time I’d see her play on that stage, having seen her at two non-consecutive shows there in ’95 and once more in ’98, but clearly the circumstances this time around cast a gloom over the evening that couldn’t be ignored. Though things were attempting to return to normal with plane flights resuming and the stock market reopening, we were all freaked out to hear the news that day of letters filled with white Anthrax powder being sent out to politicians in D.C. and news media offices. So, like the scene at the Megadeth show the previous Friday, security was tight.  

The good news was it was a sold out show and P.J. was at the top of her game. Her new album was a hit, certifying platinum and would chalk up two Grammy nominations for Best Rock Album and Best Female Rock Performance. She relied heavily on that album through her set that night, playing 9 out of its 12 songs, not including two of its B-Sides, “30” and “66 Promises”. She had also just completed an extensive tour that summer opening for U2 playing stadiums everywhere, exposing her music and talent to countless new fans. The ever flamboyant Ms. Harvey had actually turned down her theatrical stage costuming a bit this time around from her previous outings. The first time I saw her, she was doing the sort of “What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?” in a blue, silk nighty look, the second, a sort of Madonna-esque, cone bra sporting, drag strip queen, the third time, sort of looking like Raggedy Ann. This time she simply had a sleeveless black dress and boots with modestly styled, shoulder length black hair. Seriously, she looked like she was just going to a dinner party or something. This was of coarse fine by me. Her music spoke for itself.

P.J. made another interesting selection for her opening act, Morris Tepper, the guitarist for Captain Beefheart. She had chosen Tricky, Ben Harper, and The Rachels the previous times at The Warfield respectively and they were all excellent. Captain Beefheart is one of those many bands that I should know more about and don’t, often cited as a musical influence to many acts back then including P.J. herself. Morris had done work recently playing guitar with Frank Black and had just put out his third solo album, “Moth To Mouth” the year before this. I was impressed by his guitar work as I expected to be, but his singing was a bit off putting. The guy growled a lot, his voice not really on key much, buried under layers of gurgling vocal effects. The crowd was polite and listened all the same and it being quite loud, I had no trouble getting a decent recording of it.

I was making small talk before P.J. started and overheard myself going on about how work had been dead for me at the union as it always was during the summers and things were just beginning to pick back up when the attacks happened. I would be out of work for a good four months, the longest I had ever been out of work except for recently with the pandemic. Most conventions around then had to cancelled or postponed, partially because of all the air traffic being halted. But the good news is that the work eventually did come back and all those conventions that had been postponed extended my work season deep into the following summer, more than making up for my losses. I had the added advantage that I would be picked up to begin my apprenticeship at Local 16 that winter and with the heavy work load that accompanied it, the timing couldn’t have been better.

Anyway, back to the show. P.J. never talked much between songs, but when she did, she was very calm and polite, very English really. Near the end of her set, she said, “It’s a very difficult time for all of us. I appreciate you being here, so thank you.” Then she played the strangely appropriate song “Kamikaze”. Later, she gave a shout out, “San Francisco, it’s a very special time for me for many things, but one of the most important things is that it’s the home of Eric Drew Feldman. San Francisco is a beautiful place.” Eric had played keyboards on Harvey’s “Is This Desire?” album and would also contribute to her “White Chalk” album in 2007 and on “A Woman Walked By”, her album that she did with John Parrish in 2009. Like Morris, Eric had also worked with Captain Beefheart and Frank Black and these days, he currently plays for The Residents. Like I said, it was mostly new material of hers that night, but she did play an interesting, grittier arrangement of “Down By The Water” near the end of the show.

I was once again relieved to see that there was a good poster at the end of the night, making it three out of four posters from her Warfield gigs. But I am sad to say that this was the last time I saw her perform live, though she’s still touring to this day. My apprenticeship at my union actually cost me another opportunity to see her at The Warfield three years later. In October of 2004, we were in the middle of another tense general election, so as a condition of my apprenticeship, I had to do phone banking the night she was in town then and I never forgave my union for making me do it, even if there was free pizza. I remember getting frustrated after doing it for about an hour or so and started using that corny “movie phone guy” voice. After that, I swore never to phone bank again. And like the last three times, her show that night at The Warfield got a poster too. That would have been four out of five. 

https://archive.org/details/p.j.-harvey-warfield-91801

https://archive.org/details/morris-tepper-warfield-91801

They Might Be Giants, The Bicycle Thief, The Incredible Moses Leroy, Fill., SF, Wed., September 19

SETLISTS :

(THE INCREDIBLE MOSES LEROY) : Beep Beep Love, Fuzzy, Cover Your Mouth, Everybody’s Going Down, 1983, (unknown), The Bridge Is Over – Just A Friend, (unknown), Anthem

(THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS) : Cyclops Rock, Bangs, Boss Of Me, Older, Fingertips, I’ve Got A Fang, Lie Still Little Bottle, Yeh Yeh, Dr. Worm, Drink!, Particle Man, Mammal, Man It’s So Loud In Here, Another First Kiss, Don’t Let Start, She’s An Angel, She’s Actual Size, Hopeless Bleak Despair, Istanbul (Not Constantinople), Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass Of Incandescent Gas), Twisting, James K. Polk, New York City, (encore), Spider, The Guitar (The Lion Sleeps Tonight), Birdhouse In Your Soul, (encore), Robot Parade, Spy, Baba O-Riley

I sometimes forget how long it’s been since 9/11, but even back then I knew that I would envy those too young to remember or who were born after that terrible day. Apologies to those who will hear me harp on the subject for the next few or however many reviews it takes to get it out of my system, but for those who do remember, they will naturally understand that it took a hell of a lot longer than eight days to even begin to get one’s head straight. And there was no shortage of trauma and heartbreak to those who were from New York City like They Might Be Giants who played at The Warfield eight days after their beloved home was attacked. Honestly, the courage it took for that brave city’s native sons to carry on and try to cheer us all up with their whimsical yet brilliant music that night elevated them in my eyes to a level of reverence above most and it continues to this day. To those familiar to this blog, you well know that I was no stranger to this band, this being the 7th time I would see them perform live. They had just played The Fillmore only that January, but were there that night at The Warfield promoting their new album, “Mink Car”, which had been, in a case of tragic coincidence, on the very day of 9/11. The Giants had also played a free set at Virgin Megastore the day before this show, but I didn’t hear about it in time and missed it.

Once again, they were touring with a full band and this time they had two opening acts to warm us up. The first was The Incredible Moses Leroy, fronted by Ron Fortenberry who had named his musical project after his great grandfather of the same name who had been a noted civil rights activist. Early in their set, just before they played “Cover Your Mouth”, Ron gleefully announced, “We’re from here!… Technically, two of us grew up here. Give it up for Belmont!” I liked their goofy electronica sound, especially when they did their techno heavy, mash up covers of “The Bridge Is Over” by Boogie Down Productions and “Just A Friend” by Biz Markie. I could see why The Giants brought them along on this tour, definitely a similar sense of ironic humor. Before their last song, Ron said, “Thank you for coming out. I see my mom in the back there. You can tell her that her son doesn’t suck. If you can do that, that’ll be great. We’re selling CDs. There should be two beautiful German girls selling them back there!”

The second opening act was The Bicycle Thief led by Bob Forrest from Thelonious Monster, a funky trash supergroup that I had seen before and had been around for years. Members of the Red Hot Chili Peppers have come and go with that bands rotating line up including John Frusciante who leant his guitar chops to a song on The Bicycle Thief’s debut and only studio album, “You Come & Go Like A Pop Song” which had come out two years before this show. Future Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer had also been part of making that album, though neither of them were with Bob on stage that night. The band was stripped down to just Bob on acoustic guitar with a female back up singer. The bad news is that since I ran out of tape during The Giants’ set, I taped over most of their set to get the rest of it. Understand, I very, very rarely do that, but considering the irrefutable emotional gravitas of the evening, I felt compelled to do so. Still, I was able to get a couple of songs from The Bicycle Thief, they being “Hurt” and most of “It’s Rainin’ (4 AM)”. 

The Giants got the night off to a quick start with their new single “Cyclops Rock” and John Linnell immediately afterwards said, “Thanks for coming! We got a new record called “Mink Car” and we’re going to play lots of songs from that record for you tonight. This song is called ‘Bangs’” and after a long pause while the band was tuning up and getting ready, he quipped, “… A song we’re going to play about five minutes from now.” We were in fact treated to nine of the new songs from the new album at that show. They followed that with “Boss Of Me”, the theme song from the TV comedy “Malcolm In The Middle”. Though it had already been on the air for almost two years by then and it was a hit, the song had only been released on the European version of “Mink Car” that year, though technically the tenth new song in the set. Granted, it to this day is probably their most recognized song amongst the general population of the Earth and thanks to the residuals from that show, it probably made them a fortune. 

A couple songs later, John Flansburgh finally addressed the elephant in the room, “It’s super duper gratifying to be here and see all the people… Somebody told us we should, can’t stress this enough, we were understating this fact, which is that we drove here! From New York!” The crowd roared, cheering in approval and support. He lightened things up a couple songs later while fiddling with his microphone, claiming, “We have been working on getting a Shure endorsement”. Linnell clarified, “Shure is a microphone company.” Flansburgh continued, “In case you’re unfamiliar with the shape of a Shure microphone, it’s usually not attached to a stick… These are high quality microphones actually… This next song is kind of a beatnik number. It’s from our ‘Lincoln’ album.” The audience screamed enthusiastically. He went on, “This song features the finger snaps of just the shy people in the audience… Not any freestyle, San Francisco kind of thing’ and then they did the cool, jazzy “Lie Still, Little Bottle”.

Afterwards, Flansburgh made a wisecrack about somebody smoking the dank up front and suspected it was the same guy who does it at every show they do in that town. He then introduced the next tune, a cover of “Yeh! Yeh!” by Mongo Santamaria, adding that their version had been used in a “monolith Chrysler ad campaign” and “We drive the Ford product, but we’re all about unity”.  Linnell chimed in, “We advocate Chrysler for others”. Flansburgh continued, “We’re stuck with our miserable car. We look forward to having a new car… soon. This song is about three minutes long. It’s got lots of words” They were just about to begin the song when the spotlight on him turned off and he joked, “We had a spotlight, soon as the song starts cut? For the first 16 bars, give the drummer some light!”

Musing about their travel there, Linnell said afterward, “You know the funny thing about Route 80 is that it totally sucks. I never really noticed it before, but if you ever get a chance to check it out, it blows. They’ve taken all the good parts away. You know what was really good was the brand new rest stops in Ohio. Did you check those out? They’re new and they’re really good.” Flansburgh cheered, “They’ve got toilets with electric eyes!” and then they did “Dr. Worm”. Seriously, I love that song, easily in the top three that they do, and hearing it that night literally brought me to tears. There’s something so beautiful, sentimental, and endearing in its lyrics despite on the surface appearing silly. 

Later, Flansburgh did another breakdown during “She’s Actual Size” giving the drummer a solo, doing a parody of an answering service, “This drum solo will be answered in the order received… If you want to hear Gene Krupa, press 3!” Then the drummer did a little riff in the style of him followed by, “If you want to hear Buddy Rich, press 4!… If you want to compare it to Animal from “The Muppet Show”, press 5!” Then the drummer went back and forth between the styles of Animal and Buddy while Flansburgh prompted it barking, “Animal!… Buddy Rich!… Animal!… Buddy Rich!” and then went on asking them to request the opening drum riff from “Rock & Roll” by Led Zeppelin by pressing 6, followed by others including Animal again by pressing 9 and finishing by requesting “Turn This Mother Out” by pressing 10. Flansburgh made a call back to his earlier bit about cars during their cover of “Why Does The Sun Shine? (A Mass Of Incandescent Gas)” breaking down the middle declaring, “Everything on the sun is a gas!… Fords! Chryslers! Gin & Tonics! American Motors Products! Studebakers! Everything a gas!”

The set was nearly over when Flansburgh said, “This song is about our 11th President” and reminded us that there was a “street named after him here”, which I was well aware since I lived a block from it then, and they performed “James K. Polk”. Like “Dr. Worm”, on the surface their cover of Cub’s “New York City” seemed innocent and cute on the surface. Back then, Cub’s music had been designated under the innocuous umbrella genre of “cuddlecore”, but after 9/11, that song to me became a solemn and defiant rallying cry for the Greatest City In The World. In a strange and unexpected way, They Might Be Giants that night became the courageous, proud, and righteous protectors of all who dwelled in those grief stricken five boroughs. I was proud to attend there at The Warfield, so much that for once, I wasn’t even upset that there wasn’t a poster at the end of it all. The uplifting joy and fortitude that The Giants brought and shared with us all was reward enough and I’ll always remember and thank them for that. 

https://archive.org/details/the-bicycle-thief-fillmore-91901

https://archive.org/details/the-incredible-moses-leroy-fillmore-91901

https://archive.org/details/they-might-be-giants-fillmore-91901

Gov’t Mule, War., SF, Thur., September 20

SETLIST: 

(Set 1) : Bad Little Doggie, How Many More Years, Thorazine Shuffle, Greasy Granny’s Gopher Gravy (Pts. 1 & 2), Tommy The Cat, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, Since I’ve Been Loving You, Mule – Don’t Call Me Nigger Whitey – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf) – Third Stone From The Sun – Mule

(Set 2) : Blind Man In The Dark, Lay Your Burden Down, Fallen Down – The Other One, What Is Hip?, Babylon Turnpike, Compared To What, Slow Happy Boys, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), Key To The Highway, Tomorrow Never Knows, Soulshine, Masters Of War, Rockin’ In The Free World, (encore), Revolution, Goin’ Out West

This was my third show in a row at The Warfield that week and my first time seeing Gov’t Mule, the jam band supergroup and brainchild of ex-Allman Brothers Band guitarist Warren Haynes. Despite the grim specter of 9/11 still hovering over our heads, I was determined to carry on with my busy concert schedule, especially since my work at the stagehands union had all but evaporated and would remain dead for several months to come. Though this was my first time seeing the Mule, I had seen Warren with the Allmans three times in 1994, twice on that very same stage and once more at Shoreline for the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Glad as I was to be there that night, I wish it had been under happier circumstances. Obviously 9/11 still clouded all of our mirth, but this was the first tour the Mule would be doing after the death of their bassist Alan Woody, who succumbed to a heroin overdose in New York City the year before this.

In a fitting tribute to his fallen bassist, Warren assembled an impressive crew of fellow bassists to contribute to his albums, “The Deep End, Volumes 1 & 2”, which hadn’t even been released yet. The roster of talented masters of the low end was a long one, so I’ll spare you the complete list, but there were a few members of that crew in tow with Warren on stage that night. First and foremost, though I’m biased, was Mr. Les Claypool, who sat in the entire first set. For the first three songs of the second set, Warren was joined by Dave Schools from Widespread Panic, followed by Alphonso Johnson who also did three songs. He was then followed by none other than Jack Casady from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Rounding out the rest of the band was Matt Abst on drums, Cecil Daniels on trumpet, and a rotating cast of venerable hippy keyboard veterans being Pete Sears, Chuck Leavell, and Rob Barraco.

I had been getting more and more into the habit of taping the soundchecks at shows and I was especially glad I got this one. Not only did I get a sneak peak into their set with them rehearsing covers of Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”, but they also did “Shine On You Crazy Diamond”, a Pink Floyd number that Les had been playing for some time with his band, The Fearless Flying Frog Brigade. I was beyond surprised and delighted when they did a scorching version of “Tommy The Cat”, by Les’ other little band called Primus. I never thought any guitarist could go toe to toe with Larry LeLonde on that song, but Warren was more than worthy. I’m particularly happy that I caught that soundcheck because they also did a bit of “YYZ” by Rush which they didn’t perform during the show.

It was “An Evening With” gig, so there was no opening act and I had to usher through the first set, wait until the beginning of the second set, and was released to enjoy myself after a song or two. Les came out with the band and addressed the ever present shadow of 9/11 briefly, singing a few lines of “God Bless America” before they started with “Bad Little Doggie”. He joked a little later in the set, “There’s some fancy fellas waiting in the wings” and when they did “Tommy The Cat” again, Les played a few licks of “Dueling Banjos” in the middle of it. Along with the aforementioned covers, Gov’t Mule did plenty of others that night. During that first set, they did “How Many More Years” by Howlin’ Wolf, “Since I’ve Been Loving You” by Led Zeppelin, and a big mash up during “Mule” which included “Don’t Call Me Nigger, Whitey” and “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf)” by Sly & The Family Stone and “Third Stone From The Sun”, another Hendrix tune.

After I was cut from ushering, I joined the stoned masses in the pit and tried to catch up with them. Warren smiled down at us and said, “We wanna thank everybody for coming out tonight” and thanked the “25 of our favorite bass players” who contributed to the albums including Alphonso, Dave, and Les. He went on, “If you want more information about this, ‘The Deep End Volumes 1 & 2’, you can go back to the merch table and pick up a little postcard which tells you who’s on the CDs. Volume 1 is coming out in October. Volume 2 is coming out in April… There’s a documentary coming out in the wintertime. We have these pre-order forms back at the merch table. You can take it home, order it over the net. You can order it here tonight with your credit card. What this pre-order form is a guarantee you not only, guarantee that it’s shipped to your house on October 23rd when it comes out, but there’ll also be a bonus CD which has some live tracks and video footage from the documentary. So I would recommend that you get that.”

They actually performed only a few songs from the “Volume 1” CD, their cover of “Soulshine” by the Allmans the only one on the main CD. Live versions of “Blind Man In The Dark” and “Fallen Down” were only on the bonus CD. But they did quite a few more from the “Volume 2” CD with “Greasy Granny’s Gopher Gravy, Parts 1 & 2”, their cover of “What Is Hip?” by Tower Of Power, “Slow Happy Boys” and the instrumental “Babylon Turnpike”. A live version of the song “Lay Your Burdon Down” was only on the bonus CD for “Volume 2”. There were plenty of more covers during the second set as well including “Compared To What” by Gene McDaniels, the aforementioned “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and “Soulshine”, “Key To The Highway” by Charles Segar, and “Tomorrow Never Knows” by The Beatles. Les came back out on stage for that last one, a cover he likewise had plenty of experience playing with the Frog Brigade. 

Sadly, my tape supply ran out during that song, having drastically underestimated just how long these guys were going to play that night. I know that Warren had long been a proponent of allowing his fans to tape his music and there were some pros on the floor for that show getting all of it, but I have yet to find a copy online myself. So, I missed “Soulshine” followed by their very timely and poignant covers of “Masters Of War” by Bob Dylan and “Rockin’ In The Free World” by Neil Young. I stuck around anyway, enraptured by the sheer talent I had the honor of witnessing at that show and they came back for an encore to do two more covers, “Revolution” by The Beatles and finishing with “Goin’ Out West” by Tom Waits. 

Though it was my first time seeing the Mule, it wouldn’t certainly be the last. I would see that band on that very stage 4 more times in the coming years, in 2004 alongside The Dead, then on their own with back to back shows in 2005, and once more a year after that. But I wouldn’t have to wait that long to see Warren though since he would rejoin the Allman Brothers for a tour just a year after this show and they would perform, you guessed it, at The Warfield. There wasn’t a poster given out for this show, but they were selling one at the merch booth, so I picked it up. This being such a momentous and frankly historic assembly of musical talent, I felt obliged to, but it was a cool poster and a large one to boot. Phil Lesh, who had contributed his talent on a song for the “Volume 2” album, was listed on the poster as one of the special guests, but he didn’t make it on stage that night. Obviously, it would have been awesome if he had.

https://archive.org/details/govt-mule-warfield-92001

https://archive.org/details/govt-mule-bootleg-warfield-92001

The Damned, The Swinging Utters, GAMH, SF, Wed., September 26

SETLIST : Democracy? Song.com, New Rose, Would You Be So Hot (If You Weren’t Dead?), Amen, 13th Floor Vendetta, Wait For The Blackout, Neverland, Absinthe, Thrill Kill, Eloise, W., Neat Neat Neat, (encore), She, Love Song, Smash It Up (Pts. 1 &2)

The arrival of The Damned at the Great American that night couldn’t have come at a better time. I and practically everybody else on planet Earth had been reeling from the trauma of 9/11 for two weeks and a day by then and to say I could have used a pick me up was painfully obvious. Though their performance didn’t quite get me back to normal emotionally, it clearly got me a few steps closer. It was at least good fortune that they had just began their tour in Vancouver a mere ten days before 9/11 or they might not have been able to get in the country in the first place. This was the fourth time I’d see them play in only three years, taking every opportunity they were in town to do so and having them at that venue just a block from where I was living then was an added bonus. 

Furthermore, they were on tour promoting “Grave Disorder”, their first album of original material in eight years, this their ninth studio album which had just come out a month before this show. It was the first studio work that singer Dave Vanian and guitarist Captain Sensible had collaborated on together since the “Strawberries” album, put out nearly twenty years before this show. It was also the first and only one to feature Patricia Morrison on bass, who had married Dave in Vegas back in 1996. It’s hard to believe their daughter Emily is already 20 years old now. The new album was released on Nitro Records, headed by Dexter Holland, the frontman for The Offspring. Say what you want about The Offspring, as their name implies, they always respected their elder musical influences, even doing a cover of The Damned’s “Smash It Up” for the film soundtrack for “Batman Forever”.

Speaking of forever, I missed the first opening act that night, a band called Pleasure Forever. They were a local synth pop band who had just joined Sub Pop Records that year, but like I said I missed them and sadly didn’t see them at all when they were around since they broke up a couple years after this show. I can’t remember why I missed their set being determined to catch all openers normally, especially shows I had doled out money to see or even if they showed up to play to begin with. But the second opening act, The Swingin’ Utters, I did see that night and had seen previously opening for the aforementioned Offspring at The Fillmore back when The Offspring were brand new in 1994. The Swingin’ Utters were another veteran punk band that they revered, originally hailing from Santa Cruz and performing since the 80’s, and they were one of the bands to join the first Van’s Warped Tour and remain active to this day in the bay area.

Their singer, Johnny “Peebucks” Bonnel thought of his hilarious stage name after he drunkenly pissed himself at a party, stumbled into a local Taco Bell, and paid for his meal with urine soaked dollar bills… very punk. They had recently been signed to Fat Wreck Chords, releasing a self titled album with them the year before this show. Their songs came fast and loud making it next to impossible to decipher most of their setlist, but they definitely got the crowd and the mosh pit whipped into shape for the night. Peebucks introduced one song pointing out an accordion of all instruments a band member had procured, “There it is, Ladies & Gentlemen. Strap on the natural fleshy colored instrument we call ‘The Natural’”. Later, he attempted to rally the audience shouting, “Are you ready for The Damned!?! Are you ready for The Damned!?! Jesus Christ.. It’s like pulling teeth!” 

When The Damned finally came on stage, they were accompanied by a cool, jazzy instrumental playing over the loudspeakers featuring a trumpet solo, sounding a bit like music Austin Powers would go go dance to and appreciate. They opened with their new single “Democracy?” a very timely piece to begin the night, followed by the suspiciously Misfit-esque “Song.com”. We would be treated to seven of their new tunes that night and I thought the new material was actually quite good. It was gratifying to hear Dave and Sensible making music together again. But Damned fans being Damned fans, most of them were there for the golden oldies and I would rarely hear any tunes from “Grave Disorder” in the future except for “Democracy?” every now and then.

Still, the golden oldies they did play were welcome as always and Sensible, cracking crass jokes as usual after performing one of their oldest hits, “New Rose”, commented, “That’s the 5,123rd time I’ve played that song. It still sounds fresh!… Not as fresh as your ass.” They began the new song “Amen” with the recording of some fire and brimstone preacher spouting, “Is this the fate of the wicked? Are we tormented by the devil & his demons for eternity in a fiery hell? Is this the just judgment of a merciful god? Is this what the Bible teaches us? What is the truth?” A couple hits later, Dave Vanian introduced the new song, “Neverland”, declaring “I tell you there’s nothing closer than a man and his monkey”. Yes, Michael Jackson’s public image was just beginning to unravel back then from mounting allegations of pedophilia and other questionable behavior. Incidentally, ol’ Wacko Jacko had just narrowly missed getting killed on 9/11 having overslept and missing a meeting he was supposed to have at the World Trade Center that morning. Sensible sarcastically cheered after the song, “Be the greatest, Michael Jackson! What a weirdo! God bless you!”

The Captain kept the dry wisecracks coming claiming, “We are the Backstreet Boys, eh!” Dave then asked, “What about our dance routines?… That man must be a Backstreet Boys fan. You upset him now. He’s wearing the same shirt as you, Cap.” Sensible was wearing his trademark horizontal striped shirt and red beret as he often did. After finishing the set with “Neat Neat Neat” the crowd demanded their return chanting loudly, “We won’t go!” and they began their encore with another new song called “She”. The Captain praised a “guy with spiky hair” in the audience that “came all the way from Scotland!… Buy that man a drink!” and he did a blazing guitar solo before ending the night with “Smash It Up”. It was nice to see them play the Great American, easily the most beautiful venue in the city, though I believe that was the only time I had ever seen them perform there. 

https://archive.org/details/the-swingin-utters-great-american-music-hall-92601

https://archive.org/details/the-damned-great-american-music-hall-92601

Poi Dog Pondering, Jessica Will Band, Aspara’s Dreaming, Fill., SF, Sat., September 29

SETLISTS :

(JESSICA WILL BAND) : On Your Mind, Near You, Ask Me, That’s Alright, Spacey Girl

(POI DOG PONDERING) : Pulling Touch, Ta Bouche Est Tabou, Jealous, Shu Zulu Za, Diamonds & Buttermilk, Hangover, Natural Thing, Ecstasy, Big Constellation, You Move Me, True, Keep The Faith, Diva, Daytrippin’, God’s Gallipoli, Jack Ass Ginger, A Love Rains Down, (encore), Complicated, Catacombs, Bury Me Deep, Angelika Suspended, Falling, Aspara’s Dreaming

I’d seen Poi Dog Pondering’s name floating around over the years playing in town from time to time, but this was the first and only occasion I would see them perform live. This particular show was the second one of a two day stint they were doing at The Fillmore, though they actually had been on that very same stage only the previous April, but I missed it. Paradoxically, that April show got a poster at the end of night, yet these ones didn’t for some inexplicable reason. Go figure. Poi Dog was a band with a steady rotating cast of many musicians, founded and fronted by Frank Orrall and though it seems obvious to me now considering the “Poi” in their name, I didn’t make the connection that they originated from Hawaii. Since their founding, they had relocated to Austin, Texas and had then settled down in Chicago. Though they weren’t touring to promote any new material, Poi Dog had released a live album the year before called “Soul Sonic Orchestra”.

Opening that night was the Jessica Will Band, the titular Jessica singing and on keys. She had a full band backing her up and I was impressed by the quality of her voice, especially singing while doing some pretty sophisticated piano work. That’s hard to do and there’s only a few notable people who can do that to the level she was like Elton John, Ben Folds, and Tori Amos. She’s still around making music, but like Poi Dog, I believe this was the only time I would see her. She dedicated “Spacey Girl”, the last song in her short set “especially to the L.A. girls in the house.” They did something between acts that was sort of unusual having a DJ come up and play tunes accompanied by Poi Dog’s violin player, calling their collaboration Aspera’s Dreaming, named after one of their songs, the last song of the encore that the band played that night in fact. It was pretty trip hoppy stuff actually and was a very cool way to pass the time before the rest of the band was set up and joined them on stage.

Poi Dog was a fairly large band comprised of men and women of various ages and ethnicities and I was immediately interested in their sound, clearly all talented instrumentalists one and all. With their funky, eclectic, upbeat party vibe, it was easy to make comparisons of them to such acts as Sly & The Family Stone, Three Dog Night, and Prince. Frank thanked the crowd early adding that he recognized “faces from last night… Nice to see you again”. The music was easy to dance to and every member was all smiles. One of the women performing on stage pumped up the crowd between songs cheering, “Be thankful you’re alive!” I suppose it was a friendly reminder only eighteen short days after 9/11 that we all should be so. 

Among the many instruments produced on stage that night, there was an accordion for a time which was fairly rare for live bands. But it was even rarer because it was the second band in two consecutive shows to have one, the other being The Swingin’ Utters  who opened for The Damned at the Great American just three days prior to this. Come to think of it, They Might Be Giants had one at The Warfield ten days before this too, making it three out of four shows in a row. Hurray for accordions, I guess. Anyway, my batteries ran low in the middle of Poi Dog’s set, but I replaced them by the time they got to “Daytrippin’”. Still, I was only able to get as far as “Jack Ass Ginger” before I ran out of tape anyway which is a pity since they closed their set right afterwards with “A Love Rains Down” and followed it with a lengthy six song encore. 

https://archive.org/details/poi-dog-pondering-fillmore-92901

https://archive.org/details/asparas-dreaming-fillmore-92901

https://archive.org/details/jessica-will-band-fillmore-92901

Earth, Wind, & Fire, Rufus with Chaka Khan, Concord Pavilion, Sun., September 30

SETLIST : (CHAKA KHAN) : Once You Get Started, You Got The Love, Stop On By, Sweet Thing, I’m A Woman (I’m A Backbone), Ohh I Like Your Loving – Everlasting Love – Hollywood, Tell Me Something Good, Do You Love What You Feel, Ain’t Nobody

Though not released until years later, all those who were around on 9/11 understand the sentiment to Green Day’s song “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. And this was it, the final show of that infamous month in history and to quote another song title from them… “Good Riddance”. The good news is that this was a show with a very, very different band that had its own “September” song and it was obviously a much, much more uplifting one. In fact, this show was truly the first concert since that monstrous day that actually made me feel genuinely good again, like a brighter future was actually possible. The music of Earth, Wind, & Fire can do that and if there’s anyone out there reading this that is hitting a rough patch, look no further than that group’s brilliant funky soul stylings to lift you out of the abyss.

I had requested comp tickets while ushering well before 9/11 having always wanted to see this legendary supergroup from Chicago. Their endless bounty of hit tunes had been in the soundtrack of my life since childhood. Who could forget Rodney Dangerfield’s clownish dance moves to “Boogie Wonderland” in the middle of “Caddyshack”? I couldn’t even count how many occasions at the Golden Skate roller rink in San Ramon,  where I, my friends and family, orbited that rink over and over again to their stuff playing in the background. Yes, Earth, Wind, & Fire had been putting smiles on peoples faces and loosened many a hip since they first made it big with their smash hit single “Shining Star” in 1975. They had just been inducted, better later than never, into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame the year before this show adding another notch in their belt on top of seven Grammy Awards, 90 million fucking records sold, and a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. 

The founder Maurice White hadn’t toured with them regularly for a while and I don’t believe he was at this show. The lead vocal work had been passed on to Philip Bailey and though he was not a founding member, he and percussionist Ralph Johnson had been with the band since ’72. Close enough. One founding member still in the band and touring with them to this day is bassist Verdine White, Maurice’s brother. He easily stands out from the others with his boundless energy, flamboyant outfits, and a stellar, gigantic grin when he performs. Seriously, Verdine is a diminutive fellow, but that smile of his must take up half his body weight. That guy’s like the Roadunner, absolutely unstoppable. For some reason, I didn’t record the show that night. I probably was sheepish about trying to sneak in my tape deck so soon after 9/11, knowing that the security there would be extra tight like it had been at the shows I’d seen recently at The Warfield and Fillmore. But in a way, I’m glad I didn’t. It was healthy for me to just be a patron again and being undistracted, was quite likely one of the reasons that show was able to lift me out of the dumps. 

One of the major draws that led me to this concert was that Chaka Khan was the opening act. Indeed, her presence there was I would say equally as tempting as her illustrious headliner. Born Yvette Marie Stevens, she had become legendary, often praised as the “Queen Of Funk”, and with her band Rufus, had been a sensation ever since she dropped her first hit “Tell Me Something Good” in 1974. Strangely enough, I had first noticed her doing a brief but memorable vocal solo in the seminal film comedy “The Blues Brothers”. There, she leant her honey dripped, powerhouse of a voice to the James Cleveland Choir backing up James Brown during the church scene where they played a literally acrobatic version of the old gospel standard, “The Old Landmark”. 

She had hit a rough patch in the 90’s, struggling with drug addiction, high blood pressure, and diabetes, but was beginning to get on the mend, getting clean from drugs, becoming vegan, and eventually stopped drinking four years after this. Chaka Khan had a couple new songs with Rufus released that year, “Do You Love What You Feel” and “Everlasting Love”, and she played both of them in her set that night. Naturally, she did some of her golden oldies including “Ain’t Nobody” and “Tell Me Something Good”. However, I was surprised that she didn’t play “I Feel For You”. I didn’t know until I started doing research for this show that it actually was a Prince number which nabbed him a Grammy for Best R & B Song in 1979. Her version, though also a smash hit, didn’t come out until five years later. Still, hearing her legendary pipes that night instantly commanded my attention. That woman is 100% Soul with oodles left over to spare. I always thought she was quite attractive too and though it might sound flippant or even insulting, I couldn’t escape the vision that she was actually Whitney Houston and had been compressed about four inches shorter. Yes, I was indeed smitten and was thankful when I could see her perform once again and for free no less at the Gay Pride festivities in front of the Civic Center in S.F. three years after this. 

Though Earth, Wind, & Fire had been playing a bit before 1971, this tour was being billed as the 30th anniversary of their debut, self titled album which came out that year. They had just finished doing shows at the Shoreline in Mountain View that Friday and at Sacramento Valley Amphitheater that Saturday. Like I mentioned, it was just after 9/11 and they had graciously donated $25,000 to the Red Cross on September 13th after they finished a show at Virginia Beach, just a few hours away from the freshly smoldering Pentagon Building. Though I was able to find Chaka Khan’s setlist from a bootleg CD of her performance that night being sold online, I haven’t been able to find one for Earth, Wind, & Fire yet. But I can assure you gentle readers that they covered a heavy chunk of their classic hits including the aforementioned ones as well as “Sing A Song”, “Serpentine Fire”, “Fantasy”, and “Keep Your Head To The Sky”. 

Reflecting on that joyous evening so many years ago up on the lawn of the Concord Pavilion, part of me is glad that I never had a copy of this show to relive again. Frankly, I think it would only serve to cheapen the memory of the cathartic emotional release I felt then. Likewise, I never kept any momento from this show, not a ticket stub, newspaper ad, or T-shirt from their merch booth… Zippo. Sadly, Maurice White passed away in 2016 after a long battle with Parkinson’s Disease as well as brother Fred White who played drums for a time with the band who died just last year.  But the lone surviving White brother Verdine and the band still carries on, so I might get another chance someday and if I ever meet any band member from that venerable group in the future, I’ll be sure to thank them for helping to get me through that dark period in history.

Basement Jaxx, Ugly Duckling, Fill., SF, Wed., October 3

SETLISTS :

(UGLY DUCKLING) : Fresh Mode, Now Who’s Laughin’, Einstein’s Taking Off, Rock On Top, A Little Samba, I Did It Like This

(BASEMENT JAXX) : Latin Beats, Romeo, Club Is Jumpin’, Red Alert – Miracles, My Name Is, Get Me Off, Where’s Your Head At?, Broken Dreams, Rendez-Vu. Bongaloid, Party People, Fly Life, Jus One Kiss, Do Your Thing, (encore), Samba Magic, Bingo Bango

Since 9/11, I and everybody else on planet Earth had been impatiently waiting nearly three weeks for the interminable month of September 2001 to finally be over. So, in a way hearing a brand new band like Basement Jaxx was a healthy way to start the month of October fresh. Indeed, EDM music was still relatively in its infancy, emerging from the shadows of the underground rave scene and into mainstream commercial and critical success. Basement Jaxx, along with acts like Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, and The Crystal Method, were at the vanguard of this rising musical genre and little would I suspect that all these years later, EDM shows would be packing in the crowds at the Civic Center regularly. But back then, Basement Jaxx were the humble duo of Felix Burton and Simon Ratcliffe who had steadily honed their skills in the underground DJ scene in London for years. Their band name actually came from the name of a nightclub DJ night title they used to perform at. 

Earlier that June, they had put out their second album, “Rooty”, which also was named after a popular nightclub in Brixton. They adorned its cover with a picture of an ape called Snowflake, the only known albino gorilla to date. Snowflake lived at the zoo in Barcelona, Spain until he passed away two years after this night and you can see that very rare ape also on the ads for the tour. Basement Jaxx was so new then that this was actually their first tour of America ever. They had played their first show in the States in Denver just four days before this night at The Fillmore, but already their hit single “Where’s Your Head At?” had been ubiquitous here, showing up in several commercials and movie soundtracks. It was a foregone conclusion that it would be loud as fuck all night and what I heard during their soundcheck easily confirmed it. I caught them doing the songs “Dizzy” and “Do Your Thing” before the doors opened. 

The first act of the evening was not an EDM group, but actually a hip hop trio called Ugly Duckling who I thought were quite good. Hailing from Long Beach, they too were brand spanking new, having just released their debut album, “Journey To Anywhere” five months before this. They got on stage to the booming sound of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Strauss coming over the loud speakers and then got the crowd pumped up with beats from DJ Einstein on the turntables. MCs Dizzy Dustin and Andy Cooper got the audience to throw their hands in the air and chant, “Go Einstein, Go Einstein, Go!!!” Their stuff reminded me of the Beastie Boys, like so many other white rap groups did back then, but their lyrics were clever as well as funny and clearly they knew how to have a good time. 

They were talkative and self deprecating too and one of them addressed the crowd between songs, saying “As you can see, we’re kinda three jack asses up here. Some of you may have noticed that. Some of you might get the impression that we’re cool, but you’re gravely mistaken and the truth of the matter is, some people think that hip hop is all about being some sort of stud and walking around like a tough guy and pretending you got a jail record or out on parole and you’re a killer ad you gotta be selling crack and all that stuff. And that’s the misconception people have about hip hop. They watch too much MTV and they think if you wanna do hip hop, you gotta act like that. So you get all these young kids walkin’ around like they’re some sort of thug or gangster and they’re in junior high and from San Jose, but they’re acting like they’re from the Bronx or something. You know what I mean? Is there somebody here like that here tonight? You know somebody like that? This is how stupid we think you look.”

I can’t quite remember what they did right after that, but they accompanied it with DJ Einstein playing a sped up version of “Bad” by Michael Jackson. Coincidentally, I had just seen The Damned at the Great American where they too made fun of old Wacko Jacko with their song “Neverland”. Anyway, they continued, “Quit trying to act so hard. It’s not about being hardcore, it’s about having a good time, right? We’re gonna keep the party going” and then they played “A Little Samba”. Afterwards, they asked the crowd, “Are you ready to see Basement Jaxx tonight?!?” which they naturally cheered loudly for and then one of them joked, “That’s always our biggest song of the night right there, ‘Are you ready to see Basement Jaxx tonight?’ Anyway, they’re going to come out here and give you the dance spectacu-LAR I’m sure you’re all expecting and they’re going to take you light years into the future and gonna leave you all hot, sweaty, and enjoyable. So, before they take you way back to the future, we’re going to do this one last time and take you way back to the past. We’re Ugly Duckling from Long Beach, California!” and then they finished their set with “I Did It Like This”. 

After the set change, Basement Jaxx too came on stage to a classical music introduction, some kind of symphony piece with a chorus I didn’t recognize. But soon, every eardrum in what must have been a mile radius was filled with their bombastic sounds. It was quite the disco party and their music was easy to dance to for sure. Just before they played “Broken Dreams”, I overheard myself talking to whoever I was watching the show with that their music reminded me of another new EDM band bound for greatness, Daft Punk, who I had the pleasure of seeing play one of their first American shows also at The Fillmore four years before them. But unlike Daft Punk, Basement Jaxx got a poster at the end of the night and it remains one of my favorites. It was made by Lisa Eng, who had made many other Fillmore posters, including ones for Stereophonics and De La Soul, both a couple of my most adored ones in my collection as well. I’ve been meaning in fact to put one of those three in a frame and hang it up in my apartment in the near future, but I’m still debating which one I like the most. 

https://archive.org/details/basement-jaxx-fillmore-10301

https://archive.org/details/ugly-duckling-fillmore-10301

Sigur Ros, Album Leaf, War., SF, Thur., October 4

SETLIST : Vaka, Njosnavelin, Ny Batteri, E-Bow, Nyja Iagio, Olsen Olsen, Frysta, Samskeyti, Svefn-G-Englar, Dauoalagio, Popplagio

Try as I might to keep an open mind with new musical acts, there are some that I will never get. And I know I’ve harped on this many times before, but when these acts play to a packed house of their adoring fans, I can’t help but feel excluded. Such was the case, as you’ve probably figured out by now, with Sigur Ros from Iceland. My feelings of exclusion were only amplified knowing that Radiohead and David Bowie liked these guys and believe it or not, even members of Metallica showed up that night to watch them as well. With all those endorsements, and not having heard so much as a note of their music before then, I was actually looking forward to hearing them, but such high expectations only made their failure fill me with deeper bitterness that I came that night. Sigur Ros means “victory rose” in their native tongue, but after a song or two from these guys, I was choking on that rose’s metaphorical thorns of utter boredom. Original they might have been, but only in the sense that they’re uniquely mind numbing. The only other musician from Iceland that I’d seen or even had heard of then was Bjork and I’m happy to say that I like her and her music very much. So, all you folks from that frosty volcanic island can find consolation that of the two I know, that I at least like one of them. 

Ever persistent to be the optimist, I will say that my feelings for The Album Leaf, who opened that night, were more tender. It should come to no surprise that I liked them a damn sight more than their headliner, which is a situation that has been quite rare in all the concerts I’ve seen. They were the simple duo of DJ Jimmy LaValle and his drummer playing rather mellow EDM music, a soothing first act actually that made ushering that show a cinch. Having only played their first gig in the winter of ’99, The Album Leaf got picked up to go on this tour after their Sigur Ros’ singer, Jonsi Birgisson, bought their debut album, “One Day I’ll Be On Time” in a record store back home in Reykjavik. Jimmy thanked everyone at the end of their short set and mentioned that he’d be returning to town at the end of the month, though he didn’t mention the venue they’d be playing.

Before I tear Sigur Ros a new one, I should at least throw some stuff into their plus column. As an American, I have to admire them for making a ton of money with their new album, “Agaetis Byrjun”, which launched them from a band that had only even played five shows in North America ever up till then, to headlining a tour selling out venues as big as The Warfield. That album made all the top album lists that year and with all the aforementioned endorsements, I was seriously focused on them when they began their set. I wanted to like them, honestly, but now comes the minus column. For starters, it was a seated show all the way down to the front of the dance floor and so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Indeed, the noise from the bar’s cash registers and bottles clinking was painfully distracting. I had a moment of levity after I was cut from ushering and was ordering a pint of Sierra Nevada when I asked the bartender if she had change for a fiver so I could tip her. Even at the hushed whisper I asked her this, half the folks seated nearby shushed me loudly while the other half giggled. Frustrated, I restrained my impulse to scold them, growling, “Go back to art school, you fucking pansies!” 

Secondly, their music was so dreadfully slow that it clearly was never intended to be danced to or even allowed people listening to it to so much as bob their heads to the beat. There was no beat. All their fans could do was just sit there like drooling, catatonic idiots and stare at them. I thought it was at least a rare sight that Jonsi would play his electric guitar with a violin bow from time to time, but let’s face it, Jimmy Page did that decades ago and his playing was infinitely cooler. Finally, Jonsi’s cringe inducing falsetto voice, though angelic to others, was so disturbingly jarring that it haunts me to this day. I can close my eyes and hear that high pitched siren song of his leading me to absolute irritation and melancholy. And though 9/11 happened exactly a week before they began their tour in Detroit, I genuinely wished after this show that they never made it into the country. Seriously, I wanted to boo loudly and throw rotten produce at them like they used to back in the Vaudeville days.

Now, hopefully whoever is reading this, that Sigur Ros isn’t their favorite band in the whole wide world, but if that’s the case, my apologies. I’ve never met the band personally. I’m sure they’re nice people and I admit, I might have not been in the proper mental state to appreciate the music of Sigur Ros that night and the cruel joy one gets in anticipation of writing a bad review might have clouded my judgement. That, and this was understandably the only time I chose to see them perform live. So, when the time came to hear my tapes of that night, I honestly was hoping that upon hearing them again, that my feelings would change. 

But alas, they didn’t and my utter distaste for their music was instantly reactivated before the first song even ended. In fact, when I discovered that the second CD I burned from the tapes from that night was unreadable on my computer, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest. The first four songs from their set that I did get on the first CD was more than enough to reconfirm that Sigur Ros indeed sucks donkey dick. So, likewise, I was also not upset when there was no poster at the end of the show either. The good news is that I had just seen Basement Jaxx at The Fillmore the night before and I was about to see The Charlie Hunter Quartet featuring Norah Jones there the night after this show and both of those gigs were not only easy to dance to but were a quantum leap more enjoyable. 

https://archive.org/details/sigur-ros-warfield-10401

https://archive.org/details/album-leaf-warfield-10401

The Charlie Hunter Quartet with Norah Jones, Will Bernard & Motherbug, Fill., SF, Fri., October 5

SETLIST : (WILL BERNARD & MOTHERBUG) : Prankster, Ripple Soul, Rounders, Elements Of Style, Sultan, Mung Beans & Rice, Afro Sheen

After the grating snoozefest that was Sigur Ros at The Warfield the night before, it came as a great sigh of relief to hear the familiar sounds of Charlie Hunter. As you’ve might have read before, I was indeed no stranger to his 8-string, acid jazz guitar stylings, having seen him with his original trio countless times at the Elbo Room in the early 90’s as well as encounters with other projects he was a part of including T.J. Kirk, Pound 4 Pound, and collaborations with musicians like Adam Cruz and others. When I’d first seen Charlie, he was opening for Nirvana at the Bosnian Rape Victim Benefit at the Cow Palace in ’93, playing in the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphopracy, the only time I’d see the that band play live. In a strange coincidence, fellow Disposable Hero Michael Franti would be playing the afternoon after this show with his band Spearhead in Dolores Park for the first 9/11 “Power To The Peaceful” festival, though sadly Charlie had moved on to the next gig and wouldn’t be joining him on stage for that one. Charlie was back with his Quartet alongside Stephen Chopek on drums, Chris Lovejoy on percussion, and John Ellis on sax. Together, they were promoting Charlie’s new album on Blue Note, “Songs From The Analog Playground”, his 7th and final album on that label.

An added bonus to the Quartet that night was the singer Norah Jones, who joined them for three songs during their set including a bluesy and haunting version of the country standard “Tennessee Waltz” made famous in the 50’s by Patti Page. Fun fact, that song became the official song of the state in 1965. Norah, the daughter of legendary sitar legend Ravi Shankar, was brand new to the music scene back then, having turned only 22 years old that March. She recently relocated back to her birthplace, New York City, from Texas and there after wowing folks for a year or two in the New York jazz scene was signed to Blue Note, linking her up with Charlie. Sure, I and everyone else at the show was impressed by her voice and charisma, but none of us could have predicted that just four months later, she would be catapulted to superstardom with her debut juggernaut album, “Come Away With Me”. That record would certify diamond, selling a mind boggling 27 million copies, one of the highest selling albums in history, obviously for a debut artist on a jazz label. If that wasn’t enough, it would also win her five Grammys including Best New Artist, Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. 

In addition to these talented people headlining, we were lucky to have fellow acid jazz guitar maestro Will Bernard there with his band Motherbug, consisting of Keith McArthur on bass, Michael Bluestein on keys, and Jan Jackson on drums. Having been a mainstay in the acid jazz scene in the bay area for years, I had seen Will a few times including a show opening for The Funky Meters on that very same stage in 1998. Will had played alongside Charlie in T.J. Kirk as well and I had the honor of recording them at the Maritime Hall when they performed there that same year. He and Motherbug were also regulars at the Boom Boom Room, the late John Lee Hooker’s blues bar across the street from The Fillmore, and still plays there often to this day. I’d seen shows with corporate sponsors plenty of times before, but I believe this was the first and only one to be sponsored by Mother Jones, the non-profit progressive magazine that specialized in news, commentary, and investigative journalism. In those dark, jingoistic times just after 9/11, it was good to be amongst liberal friends.

An area next to the soundboard had been set aside once again for professional tapers and few showed up, putting up their tall microphone stands, so I did my best to keep the crowd at a safe distance. I was able to find a nice copy of Will’s set that night on archive.org, but strangely wasn’t able to find one of Charlie’s. Will joked before they played “Elements Of Style” when he was switching guitars, “You know we had one of those guys who comes up and hands me guitars and everything. The economic downturn sent us for a loop. I can do it myself… Poor me.” Keith and Michael had impressive solos each during that one. They followed that with “Sultan” and Will mentioned it was “our hit song by the way” and their CD was “on sale at the store back there” as well as other record shops around the bay area.

In listening to Will’s set again, I was pleasantly surprised when he mentioned Barry Bonds’ breaking the MLB home run record that very night playing against the Dodgers. Barry had hit home run numbers 71 and 72 at that game, breaking Mark McGwire’s previous record of 70 in 1998, and Barry would chalk up one more the following game making it 73 in the end. Of coarse, I and few others knew then of the steroid scandals that would plague both those players in the years to come, tainting those records for all eternity, but after 9/11, we were just grateful to have any good news to distract us from it all. Will wrapped up his set, gratefully addressing the audience, “It’s great to be among family and friends! Great to look out in the crowd and see all my friends and everything and on stage and in the house. This is out last tune. It’s called ‘Afro Sheen’”. Chris and Charlie joined them on stage for that last one, Chris on percussion, Charlie gleefully banging his pandero tambourine. When they finished, Will reminded us, “Hey, let’s not forget those who are not with us. You know what I’m talkin’ about, alright. So, let’s party for them tonight”. 

Just as the Quartet was taking the stage, I ran into my old friend Keri from college in the crowd and I overheard on my tape he saying, “Big reunion here! Crappy year, Who do you know who’s had a good year this year, besides your brother” and she mentioned that she still talks to my brother Alex’s ex-roommate Isaac all the time. Alex had just moved to L.A. the year before and he was in fact doing quite well for himself then getting various roles as an actor. Along with several commercials and music videos, he had also landed a regular gig playing the guitarist in the house band on “Primetime Glick” with Martin Short which had just aired its first episode that June. It was good to see Keri again and for a while, it felt like the old Elbo Room again. 

After a couple songs, Charlie said, “Thank you so much. It’s excellent to be back here” and he introduced the other band members. Some random guy in the audience shouted out “Welcome home, Charlie!” and he continued mentioning the new album and that the next song “Go Go Fantasy” wasn’t on it and added, “It’s for my sister, Jenny Hunter. It’s her birthday tonight! Can we sing her happy birthday to her?… I’m just kidding. It’s not really her birthday, but she is in the house, so give it up for my sis!” He got the crowd pumped up during that song, chanting “Dublin, Berkeley, San Lorenzo, Cupertino, San Jose… Woo!” That actually was a throwback to an infectious, local commercial jingle in the early 80’s for Denevi Camera. I thought it sounded familiar when I heard it again. 

Norah came up after that song and then they performed the previously mentioned “Tennessee Waltz”, following it with the last song on the new album “Day Is Done” which had a long percussion solo from Stephen in it as well as some flute playing. Charlie continued his Denevi Camera bay area shout outs during that one, cheering, “Oakland’s in the house! Berkeley’s in the house! Cupertino’s in the house! Dublin’s in the house! San Lorenzo’s in the house! Brisbane’s in the house!” There was another brilliant extended percussion and drum solo before Norah sang her last song with them, another new one called “Close Your Eyes”. Will came back on stage afterwards to join him on “AC/DC” and Mr. Hunter praised him, “You gotta give it up for Will Bernard & Motherbug because they’re a baaaaaad band. We go way back.”

Afterwards, he said, “We’d like to do one more tune for you guys. Give it up for Norah Jones! Give it up for Will Bernard! Alright, so you know we got these great percussionists in the band, so we got to feature them and this tune is called ‘Percussion Shuffle’. We hope you like it. I think you want to hear some ‘Percussion Shuffle’!” The crowd cheered and they finished their set with that new one followed by Charlie introducing the band and saying “Thank you so much! We don’t take any of you for granted”. I was able to get part of the first song of their encore before my tape ran out, but that was it. Charlie would return to the bay area, revisiting his old home regularly, including another time headlining that stage two years later. However, I wouldn’t have to wait so long to see Norah though, for she too would return to perform at The Fillmore opening for none other than Willie Nelson himself the following February. I’m just glad I was able to catch her for one more show before she blew it up big time. 

https://archive.org/details/the-charlie-hunter-quartet-with-norah-jones-fillmore-10501

https://archive.org/details/will-bernard-motherbug-fillmore-10501

911 Power To The Peaceful: Spearhead, Zion-I, Various Speakers, Dolores Park, SF, Sat., October 6

SETLIST : Rock The Nation (a cappella), People In Tha Middle, Oh My God, Runfayalife, Rock The Nation, Good Times, Every Single Soul, Stay Human (All The Freaky People), 

Though this was the third time Michael Franti of Spearhead had organized this annual festival, its title as the “911 : Power To The Peaceful” Festival would reach epic heights of tragic coincidence. First taking place on September 11, 1999 as an “international day of arts & culture” to raise awareness of accused cop killer Mumia Abu-Jamal and the efforts to clear his name while he remained on death row, it had been a vessel to address other pressing related issues like the rise of the prison industrial complex, efforts to abolish the death penalty, and various other human rights struggles. But after the events just shy of four weeks before this gig, the mood took an understandably ominous tone as we all anxiously awaited what was to be the brutal response of America to this attack. The lunatic, right wing fringe of this country needed little encouragement to be on board with any manner of violent action against our country’s enemies either real or perceived, foreign or domestic, even before 9/11. But the left wing fringe of this nation would too have their unfocused, knee jerk response to this as well and many of their numbers were there that day in Dolores Park in the Mission.

I was no stranger to Michael Franti and his band, having seen them five times before and recently at The Fillmore the previous June where they had just began to promote their new album, “Stay Human”, which had been released only the month before that. Michael had also been awarded the Domestic Human Rights Award earlier that year by Global Exchange, and international NGO, for his work promoting peace. But even Franti’s wisdom and eloquence couldn’t stifle the raw anger and resentment of this crowd of 10,000 flaming liberals, myself included, hell bent on laying the blame for this new catastrophe at the doorstep of America and George W. Bush. Everybody was looking for someone to blame then and the subtle historical nuances in geo politics, the rise of radical islam, and America’s increasing dependance on foreign oil had clearly been overwhelmed by an avalanche of reductive group thinking.

To their credit, Michael and the others who graced the stage that day did their best to keep their focus on Mumia. The event was led by a young Rastafarian emcee whose name I didn’t catch, but he introduced each speaker and musical act, he himself occasionally spouting pleas for there to be one love in the world and so forth. One of the first poets I heard was a woman named Aya De Leon and her first bit went on about how she was “fucking terrified of America”, denouncing a long list of this country’s dirty laundry including colonization, the C.I.A., and the S & L Scandal, just to name a few. Her second piece called “My Name Is Vasquez” spoke in the first person voice of Puerto Rico as a young girl whose evil stepfather was the U.S. and wishing that Spain, her real dad, would take her back some day. Krist Novocelic, the former bass player of Nirvana who I’d recorded alongside Franti at the Maritime for the Spitfire spoken word show in ‘99 was also supposed to be there that day, but I don’t believe he made it.

I was relieved to see that Zion-I was there as the opening musical act before Spearhead. Having recorded them already a couple times at the Maritime Hall when they were just in their infancy, they had been making a name for themselves around the bay area hip hop scene. Their set was short but entertaining as expected and though I couldn’t make out all the tunes they played that day, I know they did “Boom Bip”, “Inner Light”, and “Venus” for sure. One their rappers, Baba Zumbi, addressed the elephant in the room between songs saying, “Times is very confusing right now. We got a lot goin’ on. I feel angry. I feel confused. I don’t know about everybody else, but the only thing I rely on is my relationship to the most high, Jah, you understand? That’s your center. No matter what changes around you outside yourself, remember that God is in your heart, know what I’m sayin’? Nothing will ever change that ever forever.”

Zion-I was followed by a speaker named Jeff Matler who announced that there was going to be an anti-racist teach-in against war at the nearby Mission High School. He would also be the first of many on that stage that day to encourage people to donate money to folks walking around with buckets to pay for the expenses of the rally or to volunteer to take a bucket and collect some on their behalf. Jeff was followed by one familiar face that everybody knew there that day, the actor Woody Harrelson. I had been a fan of his work and even met him briefly in the crowd at a Harry Connick, Jr. show at The Warfield just before “The People Vs. Larry Flynt” came out. Woody had taken a little break from movies around then, though he had a recurring role on “Will & Grace”. The Rasta emcee accidentally called him “Woody Harrison”, even asking aside, “What’s his name?”. I guess he was the only one there that day who didn’t know who he was. Woody was all smiles and greeted the crowd, “How you doin’, fellow Peaceniks?… It’s very rare when you get to meet a genuine American hero, but I’d like to introduce you to one right now. Everybody put your hands together for Julia Butterfly!”

The crowd erupted in applause as Julia Butterfly Hill took the stage. Kids these days probably don’t know about her, but back then, she was one of the poster children for the environmental movement in America. She had cemented her legacy with her famous herculean “tree sit-in” where she occupied a giant redwood tree she called Luna for a little over two fucking years! Even the most die hard, Republican greed head was impressed by her persistence. There was also an episode of The Simpsons called “Lisa The Tree Hugger” aired the year before this based on what she did. Anyway, it didn’t hurt that Julia was also as fine as May wine too and back in those swinging single days of mine, I’d have been all too happy to do the ol’ kids rhyme with her,”Julia and Nicky sitting in a tree…” You get the idea. Julia was a poet and an author too and she regaled us with a couple of her pieces that afternoon. At one point, she equated the violence that had just occurred on 9/11 to the dumping of untold tons of disposable products into landfills, a byproduct for mankind’s insatiable struggle for resources. After she mentioned one line about “Fire my spirit”, I overheard myself on the tape growling “Fire!” like Beavis. She finished her last piece asking us, “Are we ready to jump into the possibility of love?” and chanted “Creation over destruction!” four times. 

The Rasta emcee came out again and cracked me up when he flubbed his line, “Free!… What’s his name again?… Free Mumia!” They then brought out a woman named Kilu Nyasha, she along with Woody had played parts in fictional radio segments between songs on Spearhead’s new “Stay Human” album. I mentioned this before from their Fillmore show earlier this year, but the story in the album was of a governor played by Woody who upon hearing new evidence from her character, Sister Fatima, exonerating a man he had just put to death, became so horrified that he killed himself. Kilu was definitely fired up, dropping a few swear words in from time to time, as she pleaded for things like affordable housing and “free health care like Cuba”. She decried that 185 homeless people dies on the streets of S.F. just the last year alone saying, “That’s terrorism!” She encouraged us to “tighten up your diet” and go vegetarian as well as to check out and support local radio stations like KPOO. She said that N.P.R. had “sold out” and were now “government spokesmen” and demanded that the government clean up the toxic mess left by the Navy at the Hunter’s Point and Bayview neighborhoods. 

Kilu was followed by Pam Africa, another fiery activist who praised the youth who fought against the “terrorist government” during the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle the year before this. Pushing further the terrorism accusations against the Feds, she reminded us that 11 men, women, and children were killed in the M.O.V.E. bombing in Philadelphia back in 1985. I was only 13 at the time, but I definitely remembered when that went down. Pam set the stage for them to play a recording from a prisoner named Arnold Beverly claimed that it was he and not Mumia Abu-Jamal that had shot and killed officer Daniel Faulkner in 1981, part of a contract killing by the local mob because Faulkner had been interfering with their graft. Regardless, Mumia remains on death row to this day suffering from diabetes at the age of 70, a full 43 years after the crime itself. Incidentally, he was sentenced to death by Pennsylvania governor Tom Ridge in 1995, the man who would soon become ironically enough America’s first Secretary Of Homeland Security.

But the time finally came for Spearhead to take the stage and Michael got the crowd cheering when he yelled, “Lift your hands up to the sunshine!” Pumped up as we were, he actually started the set off a little slow, doing an an a cappella version of “Rock The Nation”, acknowledging the current events, “We’re living in a mean time. We’re living in an aggressive time. We’re living in a painful time. A time where cynicism rots the vine.” He then went into a spoken word bit before getting the crowd to clap to the beat as they brought the band in to get things rolling with “People In Tha Middle”. Afterwards, he thanked his band and talked about Mumia’s case for a bit pointing out that since Officer Faulkner had been gunned down for fighting police corruption that he and Mumia were both victims. They brought the mood back up again with “Oh My God” and we were pleasantly surprised that during “Runfayalife”, they did a little breakdown where they played a bit of “Good Times”, the ol’ disco classic by Chic. God knows, we all needed some good times around then.

They brought somebody up to do a human beatbox intro to their reprise of “Rock The Nation” with the rest of the band and near the end of that one, we got an added bonus of Franti singing the chorus of “Television” by his old band, the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphopracy. In a strange coincidence, I had just seen Charlie Hunter, the former guitarist from that seminal band at The Fillmore with his Quartet just the night before and upon hearing that song of theirs had hoped that he was in town to join Franti on stage, but alas, it didn’t happen. Afterwards, he asked, “Do we have any poets out here today? I believe that every single soul is like a poem” and then he got us to clap along as they began “Every Single Soul”. He sang a few lines of “Trenchtown Rock” by Bob Marley at the start of it and once again got us to clap along as they finished. 

Michael rallied us once more asking, “Do we have any freaky people out here today?!? How you feeling?!?!” as they finished the set with a rousing version of “Stay Human (All The Freaky People)”. They kept the covers coming in the middle of that song with Kevin Choice on keyboards singing a chorus in his best Louis Armstrong impersonation of “When The Saints Go Marching In”, following that with a bit of “Freaks Come Out At Night” by Whodini. Franti had no trouble by the end of the song getting us all to chant, “All the freaky people make the beauty of the world!” We all caught our breath at the end of that one and Michael brought it down one last time accompanied by Kevin doing a soft keyboard intro to his final speech. Franti declared that “we need to fight a war against war”, to “come together and find peace in our hearts”. He went on to say that he was “thankful to be in San Francisco”, calling our fair city a “beacon for the nation”, and thanked the hundreds of volunteers. He even had us turn to the person next to us and give them a hug and you can hear me on the tape doing it and sighing, “Aww”. Finally, he encouraged us to put some “dead presidents” in the collection buckets on our way out.

Yes, this show had taken place four weeks after that dreadful morning of 9/11, but he would go on to repeat this festival annually on or around that date for years to come. It got too big for Dolores Park though and they ultimately moved it out to Speedway Meadows in Golden Gate Park where it continued to take place until 2010 and I know I at least attended two more of these, the following year and once more in 2005. But in the end, the cost to get permits for this free festival priced them out of the park, coupled with them getting overtaken by the twin behemoths of Outside Lands and Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. But for this time, the Power To The Peaceful festivals gave us a welcome outlet to vent our frustration at “the man”, stay informed with current events, as well as hear some quality live music for free. 

I’m sad to say that although Woody Harrelson would go on to act in many more films and things to come, he has since gone off the deep end politically, becoming a supporter of Robert Kennedy Jr. and his batshit crazy anti-vaccine ideology. If you ask me, I blame Woody’s fresh insanity to his quitting smoking pot. Some people should never go off the stuff. But back to the show at hand and one final fun fact that made this day special. This was one of those rare days where I caught a free festival show during the day and then went to another gig that night, an experience I always savored because the two shows were always complete opposites. So, as soon as Franti wrapped up, I hauled ass to usher at The Warfield for Suzanne Vega, a very, very different but enjoyable show indeed. 

https://archive.org/details/zion-i-various-speakers-dolores-park-10601

https://archive.org/details/spearhead-dolores-park-10601

Suzanne Vega, Marshall Crenshaw, War., SF, Sat., October 6

SETLISTS : 

(MARSHALL CRENSHAW) : T.M.D., Tell Me About It, Cynical Girl, 2541, Kick Out The Jams, Little Wild One (No. 5), What Do You Dream Of?, Television Light, Someday Someway, (encore), Something’s Gonna Happen

(SUZANNE VEGA) : Marlene On The Wall, Small Blue Thing, Caramel, When Heroes Go Down, My Friend Millie, Gypsy, Harbor Song, Widow’s Walk, (I’ll Never Be) Your Maggie May, Penitent, It Makes Me Wonder, Solitaire, Left Of Center, Blood Makes Noise, Queen & The Soldier, In Liverpool, Last Year’s Troubles, Luka, Tom’s Diner, (encore), Room Off The Street, Soap & Water

It had only been seven months since I’d last seen Ms. Vega at The Fillmore, but this show was quite different for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it was just shy of four weeks after 9/11 adding another fresh pile of melancholy to the songs of her new album “Songs In Red & Gray” which came out after her bitter divorce. It also was a bigger show this time, the first being an often customary first outing to test out new material on the road. This time she was filling The Warfield and with a full band behind her this time as well, not just her up there on stage all in her lonesome with an acoustic guitar like at The Fillmore. Suzanne would be joined on stage this time with Gerard Leonard on guitar, Mike Visceglia on bass, and Doug Vowell on drums who ably filled out the music behind her brilliant voice. 

It’s a good thing she had a band to back her up this time since she was still recovering from a broken arm. Yes, if that year of 2001 wasn’t hard enough on her, she had been riding her bike four weeks before this on Labor Day when the boo boo occurred. She described it during the show, “I hit a patch of gravel and went over on my side, so this arm is going to take a while to heal. I did play the guitar one or two nights ago, but the next morning I woke up… it was like ‘Ow!’” Finally, one more thing that made this show different was that it was one of those rare occasions where I had attended a free music festival during the day and hauled ass to another one later that night. Yes, earlier that day, I was at Dolores Park in the Mission to see the “911 : Power To The Peaceful” show with Spearhead, Zion-I, and several political activists like Woody Harrelson and Julia Butterfly Hill. I loved doing these two show days partially because both gigs always turn out to be very different from each other. 

Opening that night was singer-songwriter Marshall Crenshaw who unlike Suzanne this time was just flying solo with his acoustic guitar. I had seen him once before at The Fillmore back in 1995 as a part of an assortment of musicians playing the songs of Merle Haggard before Merle himself went on stage with his band The Strangers. Marshall also had the distinction of being one of the many various members of Beatlemania, a Beatles tribute band dating all the way back to 1980, and Marshall played the part of John Lennon. But his solo material was pretty good and he even penned a few songs for other renowned artists like Kristy MacColl and the Gin Blossoms. Marshall hadn’t put out any new material in a couple years, though he had just released a live album that February called “I’ve Suffered For My Art… Now It’s Your Turn”, recorded at The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey. 

I was impressed by his diction when he sang, which also made it easy to transcribe his setlist. Three songs in, he described his song “Cynical Girl” as “one that I wrote when I was still a post adolescent.” Afterwards, he thanked the crowd adding, “It’s great to be in San Francisco. It’s like a reward, you know, for some of the shit places I had to go to” and then he did “2541”, a cover from Grant Hart of Husker Du. He followed that saying, “Hey, how about another cover tune by people from the midwest? This one is a big rock anthem around the Detroit area when I was in my teens. And I hope nobody’s offended when I announce to you… Kick Out The Jams, motherfucker!!!!” and though he was only armed with an acoustic guitar, he played a most spirited rendition of that proto-punk classic by the MC5. He made such an impression in fact, that the audience cheered at the end of his set until he came up for an encore, a very, VERY rare honor to bestow upon an opening act and one I’d only seen occur a few times in my life. He graciously said, “Yeah, I’ll take it” and wrapped things up with “Something’s Gonna Happen”.

Suzanne and her guys came on after the break and she smiled and said, “It’s always really good to be in San Francisco. How was your day?” and they opened their set with “Marlene On The Wall”. Afterwards, she told us about her arm, adding, “This is kind of a new, liberating feeling not playing the guitar. I’ve broken myself of some of my own habits like it’s not very cool of your guitar players to take blistering guitar solos” and joked that she was “finding new things to do with our hands”. A few songs later, she took a moment to give the band a rest so she could do some spoken word, perhaps the one thing her show had in common with the “911 : Power To The Peaceful” show earlier that day which had tons of spoken word, though mostly political in nature. She introduced her piece asking, “Would you like me to read something to you perhaps?” and some wise guy in the crowd shouted out “Harry Potter!” and she laughed, “I don’t think so, but thank you. I’ll keep that in mind”. She mentioned that she put out a collection of her writings called “The Passionate Eye” and wanted to read a piece from it called “My Friend Millie”. She said, “I hadn’t read it in California”, calling it “a little story about where and how I grew up. So, don’t be offended, OK?”

Having heard a bunch of intense, political diatribes earlier in the park, I was pleasantly surprised that it was a rather whimsical tale of a local tough girl who approached her when she was young claiming that her friend Mille told her that Vega called her a whore. Now, Suzanne was so young at the time, having moved to Spanish Harlem in the Upper West Side of New York City when she was a toddler a few years before this, that she hadn’t actually had heard that word before and with the tough girl’s thick east coast accent, that the word sound more like “Hwah”. Vega pondered if the word she was using had an extra “ph’ or ‘gh’ in it like ‘cough’ and she literally asked the tough girl how to spell it for which she replied, “I don’t know”. The story got weirder as the tough girl demanded in retribution that she had dinner with Vega’s family that night or she would “go out in to the street” and “lift up her dress” which she eventually did. Vega said it wasn’t until years later when it finally dawned on her what the word was that she was trying to say to her. 

Suzanne got back to the music with the band and a few songs later, joking that she hoped she’d be “singing the lyrics correctly this evening”, having botched them two or three times before on the tour and then they did “Solitaire”. It was one of the new ones, so we forgave her and she nailed it that time anyway. They would play 8 of her new songs that show, but wrapped up the set with a couple of old favorites, “Luka” and an a cappella version of “Tom’s Diner”. As she had the other times I saw her, Suzanne had no trouble getting everybody to clap along to that last one, singing the “Duh-duh-duh-duh”’s all the way through it. She came back for the encore asking, “Want another song?… OK?” and got the audience to clap along to “Room Off The Street”, just her singing along with her bass player behind her. The rest of the band joined in for “Soap & Water”, another new song and the last one of the night. Though Suzanne got a poster for her Fillmore show the previous March, there was no one at the end of the night for her this time, but it had been such a hell of day that I didn’t mind so much. 

https://archive.org/details/suzanne-vega-warfield-10601

https://archive.org/details/marshall-crenshaw-warfield-10601

Midnight Oil, Will Hoge, Fill., SF, Thur., October 11

SETLISTS : 

(WILL HOGE) : (Welcome To) The Big Show, Let Me Be Lonely, Ms. Williams, Rock & Roll Star, Heartbreak Avenue, Your Fool, King Of Grey, She Don’t Care, Wish, Reelin’ & Rockin’

(MIDNIGHT OIL) : Redneck Wonderland, Bullroarer, Too Much Sunshine, Dreamworld, Say Your Prayers, Beds Are Burning, Short Memory, Luritja Way, Blue Sky Mine, Truganini, Golden Age, King Of The Mountain, The Dead Heart, Forgotten Years, Hercules, (encore), Tone Poem, Put Down That Weapon, Read About It, (encore), Power & The Passion

The pleasure of seeing Midnight Oil for my second time at The Fillmore that night was tempered by emotional weight we all were bearing from the beginning of the war in Afghanistan just four days before this. Yes, we were all out for Bin Laden’s blood at the time which we would eventually get, but little did we suspect that this little incursion of ours would become America’s longest war. Nevertheless, we all attempted to have a good time that night and Midnight Oil is one of those bands that could always deliver on that promise. It had been exactly one month since 9/11 and in a strange coincidence, the date of this show, 10/11/01, was a palindrome. Weird, huh? Anyway, back to Midnight Oil.

They had just performed the year before at the summer Olympics back home in Sydney, Australia, doing their hit “Beds Are Burning” for the closing ceremony. Their singer, Peter Garrett, had written the word “Sorry” on his clothes for the occasion as an apology to the indigenous natives of Australia, the Aborigines, and their forcible removal of of 1 in 3 children from their native lands between 1910 and 1970, the so-called “Stolen Generation”. And though the then prime minister John Howard had claimed that it was his favorite song, he still refused to embrace any reconciliation or even publicly apologize for that black mark in their nation’s history. Midnight Oil’s new album, “Capricornia”, named after a lovely area around the Queensland coast, wouldn’t be released until the following February, but we were still treated to four of their new songs that night and like the time before in 1994, they were graced with a good poster for the fans at the end of the show.

Opening that night was Will Hoge, who despite being from Nashville, sounded conspicuously like Canadian Bryan Adams, which is not altogether a bad thing. I like Mr. Adams. Anyway, this was fourth show for Will and his band on the road with Midnight Oil and he was quick to mention that “San Francisco is one we never done before” and that we made “quite a first impression”. Halfway through his set he introduced the song “You Fool”, which I also heard during his soundcheck, “If everything goes according to plan, you may be hearing this song on the radio. It’s our first single off of our new record”. Later, he joked that “Nashville, Tennessee is a country town. We vowed not to play a country song”, but he offered to “play a slow one” and they did “King Of Grey”, a new one that wouldn’t be released until two years later on his “Blackbird On A Lonely Wire” album. 

Afterwards, Will told the crowd, “I wanna say first that it’s a real honor to be here at The Fillmore. This is one of those venues that when you play in a rock band, even when you were a kid, you know you want to come to The Fillmore. I mean that… This is going to be dedicated to all those who came before” then he introduced his band and played “She Don’t Care”. In the middle of the song, he brought the band down real quiet and praised us for being a “hip musical community” and then had us snap our fingers to the beat. At the end of his set, he said he “always dreamed of playing here. I don’t mean that lightly. I have a Fillmore poster with my name on it and I’m gonna send it home to my father for his birthday and I’m no longer a loser musician. I played The Fillmore. So we need to leave you with one of our influences. There’s really nothing that sums up rock & roll especially at The Fillmore like a little Chuck Berry”. And then he wrapped things up with a cover of Berry’s “Reelin’ & Rockin’”.

When Midnight Oil finally took the stage, they went though five songs before Peter addressed the elephant in the room saying, “We don’t really want to spend a lot of time up here going on, because one of the reasons for coming here is not to forget what’s going on, but it’s to recognize that whatever else is going on, life still goes on as well… One thing we know for sure, one way to deal with the nonsense that went down, the horribleness that went down is to not let it stop us from doing the things that we want to do, what we’re here for… So, you’ll vote for solar energy, I hope. We’re going to sing our songs” and then they did “Beds Are Burning”. A few songs later, he spoke again, “Many, many moons ago when people started taking on one another on inflicting hardship, pain, and suffering, one of the unfortunate aspects of the human condition, upon one another, it was considered the two things should go together, proportionality and justice. And once proportionality and justice have been done, the causes and effects probably need to be considered as well. The first hopeful thing to come out of a very difficult six months ahead will be that the people who are being misled who hate” and then they did “The Dead Heart”. Sad to say that it went on for a damn sight longer than six months. Peter got the audience to sing along to the “do-do-do-do-do”’s on that one. 

They finished their set, but swiftly came back for an encore and Peter spoke again, “I want to explain our absence in some cultured way, but I can’t really. We’ve been doing our thing in other places. I know we’ve been coming to this room for quite a number of years and I just want to say and I know that Will said it as well. It’s very refreshing where bands arrive to a place where there’s a history and a heritage that’s civilized and keeps welcoming you too… Unless you’ve headed to the stage of your entertainment career where you’re more interested in appearing with people and doing face sculptures than you are with music. The rest of us still get changed in the toilet in most places and I want to do something new for you.” Then they played the new song “Tone Poem”. They came back for one more encore and that was it. I’m afraid that this would be the last time I’d see Midnight Oil. Peter quit the band the following year to focus on his political career and receiving a Doctorate Of Letters from the University Of New South Wales. They did however briefly reform in 2009 to do benefits for tsunami relief in Samoa. 

https://archive.org/details/4-luritja-way-blue-sky-mine (Midnight Oil)

https://archive.org/details/11-wh-she-dont-care (Will Hoge)

Ray Davies, War., SF, Tues., October 16

SETLIST : This Is Where I Belong, Come Dancing, Victoria, 20th Century Man, That Old Black Magic, Tired Of Waiting, Where Have All The Good Times Gone?, Set Me Free, See My Friends, Autumn Almanac, Days, I’m Not Like Everybody Else, Dedicated Follower Of Fashion, You Really Got Me, (encore), Waterloo Sunset, Lola

I had a difficult decision to make that night. I had to choose between seeing The Strokes at The Fillmore and Ray Davies at The Warfield. You have to understand, The Strokes were brand new and red hot with their debut album, “Is This It”, but even at my tender age of 29, I knew in my heart of hearts that seeing Ray was more important. So, as you probably figured out by now, I made the right decision and to all you young people out there, when faced with choosing between a shiny new up and comer and a veteran music legend, the the latter is almost always the correct choice. I’m glad I did too because though I have seen The Strokes many times since then, I only got to see “The Godfather Of Britpop” himself, Mr. Ray Davies, one more time on that very same Warfield stage five years later after this show. To my knowledge, he hasn’t played in the bay area since and if he has, well I missed it.

To all those who have been living under a rock, Ray Davies is the frontman to the seminal British rock band The Kinks. Back then when I was a young philistine in comparison to today, even I knew all of that band’s hits, including Weird Al Yankovic’s hilarious parody of “Lola”… you know it, “Yoda”. That and I knew of his song “Quiet Life” that he contributed to the film musical “Absolute Beginners”. Ray was doing his “Storyteller” tour, though his album of the same name came out three years before this, but he was also promoting his “unauthorized autobiography” book, “X-Ray”. He joked early on that “it’s appropriate that they booked me in a cathedral because tonight I’m going to read from the black book”. This night, between playing the hits, just him on acoustic guitar and sometimes accompanied by his “sidekick” Pete Matheson on electric guitar, Ray would regale us with tales of his youth, his father, younger brother and fellow Kinks guitarist Dave Davies, and six sisters. It was “An Evening With” show, so it was just him that night, so I was cut from ushering almost immediately after he started his set.

Ray came on stage to the sounds of an accordion playing zydeco music over the loudspeakers and he opened with “This Is Where I Belong”. Afterwards, he got us all to clap along to the utterly infectious “Come Dancing”, a story unto itself about his older sister. He then began one of many long introductions to his songs, speaking of a time 100 years ago when “Britain had an empire and we had a queen. Her name was Victoria” and then he played the song of that name. Later, he spoke of his early childhood in North London and how he was fascinated by the neighborhood of Soho, London’s “red light district”, but added that he was only 3 years old at the time and his parents “thought it was a bad idea”. Ray went on with a story about the swing standard, “That Old Black Magic” by Johnny Mercer and made famous by Sinatra, quipping that “I think my mother was right to ban that record”.

At first attempt, the crowd sort of flubbed their efforts to sing along to the next tune, “Tired Of Waiting”, and Ray teased them saying, “ You guys sound like a group of rugby players… in a shower… after a game…. that they lost”, but we managed to get it together for the second attempt. Afterwards, he talked about how his dad was a “wonderful character” who would get drunk and sing “Minnie The Moocher” by Cab Calloway. A couple songs later, he played a little guitar lick of the old country classic “Ghost Riders In The Sky” during “Set Me Free”. He spoke a lot of his early days that night, much too much to relay even if I could make out half of what he was saying on the recording, but I know he spoke of when The Kinks began and how they conspicuously lacked a drummer. Like our first attempt at “Tired Of Waiting”, the audience had limited success singing along to “Autumn Almanac”, earning the wry tease from Ray, “it’s obvious that not many of you are familiar with this song”. 

Mr. Davies spoke of his dad again and how he wanted him to become a professional athlete, a football player preferably, and paid a little tribute to him, singing the first couple lines of “Minnie The Moocher” before admitting that he was a failure at sports as well as school. In the middle of “Dedicated Follower Of Fashion”, he told a funny story about one his managers that compulsively said the word “cock”, playfully calling people it and using it in adjectives and so forth. From there, The Kinks first played on the TV “Long Tall Sally” by Little Richard on the BBC’s “Ready Steady Go” show. Though Ray admitted that his friends said they were terrible, he didn’t care because it was “the swingin’ 60s!” 

He finished the set, giving a long introduction to perhaps his most recognized hit, “You Really Got Me”. Basically, he said that his brother Dave’s “little green” guitar amp had been punctured with a fork while they were rehearsing in the front room of their family’s home, but he still played with it anyway. The damage caused the amp to have that signature fuzzy sound we all have come to know and love, but at the time, the “contentious local recording studio boss”  thought the amp sounded like crap and demanded that they use a new one instead. So, they recorded the track at first with the new amp and when the boss was satisfied and left, the brought back in the ol’ fuzzy one and recorded it again, the one that would of coarse ultimately be used. Hearing it live gave me chills down my spine. It was then I knew for sure that I came to the right show. 

Naturally, Ray came back on stage for an encore and began it with “Waterloo Sunset”. He ended the night, admitting at first that “I had my doubts about this one, but I’ve really grown to like it” before playing “Lola”. I’m sure when he wrote it, Ray probably wouldn’t have guessed that it would become the most famous song about cross dressers other than perhaps “Dude (Looks Like A Lady)” by Aerosmith. They played Fat’s Domino’s “Walking To New Orleans” over the loudspeakers at the very end as Ray got off stage. But in a strange twist of fate, Mr. Davies would be shot in the leg while in New Orleans seven years later in an attempt to chase down a guy who snatched a girl’s purse, always the valiant English gentleman. The perpetrator was arrested, though the charges were ultimately dropped. Anyway, it was a pity there wasn’t a poster that night or even for the 2006 Warfield show for Ray and it goes without saying that he certainly deserved one at least. 

And to finish on a side note, this entry is actually the first one where I’m posting it alongside the actual recording of the show. I find it strangely appropriate that it should be the one of my first Ray Davies concert, the man himself another “storyteller”. Yes, I finally figured out a way to upload my stuff onto internetarchives.org. That’s the good news. The bad news is that I’ve already started writing about all these shows ages ago and have been doing it in chronological order and currently on as you know the year 2001. So, I’m having to start over as well with a backlog of shows going all the way back to 1993 to catch up. But the other good news is, tedious and time consuming as it is, I’m able to upload the backlog pretty fast and am already starting to upload shows from 1994 as I write this. In closing, thank you for your patience. I wish I figured this out sooner, but better late than never. 

https://archive.org/details/ray-davies-warfield-101601

DJ Shadow + Cut Chemist = Product Placement, Z-Trip, DJ Shortkut, Marvski, Egon, Kool Chris, Jack & Ben, Fill., SF, Wed., October 17

It took me a long time to realize how spoiled I’ve been with the rich collection of DJ’s from the bay area. My home here has always been a beacon to all those who hone their skills on the 1’s and 2’s and you’d be hard put to find a more talented roster of turntablists at the time than those who showed up to The Fillmore that fateful evening. I had already been long familiar with DJ Shadow from having recorded him three times at the Maritime Hall, but this show was unique that he and fellow DJ, Cut Chemist, had joined forces to entertain their fans exclusively using only 45 records and to this day, I haven’t seen a DJ show that has repeated this. They were promoting their “Product Placement” album at the show, an exclusive tour release including 4 live tracks, printing only 6000 copies just for the fans. DJ Shadow had a busy year already, touring non-stop and having appeared alongside Mr. Zach Sciacca AKA Z-Trip, who also performed that night, in the “Scratch” documentary. Z-Trip had just released his “Uneasy Listening, Vol. 1” album, a collaboration with DJ P, though only 1000 copies were printed. In hindsight, I regret not picking up either of those albums. They’re probably collectors items now. 

This was the first show of what would be a long tour all around the country and other countries. The turntables changed hands quite a few times in the beginning, so much so that it was hard to keep track of who was who until Marvski took the stage. There was Kool Chris from Chicago for sure and a couple of DJs called Jack & Ben. Peanut Butter Wolf was reportedly in the house, though he didn’t perform that night. DJ Shadow came up from time to time to rally the crowd, teasing them early on, “Can’t the bay area dance? You can’t boogie down?” He also urged people to check out the merch booth where they were selling all manner of 45 records and stuff. He praised Marvski from Poland who he mentioned taught him how to play 45’s back in the day, but drew boos from the crowd when he mentioned that Marvski “said hell to y’all” and “moved to Los Angeles”, though Shadow added, “Just fuckin’ with ya”. Egon was next and he pointed out the video being projected on the screen behind him which was of a show he did with the other DJs a year before this, a gig that they called “Brain Freeze”. DJ Shortkut from the renown DJ group Invisibl Scratch Pickles followed and though he was using 45s, he had no trouble plying his incredible scratch techniques to them. He and fellow Pickle, DJ Qbert, are two of the very best and still are. Funny thing though, they misspelled his name as “Shorkut” on the ad for the show. 

Afterward, Shadow introduced the next DJ saying, “You know who this guy is? He just crashed the party. He goes by the name of Z-Trip!” He mentioned that Z-Trip had also recently moved to L.A. drawing another chorus of booing, but Z-Trip laughed it off, “What? Can’t a guy move?” Z-Trip was already well known in music circles and sought after by such A-listers as Public Enemy, Busta Rhymes, and Beck to do their remixes. He is probably the most famous pioneer in the art of “mash ups”, putting two disparate songs together for those who don’t know. He would spin all kinds of music blending with hip hop and he started the night playing some funny old 50’s sounding bit with a woman singing “I only get drunk in San Francisco”. But he soon followed that with a variety of crowd pleasers like “The Humpty Dance” by Digital Underground, “Tom Sawyer” by Rush, “Walk This Way” by Aerosmith with Run DMC, (arguably the first real mash up song), the theme from the movie “Rocky”, and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. 

Turns out both Z-Trip and DJ Shadow would spin the songs “Just A Friend” by Biz Markie and “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin at that show. Z-Tip kept the show going along doing a hilarious mash up of “Cars” by Gary Numan with “The Cars That Go Boom” by L’Trimm, a perfect example of his wacky but brilliant pairings. Near the end of his set, he busted out an old “Star Wars” storybook album for kids that included the theme, the Cantina song, as well as spoken word blurbs of lines from the movie and descriptions of the action. He finished his set playing another sort of 50’s novelty song sung by a “Mr.Z” character asking “What’s the letter after Y?… Z!” and railing off a bunch of words beginning with Z throughout the song. By this time, we had a full house in The Fillmore and the cheering grew louder and louder as the night went on. 

DJ Shadow along with Cut Chemist first came out on their own and Shadow said, he’s “feeling lonely out here” and that this was “the hardest thing we had to do” since it was their first attempt pulling off this 45 show. He thanked the other DJs who played that night and pointed out that Zigaboo Modeliste, the drummer from The Meters, was hanging out in the balcony as well as “local funk legend” Marv Holmes, a brilliant guitarist and producer who had penned songs for guys like Buddy Miles and Ike Turner. Marv sadly passed away in 2022. Like nearly all the shows around then, Shadow addressed 9/11 saying, “Last couple of weeks had some real ill shit, but people bring people together and that’s what it’s all about.” He lightened things up right away with some funny novelty song about “cooking with gas”, followed a bit of stuff I remember that had been sampled by The Jungle Brothers.

We were pleasantly surprised to get some rapping along with the music for his set when one of the members of Jurassic 5 joined him on stage and did a couple songs. Afterwards, Shadow mentioned the “Brain Freeze” show again asking “Who ever had the Superman comic books?” and talked about the villain Bizarro, joking that the next song would be as “if ‘Brain Freeze’ was performed in Bizarro World, this is what it would sound like”. Then they did another novelty bit which was some kind of soft drink commercial with a guy cheerfully spouting, “Something wonderful happens to a thirsty throat!” and “This is a program where thirst is first!” followed by the sound of a pouring carbonated beverage. 

They followed that with another liquid based tune, talking about “pure, fresh milk… delicious!”. In the aforementioned ad for the show, both Shadow and Cut Chemist appeared on it, Cut Chemist drinking a small carton of milk, Shadow drinking a pint glass of milk and both of them sporting milk mustaches. Maybe they were secretly getting sponsored by the Milk Advisory Board or something. Speaking of milk and the things that go with it, somebody in the crowd was going around giving out fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and I heard myself mentioning to someone, “that’s no Chips Ahoy shit”. They were quite good actually and still warm. Funny, I still remember them. Anyway, it was a long, but enjoyable night, though there was no poster unfortunately. Keeping with the theme of mash ups, the show the following night on that very same stage would be The Waterboys from Scotland, a very, VERY different show indeed from this one. 

https://archive.org/details/dj-shadow-cut-chemist-fillmore-101701

https://archive.org/details/kool-chris-jack-ben-marvski-egon-dj-shortcut-fillmore-101701

https://archive.org/details/z-trip-fillmore-101701

The Waterboys, Tom McRae, Fill., SF, Thur., October 18

SETLISTS :

(TOM McRAE) : Bloodless, End Of The World News (Dose Me Up), You Cut Her Hair, The Boy With The Bubblegum, Street Light, The Only Thing I Know, Draw Down The Stars, Sao Paulo Rain, Language Of Fools

(THE WATERBOYS) : Let It Happen, We Will Not Be Lovers, Glastonbury Song, Malediction, The Wind & The Wires, Medicine Bow, Dumbing Down The World, Is She Conscious?, I Know She’s In The Building, The Pan Within, Too Close To Heaven, The Whole Of The Moon, Open, Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?, Don’t Bang The Drum, Bring Em’ All In, Crown, Fisherman’s Blues, (encore), Lonesome Day Blues, This Is The Sea

Rounding out a three day stretch of shows was The Waterboys, one of those many bands out there that I felt I should have known more about, but didn’t. Hailing from Scotland, The Waterboys was fronted by Mike Scott, their only permanent member of a band that had more ex-members than Menudo and he was leading his band on their first tour in ten years. They had dissolved for a time in ’93 so Mike could focus his attention towards the Findhorn Foundation, a spiritual community and charitable trust in northern Scotland that dabbled in alternative medicine. Mike also made a go of having a solo career, but it turned out to be a dud and he was dropped from his record label. So, he was back with his old band again, promoting their 7th album “A Rock In A Weary Land”, a harder rock & roll outing than their earlier stuff. The Waterboys had actually played The Fillmore earlier in April, though I had missed it and it’s a pity because that show got a poster and a rare horizontal one at that.  They had the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club opening for them as well, a band I enjoyed even more than them. This was the first of a two day stint too and the last shows of the tour as many San Francisco shows are for those touring the states.

Opening that night was Tom McRae, a singer/songwriter from the UK who had just released his debut album that August to critical success, so much so that it earned him a nomination for a Mercury Prize and winning him a BRIT award for Best Newcomer. I was impressed by the sound of Tom’s singing voice, a much higher pitch with a distinct tremolo, totally dissimilar from his much lower speaking voice and he had excellent diction which made deciphering his lyrics and song titles a breeze. A couple songs in he joked, “Now is the part of the set where I play a happy song, if I had one if you could imagine” and then he did “The Boy With The Bubblegum”. He followed that with “Street Light” which he described it, “This is close as we get to a happy song.” It was just him on stage playing acoustic guitar with his multi-instrumentalist buddy Ollie, explaining “ I used to tour with a band in Europe, but that’s expensive” and he praised Ollie for his “running between instruments to give the impression that we’re a band… Go Ollie!” and then they did “Sao Paulo Rain”. He finished his set announcing, “This is our last song. Thanks for watching. Thanks for listening. You’ve been a really quiet, attentive and that’s fuckin’ unusual, so well done” and he encouraged to crowd to move up while they wrapped up their set with “Language Of Fools”. 

It had been a little over a month since 9/11 and the war in Afghanistan had just began eleven days before this show, so when Mike and his band took the stage, he mentioned, “Evening all, San Francisco. Before we start, I just want to say after those vile attacks in New York and Washington, we’re proud to be here for you tonight, playing for Americans” and they opened their set with “Let It Happen”. I was immediately stunned how loud they were, especially in comparison to the rather subdued Tom McRae, but I appreciated that they had Steve Wickham on electric violin in the band, an instrument rarely seen in rock bands.  Steve was Irish and played with a lot of his countrymen like The Hothouse Flowers, Sinead O’Connor, not to mention the unforgettable violin part in U2’s studio recording of “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. A couple songs later on, Mike mentioned that “a couple of us were in a diner today and they had a jukebox” and there was a song which he didn’t “understand what it means, maybe you as Americans will be able to tell us… ‘Duke Of Earl’, what’s that?… We’re not going to play it. We’re going to play ‘Glastonbury Song’”. 

A few songs further in, Mike took a not so subtle swipe at George W. Bush announcing, “I’d like to sing you a song about a guy on American TV. He maybe thinks he’s doing the best he can but from where I stand he’s ‘Dumbing Down The World’” and then they did that one. A couple tunes later he introduced “I Know She’s In The Building “, “I know from my own personal experience that San Francisco is a sexy place, so we’re going to play a sexy song for ya!” Mike went on afterwards to introduce his fellow Waterboys and did a long, 13 minute rendition of “The Pan Within” which included a quiet little breakdown in the middle of the song where he said in a sultry, seductive voice, “I don’t want you just for sex” and other stuff, “But not that I don’t want those things too…” and that “We got a hotel room” and so on. They followed that with “Too Close To Heaven” which also spanned over 13 minutes.

Mike lightened things up a few songs later, saying “Friends and neighbors, it’s hip time on the health and happiness show. We’re gonna sing you a song… Steve, you’ve got a much better redneck accent. Introduce this song. Steve, sing a song from Ireland”. Then Steve came up to the mic and did a fairly convincing Appalachian accent and introduced “Has Anybody Here Seen Hank?” Makes sense after all in a way. A lot of Irish people settled in that part of America when they came over on the boat back in the day though a lot of Scottish people did too, Hatfields and McCoys and so forth. From there, my tape ran out unfortunately, but I stuck around to the end of their set anyway. I think this was the only time I had seen The Waterboys play one of their own shows, but I did catch them doing a couple songs at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in Golden Gate Park in 2019 just before the pandemic. 

https://archive.org/details/the-waterboys-fillmore-101801

https://archive.org/details/tom-mcrae-fillmore-101801

Joe Strummer & Mescaleros, Sean Kennedy, Fill., SF, Sat., October 20

SETLIST : Cool N’ Out, Global A Go-Go, Rudie Can’t Fail. Shindi Bhagee, Armagideon Time, Shaktar Donetsk, Police & Thieves, Mega Bottle Ride, Tony Adams, Mondo Bongo, Johnny Appleseed, Bummed Out City, Police On My Back, The Harder They Come, Pressure Drop, I Fought The Law, (encore), Bankrobber, Yallo Yallo, Rudi A Message To You, London’s Burning, Blitzkrieg Bop

At this stage of my life, I had become all too aware that death could come for anyone young or old at any time be it friends, family, or musical heroes, but I was totally unprepared to hear about the sudden and unexpected passing of Mr. Joe Strummer a year after this show. Indeed, when the news broke to me, it came at a most unexpected and rather perilous time. I had been driving along on the 680 freeway in the east bay with my dear old mum when she rather casually announced to me, “I think some rock star died today that you may know… someone named Strummer?” No fooling, I nearly slammed on the brakes when she dropped that and we were in the fast lane at the time. Yes, the news was sadly true. Joe had succumbed to a sudden heart attack at the all too young age of 50, two full years younger than I am now writing this. But at the time of this show, I, Joe, and everyone else were blissfully unaware of his impending doom.

It was good fortune and some hard work that allowed me to witness this, Joe’s last performance in the bay area. I had been tasked to work as an audio assist by my union at a gig at the Gift Center in the middle of town that morning and knowing that I had booked myself to usher at The Fillmore for Joe the same day, I was hard pressed for time to get out of work and skeedaddle own there to get inside before the doors opened. I had seen Joe there once before in 1999, but I was just as committed to see him again, especially since I had been too young to see him in his first band, an obscure little group called The Clash. Oh yes, I busted my ass all morning, sweating like Trump in church to get the job done and thankfully around six, my A1, Tom Adams, showed me mercy and sent me on my merry way. It was a photo finish, but I made it to The Fillmore on time where I caught my breath, pounded some dinner from the grill upstairs in the poster room, and thanked my lucky stars.

Joe’s tour had just began two weeks before this in Washington D.C., promoting “Global A Go-Go”, his second and final album with his band The Mescaleros, which had just been released that July. I learned that he had actually been in town just four days after its release and did a free gig at Amoeba, but I obviously missed it having not heard it was happening. I totally would have been there and God knows how many awesome free Amoeba gigs I’ve missed over the years just because I hadn’t heard they were going on or hadn’t heard about them in time to make it. Anyway, Joe’s tour would continue to L.A. for four shows in a row at The Troubadour and then onto Europe into November, ending with a show at the Brixton Academy back home in jolly ol’ London. He had just signed to Hellcat Records that year, an offshoot of Epitaph, and in 2012, they re-released the new album and other posthumous released material for what would have been Joe’s 60th birthday. They played eight out of the eleven songs from the new album that night. One of the songs they didn’t play, “Minstrel Boy”, was used in the soundtrack for the film “Black Hawk Down” which would come out two months after this show. 

They opening act that night was a local rockabilly singer/songwriter from Santa Cruz named Sean Kennedy with his band, the King Cats. Originally from Texas, Sean had relocated to that hippie enclave to ply his old school rock & roll stylings and had just released his debut album, “Big Time”, in 1998. Accompanied by his bass player Lloyd Tripp and a drummer, they gave a nod to their rockabilly roots, doing covers of “Not Fade Away” by Buddy Holly and “Marie, Marie” by The Blasters during their soundcheck and later during their set as well. I know they played a couple of Sean’s original songs, “Waste Of Time” and “Ball & Chain”, but the others were either instrumentals or I couldn’t figure out the title. Sean and the band were quite good though and were received warmly by Joe’s fans, a tough crowd to impress by any measure, though I think this was the only time I’d see him perform live.  

After the set break, the crowd went absolutely nuts as the band took the stage with the sound of an African singer playing over the loudspeakers who sounded a lot like Baaba Maal, though I can’t say for sure if it was him. Joe quickly thanked his fellow Mescaleros, introducing them one by one, including Martin Slattery, Scott Shields wearing an “Elvis shirt”, and Simon Stafford, the former bassist of the Longpigs. They also had with them Tymon Dogg on violin who had also played on The Clash albums “Sandinista!” and “Combat Rock”. They played mostly new stuff in the beginning, but Joe threw in an old Clash number, “Rudie Can’t Fail”, three songs into the set. Tymon would also bust out a trombone when they played their cover of the dancehall standard, “Armagideon Time” by Willie Williams a couple songs later. He dedicated the new tune “Shaktar Dontesk” “for all the immigrants in the world” and followed it with his famous cover of “Police & Thieves” by Junior Murvin. Afterwards, Joe joked, “We’re suffering from bus lag… just got on a bus on October the 4th in Washington D.C. and we hit the road and we went to D.C., Philly, Hartford Connecticut, New York New York, Worcester Massachusetts, Montreal, Toronto, Chicago, Seattle, Scottsdale Arizona, Anaheim, Southern California, and esta noche El Fillmore! Let’s go to the 4th dimension. This is the perfect city for it. They invented that shit here” and then they did “Mega Bottle Ride”. 

The next song was another new one called “Tony Adams” which Joe insisted was about a “British soccer player” and not the leader of the Irish Republican Army. He lightened the mood later announcing, “Ladies & Gentlemen, with your kind permission, we’d like this latest invitation, a number for ladies only in the mosh pit please. The men can sing along if they’re mature enough and they can handle going, “sha-la-la-la-la” like us men up here are going to do, right? This tune is called ‘Mongo Bongo’”. They followed that with a tune “about two American heroes”, “Johnny Appleseed”, the first track off their new album. He thanked the audience and went on, “Every time you have a row with your partner, you’re in a car in the dark, going somewhere you don’t know, and you’ve got a map and you can’t read it and you don’t know north, south, up, down, left, or right… That’s a fine time to have an argument and we got a tune about that. It’s called ‘Bummed Out City’. I’d like to dedicate this tune to The Mutants”. 

Joe gave a shout out to Tyler between songs saying, “He asked me to tell ya’ to be called Tymon Dogg way, way, way before Snoop Doggy Dogg… with the two T’s in the end. He ain’t nothin’ but an old hit lover!” and then they did “Police On My Back” by Eddy Grant. Joe contended a bit with a heckler in the crowd when he announced that they were about to do “The Harder They Come” by Jimmy Cliff growling, “You tell that fucker who’s booing to come up here and I’ll boo him. What’s a matter? You don’t like Jimmy Cliff?… Get in kind of a weird state of mind when you’ve been in a bus too long. I’ve got to say, everywhere we’ve been, it’s been jam packed with people, people coming out all those towns, so thanks a lot! Let’s get this Jimmy Cliff thing kickin’!” He followed that with a couple of other famous covers he did with The Clash, “Pressure Drop” by The Maytals and “I Fought The Law” by The Crickets.

A funny and totally unforgettable thing happened when they played “Bankrobber”, a memory which still makes me smile to this day. Cell phones were just beginning to become commonplace with average people back then and I myself had reluctantly just given up my trusty pager for one that year. And sadly since then, it has likewise become all too commonplace that people would hold up their cellphones during shows to record shaky video recordings of such shows. But cell phones were still too primitive for video then and somebody up front was holding one up having simply called a friend on it so he could hear what was going on during the show on the other end. Well, Joe saw this and deftly snatched the phone from the fan’s grasp and held it up to his own face while singing into the microphone and sang the remainder of one of the verses into it at the top of his lungs before handing it back to the fan. I can only image the shock and pleasant surprise the person on the other end of that phone call experienced that night, but like I said, it was absolutely hilarious. In a way, it was sort of profound, working on a few levels. Part of me thought it was like a person telling the bankrobber’s story from prison in one of those visitor areas where you have to talk through phones separated by thick glass. 

Joe encouraged us to join in for their cover of “Rudi, A Message To You” by Dandy Livingstone, a rocksteady classic made famous by The Specials, saying, “You sing in all the discos in north & south San Francisco”, so we all did the “ahh-ahh-ahh” bit between the lines in the verses.  After pumping everybody up with the seminal Clash hit, “London’s Burning”, he wrapped things up, “Thanks very much for coming out tonight. This needs no explanation” and then he did a rousing cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones. At the risk of explaining, for those who don’t know who are reading this 24 years later, Joey Ramone had just passed away from lymphoma just six months before this show. Joe thanked the crowd one final time, leaving us on a high note and the band walked off the stage to the sounds of the theme song to “Sesame Street” playing over the speakers, a weird though charming choice of exit music. My friend Matt Thayer was next to me and I heard him singing that “I’ve got that joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart” song that Todd Flanders sang in an episode of “The Simpsons”. Matt encouraged me to try to snag a setlist from the stage, but I was unsuccessful. The audience kept chanting “Hey Ho! Let’s Go!” long after the house lights came up and as we deliriously descended down the stairs onto the street and into the cool, autumn evening air. 

Naturally, I was bitter that unlike Joe’s previous show at The Fillmore, this gig didn’t get a poster, but it especially stings because it was Joe’s last one on that stage. Still, this was a brilliant performance and listening to it again got me tapping my feet and loudly singing along to it. As you’ve might have noticed, there are a lot of shows I’ve already gone through in this little writing project of mine, but this was one so rare and awesome, that it got me so pumped up as much as it did while listening to it. Seriously, it really brought me back there, like I was at that show again. But the joy experienced then and reliving it again is tempered by the loss of Joe. He would soon join Joey Ramone in rock & roll Valhalla, following Dee Dee Ramone who succumbed to a heroin overdose just six months before Joe’s heart attack. And in a strange and tragic coincidence, the very next show I would see just two days later on that very same stage, would be Stereolab, which would be the final show their guitarist Mary Hansen would perform in the bay area before she too would die. Poor Mary was struck and killed on her bicycle just a day shy of two weeks before Joe passed away. At least both of them were back home in England when it happened, Joe in Somerset, Mary in London, and though their musical stylings were pretty divergent, I hope they got to meet in heaven and maybe play some music together with Joey and Dee Dee.                         

Like I had mentioned earlier, Hellcat records put out some stuff that Joe had been working on prior to his passing which would eventually be released in an album called “Streetcore” in 2003. On a more uplifting note, just one month before Joe died, he reunited briefly with fellow Clash member Mick Jones at a show in London, a benefit for local striking firefighters, their first time performing together in 19 years. There, Mick joined in playing guitar and singing along with Joe for the Clash classics, “White Riot”, the aforementioned “Bankrobber” and “London’s Burning”, the last one being a hilariously appropriate song to play to firefighters. The Mescaleros were supposed to tour in 2003 opening for Pearl Jam and with the announcement that The Clash were to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame that year, there had been hopeful rumors of a reunion of all the original members to play at that ceremony, especially since Joe and Mick had just mended fences. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be. But the firefighter’s show would be released later as the “Live At Acton Town Hall” album and would be rereleased in 2023 for a limited 2200 copy double vinyl LP set. 

https://archive.org/details/joe-strummer-the-mescaleros-fillmore-102001

https://archive.org/details/sean-kennedy-fillmore-102001

Stereolab, Fugu, Fill., SF, Mon., October 22

SETLIST : (unknown), Infinity Girl, Escape Pod (From The World Of Medical Observations), Fluorescences, (unknown), Gun The Mynah Bird, Nothing To Do With Me, Blips Drips & Strips, Captain Easychord, Baby Lulu, (unknown), Ping Pong, Double Rocker, John Cage Bubblegum, (encore), Naught More Terrific Than Man, Metronomic Underground           

As you might have read in my previous entry, this show has the tragic moniker of being the final show of a cherished musician. In a strange and terrible coincidence, both Mary Hansen, the guitarist and back up singer of Stereolab, and Joe Strummer would play at The Fillmore just two days apart and both would cross the Rainbow Bridge into rock & roll Valhalla in December of 2002, less than two weeks from each other. The only consolation is that they both died back home in jolly old England, Mary from a bicycle accident in London, Joe from a heart attack in Somerset. But on a happier note, no one attending either shows and certainly not Mary and Joe had any clue that they would soon meet their untimely doom and the shows they played those nights were absolutely stellar.

This was actually the second time I’d see Stereolab at The Fillmore, the first being in 1999, but to those who are not regular readers out there, The Lab in one of my all time favorite bands, I’m talking in the top five at least. By this show, I had already see them perform 11 times and had vowed to never miss them when they passed through town. It’s a foregone conclusion that they liked The Fillmore since it would be the only venue they would continue to visit and play in every time they come to San Francisco. Apart from one time in 2000 when they played at The Warfield, I’ve seen them there at least ten times since. I’d know the exact number, but I stopped updating my show list after I stopped bootlegging. I believe Les Claypool of Primus and among his many side projects is the only other musical act who even comes close to amount of times I’ve witnessed The Lab doing their good work. This was the first of a two day stint and I would have gone to both shows but I felt obliged to catch The Breeders at Slim’s the following day. Believe me, it was a tough call as you might have guessed that it would take a band as good as The Breeders to swing for another show.

Stereolab was on tour promoting their latest album, “Sound-Dust”, the final album Mary would play on, which had just come out two months and a day before this night. They had produced a limited batch of 1200 CDs and LPs of the album with a homemade book sleeve and I’m sorry to say that I was unable to get one. To be honest though, it took a while for “Sound-Dust” to win me over. I really liked the opening track, “Captain Easychord”, which they performed that show, but the rest of the album apart from maybe “Double Rocker” didn’t click with me right away. Rest assured, I’ve grown more fond of its songs since though and every album they made afterwards have been excellent in my humble opinion.

Opening that night was a band called Fugu from France, not to be confused with the obscure Dutch ska band of the same name. Fugu was fronted by a fellow named Mehdi Zanrad who had a profoundly strong French accent while speaking, but rather clear English one when singing. His first album, “Fugu 1” had just come out that year and Stereolab’s singer Latitia Sadier contributed her vocals for their song “Sol Y Sombra”. They opened with a piano heavy instrumental and I found their music relaxing and sophisticated, a good fit as an opener for Stereolab who I’ve thought have had mixed results with their openers in the past. I was only able to make out a couple of their tunes, one being “She’s Coming Over”, a new song that Fugu wouldn’t actually release until four years later on their next album “As Found”, and “The Best Of Us”. 

After the set break, Latitia greeted the crowd as the band got on stage saying, “Hello everybody! Nice to see you”. By that time, it was rare that I didn’t know what songs they were playing, but for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out the title of the one they opened with that gig. They followed that with “Infinity Girl” and apart from the songs they played after “Fluorescences” and “Baby Lulu”, I knew all the others. Latitia thanked us it three languages that night, English of coarse, and then saying “Danke Schon” after “Gus The Mynah Bird”, and “Merci Beaucoup” after “Nothing To Do With Me”. She kind of surprised me that evening when she busted out a trombone for a few songs like the aforementioned “Baby Lulu” and “Naught More Terrific Than Man”. It made me think of that gag in “Airplane!” when Ted Stryker was in a dive bar and a comely set of women’s legs appeared standing on the bar during a swing song and he looked up to see an attractive woman in a short skirt playing the trombone to the song. Funny, I just watched that movie with my wife in its entirety just a few days ago. 

Latitia thanked Fugu and they wrapped up their set with the epic “Metronomic Underground” which spanned over 16 minutes long, a good one to end the night. Unlike Joe Strummer’s show, they thankfully got a poster at the end of the gig. It would be three long years until Stereolab would return to play back to back shows once again at The Fillmore, but I made sure to catch both of them that time. Though they still remain a favorite, by the time I saw them once more, Stereolab was a changed band since they would never again play with a female backing up Latitia’s vocals which I personally miss. Not only had they lost Mary in 2002, but Latitia and guitarist Tim Gane ended their romantic relationship that year as well. But thankfully they remained cordial, raising their son Alex who was three years old at the time of this show, and they continue to play together to this day. Hard to believe that Alex is turning 27 this year. Time flies. 

https://archive.org/details/stereolab-fillmore-102201

https://archive.org/details/fugu-fillmore-102201

The Breeders, Imperial Teen, Slim’s, SF, Tues., October 23

SETLISTS : 

(IMPERIAL TEEN) : Beginning, Ivanka, Piano, Yoo Hoo, Mr. & Mrs. Teacher’s Pet, Sugar, Lipstick, P.R., Disco

(THE BREEDERS) : T And T, Huffer, Tipp City, Doe, Head To Toe, Saints, Forced To Drive, Flipside, Little Fury, Divine Hammer, Iris, Cannonball, Safari, Swinger, I Wanna Get Along, Mom’s Drunk, Full On Idle, Pacer, (encore), Fort Gone, No Aloha

For those who didn’t read the previous entry, it takes a great band to pull me away from a Stereolab show.  They were doing back to back gigs at The Fillmore then and coincidentally, The Breeders were doing two nights as well at the exact same time. It had been over four years since I’d seen the twin sisters Kim & Kelly Deal at the Great American Music Hall and coupled with my love of their music, it was just enough to pry me away from my beloved Stereolab for a night and split the difference between the two of those excellent groups. There had been some line up changes in the band since I had last seen The Breeders, who had been stuck in development hell of what would eventually become the album “Title TK” and they had been sporadically trying to get it together to record new stuff ever since I saw them last.

As the “TK” in the name suggesting the journalistic shorthand for “to come”, it had been, after a considerable amount of wrangling, eventually handed over to legendary producer Steve Albini and was finished in Chicago that year to be released the following May. Gone from the band were touring guitarist Nate Farley, drummer Jim MacPherson, and bassist Josephine Wiggs, replaced by Richard Pressley, Jose Medeles and Mondo Lopez respectively. Both Richard and Mondo had been members of the seminal punk band Fear. But even old punks like them would witness the birth of a new musical gadget that would be released to the public that day that would change the way people would listen to music forever. Yes, the first iPod came out the day of that show and I’m proud to say that I’m one of those eccentrics who still uses one, not giving in to the temptation of getting a bone fide iPhone. 

One of the things that cemented my coming to The Breeders instead of the second Stereolab show was the fact that they had Imperial Teen as their opening act. It had also been over four years since I had seen them before, right there actually on that very same stage opening for Dinosaur Jr. Their third album, “On”, wouldn’t be dropped for another six months, but we were lucky to get a little sneak peak, hearing four of the new tracks that night. On monitors that evening was soundperson extraordinaire Lis Maguire Coyle, more commonly known as Tigi, a brilliant technician who I would have the honor to work alongside in the stagehand’s union years later. If you can handle monitors at Slim’s, you can handle just about anything and she handled both bands admirably as always.

Halfway through Imperial Teen’s set after they finished “Yoo Hoo”, bassist Jone Stebbins said to the crowd, “That was an old one, right… and this is a new one. We just finished a record!… Just yesterday!”. We all erupted in applause. Singer-guitarist Will Schwartz added, “A big day, yesterday. This is a new one. It’s kind of about San Francisco” and then they did “Mr. & Mrs.”  They followed that calling “Teacher’s Pet” their “drum machine part of the show” and they paused afterward, noticing that someone had thrown “a bean up here”, though Will asked “You sure it’s not a lentil?” To this day, I believe that was the only occasion that anyone threw any kind of legume on a stage during a show. Will asked, “So, San Francisco hasn’t seen The Breeders in a while, huh?… It’s such a great weekend, finishing the record and playing with The Breeders!” Just before the end of their set, Will said, “Thank you, San Francisco for being here a little bit early” and somebody in the crowd replied loudly, “San Francisco thanks you!”. Will smiled, “Well, you’re very welcome, my friends… Yeah, this next number, we like to call it a dance song and as San Francisco, we hope you interpret the dance theme as you will”. Jone blurted, “Shake your booty!” and they wrapped things up with a number simply titled “Disco”.

The wait finally came to an end and the twins took the stage with the audience roaring in approval. Kim joked, “Where the hell have you been?” and then they launched into a new one called “T And T”, quickly followed by “Huffer”. Afterwards, the did “Tipp City” one of the four tunes from the Deal’s period back around 1995 when they called themselves The Amps, putting out their one album “Pacer” that year, an album that Steve Albini also worked on. After a few Breeders classics, Kim mused about mood of the next song, “What is it called when it’s a skating rink for couples only?… Couples dance, right?… Moonlight skate!” and then they did “Forced To Drive”, another new one. Kim thanked the new members of the band and took a moment to try to fix her guitar amp saying, “This is a big hug problem… You don’t know what a problem is when you’re famous, we’re so fucked up” and then they did “Swinger”. She actually talked a lot between songs as she often does, but Kim talks pretty fast with a rather pronounced Midwest accent so it’s always been kind of hard to for me to decipher it all.

A couple songs later, the Deals joked with each other, “Everybody has seen their sister drunk… Pretty gross, right?… Everybody ever seen their mom drunk?… Grosser, right?” and then naturally, they played “Mom’s Drunk” followed by two more Amps songs, “Full On Idle” and “Pacer”, the title track from the album. After a well deserved encore break, Kim surprised me a little when she asked, “Got any friends who went to the Stereolab show tonight?” and I responded immediately, “I went last night!” It just occurred to me that both bands were at Lollapalooza in ’94 seven years before this, The Breeders on the main stage, Stereolab on the side stage. I hope they got to meet. Kim also thanked Imperial Teen and finished the encore with “Fort Gone” and “No Aloha”. I wouldn’t have to wait as long to see both bands again, for they would once more share a stage together, that time at The Fillmore less than nine months later, the first time The Breeders ever played there, and that gig would get an awesome poster. 

https://archive.org/details/the-breeders-slims-102301

https://archive.org/details/imperial-teen-slims-102301

Travis, Remy Zero, Phantom Planet, War., SF, Thur., October 25

SETLISTS :

(REMY ZERO) : Hermes Bird, Bitter, Impossibility, Save Me, Perfect Memory

(TRAVIS) : Sing, Writing To Reach You, Pipe Dreams, As You Are, Driftwood, Turn, Last Train, Indefinitely, The Cage, Follow The Light, Side, Flowers In The Window, Safe, The Humpty Dumpty Love Song, Why Does It Always Rain On Me?, Slide Show, Blue Flashing Light, (encore), Ring Out The Bell, Heroes, Happy

I was already pretty familiar with Travis by the time they graduated to play The Warfield. The Scottish indy rock band had been on the up and up since I saw them the year before headlining at The Warfield and as one of the supporting acts at one of those Alice gigs in Golden Gate Park. Travis was wrapping up a monthlong tour of the states, supporting their new album “The Invisible Band” which had just come out four months before this show. I wasn’t a particularly big fan of their work, but I did appreciate the sheer power of Fran Healy’s pipes. That man could sing and I thought it would be a good idea to catch them at least one more time before his bloody, long suffering vocal chords became dislodged from overuse and flew out of his mouth onto a quivering heap on stage during one of his high notes.

Although I was unaware of it at the time, I would be in the presence of a notable actor during the first of the opening acts that night. This would be the first time I’d see Phantom Planet and its drummer, Jason Schwarzman. Now, I’d seen the brilliant 1998 Wes Anderson comedy “Rushmore” in which he starred in alongside Bill Murray, but I didn’t make the connection. Jason was of coarse seated in the back of the stage behind his drum kit and wasn’t wearing eyeglasses, or dressed in a private school uniform for that matter. I actually learned recently that Jason is the son of Talia Shire from the Rocky and Godfather movies, making him one of the many kids in the Coppola family to branch out on their own artistically. Jason had also appeared in the movie “CQ” earlier that year, directed by his cousin Roman Coppola. He would continue to collaborate with Roman and Wes on projects in the future, including writing the screenplay for the movie “The Darjeeling Limited”. 

Incidentally, by this time my brother Alex had been living down in L.A. for over a year and had met Jason at a Halloween party Jason was throwing at his house in Silverlake, one of many he threw back in those days. My brother would also encounter Jason’s younger sibling Robert, who fronted a band of his own named Rooney and also collaborated in a lot of Coppola projects, when he periodically dropped by the ad agency Alex used to work at about ten years ago. And as luck would have it, like Phantom Planet, I once again saw a band with a Coppola in it when I caught Rooney playing as the first act of the Lollapalooza tour in 2003 on that festival’s main stage at Shoreline. They were pretty good, but that was the only time I’ve seen them. 

Phantom Planet had named their band after a B science-fiction movie that came out in 1961 and were fronted by a singer named Alex Greenwald who had done some acting work himself, appearing in “Donnie Darko” which actually came out just the day after this show. Also, their bassist, Sam Farrar, is the son of John Farrar, the longtime collaborator of Olivia Newton-John, the first woman I ever loved, and he penned such hits of hers as “Have You Ever Been Mellow?”, “You’re The One That I Want”, “Hopelessly Devoted To You”, and “Magic”. Sam would also go on to play bass for Maroon 5. One of Phantom Planet’s songs, probably their most recognized hit is “California” which would become the theme song to the Fox TV series, “The O.C.”, though I was oblivious to that fact since I never watched it. They had actually been together for seven years by then and were on the cusp of releasing their second album “The Guest” just four months later. I thought they were a good band, though I was saving my tape supply for the following bands and had to tape over the beginning of their set so I could get Travis doing a cover of “Heroes” by David Bowie during their encore. So, ultimately only got one of their songs in the end. But thankfully, I would get another chance to see them VERY soon after this show when they reappeared once again on the Warfield stage opening for Tenacious D that Halloween, a mere six days later.

I did get most of the second opening act, Remy Zero, an alternative rock band from Birmingham, Alabama whose third and final album , “The Golden Hum”, just came out the month before this show. They too had a couple songs that made it into soundtracks including “Save Me’ which they played that night that became the theme song to the Superman prequel TV series “Smallville” and “A Perfect Lie” which became the theme song to “Nip/Tuck”, the medical drama series on FX. Like Travis, they too had quite an impressive singer who was named August Cinjin Tate and he gave a shout out to his drummer before they played “Impossibility” saying, “So, everybody for this next song, I want you to pay special attention to our drummer. His name is Gregory Slay and you’ll see why we keep him in the band”. August later thanked Phantom Planet and said that he was “going to buy a lot of their CDs”.

I was working all night as an usher, but the crowd was pretty civilized, even when Travis took the stage. Fran got them to scream after the count, “1,2,3… Go!” before they began with “Sing”, the first single off the new album. After a handful of other tunes, he addressed as many artists did around then, 9/11 and its horrific aftermath, “So, not just during this song, but from now till the rest of the year, I want everyone in this room… What, there’s about 2,000 people out here? Everyone in this room right now to just peace out, to just send out cool, peace vibes. The thing that’s great about peace vibes that it’s like rabbits. They mate with each other and make even more peace vibes and before you know it, you have more peace than you know what you can actually deal with.  And I think just about now and the climate in the world, man, we need all the peace we can get. This next song is not about peace, but trying to get somewhere from A to B without expecting to be done. This is called ‘Turn’”. A few songs later, Fran dedicated “The Cage” to “all the women for breaking all of our hearts”. 

Fran always had the gift of gab with that thick Scottish accent of his at shows and addressed us again after that song, “How are you San Francisco?… (we cheered, of coarse)… I thought so. All you in the back, are you OK there? This is dedicated to y’all in the back, to the top row because it’s very difficult to see you up there with all the lights going down. But that’s cool. It’s kind of nice to say that’s the best thing. I always say to our light guy, that’s Matt there. See that guy doing the lights? That’s Matt. I always say to him, show us like, light more people so we can see everyone, but they don’t remember… It’s dark and this song is about getting lost in the darkness” and then they played “Follow The Light”. 

A couple songs later before they did “Flowers In The Window”, Fran said, “Holy cow! We’d like to dedicate this to Remy Zero. This is a song about finding someone you love, but it’s very rare when two bands go on three consecutive years in a row and not get on like a house on fire. So, this song is dedicated to them. They’re the best guys in the world. Go and get ‘The Golden Hum’, it’s their new record on Elektra… They’re going to be the biggest American band and you saw them here first!” Unfortunately, unlike Phantom Planet, this would be the only time I’d see Remy Zero since they broke up in 2003. Their talented drummer, Gregory would sadly pass away from cystic fibrosis on New Year’s Day in 2010 in nearby Bodega Bay, but Remy Zero would reunite briefly that year and do a handful of shows in his honor.

My tapes ran out in the middle of their hit, “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” and I thought it was amusing that the folks down on the dance floor had got bunched up together and were doing a pogo dance to it. Not exactly a mosh pit kind of song, but it was charming all the same. Like I mentioned earlier, I did relent and recorded that “Heroes” cover, especially since they got August from Remy Zero to come back on stage to help sing it. Fran said, “This song is dedicated to all those brilliant, amazing, cool people that are over in New York, cleaning up that horrible fuckin’ mess.” I was moved to hear it again, mostly because Bowie had just sang it earlier that day at “The Concert For New York City” benefit, the all star gathering in that city raising money for the victims of 9/11. It was Bowie’s song in my opinion more than any others that day which became the rallying anthem for those brave first responders and I admit hearing it again brought a tear to my eye. This would be the last time I’d see Travis perform live, but they’re still together and by the inexplicable grace of God, Fran can still sing. 

https://archive.org/details/phantom-planet-warfield-102501

https://archive.org/details/travis-warfield-102501

https://archive.org/details/remy-zero-warfield-102501

BT, Maritime Hall, SF, Friday, October 26

I would be remiss in my duties if I didn’t write about this show, though it was mostly uneventful, so I’ll try to keep it brief. This would be the final show I’d record at the Maritime Hall, the last official show open to the public. It was a tough call going to this one for at least two reasons, one being that night Jane’s Addiction was playing at Shoreline with the Stereo MCs and Oysterhead, the supergroup featuring Les Claypool of Primus, Trey Anastasio from Phish, and Stewart Copeland from The Police, was playing at the Greek. But something inside me knew that I had to be at the Hall to send it off for good, though I wasn’t a fan of BT, nor that I knew very much about him whatsoever. I felt I owed it to the Maritime and to all those who fought for it and fell by the wayside like I and so many others had. However, I was especially bummed to miss Oysterhead in the future, because that was the only show they ever performed in the bay area. I’d seen practically every other of the numerous side projects of Mr. Claypool’s, but that one will always serve as the one who got away. 

Still, among EDM artists you could do a lot worse than Mr. Brian Wayne Transeau, otherwise known at BT. Originally from Rockville, Maryland, he dropped out of the prestigious Berklee School Of Music to pursue his DJ career in Los Angeles and after years of hard work and records spun, he definitely made a name for himself. BT has collaborated as a writer, artist, and producer alongside such venerable acts as Peter Gabriel, David Bowie, Sting, Depeche Mode, Brittany Spears, Tori Amos, and an obscure little singer named Madonna. Just that year, his song “Pop” which he made with NSYNC had snatched up 4 MTV Video Music Awards and a Teen Choice Award. He also pioneered the DJ technique known as “stutter editing”, taking small fragments of sound and repeating them rhythmically. To this day, he holds the Guinness Book Of World Record for the song with the largest number of vocal edits, tallying in at 6,178 for his hit song “Somnambulist (Simply Being Loved)”. So, it might not have been the show I’d choose to end my illustrious run with the Maritime Hall on, but I suppose it could have been worse. God help me, it could have been Zero again.

Anyone who’s worked at a venue on its last legs will understand the bitter, somber mood that was in the house that night, the proverbial last days in the bunker. I had actually not stepped foot inside the Hall since my last falling out with Boots Hughston, its tyrannical honcho, after the ill fated Lucky Dube show there over a year before this night. It was there, that after revealing the recording facilities to Lucky Dube’s manager, he had gone to Boots to try to arrange making an album from that night, but Boots being Boots, opened his big angry mouth and the negotiations soon turned into a cringeworthy shouting match. Not only did I not get to tape Lucky Dube, but wasn’t able to tape Zulu Spear who were opening that night, a band I really admired. To make matters worse, Lucky Dube would be killed in 2007 during a robbery attempt, making that one of the last times, if not the last time he performed in the bay area. For more gruesome deets about what it was like working under Boot’s regime, feel free to read previous Maritime entries. 

For now, I’ll move on. Wade, the other recording guy at the Hall who took over for me couldn’t do it that night and I was surprised when Boots called me to ask if I could for which I reluctantly agreed. It was just BT and as a DJ, he had but two inputs from his rig upstairs, so mixing it was beyond easy. So, I went upstairs once everything was set up and got me a pint of beer at the bar. The crowd was sparse to say the least and I discovered to my horror when I took the first sip of beer… It was flat. If ever there was a metaphor for the Maritime’s downfall, there it was. It was a good thing that BT only had two tracks to mix because the Hall was completely out of white board tape for the soundmen to label our consoles. I had heard from the others that it had been like that for months. So, I finished my beer all the same, but declined not to have another one. Like most EDM shows, it went on until the wee hours of the morn and by the end, I was emotionally and physically drained by the whole experience. I couldn’t find BT to give him the tapes for the night, so I just bailed.

They had one more private party for the Hall the following weekend, but I just dropped by with Tory, my old friend who used to run the video system there, not to work, but really just out of morbid curiosity. Yep, the beer was still flat. I remember they had some hippie jam band on stage whose name I didn’t catch that had a female singer with long, blonde hair. I don’t recall what they played other than a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “You Don’t Have To Go”, an all too appropriate requiem of the Maritime. At the end of it all, I went up on the rooftop with Tory, Bones the house manager, and others to wrap it up. On the streets below, we watched Boots and his beloved wife Kathy leave towards their car and overheard Boots, unsentimental as he was ungrateful as always, say back to the crew, “Be back here at noon” to help take apart the sound and lighting gear for good. I took a deep breath of the cool, Autumn night air and watched as he got in his car and drove away. It was if a great weight had been lifted off of me and I remember exhaling sharply, saying, “It’s over… It’s finally over”. 

The epilogue for Boots is still unfolding. Though Kathy ultimately succumbed to the cancer that sickened her for years, Boots is still with us and he’s probably in his 80’s by now. I did run into him a couple more times since that depressing night including when my recording partner Pete and I worked at the Tribal Stomp reunion at Golden Gate Park in 2005. They even made a CD set of the stuff we recorded that day. But I don’t believe I’ve seen him since. I’m considering uploading some of the stuff I got off our monitor mixes, though I have since wrote about those shows at the Hall, but I’ve decided to wait until Boots passes himself to do so. After all we’ve been through, even though he treated me and many others so cruelly, I wouldn’t want to entangle what remains of his life in any legal complications. That and I simply don’t want to have to speak to him again. Still, the Maritime would have never happened if it wasn’t for Boots, his money, and his stubbornness to keep it afloat even after all hope was lost. I wish him and his family well, especially for his sons Dusty and Little Boot. They were so young when they started and had to grow up much too fast wrangling a business that’s notoriously brutal. 

Thankfully and on a more uplifting note, there are a handful of Maritime alumni who I’ve seen since and continue to see who I admire and adore to this day. Brian Schumann and Steve Goldsmith, the Hall’s brilliant lighting guys, still regularly turn up on gigs that I work with the union. Josh Porter and I are friends on Facebook and routinely checks out my stuff, dropping the occasional comment. I suppose this entry is Maritime Hall’s eulogy, at least for me anyway. My spirits are always lifted whenever I run into someone new these days who mentions a show they saw there, especially if it’s one I recorded personally. Being so long after its demise, I am also tickled when I encounter a younger person who went there when they were just a kid, some even adding that the one they saw was the first show they ever seen. I’ve said time and again that one can always date oneself by the defunct venues they frequented and for five short years at the Hall, I saw more concerts than most would see in their lifetime. I take solemn pride in the work I did at the Maritime and am comforted that the many albums and videos that came from our recordings will live on into the future. 

Live, Hoobastank, Citizen Cope, War., SF, Mon., October 29

SETLISTS : 

(CITIZEN COPE) : Appetite (For Lightnin’ Dynamite), Mistaken ID, If There Is Love, Salvation, Let The Drummer Kick, Contact

(HOOBASTANK) : Pieces, Up & Gone, Crawling In The Dark, Running Away, Remember Me, (unknown), (unknown), Ready For You

(LIVE) : Simple Creed, Like A Soldier, The Distance, All Over You, Voodoo Lady, They Stood Up For Love, Call Me A Fool, Imagine, Lakini’s Juice, Deep Enough, Lightning Crashes, The Dolphin’s Cry, White Discussion, (encore), Run To The Water, I Alone, (encore), Overcome

I’d seen Live once before at The Warfield back in 1997, but this would be the last time I’d see them play. They had just released their fifth album, the appropriately titled “V”, just six weeks before this night, which had been originally been intended to be given to their fans for free over the internet. It was then called, “Ecstatic Fanatic”, but I guess their record company, Radioactive, had other plans. Also, that company being owned by Universal, Live’s song, “Forever Might Not Be Long Enough” appeared in the closing credits of Universal’s action film “The Mummy Returns”, which came out that May and their song “Deep Enough” was in the opening credits of “The Fast & The Furious” which came out a month later. The single “Overcome” would be a hit, becoming a sort of cathartic anthem for 9/11, though the album ultimately didn’t sell as well as their others. They played two of those three songs that show, saving “Overcome” for the encore. The tour was also being sponsored by Ford promoting their new Ford Focus, which had just debuted that model car only a couple years before this. 

Though this would be the final time I’d see Live perform, I would go on to see both of the opening acts in the years to come. First up was Mr. Clarence Greenwood, otherwise known as Citizen Cope. He was pretty new then, but was quickly making a name for himself, just being signed to Dreamworks the year before. His self titled album wouldn’t even be released for another three months. I was impressed by the quality of his voice and the sophistication of his songs, which would explain why such venerable artists like Carlos Santana, Sheryl Crow, and Corey Taylor from Slipknot would cover his tunes. After opening with “Appetite (For Lightnin’ Dynamite)” he said, “Thank you very much. This next song is called ‘Mistaken ID’. It’s about this lady that used to call me Randy all the time. I used to have to tell her my name’s not Randy… She never believed me, so I wrote a song about it…. It’s not Randy”. After he did “If There Is Love”, I overheard myself talking to another usher, “I remember… I remember what it felt like and someday I will feel that way again. Some days I feel that way. Some days I think I’m looking too hard”. I was partially joking, but seriously, I was like most people, in a pit of despair and anxiety after the election of George W. Bush and definitely after 9/11. It had already been almost three years after I broke up with my girlfriend Lisa and it would be a long time before I would get back on the horse and start dating again. 

Next up was the rock band Hoobastank who were also brand new. Like Citizen Cope, their debut, self titled album wasn’t out yet, being released just three weeks after this night and like Live, their record company, Island, was also owned by Universal.  Because of that, one of their songs, “Losing My Grip”, would also be used in a movie in the “Mummy” franchise, the prequel “The Scorpion King”, which would come out in theaters the following April. The new album would certify platinum, best known for the hit “Crawling In The Dark”  which they did in the middle of their set. When they started playing, I was immediately taken aback by how loud they were, especially compared to Citizen Cope. Consequently, I found it tough to make out the vocals of their singer, Doug Robb. Still, they were pretty good and got the audience awake though I would agree with one reviewer labeling them “sensitive hunk rock for teen girls”. It didn’t harm their career none for sure. I would go on to see them two times the following year, both at festivals at Shoreline, that year’s B.F.D. and the Sprite Liquid Mix with Jay-Z. 

Thankfully, the crowd wasn’t too rough to manage and soon I was cut from ushering and having a beer. Live was playing well, though they had a bit of a false start with “Call Me A Fool” and their singer, Ed Kowalczyk joked later before they played “Deep Enough” that he “had to start the night with a French setlist… I can’t read it!” They brought the tempo down a bit with a cover of “Imagine” by John Lennon, Ed beginning it like the original with just him on a piano with band joining in near the end. Like their song “Overcome”, that song had become another rallying cry after 9/11. A couple tunes later, they played their hit, “Lightning Crashes”, and they had no trouble getting their fans to sing along with its verses. They finished their set with “White, Discussion” which Ed said, “We haven’t played this next song in a long time… Whoa, that’s not true. We played it two days ago. Before that, we hadn’t played it in a really long time”. 

Live came back for an encore as expected and they began it with “Run To The Water”. Ed changed a line it singing, “Adam & Eve live down the San Francisco street from me”, which got a round of cheering from their fans. Afterwards he told a story about “the first time we saw our band on MTV, we were staying at the Phoenix Hotel”, which was just a few blocks from where I was living then in the Tenderloin. Ed went on, “We met Nirvana! We were staying there at the time and were like 12 years old… We’ve been a band since we’ve been 14 years old. We just turned 50, so we’ve been together 36 years… Just kidding… 16 years” and then they did their smash hit “I Alone”. Before they wrapped things up, Ed introduced each member of the band and pointed out their lead guitarist Chad Taylor, saying he had “known this guy since kindergarten”. Though I wasn’t that big of a fan of Live, I was disappointed that they didn’t get a poster that night. 

https://archive.org/details/live-warfield-102901

https://archive.org/details/hoobastank-warfield-102901

https://archive.org/details/citizen-cope-warfield-102901

https://archive.org/details/live-warfield-102901

https://archive.org/details/hoobastank-warfield-102901

https://archive.org/details/citizen-cope-warfield-102901

Tenacious D, Phantom Planet, War., SF, Wed., October 31

SETLISTS : 

(PHANTOM PLANET) : Shadows, Please Apply Yourself To Me Sweetly, Nobody’s Fault, The Guest, Wishing Well, California, All Over Again

(TENACIOUS D) : Flash, Wonderboy, Land Of The Lost, Fat Albert, Warning, Jesus Ranch, Kielbasa, History Of Tenacious D, Pat Reilly, Special Thing, Lee, (movie), Rock Your Socks, Holy Diver, Dio, They Fucked Our Asses, Saxaboom, Inward Breathing, Karate, One Man Jam, Kyle Quit The Band, Rocket Sauce, Explosivo, Kyle Took A Bullet For Me, Sasquatch, FHG, Cosmic Shame, Spiderman, Double Team, (encore), Tribute, Beatles Medley, Malibu Nights

It’s doubtful that anyone could have anticipated the meteoric rise of Tenacious D. Who could have guessed that in just a couple of years, they would have gone from doing random gigs in L.A. to selling out The Warfield on Halloween? I should have gotten an inkling when I recorded their first tour gig at the Maritime less than a year before this. Even then, I was amazed by their charisma, humor, and musical abilities, not to mention the almost fanatical devotion that they inspired in their fans. Their debut album produced by The Dust Brothers had just been released seven weeks before this show and it would rest assured eventually go platinum. Though like before, it was just Jack Black and Kyle Gass with their acoustic guitars on stage, the album had the likes of such rock & roll royalty as Dave Grohl on drums and Steven Shane McDonald from Red Kross on bass. It even was recorded at Neil Diamond’s sound studio, a tribute to the singer-songwriter which Jack had sang a cover of one of Neil’s songs earlier that year in the film comedy “Saving Silverman”. Kyle had a small role in that movie as well.

Like many rock band tours in America, this one would also end in San Francisco, the last show of their “Rise & Fall Of Tenacious D” tour which had begun in New York City, just three days before 9/11. The trauma induced by that terrible day led the duo to strike the song “City Hall” from their setlist for the rest of the tour, though they reinstated it the following year. Jack had also been on the celebrity edition of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?” earlier that month alongside Dennis Leary and Jimmy Kimmel and I’m happy to report that Jack won $125,000 for charity on that show. Things were going great for Jack that year especially since “Shallow Hal” would be released just nine days after this gig, the first movie that he would finally be the leading man. I resented that I had to work all night as an usher, but it was such a fun show, that I soon forgot all about it. 

In a strange turn of events, I would be seeing Phantom Planet as an opening act twice in a row on that Warfield stage, appearing again just six days after playing alongside the Scottish rock band Travis. For more info on their origin story, feel free to go back and read about them in that review. Though their drummer Jason Schwartzman was also a notable actor, he and Jack wouldn’t appear in a film together until 16 years later in the comedy “The Polka King”. I watched Phantom Planet’s soundcheck a little before the doors opened and heard their guitarist, Darren Robinson, do a little lick of “Heartbreaker” by Led Zeppelin between songs. Jack came out to introduced them, announcing, “All Hallows Eve! Y’all ready to get your asses waxed with rock & roll? That’s good cus’ we’re gonna give it to ya two times! Two times! Let me introduce this first act. These guys are also like us from Los Angeles. They’ve been kicking ass west coast style. You can check out an EP they have with a couple… 2-3-4-5 songs. It is available. They have the full D stamp of approval. I’d like to introduce to you, Phantom Planet! Kick ass!” Their singer Alex Greenwald wished us all a “Happy motherfuckin’ Halloween” before they played “Please Apply Yourself To Me Sweetly”, the second song of their set. They also played their hit “California”, the theme song to the TV series “The O.C.”, which they didn’t play when they opened for Travis.

Admirably as Phantom Planet played, the excitement in the crowd could hardly be contained for Tenacious D and when they finally took the stage adorned in long hooded robes, the cheers were deafening. A couple of stagehands came out on stage with them, taking their robes off, revealing their costumes. Jack was dressed as “Wonderboy”, in a blue body stocking, red cape with a gold lightning bolt on it, a shining gold wrestling belt, long white gloves with gold triangles on the sides, and a red eye mask. Kyle was dressed as “Nasty Man”, in a black body stocking with a yellow cape and a black bat shaped eye mask. They opened with a cover of the theme song from the film “Flash Gordon” by Queen mashing it up with “Wonderboy” at the end. They followed those with a couple more hilarious covers, the theme songs from a couple of TV shows from the 70’s, “The Land Of The Lost” and “Fat Albert”. 

A couple numbers later Jack asked, “San Francisco, what’s up? Did anyone see us at Maritime Hall?… The Great American Music Hall?… This place kicks ass on both of them… I think I pulled a ligament” and then he proceeded to do some “super stretches” before they went on to play “Kielbasa”. Afterwards, they took their face masks off, Jack joking, “It was I all along!… There’s something gnarly going on upstairs”. Mentioning that it was the last show of the tour, Jack went on, “We have a lot of people behind us who does a lot of things for us” and introduced their tall roadie Lee “Peter Lee Parker”, dressed in a red sweatshirt. Kyle joked later about his height adding, “I wish I was 6’2”… There’s a girl coming on to me… She’s got that heroin chic look”. Jack tried to borrow $20 from Kyle, claiming he would give him $30 tomorrow, but Kyle said he didn’t have any money in his “Nasty Man” costume. So, Jack got upset shouting, “You just missed out on an opportunity!” and stormed off stage. Kyle followed him and a large screen was lowered from the rafters and they showed a video. 

The grainy movie showed Jack “6 weeks later” on the street desperately trying to pimp himself out to people driving by for sex. Kyle pulls up in a car, but neither of them recognize each other since they were both wearing sunglasses. Jack offered Kyle $5 for a handjob, $10 for a blowjob, $15 for a rimjob and Kyle opted for the blowjob. Jack had Kyle park in an underground parking garage and put up a newspaper while they were parked to disguise their fornicating. Kyle had an explosive orgasm and when they discovered who they both really were, Jack bitterly shouted, “You don’t have any money!” The screen retracted back into the ceiling and the duo came back on stage wearing their usual street clothes this time and Jack mumbled, “You just owe me $10, that’s all I’m sayin’” and challenged us “Are you ready to get up at the crack of noon & do the rock squats?!?” before launching into “Rock Your Socks”.

Later, Jack gave a shout out to his mom and dad in the audience saying, “They look just like me only 20 years older… My brothers Jim & Matt should be here.” They then did a cover of “Holy Diver” by Dio and Jack claimed, “I heard he heard our song and fuckin’ loved it and for that I love him ever more”, before performing their tribute to ol’ Ronnie, simply titled “Dio”. For “Saxaboom”, Jack busted out a digital sax contraption and Kyle drank a Corona and danced to it. Jack did a bit saying that he had “a new style of singing” and that the audience had fell victim to “hoodwinking” and they had been “bedazzled, bamboozled”. He said most singers are “only rocking you 50% of the time they’re breathing” and went on to carefully demonstrate his “inward breathing” technique asking us, “Shall I bust off a chunk of it?” He then did some singing while inhaling and then immediately exhaling and boasted, “I can go on singing there all night”. Kyle said “it doesn’t sound good” and then they got into a fight and Kyle stormed off stage.

Jack went on playing appropriately “One Man Jam” and “Kyle Quit The Band”, but Kyle came back for them to play “Explosivo” and “Rocket Sauce”. They made up afterwards after Kyle pantomimed jumping in front of a bullet fired by someone in the crowd and then Jack sang the likewise appropriate, “Kyle Took A Bullet For Me” and said he “flew like an angel”. Kyle got up and casually dismissed the incident saying, “It was only a flesh wound” and going on about Sasquatch being “not far from here up the 101”. They of coarse did that song and later Jack asked if Kyle’s brother Mitchell was in the crowd and then requested everybody to put up their lighters and glow sticks for “Cosmic Shame”. Jack went on a rant, urging us to “quit the day job, set the artist free… Fuck the kids! OK, I’m not saying fuckin’… Bullshit school, they graduate, 20 years later they guilt trip you… Quit your fuckin’ day job! If I stay stop, you must discontinue BART”.

They praised the new “Spider-Man” movie that was about to come out the following May and they had Spider-Man himself, who was obviously Lee in a very cheap disguise. Jack disparaged “the lining of his cap, cheap suit… Check out Spidey’s package… Shoes not spider regulation, hair poking out the back”. Lee then had a fight with Sasquatch, ripped off his arm, licked his ass, and then sprayed everyone on stage with Silly Spray. Lee carried off Sasquatch as the duo casually stripped their bodies of the Silly Spray. Jack complained, “Where the fuck was Lee?”, wondered why he was never around when Spider-Man shows up, though noted that they shared the “same gait” and “body language”. Jack then praised a girl up in front dressed as “Dangergirl” and asked her, “You know what to do with a fellow like me & KG? Tools in the fuckin’ closet? What’s your name… Gina? You ever have a Gina sandwich? You, me, & some sourdough?” He then complained that other than her that he only had “dudes on my side… KG’s got some stripper hotties.” Kyle reassured him, “I’ll take care of you. I got Catwoman” and some “supper hottie, backstage betties”. 

They finished up with a rousing version of “Double Team” and Jack announced, “On bass, keys, drums… No one! But on lead vocals… It’s me!… Thank you, San Francisco! You’re tremendous!” It didn’t take long for the whole house to start chanting, “D! D! D!” and Sasquatch came back on stage to do a guitar solo, but Jack snatched his black, acoustic guitar and promptly smashed it to pieces, then flapping his arms wildly to try to drive him away. Sass walked off ashamed and the crowd booed loudly for which Kyle responded, “I can’t believe they turned on us”. Jack joked during the encore that he “got to do some trick or treating… This is my favorite city in the whole wide world!” and he mentioned that Kyle was from nearby Walnut Creek. They went on to do a medley of Beatles songs including “Blackbird”, “You Never Give Me Your Money”, and “The End”. Jack looked up in the balcony asking, “How’s it goin’, worst seats in the house?” and they finished the show with “Malibu Nights” and “The 5 Needs”. 

In true bay area hippie fashion, Jack put on a flower necklace and did a little twirly dance before they both finally walked off stage. There would have been a riot if they didn’t give out a poster that night, but thankfully they did and it was a great one, done by Craig Howell, one of my favorite poster artists. I was relieved to find a video of the show posted on YouTube and thoroughly enjoyed reliving it again. Like I mentioned before, “Shallow Hal” would soon be out and later in December, Jack did a show to raise awareness for the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation. I sincerely regret not catching Tenacious D at the Bridge School Benefit the following year, especially since I would have to wait over five years to see them again. But as expected, their fame led them to larger venues and I’d be seeing another sold out Tenacious D show, this time at the Bill Graham Civic Center, a venue over three times the size of The Warfield.

https://archive.org/details/tenacious-d-warfield-103101

https://archive.org/details/phantom-planet-warfield-103101

https://archive.org/details/tenacious-d-warfield-103101

https://archive.org/details/phantom-planet-warfield-103101

https://archive.org/details/tenacious-d-bootleg-warfield-103101

Kittie, Dry Kill Logic, Ill Nino, Mind War Symphony, Fill., SF, Thur., November 1

SETLISTS : 

(MIND WAR SYMPHONY) : Something’s Gonna Give, Everyone Rise, Stand Back, I Go Away, You Don’t Know

(ILL NINO) : (unknown), God Save Us, What Comes Around, I Am Loco, Liar, Eye For An Eye

(DRY KILL LOGIC) : Pain, Feel The Break, Nightmare, Nothing, Assfault, The Strength I Call My Own, 

(KITTIE) : (unknown), (unknown), What I’ve Always Wanted, (unknown), (unknown), Suck, (unknown), Mouthful Of Poison, In Winter, Charlotte, Run Like Hell, Pain, Brackish, (unknown)

It was a cavalcade of screaming brutal metal at The Fillmore that night starring Kittie from London, Ontario. Fronted by Morgan Lander with her sister Mercedes on drums while they were in their early teens, Kittie were just about to drop their sophomore album, “Oracle”, eleven days after this show, its release date was temporarily pushed back because of 9/11. Though the new album didn’t sell as well as their first, they had just been nominated for a Juno Award, Canada’s version of the Grammies, for Best New Group and won Best New Band, Female Performer Of The Year, and “The Next Big Thing” in a readers poll with Metal Edge magazine. Still, this was a bit of a rocky transitional period for the band having just lost their guitarist Fallon Bowman over creative differences. Their guitar tech Jeff Phillips took over for her on this tour and this would also be the final tour for bassist Talena Atfeld who they would ultimately replace with Jennifer Arroyo. Kittie was selling autographed copies on that tour at The Wherehouse, the now defunct record store chain, and they were offering a free MP3 download of their new single “What I’ve Always Wanted” for those who joined their “Kittie Army” fan club.

The first of the three opening acts that night were fellow Canadians, Mind War Symphony. Their singer, Gord Prior, got the crowd pumped up early coming on stage and barking, “San Francisco! I want you to lose your fucking minds tonight!” A couple songs later, he said, “Thank you for coming down so early tonight with all the crazy shit I’ve been seeing on the television today. You are the fuckin’ true spirit of this city. I heard San Francisco is one of the best tock & roll cities in the United States Of AMERICA!!!! And you just proved that to me now tonight. This is a song about oblivion, insanity, and debauchery. It’s called ‘Stand Back’”.”They followed that with “I Go Away” which Gord introduced it as “a song about doing LSD. I hear you got some good LSD in this part of the world!” He gave the other bands shout outs as well as for the potheads in the crowd before their short set ended. All the openers only got a half an hour each with only 20 minute breaks between acts, so the night moved along pretty quickly. 

Next up was Ill Nino, a nu metal act from Union City, New Jersey and though it was the first time I’d see them, I had seen their drummer, Dave Chavarri formerly of Pro-Pain, play with Soulfly at the Maritime Hall before. Ill Nino in fact finished their set that night with a cover of Soulfly’s “Eye For An Eye”. They were still brand new back then having released their debut album, “Revolution Revolucion” six weeks before this show. Their singer Christian Machado did that scream, sing, scream thing that a lot of nu metal acts like Papa Roach did back then, but they kept the pit going doing tunes in both Spanish and English. They got everyone to bounce to their song “God Save Us” and Christian asked, “Are we feeling rowdy today, San Francisco?!?” before doing “Liar” adding, “You motherfuckers are the reason why we’re here!” and “San Francisco, we fucking love you. We wanna know where all the potheads are at! We wanna know where all the chronic is at!” Certainly, there was a great deal of chronic smoked at that show. I would see Ill Nino two more times on that Fillmore stage, once with Coal Chamber in 2002 and again with the aforementioned Soulfly in 2005.

Dry Kill Logic from Westchester County, New York were the last of the three openers. They were originally called Hinge, but had to change their name because some recording studio had the same name and they too had just dropped their debut album, “The Darker Side Of Nonsense”, earlier that year. The band came on stage with a recording of George C. Scott in the 1990 horror film “The Exorcist III” growling, “I believe in pain! I believe in cruelty! I believe in insanity! I believe in slime!… every crawling, putrid thing, every possible ugliness and corruption, you son of a bitch!!!” I was probably one of only a few people in the audience that night who actually saw that movie in the theater. They were as bombastic as the others and also gave shout outs to the bands and the potheads in the crowd. Seriously, after all that shouting, it was starting to get on my nerves and even more so listening to it again as the old fogey that I am today. A little nu metal goes a long way and best served in small doses.

But that wasn’t the case with me for Kittie. It was love at first sight. They had played at The Pound the night before on Halloween and though I thoroughly enjoyed Tenacious D at The Warfield, after hearing Kittie at this show, I would have seriously considered seeing them on both nights if I knew how good they were. Incidentally, the end of the Tenacious D recording ended up on the beginning of this one making it quite a stylistic left turn on that first disc. Anyway, I was instantly taken by their raw energy, brilliant songwriting, and skills on their instruments. I do admit though, it is indeed a challenge trying to make out the lyrics that Morgan sings. Her voice is truly demonic but she had a rather sweet speaking voice dedicating one their songs in true polite Canadian fashion, “for all the girls and for all the boys as well. Without you, there is no us”. Later, she would revive her inner Cookie Monster, introducing “In Winter”, “And where we’re from that may be so, but here in The Fillmore, it’s motherfuckin’ HOT!!!” Seriously, I would see Tool two days later at Shoreline and their singer Maynard James Keenan is quite a screamer too, but even he would probably advise Morgan to take it down a notch. 

Kittie probably played one of the greatest covers of a Pink Floyd song I’ll ever hear with their blistering version of “Run Like Hell”. Morgan made sure to mention, “I know Pink Floyd has played on this stage before. This is my special tribute”. Like all the others that night, they too gave shout outs to the openers and they left the stage with the crowd chanting “Kittie!!! Kittie!!! Kittie!!!”, begging for more. I regret to say that there wasn’t a poster at the end of the show and regret even more to admit that this was the only time I’d see them perform. The band went on hiatus in 2011, though the recently did a reunion gig a couple years ago and their first album in 13 years just came out last June. They did a handful of shows last year but the closest they came to the bay area was Las Vegas. And though they currently are touring in Australia and Europe, I might still get another chance to hear Morgan’s hellbent siren song again someday.

https://archive.org/details/kittie-fillmore-11101

https://archive.org/details/dry-kill-logic-fillmore-11101

https://archive.org/details/ill-nino-fillmore-11101

https://archive.org/details/mind-war-symphony-fillmore-11101

Fuel, Saliva, Breaking Point, War., SF, Wed., November 2

SETLISTS : 

(BREAKING POINT) : Under, Get Up, Falling Down, Phoenix, 27, Coming Of Age, (unknown), Brother

(SALIVA) : Click Click Boom, Superstar, After Me, Doperide, Lackluster, Hollywood, Musta Been Wrong, Beg, Your Disease

(FUEL) : Last Time, Jesus Or A Gun, (unknown), Knives, Innocent, (unknown), Scar, (unknown), Sunburn, Shimmer, Down, Prove, Empty Spaces, (unknown), Bittersweet

Republicans like music too. Yeah, it had been almost a year since we so spinelessly and stupidly handed power over to the George W. Bush regime, but I had been coddled for a solid eight years with Clinton. I forgot that there were actually some musicians who are right wing apart from the obvious ones today like Kid Rock and Ted Nugent. It doesn’t make them evil and most of them have the good sense to keep their political opinions on the down low as to not alienate potential fans. It’s understandable. And after 9/11, even many so called left wingers were more than happy to bomb the living shit out of anybody who said “Boo!” back then. But I learned eventually that Republicans have a tenuous relationship with the music world, as well as with actors and other artists. It’s hard for me to hear that brilliant people I respect like Alice Cooper and Johnny Ramone vote red, but I can only imagine the mixed feelings conservatives have with the overwhelming tidal wave of liberal artists whose talent is as undeniable as enjoyable.

Which leads me to Fuel and their openers Saliva and Breaking Point. I honestly can’t say if any of these bands and their members are right wing, but since they all come from Tennessee, it is a safe bet that they have experience catering to red state crowds. It is in their interest to keep them happy. Likewise, many bands, even successful ones like Fuel, feel compelled to accept sponsorship from companies to finance their tours and though it might make good business sense, accepting that corporate money instantly marries bands to those company’s politics. So, when I discovered that Fuel’s tour was being sponsored by Nescafe, lamely labeling this part of their “Java Jam’ series, I let out an audible groan. Nestle has become progressively so evil over the years that today, they have crossed the line into cartoonish super-villainy. Though once again, I have to admit that I ate my share of Crunch bars as a kid.

I had actually seen both Fuel and Saliva together earlier that June during the annual Live 105 B.F.D. festival at Shoreline and though I wasn’t blown away by them, I thought they were good nonetheless. But I hadn’t seen Breaking Point yet and they came on stage to a strange recording of African drum beats with a collage of soundbites from things as various as Jack Nicholson shouting, “Here’s Johnny!” from “The Shining” to Wally Shawn shouting, “Inconceivable!” from “The Princess Bride”. They were brand new, having just released their major label debut album, “Coming Of Age” that year. The 8-track demo version of it put out the year before has since become a collectable and its title track went on to be in the soundtrack of the film “The Scorpion King”. The tour had brought along quite a formidable array of sound gear, so it came to no surprise that it would be an excruciatingly loud evening. I’m glad I wore earplugs. A few songs in, singer-guitarist Brett Erickson introduced the song “Phoenix” saying that he “wrote this a year ago when I had a house fire and lost everything I had”. The crowd gave out an “Awww” and he let one out too and continued, “But I tell you what… I’d like to dedicate this song to the events of September 11. I know the people, the country will rise above this”. 

Saliva was up next and like Breaking Point, they too had an interesting introduction over the loudspeakers, a montage of bits from the movie “American Beauty” which had just swept the Oscars the year before this. There was one line from the self help tape Annette Bening was listening to saying “You’re a victim if you choose to be” and Chris Cooper asking, “Your wife is with another man?”, as well as Annette repeating resolutely, “I refuse to be a victim!” I always felt bad that Annette didn’t get the Oscar, especially since that movie won every single other Oscar it was nominated for. She’s been nominated five times now and she’s got a special place in my heart being a fellow San Francisco State graduate and actually spoke at my graduation. But anyway, back to Saliva.

My tape bugged out for a while by the time they got to “Doperide” in their set, sounding terribly overdriven. It takes quite a lot to push my little headphone speaker to that level and maybe it was just loud enough to do it or maybe I had a short in the headphone or something, but by the time Fuel came on, it was alright. Saliva’s singer Josey Scott got the crowd to chant, “Hell ya! Hell ya! Hell ya! USA!” and later asked, “Havin’ a good time, San Francisco?!?… Keep acting like this, Saliva will be back again and again and again. This goes out to all the red blooded American females in the audience… mothers, sisters, wives, mothers (which he said twice)” before they played “Lackluster”. Afterwards, Josey said, “This is a special song for you guys. We haven’t even played this song at home. It’s on our website for our fans. They wanted to hear this song. It’s called ‘Hollywood’”. 

Coming back to the whole right wing thing, Josey went on to address the elephant in the room since America was right in the middle of the invasion of Afghanistan, “Not to bring up anything depressing, but this song goes out to Osama ‘Bitch’ Laden. Your ass is about to get fuckin’ dealt with!!!… By The Untied States Of America!!!”. Later, he added, “How many of you are glad to be alive tonight?!? How many of you are glad to be American tonight?!?! Because when you bring Americans together in love and unity, it goes like this… If you fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us!!!” Yes, the crowd all roared in approval and it was hard not to feel the same after all that had happened since that terrible September morning. Little did anyone realize that Osama wouldn’t actually be “dealt with” for another ten years and our occupation of Afghanistan would continue for another agonizing twenty.

Jingoism aside, the time came for Fuel to take the stage, opening their set with “Last Time”. It was painfully loud by then, so I kept my distance up in the balcony as not to lose any of my dental fillings. Their singer, Carl Bell, looked up at us between songs and jovially tried to get us all to stand, “Good evening, San Francisco! Don’t let these people on the floor weigh your asses down. Don’t let these people kick your asses. You got to compete, America! All the girls and boys down here are ready to fuckin’ go, right?!?” Fuel kept the onslaught of deafening, breakneck paced, rock songs coming one after the other until finally about halfway through the set, they finally calmed things down slightly with “Sunburn”. Seriously, I enjoy hard rock as much as the next guy, but that first half of their set was just relentless and exhausting. 

Carl brought things back up soon enough after that song shouting, “You know what to do San Francisco! Turn the lights on these people!!!” and he got them to clap along to the beat chanting, “Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!” before they did “Shimmer”. There was a moment of humor a little later when he admitted, “I’ve broken my pants, so if they fall down and my dick falls out, I expect you to reciprocate”. As you might imagine, this show was a true “sausage party” and thankfully Carl managed to keep them on for the rest of the set. At least the few women in the audience that night had no lines to wait in for the bathrooms. There was no poster for the show and this would be the last time I’d see either Fuel or Breaking Point. But I would encounter Saliva one more time when they headlined their own show at The Fillmore a year later. On a side note, I though it was a strange coincidence that it would be seeing Tool the following night, Fuel and Tool. Makes you think. 

https://archive.org/details/fuel-warfield-11201

https://archive.org/details/saliva-warfield-11201

https://archive.org/details/breaking-point-warfield-11201

Tool, Tricky, Shoreline, Mountain View, Sat., November 3

SETLIST : The Grudge, Stinkfist, Undertow, Parabol, Parabola, Pushit, Schism, , Disposition, Reflection, Soundscape (intermission), Triad, Eon Blue Apocalypse, The Patient, Opiate, (encore), Lateralis

It had been only three short months since I’d seen Tool with my dear ol’ mum at the Berkeley Community Theater trying out the new songs from their “Lateralis” album and they had graduated to Shoreline, a venue nearly three times larger. As I’d written before, many notable bands would do this to work out the bugs, almost a rehearsal of sorts, but even I had underestimated Tool’s popularity by then. Could they pack the Shoreline by their own sweet selves? Well, they certainly did and continue to fill venues of that size and larger to this day. Tool had officially made it Shoreline big and there was no going back for them. Their selection of playing Shoreline was further evidence as well that the days of the Tool mosh pit were basically over. There was no way anyone could mosh in the fully seated venue in Berkeley and there was little to no action on the lawn at Shoreline that night either. I was just glad that I could score comp tickets to this one since Tool tickets would become notoriously expensive from then on. 

I was relieved that Tool had brought along Tricky to open up for them, one of the few opening acts they picked over the years that was worthy of them in my opinion. Tricky had toured alongside Tool during Lollapalooza back in 1997 and I saw them both at Concord Pavilion and right there on that very same stage. In a strange coincidence, Tricky had also played at The Fillmore the night before Tool’s show in Berkeley back in August. Theirs was an interesting yet divergent combination of musical styles, but they fit well together. I actually showed up a little late for Tricky’s set, which as you might know by now is out of character for me and I can’t rightly remember why. I choose to blame my traveling companions to this show, though honestly I couldn’t remember who tagged along this time. I did overhear on the tape my wrangling with one of them about whose lighter was whose, one being a green one with a sticker on it. It’s hard enough making out Tricky’s setlist, but I do know that they played “A Song For Yukiko” in their set. Tool bassist Justin Chancellor joined them on stage for that one and Tricky thanked him at the end of the song bestowing upon him, “much respect”.

Tool opened with “The Grudge” and followed it with their new arrangement of “Stinkfist”, followed by “Undertow” as they had done back in Berkeley. Their singer Maynard James Keenan, huddled in shadow on a riser in the back of the stage once again, let out one of his trademark screams at the end of that last one. The bad news about this night was once more my batteries started running out in my recorder and the songs in the middle of the show sped up faster and faster until the deck finally ran out of juice and I replaced them. But I did catch it in time to get the last three songs of the set. They didn’t played their hit “Sober” this time and I always found that it is evidence of a band’s maturity when they choose to leave out their big early hit from their sets. So, that was one more sign that Tool had grown up a little more. 

Though there was little in the way of moshing, the crowd still screamed a lot between songs. It had been a couple months since 9/11, but some heshers up on the lawn with us began chanting “USA! USA! USA!” before they performed “The Patient”. At the end of the set, before they did “Opiate”, Maynard graciously thanked the crowd saying with his usual calm, dry wit, “Well, there you have it. Always a pleasure… Never a chore”. I admit it was a little strange seeing Tool at one of their own shows at such a distance up there on the lawn of Shoreline, but I’m glad I did since I wouldn’t see them again for another 5 years. Tool would return to do another smaller sit down show at the elegant Paramount Theater in Oakland, trying out once again new material, that time from their next album, “10,000 Days”. Likewise, they would return four months later to play the Oakland Arena, a venue over six times the size of the Paramount. I would however see Maynard once in those intervening years in 2003 as luck would have it at Shoreline once again with his other band, A Perfect Circle, performing alongside Jane’s Addiction and others for the last of the Lollapalooza tours. 

https://archive.org/details/tool-shoreline-11301

https://archive.org/details/tricky-shoreline-11301

Queensryche, Fill., SF, Mon., November 4

SETLIST : NM 156, Walk In The Shadows, Roads To Madness, The Lady Wore Black, Screaming In Digital, I Am I, Damaged, Empire, Silent Lucidity, Jet City Woman, Liquid Sky, Falling Down, Hit The Black, I Remember Now, Revolution Calling, Spreading The Disease, Electric Requiem, The Mission, My Empty Room,  Eyes Of A Stranger, (encore), Queen Of The Reich, Take Hold Of The Flame

I had been curious to see Queensryche ever since I missed the Day On The Green show at Oakland Stadium they did with Metallica, Faith No More, and Soundgarden back in 1991, a show I still regret not attending. They were the only one on that bill I hadn’t heard before and up until this show, I still hadn’t heard so much as a note of theirs. So, this “sight unseen” show I was keen to witness. Queensryche had been together just shy of twenty years then and as bands of that age do, recently released a “Greatest Hits” album. They had toured with Iron Maiden the year before and had just switched record companies, joining Sanctuary, where they put out their second live album. Entitled “Live Evolution” it had been recorded that September at The Moore Theater in Seattle, Washington just up the street from their hometown of Bellevue. Susan Tate, the wife of singer Geoff Tate, had just become the band’s assistant manager, becoming their head manager four years later.

The show was being billed as the “Live Evolution World Tour”, “An evening with Queensryche performing music spanning their entire career in 4 suites”. You know you’re in a prog rock band when you describe your music in suites. Lofty musical language aside, it wasn’t enough to attract the crowd they had initially hoped for and the show was relocated from The Warfield to The Fillmore, a venue less than half in size. Still, they played like it was an arena and though I wasn’t blown away by them, I thought their music was impressive nonetheless. I had just seen Tool at Shoreline the day before this and I could hear that they took a teeny page from this band. It was “An Evening With” show, so I was cut from ushering early and I was glad to relax for a night, this being my fifth show in a row. I would have one more the following night, ending the streak with The Beta Band on that same stage. 

Geoff had just shaved off his trademark long, black hair recently in solidarity with a family member dying of cancer, but it had grown back a bit by then, still looking pretty clean cut. A few songs in, he introduced “Empire”, saying, “Ten years ago, I wrote this song about selling crack cocaine on the streets of America… Ten years later, not much has changed. It’s kind of ironic, really… The Republicans are back in office”. A couple songs later, they lightened the mood a bit having the audience sing along loudly to “Jet City Woman”. They did a solid two hours leaving the stage with their fans chanting “Queensryche! Queensryche! Queensryche!” and they rewarded them with and encore of “Queen Of The Ryche” and “Take Hold Of The Flame”. It would be four years later when I’d see them triumphantly return to The Warfield and then once more in 2006, but I’m sorry to say that none of these shows ever got a poster. 

https://archive.org/details/queensryche-fillmore-11401

The Beta Band, Waycross, Fill., SF, Mon., November 5

SETLIST : It’s Not Too Beautiful, Human Being, Dr. Baker, Alleged, Unknown, Life, Inner Meet Me, Quiet, Dry The Rain, Needles In My Eyes, Squares, Broke, (encore), Al Sharp, She’s The One, (instrumental), The House Song

Though the whole Britpop scene had more or less petered out by then, there were plenty of new acts emerging from the U.K. to pick up the baton and continue running. One such example was The Beta Band, a Scottish “folktronica” group. I myself hadn’t seen them before this night, but my brother Alex, being much more informed about such acts frequenting Popscene and the like, caught them two years before this playing on that very same Fillmore stage. The Beta Band had just put out their “Hot Shots II” album and just finished up opening for Radiohead all summer long for their “Amnesiac” tour. This Fillmore show would be the second to last show for The Beta Band’s headlining tour and the 5th show in a row for me, one of 7 shows in 8 days. At least I got a night off after this one before seeing two more at The Fillmore, the Bouncing Souls and De La Soul, and since it was just “an evening with” The Beta Band, ushering was a cinch, much to my relief.

I caught a bit of The Beta Band’s soundcheck and taped a couple songs. They did “Squares” and “It’s Not Too Beautiful” and I noticed during the latter that they used a sample of the theme song from the 1979 Disney space adventure film “The Black Hole”. I was likely one of the few people in the audience when they played it that night to recognize it or even had seen it, great cast, but beyond scientifically inaccurate. There was no opening act on the main stage but Waycross, a local heroin country band, was playing up in the poster room. I quite liked their sound, especially their unexpected, mellow cover of “Goin’ Out West” by Tom Waits, one of my favorite songs of his. Afterwards, the singer commented on the line, “I look good without a shirt”, saying, “It’s hard to talk about being shirtless”. 

Once The Beta Band took the stage, I was quickly released from ushering and I got myself a cold pint of Anchor Steam. They played some weird intro through the loudpeakers while they strapped on their instruments which included several samples from action movies as well as the seminal hip hop classic, “The Choice Is Yours” by The Black Sheep. The songs they played weren’t that complex, mostly just going between two to three notes tops, but it was a welcome decompression from the bombastic rock music I had witnessed during this streak of shows which included Queensryche, who had just played on that stage the night before this, as well as Fuel, Tool, and Kittie. The Beta Band’s fans loved them too, one of them screaming out “I love Scotland!!!” just before they performed “Inner Meet Me”.

Their singer Steve Mason was actually pretty funny, cracking dry jokes between songs, like claiming that their drummer, Robin Jones was responsible for their song “Needles In My Eyes” which had been “made famous by Robin’s dad, Billy Connolly”. For those who don’t know, Billy is a famous Scottish comedian and actor, renown for his profanity laced, though brilliant stand up routines. Before they played “Squares”, Steve also joked, “Did you know (DJ and keyboard player John Maclean) John’s dad was in ‘The Dukes Of Hazzard’? Uncle Jesse! Strange, but true”. Like most British rock bands, they kept their set pretty short and were quite loud, but I’m happy to say that they, unlike any of the other Fillmore shows I had seen earlier that week, had a poster at the end of the night.

https://archive.org/details/the-beta-band-fillmore-11501

https://archive.org/details/waycross-fillmore-11501

Bouncing Souls, Flogging Molly, One Man Army, Madcap, Fill., SF, Wed., November 7

SETLISTS :

(MADCAP) : Going On The Road, Downtown, Lazy Sunday, New Age, (unknown), Two Steps Behind, Change The World

(ONE MAN ARMY) : (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), The Old Songs, (unknown), Victoria, (unknown), She Wants Me Dead, All Night Long, It’s Empty, (unknown)

(FLOGGING MOLLY) : Likes Of You Again, Drunken Lullabies, Selfish Man, What’s Left Of The Flag, The Worst Day Since Yesterday, Black Friday Rule, Rebels Of The Sacred Heart, Three Sheets To The Wind, Devil’s Dance Floor, Salty Dog

(BOUNCING SOULS) : That Song, Say Anything, True Believer, Quick Chek Girl, East Coast! Fuck You!, (unknown), The Something Special, The Freaks Nerds & Romantics, (unknown), Pirate Radio, Blue Moon, Kate Is Great, Born To Lose, Night On Earth

The Fillmore has always been an interesting venue to pair with certain styles of music, but there’s nothing quite as gratifying as seeing a punk rock show there. Something about the irreverent nature of punk that makes the elegant temple of the Fillmore feel deliciously ironic and this was a good line up along with the Bouncing Souls. I had seen them the previous winter opening up for Rancid at The Warfield and they made a good impression on me. The Bouncing Souls had just released their “How I Spent My Summer Vacation” album in May and recruited a new drummer, Michael McDermott from Murphy’ Law. I had also seen Flogging Molly at The Fillmore the year before opening for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and those guys blew me away, so much so that I’d say they were the main reason I was there that night.

Up first was Madcap from Los Angeles who after performing together for seven years by then had just dropped their debut album, “Stand Your Ground”. They were playing some of the new material, four songs out of their seven song set and they even did “New Age”, which wouldn’t come out until their next album the following year. Their lead singer Johnny introduced it, “This song’s about keeping it together, keeping it united cus’ in this scene, everyone thinks we’re fuckin’ crazy, but we’re just fuckin’ good people, right? If we don’t stick together and we don’t keep each other, then we don’t have anybody!” I thought they were pretty tight, but felt bad that there was only a handful of people there watching their set. They were followed by One Man Army, a local bunch recently discovered by Billy Joe Armstrong from Green Day who had just signed them to his Adeline Records label. One Man Army were a lively band, so loud that their singer, Jack Dalrymple’s vocals were almost indecipherable. Jack also plays guitar for the Swingin’ Utters who I saw open for The Damned at the Great American Music Hall just two months before this gig. He taunted the crowd’s lack of energy before they did “Victoria” figuring they were “saving it all for Flogging Molly”.

Well, if they were saving their energy, it was a good thing they did, because Flogging Molly had quite a rowdy set up on stage and in the pit. Dave King, their brilliant and hilarious singer, stormed up to the mic and belted out, “How the fuck are your sweet asses in San Francisco?!? Now listen, you boys have been very fuckin’ quiet today, alright! I want to see some fuckin’ Irish asses movin’ here!” and then they began with “Likes Of You”. They followed that with “Drunken Lullabies”, the title track off their new upcoming album in March, and he dedicated “Selfish Man” to “a young man from San Francisco whose band is called One Man Army or something… Get a fuckin’ haircut, Jack!” A few songs later they did “Worst Day Since Yesterday”, which Dave said went out to “all the people hoping to wake up with a hangover tomorrow”. 

Later, he pointed to some guy up front praising him, “In all these fuckin’ years, that’s the sweetest fuckin’ mohawk I’ve ever seen! It’s nice to see some people have fuckin’ pride”. They followed that with a new tune, “What’s Left Of The Flag”, which Dave called “ a song about two things… Freedom & peace, alright? Two things that my father never fuckin’ knew about… Not much to say”. During “Rebels Of The Sacred Heart”, one of the three news songs they did that night, Flogging Molly whipped up the crowd, getting them to do the soccer chant, “Oh-lay! Oh-lay! Oh-lay! Oh-lay!” and saying it was “a song about leaving home… There are many reasons to leave home. You wanna see my impression of my ex-wife?… See ya!… And then she took the fuckin’ house!” We all howled along with each other near the end of “Salty Dog”, the last song of their set and that was it.

Granted, it’s a tall order to follow a band as awesome as Flogging Molly, but the Bouncing Souls did just fine. Greg Attonito, their singer, warmly greeted us all, “Welcome to the True Believer tour! There are many, many tours in this world, but only one can be the best!” They kept the energy up in the pit and really didn’t slow the pace until a few songs before the end of their set when they broke it down a little playing “Blue Moon”, the dreamy instrumental version made famous by The Marcels in the early 60’s. For their final number, Greg said, “Since it’s the Fillmore, this deserves an extra long ending” and they did an extended version of “Born To Lose”. He did a fake out at the end of it asking, “Have we had enough long ending yet?” and then played a few more bars of the finale. They came back for one more, “Night On Earth” and it was all over. There was no poster for this Fillmore show, but there would be one the following night there for De La Soul, a band who’s quite a stylistic left turn from the Bouncing Souls indeed. In a bizarre coincidence, I’d be seeing two pairs of bands with rhyming names during that stretch of shows, Fuel & Tool and The Bouncing Souls & De La Soul. What are the chances?

https://archive.org/details/bouncing-souls-fillmore-11701

https://archive.org/details/flogging-molly-fillmore-11701

https://archive.org/details/one-man-army-fillmore-11701

https://archive.org/details/madcap-fillmore-11701

De La Soul, Biz Markie, Fill., SF, Thur., November 8

SETLIST : Buddy, (unknown), Stakes Is High, The Bizness, Who, Baby Phat, (unknown), A Roller Skating Jam Named “Saturdays”, Eye Know, Me Myself & I, Ego Trippin’, P.O.S., Declaration, Itzsoweezee, All Good?, I.C.Y’all, Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)

It was a profound relief to get to the end of this streak of seven shows in eight days, particularly since the caboose of this train would be De La Soul. I had been inundated with a barrage of guitar driven and predominantly white bands up till then and De La’s old school New York hip hop stylings were a welcome change of pace. This would be in fact the last time I’d see them perform live, but after seeing De La Soul seven times in only five years, four of which were recordings at Maritime Hall, I can at least go to my grave knowing that I had given them a thorough look see. I had just caught them on that very same stage only that March performing in the KMEL Jams show with a bunch of other rap artists, but was eager as always to see them again knowing they would bring the house down as usual. De La Soul were calling this the “Spitkicker” tour, promoting their sixth album, “A01 : Bronx”, the sequel to “Art Official Intelligence : Mosaic Thump” and their final one on Tommy Boy Records. And as I mentioned in earlier entries, it was a strange coincidence that during that stretch of shows, I would see two pairs of back to back bands with rhyming names, Fuel and Tool, and the Bouncing Souls and De La Soul. Weird, huh?

One of the big draws to this night was that the one and only Biz Markie was opening up for them. I had only seen Biz once before doing a brief set during the Tibetan Freedom Concert in Golden Gate Park back in 1996. As luck would have it, De La Soul was on the last day of that festival, though Biz performed the day before them. Mr. Markie was indeed “biz-zay” back then, about to release his “Greatest Hits” album as well as working on new tracks for his fifth and final studio album, “Weekend Warrior”. He even had just finished filming a cameo in the film “Men In Black II” playing an alien who communicated with Will Smith by making beat box sounds. The guys from De La gave him a highly complimentary introduction when he came on stage saying that he was one of the “classics” that they admired back in the early days of hip hop back home in New York City and Biz wasted no time getting the crowd pumped up, opening his set with “Make The Music With Your Mouth, Biz”. 

He followed that with “The Vapors”, did a little freestyling, and then got us all to sing along to his smash hit “Just A Friend”, bringing up a bunch of girls from the crowd on stage with him. Biz dedicated it “to all sorts of women” and “women as a whole”. He did a few more songs I didn’t recognize, probably just more freestyling and declared, “We gotta get up outta here!… We gotta go to Vegas tonight. Are you ready to go home? On the real, I’m thinking about moving to California. The bay area’s just like Long Island… Just talkin’ some shit. Got a little time to kill”. Biz shook a lot of hands up front, gave a shout out to the Fillmore and its production manager, Morgan, praising him, “You doin’ it big, kid”, before he finally let the DJ take over between sets. 

I didn’t catch the DJ’s name, but he dusted off some crowd pleasers like the guitar riff from “Walk This Way” by Run DMC, the disco standard “Got To Be Real” by Cheryl Lynn, “Good Times” by Chic, and a few riffs from “White Lines” by Melle Mel. He kept the audience dancing with Boogie Down Productions’ “The Bridge Is Over”, “Rock The Bells” by L.L. Cool J, and then finished up with a bunch of TV theme songs including “Movin’ On Up” from “The Jeffersons”, as well as the ones from “Sesame Street”, “Fat Albert”, “Sanford & Son”, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” from “Cheers”, before finishing his set with the ending of “The Mickey Mouse Club”. But soon enough, the guys from De La stormed the stage chanting, “Long Island! Say What Say What!” and opening their set with “Buddy”.

They continued dropping a few more songs before dividing up the crowd, getting them to cheer with bits like, “People in the middle, let’s do the wiggle! Say party!!!”, before they did “Who”. Afterwards, the guys took sides with the audience and Trugoy The Dove claimed his side was down with the “real hip hop” like Mos Def, Tribe Called Quest, Common Sense, and Slick Rick, while the other side was down with R.E.M., Blink 182, NSNYC, and Brittany Spears. Posdnous countered that we’re “either on that side or the wack side” and then dedicated their new song “Baby Phat” to the plus side women in the crowd adding that there was “no disrespect to the skinny ladies”. Trugoy also chimed in that he just wanted “something to squeeze onto” and got all the women in the audience to shout “AAAOOoowww!” a couple of times during the song. A couple tunes later, they did “Eye Know” with the unmistakable bars from the prog rock classic “Peg” by Steely Dan.

Later, Maseo encouraged us to “scream for me, scream like it’s some rock shit… like ‘The Exorcist’, like fuckin’ evil, like you just saw the weirdest shit in the world! When we say ‘I’, you say ‘I’!!!” and then we all started shouting “I” for the opening of “Ego Trippin’”. Seriously, the screaming was like thunder for that one. A few songs later, they finished their set with “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)” and that was it. There was a brilliant poster that night by Lisa Eng, one that I’ve been debating putting into a frame and hanging up in my place for some time. I really should since like I said, this would be the last time I’d see either De La Soul or Biz Markie. Sadly, Biz passed away in 2021 from a stroke he suffered after a diabetic coma at the age of 57 and Trugoy would follow him just two years later after suffering for years from congestive heart failure at the even younger age of 54. But their losses were not in vain since De La remains revered now and forever as hip hop royalty and let’s face it… Nobody beats The Biz. 

https://archive.org/details/de-la-soul-fillmore-11801

https://archive.org/details/biz-markie-fillmore-11801

Incubus, Onesidezero, War., SF, Mon., November 19

Incubus, Onesidezero, War., SF, Tues., November 20

SETLISTS :

(MONDAY) :

(ONESIDEZERO) : Shed The Skin, Tapwater, Soak, A Point In Time, Instead Laugh, Holding Cell, New World Order, Eight

(INCUBUS) : Privilege, Stellar, Pardon Me, Glass, Nice To Know You, Circles (XXIII), Nowhere Fast, The Warmth, Mexico, Drive, Warning, New Skin, Just A Phase, Deep Inside, Make Yourself, Nebula, Wish You Were Here, (encore), I Miss You, Clean, A Certain Shade Of Green

(TUESDAY) :

(INCUBUS) : Privilege, Stellar, Pardon Me, Glass, Circles (XXIII), Favorite Things, Nowhere Fast, The Warmth, Mexico, Drive, Warning, New Skin, When It Comes, Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song), Make Yourself, Nebula, Wish You Were Here, (encore), I Miss You, Clean, A Certain Shade Of Green

It had been over 10 days since my last epic stretch of shows and the news of the world had been eventful in the interim. China had just been admitted into the World Trade Organization and the American invasion of Afghanistan had just taken Kabul, leaving Kandahar as its last remaining stronghold, which would fall about two weeks later. On a sad note, local hippie guru Ken Kesey of the Merry Pranksters had just passed away from complications that ensued after undergoing a tumor removal from his liver. Afterwards, the good folks at The Fillmore honored Ken by putting up a large framed photo of him in the lobby, maniacally smiling and juggling a few trademark Fillmore apples. But despite it all, the business of show continued there and its larger sister house, The Warfield, with these back to back shows of Incubus.

I had already seen them three times by then, once recording them at Maritime Hall in 1998, again at The Warfield in 2000 as part of the Snocore tour with System Of A Down, and later that year at 105’s B.F.D. on the main stage at Shoreline. But there’s nothing quite like getting a double dose of a band to truly become familiar with their work. Incubus had been on tour in America since September the 14th, the Friday after 9/11, and had played the Hammersmith Ballroom the following day, making them one of the first bands to perform in New York City after the attacks. They had just released their new album “Morning View” the month before this show, treated their fans to six of the new songs between these two days, and were just about to put out their “When Incubus Attacks (Vol.2)” live DVD a few weeks later. 

It was their first album and headlining tour in the States in two years and they had just finished getting done with another one through New Zealand, Australia, and Japan that August. Like many big rock tours, they were being promoted by a heartless corporation, this one being AT&T Wireless and their “Maximum Mobile Music” project. But I am happy to say that because of this, Incubus was at least able to keep the ticket prices under $25, a relatively low amount even back then. Still, for the high rollers in the crowd, they were offering “VIP aXess” packages which included two tickets, VIP passes, and a meet and greet with the band. One of those lucky VIP’s would also win a trip to the final show of their tour at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, Incubus’ home stomping grounds, with plane tickets, hotel, a limo ride, and backstage passes.

Opening for these two nights was Onesidezero, also from the L.A. area and their lead singer, Jason Radford, proudly announced on the first night that their debut album, “Is This Room Getting Smaller” was dropping in record stores tomorrow. He made sure to mention that it had just come out on the day for the show the following night as well. Like Incubus, they were a loud, guitar driven band, sounding a little like Tool, but not as complicated. I got their entire set on the first night, but had to tape over most of the second half of their set the second night in order to get the remainder of Incubus. Those were the only shows I would see with that group since they disbanded a few years later, but some of the members of Onesidezero would go on to form the side project Abloom with ex-members of Snot and Soulfly a few years later.

The crowd went nuts both nights when Incubus took the stage, especially the ladies. Their lead singer, Brandon Boyd, with his shirtless washboard abs and hunky Jesus looks definitely provided many a young woman and probably a few young men with steamy rock & roll fantasies for years back then, though Brandon had just cut his hair short recently. MTV had even declared him the “newest weapon of mass heartbreak” and was included that year on Teen People’s list of “The Hottest Guys In Music”. Lucky him. Anyway, the new album earned them critical praise and it soon went platinum. The hit single “Wish You Were Here”, (not the Pink Floyd song), like their previous hit “Drive”, was a welcome more sensitive departure from the nu metal stuff that had permeated popular music around that time and its softer acoustic sound prompted many a lighter in the air as well as practically all of their fans singing along loudly to both. 

I thought it was cool that Brandon busted out a didgeridoo for the beginning of “I Miss You” both nights, an instrument rarely seen at any show. They also had a cello for the subdued ballad “Mexico” and Brandon apologized on the second night saying, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get all melancholy”. Incubus mixed up the order of a few songs between the two nights, but mostly played the same material. We got “Nice To Know You” and “Deep Inside” on the first night while the second night got “Favorite Things”, “When It Comes”, and “Summer Romance (Anti-Gravity Love Song)”. Though I’m not the biggest Incubus fan in the world, I admit the poster they got that night is one of my favorites, a mirror image of some Asian warrior and koi fish done by Greg Gordon, one of the most talented poster artists whose stuff I have amongst my collection. Though this was the last time I’d see Onesidezero, it certainly wouldn’t be my last for Incubus. They would play the main stage at Shoreline again two years later for the last Lollapalooza tour and then they would return to The Warfield in 2007 to do two more back to back shows again. 

https://archive.org/details/incubus-warfield-112001

https://archive.org/details/onesidezero-warfield-112001

https://archive.org/details/incubus-warfield-111901

https://archive.org/details/onesidezero-warfield-111901

Cali Comm 2001: The Pharcyde, Souls Of Mischief, The Coup, Pep Love, Rasco, Cali Agents, Planet Asia, Casual, Fill., SF, Wed., November 21

SETLISTS : 

(THE COUP) : Everythang, 5 Million Ways To Kill A C.E.O., Ride The Fence, Get Up, Shabooya Roll Call – Rock Steady, Pork & Beef, (unknown)

(RASCO) : (unknown), How The West Was One, Unassisted, The Jamm

(PEP LOVE) : After Dark, (unknown), The Grind, Crooked Angles, The Fight Club,  You Never Know

(THE PHARCYDE) : Bullshit, Drop, Ya Mama, (unknown), Soul Flower (Wrong Tree), Mary Jane, Pack The Pipe

It was another all star line up of west coast hip hop at The Fillmore that night, led by The Pharcyde. It was nice to see two rap shows at that venue back to back less than two weeks later from seeing De La Soul with Biz Markie. I had come to know The Pharcyde well by then, this being the fourth time I’d see them play, the third time at The Fillmore in fact. They had been going through some changes in their line up, having just lost Fatlip and Slimkid3, leaving only 3 original members intact. Their last album, “Plain Rap”, didn’t sell well and had mixed reviews, but they always could be relied upon for a stellar live show and they brought it as expected. This would be the last show of a two month long tour and everyone was relieved to be back home in California, especially the many artists there that night from the bay area. Most of the Hieroglyphics crew were performing, divided into their respective side and solo projects, beginning the night with Casual. There were many folks to come on that stage, so Casual’s set, being first, was predictably short. I managed to get only a couple songs from him, one of which I know was “Me-O-Mi-O”. On the turntables between acts was Kutmasta Kurt and Motion Man, two respected DJs who I would see again years later collaborating with Kool Keith. 

I was particularly excited to see The Coup, who I had recorded at Maritime Hall back in 1999, and was very impressed by. This was an important period to see them too since they had just made quite a stir with their new album, “Party Music”. The original cover of that album made the previous June featured frontman Boots Riley and DJ Pam The Funkstress blowing up the World Trade Center buildings using a guitar tuner as a remote detonator. Well, with the events of 9/11, I have faith that y’all can put two and two together that people took a little umbrage to that cover and artistic integrity aside, The Coup had the good taste to change it. One could hardly blame them. It was a tense time to say the least. The new cover featured a hand holding a flaming martini glass at a bar with a gasoline can in the background. To all those right wing dickheads who clutched their pearls over the matter, all I can say is it’s a pity that they didn’t ever listen to the music as expected. They missed an opportunity to be offended by such jams as “5 Million Ways To Kill A C.E.O.” and “Pork & Beef”. 

For the rest of us, we were elated to hear their brilliant sounds, getting to enjoy both those songs and six more from an actual band with drums, keys, and everything too. Pam did a sick DJ solo after the former, having Boots ask the crowd proudly, “Is she raw?!?” A couple songs later, they did a new song called “Get Up”, a single they recorded with Dead Prez. I was tickled that they did Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady”, a cover that my brother’s old band, the Dance Hall Crashers, also used to do. Addressing the elephant in the room between songs, Boots told the audience, “Check this out. Before we do this next shit, I just want to say something right quick. I got a partner named Jeremy Glick. His father died in the World Trade Center on September 11th. You know everything that happened there… He wanted on the whole tour, a message he wanted me to give the people is this. He said, ‘Don’t use my father’s memory for a war for profit’”.

He went on, “They try to tell us how bad the Taliban is, which is true, but the U.S. president might be even worse. Even though they say they’re doing it for the kids and the women of Afghanistan, they’re doin it by killing the kids and women of Afghanistan! We know they lied about the Vietnam War! We know they lied about the shit blowing up in the Gulf Of Tonkin and admitted it 10 years later! What makes you think they won’t make up evidence right now?”

Politics aside, we all can at least give Boots credit for being right. A little over a year later, such made up evidence would lead us to invade Iraq and the rest is  history and a tragic one at that. It was a message that was hard to hear then but absolutely necessary and its a pity that Boots’ warning wasn’t heeded. It came as some consolation that at least his music made us feel better that night from the god awful mess that was unfolding. 

Next up was Planet Asia and Rasco doing songs from both their repertoire as well as their collaboration as the Cali Agents. Already worked up from The Coup, they had no trouble getting the crowd to chant “Planet Asia!”, “Bounce to that shit!”, “Roll that shit, light that shit, smoke it!”, and “Skoolyard!” Their lyrics were harder to make out, though I know they did “Definition Of Ill” and I was able to make out most of Rasco’s stuff. Following them were Pep Love and the Souls Of Mischief, all esteemed members of the Hieroglyphics, and Pep Love opened his set with the Hiero jam “After Dark”. He made sure to mention how glad he was to be home and pointed out a bunch of friends and family members in the audience. He too spoke about 9/11 saying, “Before I leave, I’d like to say the music industry lost Aaliyah. She died in a tragic plane accident. On September 11th, we lost like 5,000 people in some plane attacks, so on the count of three, I want everybody and I mean everybody to witness a moment of silence… We’re celebrating the lives that we got, cus’ we’re still here and we’re going to keep making a difference, Ai-ight?!?!”

They had that moment of silence and it was respectful, almost surprisingly so considering how rowdy the crowd had been up until then. Pep Love broke the silence urging us to “Give it up for The Fillmore for being a good venue” and said the same for the Fillmore in Denver which they had played at earlier in the tour. He did however mention a nasty run in that he had with a bartender then who took offense to a friend of his for “having a towel on his head”. I guess he meant he wore a turban, but Pep Love got into a big fight with him and he wanted to apologize for it that night, saying that it in no way represented the Souls Of Mischief crew and that he took sole responsibility. Like I said, it was a tense time. Anyway, Pep Love ended his set with “You Never Know”, another Hieroglyphics song and the Souls Of Mischief came up right afterwards. 

I had a hard time making out the songs in their set, but I know they did “Shooting Stars” and “Acupuncture” for sure. Tajai, one of their rappers also addressed the discouraging news of late saying, “I don’t give a fuck about what anybody says on CNN, MSNBC, fuckin’ TRL, all those punk ass shows… We havin’ a war right now over some barrels of oil and some opium, OK? That’s it. It’s not about your freedom, OK? Try skateboarding in Oakland, California. You get treated like a fuckin’ criminal. You know what I’m saying?… Fuck that shit!… We’re eating garbage, fuckin’ Starbucks, fuckin’ McDonalds, all that bullshit. Look, we as young people got to take this shit over and re-educated ourselves and our children so that nobody else has to die in no motherfuckin’ terrorist attack. Fuck that shit!” He gave shout outs to the other acts there that night and encouraged us to sing along, reassuring us that “some people sound like Aaliyah, some people sound like Macy Gray”.

It was past midnight when The Pharcyde finally got on stage, but the energy of the crowd was still high on that cool Wednesday night. And speaking of high, many a spliff were sparked all throughout their set making the whole venue downright cloudy. The band made sure to dedicate songs like “Soul Flower (Wrong Tree)”, “Mary Jane”, and “Pack The Pipe” to all the weed smokers in the building. One of them gave the venue a subtle shout out, changing the lyric in “Ya Mama”, rapping, “I remember seeing you at The Fillmore”, instead of “The Palladium”, the famous theater from their neck of southern California. I managed to get a little more than half their set before my tapes ran out, but I stuck it through to the end of the show anyway. The Pharcyde kept the energy up right to the very end. I would see them there on that stage for my fourth time three years later, but afterwards they would tour only occasionally, though they had a reunion tour a few months ago. They just did a gig at The Warfield last December alongside Arrested Development and Digable Planets and I’m ashamed to say that I missed it. But I’m proud that I was able to see all of those bands as well as the other acts on this bill back in the day when they were like myself, young and fresh.

https://archive.org/details/the-pharcyde-fillmore-112101

https://archive.org/details/souls-of-mischief-fillmore-112101

https://archive.org/details/pep-love-fillmore-112101

https://archive.org/details/kutmasta-kurt-motion-man-fillmore-112101

https://archive.org/details/planet-asia-fillmore-112101

https://archive.org/details/the-coup-fillmore-112101

https://archive.org/details/casual-fillmore-112101

Rex Foundation Benefit: The Trichromes with Bob Weir & Bill Kreutzman, Merl Saunders & His Funky Friends, Mickey Hart & Bembe Orisha, War., SF, Sat., December 1

SETLISTS:

(MICKEY HART & BEMBE ORISHA) : (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Iko Iko, (unknown), (unknown), Ye Ye, Fire On The Mountain, Not Fade Away, Oh My Lord

(MERL SAUNDERS & HIS FUNKY FRIENDS) : (unknown), (unknown), Dear Prudence, (unknown), Sugaree, Midnight Moonlight, Fetch Wood Carry Water, Pulling The Devil By The Tail

(THE TRICHROMES) : Tore Up Over You, Congo Square, Casey Jones, West LA Fadeaway, Next Time You See Me, Maggie’s Farm, New Speedway Boogie, No Woman No Cry

Since the untimely death of Jerry Garcia six years before this, there had been several musical projects of the surviving Grateful Dead members and this was another of them. The Rex Foundation had been doing charity work for a number of grass roots organizations on the band’s behalf and this show was one of their many benefits, though their largest one to date. I had to work all night as an usher and as you might have read before, hippie bands are easily the most difficult crowds to wrangle, especially the rich ones as was the case this time. Really, every time I did one of these gigs having to work all night, I would swear it would be the last one, but then I’d get a good night sleep, forget about it, and reluctantly keep coming back to them.

A woman came on stage, presumably a member of the Foundation, to introduce the first act of the night, Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and his band Bembe Orisha. She said that the Foundation’s “work is truly making the world a better place. We honor the memory of Jerry Garcia, Bill Graham. We also honor all of you, the extensive and incredible community of performers… When we began planning, we said we wanted to create a jewel of an event for the community. I believe however that we really have an event that has enthusiasm for the world, willingness to help… overall generosity that’s truly inspiring. Many of you have travelled to be here, sent many wonderful messages of support… So tonight this room’s sparkling with a lot of energy and joy of everyone who’s made this event… Thank you!… Don’t forget to check out our auction”. 

Mickey came up with his collection of world music ringers including singer Bobi Cespedes, Barney Doyle, talking drum master Sikiru Adepoju, Nenge Hernandez, and Greg Ellis. Also joining him on stage were hippie music veterans guitarist Roy Rogers and Bobby Vega, the bass player from Zero. They began their set with a handful of instrumentals before delving into more familiar territory with the Dead’s standard cover of “Iko Iko”. The only song I could make out of their set from the band’s original material was “Ye Ye”, but they soon followed that with another Dead classic, “Fire On The Mountain”. I was horrified to hear Mickey “sing” the lyrics of that song, or more accurately rap them in a style that I would charitably describe as cringeworthy. There’s a fucking good reason Mickey never sang in The Dead and that was made painfully clear that night. He’s lucky that he’s even a halfway decent drummer. 

Anyway, they followed that with “Not Fade Away” and at the end, the crowd did their obligatory a cappella chant of “You know our love will not fade away” with the clap to the beat until they returned to do one more song. On a somber note, they did a rather respectful cover of George Harrison’s “Oh My Lord” to end the set. Alas, poor George succumbed to lung cancer just two days before this show leaving Paul and Ringo as the only surviving members of The Beatles. Though I never got to see George or John Lennon perform, I’m glad to say that I got to see Paul a few times, even helping to set up his gear at Outside Lands in 2014, and I finally got to see Ringo with his band in New York City at The Beacon Theater a couple of years ago. Their rendition of “Oh My Lord”, including Roy’s mimicking George’s syrupy guitar sound perfectly, almost redeemed Mickey for his unforgivable rapping earlier.

Next up was Merl Saunders & His Funky Friends, a musician I had become well acquainted with by this time having recorded him a whopping SEVEN times in only two years at Maritime Hall. The longtime collaborator with Jerry Garcia was always a dependable opening act and frankly a welcome addition of racial diversity to the Dead’s notoriously lily white crowd. I didn’t recognize the first couple songs in his set, but there was no mistaking his cover of “Dear Prudence”, most likely another nod to the late Beatle, and one that Jerry Garcia would play with his band regularly. To be honest, I always hated that song, but the sentiment was admirable, appreciated, and Merl at least mixed it up a bit, giving it a bit of a reggae beat backed by a tight horn section. Merl was joined on stage by the venerable hippie singer-songwriter Peter Rowan and his brother Chris, doing his song “Midnight Moonlight”, another one that Jerry would often do. They followed that by two more Rowan tunes, “Fetch Wood Carry Water” and finishing their set with “Pulling The Devil By The Tail”.

The final act of the night was The Trichromes, led by the Grateful Dead’s other drummer, Bill Kreutzman. For those who don’t know, a trichrome is an outgrowth or appendage on plants, algae, lichens, etc that are commonly used on cannabinoids to provide pest and disease protection. Obviously, I had to look that one up. Bill was accompanied by fellow Dead member, Bob Weir, veteran blues singer Ira Walker, Ralph Woolson, and Sy Klopps. Like the Dead, they took their dear sweet time tuning up before beginning their set with “Tore Up Over You”, another Jerry Garcia Band standard.  They followed that with “Congo Square” by Sonny Landreth, a song often played by The Neville Brothers. Afterwards, they dipped right back into familiar Dead territory doing “Casey Jones”. Bobby quipped when they finished, “Thank you so much for letting us do that. You know, cocaine is a test. If you’re still doing it, you flunked the test”. He mentioned later that the band was using one of Jerry’s old guitar amps during their set.

I overheard myself talking to a rather drunken usher who had been cut for the evening just before they did “Maggie’s Farm” by Bob Dylan, who asked me how I was doing before half jokingly ordering me to get him another beer. My tapes ran out after their cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman No Cry”, but I believe they continued with “Truckin’” and “Goin’ Down The Road Feeling Bad”. I’m sure there’s some hippie taper out there that has their full set, but I haven’t found it yet. Near the end, I overheard another usher, a sweet angel of a woman named Carol, saying she was heading home, it already being past midnight and added that she was looking forward to the Echo & The Bunnymen – Psychedelic Furs show that was coming to The Fillmore in February, a show quite different stylistically from this one that I shamefully missed. I never saw Bembe Orisha or The Trichromes again and I’m sad to say that this would be the final time I’d see Merl perform. He suffered a stroke shortly after this show that paralyzed half of his body and would pass away six years later at the age of 74, battling the infections that came with it. Merl was a happy guy, everybody loved him, and he would join Jerry up in heaven where I’m sure they’re making beautiful hippie music together. Still, the good news about this show is that they had quite an attractive poster at the end of the night, forever a reminder of Mr. Saunders and his good work.  

https://archive.org/details/the-trichromes-warfield-12101

https://archive.org/details/merl-saunders-his-funky-friends-warfield-12101

https://archive.org/details/mickey-hart-bembe-orisha-warfield-120101

Wilco, Mercury Rev, Fill., SF, Sun., December 2

Wilco, For Stars, The Bellyachers, Fill., SF, Mon., December 3

SETLISTS : 

(SUNDAY) : 

(MERCURY REV) : The Funny Bird, Tides Of The Moon, Chains, Hercules, Holes, Goddess On A Hiway, Opus 40 – Once In A Lifetime, The Dark Is Rising

(WILCO) : 

I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, I’m Always In Love, War On War, She’s A Jar, Why Would You Wanna Live, A Shot In The Arm, Ashes Of American Flags, Radio Cure, Kamera, Pot Kettle Black, Misunderstood, Hesitating Beauty, How To Fight Loneliness, Jesus Etc., Heavy Metal Drummer, I’m The Man Who Loves You, (encore), Say You Miss Me, Sunken Treasure, Reservations, (encore), Passenger Side, California Stars, Can’t Stand It, Monday, Outta Mind (Outta Sight)

(MONDAY) :

(THE BELLYACHERS) : (Set 1) : What I’ve Got, (unknown), You Me & The Highway, Follow You, Very Married, Death Valley, Nashville, Whiskey Talking, Wherever You Are, Bottoms Up (Set 2) : Heavy In My Hands, You Can Blame Me, Jamie’s Crying, Light Was So Bright, One Night Stand, You Me & The Highway, Follow You

(WILCO) : I Am Trying To Break Your Heart, War On War, She’s A Jar, Why Would You Wanna Live, A Shot In The Arm, Ashes Of American Flags, Radio Cure, Kamera, Pot Kettle Black, Misunderstood, Should’ve Been In Love, Pieholden Suite, Jesus Etc., Heavy Metal Drummer, I’m The Man Who Loves You, I’m Always In Love, (encore), Far Far Away, California Stars, Red-Eyed & Blue, I Got You (At The End Of The Century), (encore), Pick Up The Charge, Reservations, Sunken Treasure, Monday, Outta Mind (Outta Sight)

The stress of 2001 was taking its toll on everyone and we all couldn’t wait for that cursed year to end, especially since Enron filed for bankruptcy that weekend. Their collapse took a big chunk out of my union’s pension fund to the point where it almost became insolvent. Likewise, Wilco had been struggling through some shit around then losing both their drummer, Ken Coomer, in January and Jay Bennett in July. Jay’s friction with frontman Jeff Tweedy would be well documented in their film, “I’m Trying To Break Your Heart”, which they were filming concert footage for during this three run stint at The Fillmore. Jeff and the band had been dropped from Reprise Records while they were working on their 4th album, “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot”, taking a buyout from Warner, their parent company, who graciously gave the rights for it back to the band for free. Wilco were eventually picked up again by another branch of Warner, Nonesuch Records. The new album was unfortunately slated to come out the very day of 9/11, so it was understandably delayed, though they wisely put it out on the web a week later until they got it released officially the following April. 

The word had spread quickly that the new album was superb, some considering it their best work even to this day which leads us back to The Fillmore. You’d think all the aforementioned turmoil would have been enough, but Wilco was fucking lucky to have made it to these shows alive in the first place. While on the road there from their previous gig in Seattle, their tour bus’ transmission broke, they lost their brakes and went out of control, nearly getting into a wreck in the middle of a windy rainstorm. One can only imagine the band’s relief to see the smiling faces of their fans again, knowing that their previous Seattle show could have very well have been their last, not to mention embracing the possibility that they would have never been able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, raking in another gold record on top of an avalanche of critical praise for their new masterpiece.

Wilco fans are intensely loyal and the anticipation for these three sold out shows was palpable. Two such fans, arguably two of their most fervent, were fellow Fillmore ushers Sarah and her husband Jim who are actually featured briefly in that documentary meeting Jeff and the band backstage. I overheard myself talking to Sarah on the Sunday show, the second of the three, and she briefly mentioning that Jim might not be able to come to the Monday one. Having nothing to do that day, I proposed that if Jim couldn’t make it that I could take his place. I can’t rightly say if Jim made it or not, but somehow I finagled my way in, catching at least the last two shows out of the three. Still, in hindsight, I wish I could have done all three, especially since this was one of those rare stretches of Fillmore shows where each show got its own poster, that, and they had celebrated singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman opening on the first day. Still, I was glad that I got to see Richman opening for Belle & Sebastian at back to back shows at The Warfield earlier that September, a couple of the last shows I’d see before 9/11. 

I was however glad to see that the opening act on the second day was Mercury Rev, one of the few musical acts from my birthplace of Buffalo, New York (that doesn’t suck like the Goo Goo Dolls) and one I’d been interested in catching ever since they were among the up and coming acts on the second stage of the Lollapalooza tour in 1993. I had picked up their albums, “Yerself Is Steam” and “Boces”, but with the departure of their singer Doug Baker (no relation), their sound changed a bit with his replacement Jonathan Donahue. Jonathan had been a former member of The Flaming Lips who had parted ways with them over creative differences, but one thing the two bands definitely had in common was that they were LOUD! Yes, both bands, at least around that time, had the reputation of deafening all those without ear protection who came anywhere near them. They had just put out their fifth album, “All Is Dream”, their highest charting work, though like Wilco, they had the ill fortune to release it on 9/11 as well. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see that their touring engineer working the soundboard was none other than Jack Shaw, who I had worked with for years at Maritime Hall. I had admired Jack from the moment we met though he was an incorrigible smart aleck and had nothing but contempt for my meager abilities as a sound engineer. I accepted that and frankly, compared to his genius, he was absolutely right to think so. We spoke for a bit, catching up with each other, and Jack was beyond relieved to be back home, especially since The Fillmore was only a couple blocks from where he was living. And though Mercury Rev were indeed VERY loud, Jack at least made the mix sound good as always. Jonathan didn’t speak much between songs, only really thanking the crowd at the end of their set and wishing us “a wonderful week”. During their song “Opus 40”, he sang a few bits from “Once In A Lifetime” by the Talking Heads, changing one line to “You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large record deal”.

Wilco came on stage to the sounds of Gene Wilder singing “Pure Imagination” from the film “Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory” playing over the loudspeakers. They began their set with “I’m Trying To Break Your Heart”, the first track off the new album and they would go on to play every other new song both days in their sets, except for “Poor Places”. Why they left that one out, I can’t say, and though I hadn’t heard any of the new material before then, I agreed completely with the early reports of its brilliance. Wilco had totally shed their comparisons to other alt-country and jam bands with this unique collection of original work and frankly I was proud of them. America was in dire need of some good news and Wilco’s new album was helpful. I’m afraid I drastically underestimated the amount of tape I needed for that first show, so I ended up only getting about half of Wilco’s set, though I taped over a bit of the beginning of Mercury Rev in order to get them playing “California Stars” during their first encore. I fucking love that song.

So, rest assured I brought plenty of tape for the next day, but truth be told, I still ran out a couple songs shy of their second encore. I do lay the blame for that on how much I loved The Bellyachers, the band that was playing up in the poster room that night. Now I had taken it upon myself to record acts up there from time to time, getting maybe a handful of songs, but the moment I heard their irresistible, harmonic siren song, I was hooked. I stayed up there for most of their set after the doors were open until For Stars got on stage downstairs, apologizing to my fellow ushers guarding the front of house soundboard for my conspicuous absence. Likewise, I went back for their shorter set during the break before Wilco got on to get some more of them. The Bellyachers were a local country act with charming female singers and seriously, I couldn’t get enough of them. They thanked the handful of people watching them for coming out “so early on a Monday night”. I liked that they did a little of the old Brecht & Weill ditty “Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar)” in the middle of their tune, “Bottoms Up”. I made sure to catch The Bellyachers around town afterwards, including the only time I’d ever see a show at The Starry Plough in Berkeley. 

Like I mentioned before, the opening act downstairs on the main stage was For Stars, an indy act of former high school buddies from southern California who had recently relocated to San Francisco. They had just put out their third album, “We Are All Beautiful People”, that year and like Mercury Rev who opened the night before, they were excruciatingly loud. Consequently, I had a hard time making out any of their songs apart from “Bleu”, “The Astronaut Song”, and “There Was A River”. Before that first song, singer Carlos Forster introduced it saying, “We’re going to do a song called ‘Bleu’ which I’ll sing for my fiancee who I just asked to marry. That’s real personal. It’s for her… She’s out there somewhere. It’s really embarrassing. Nobody knows what she looks like anyway. She’s kinda small, cute… Gorgeous, not cute”. He also made sure to introduced the other members of the band, “Mike, Dan, Christian, & Will”, and also thanked Paul Dalen for doing their sound. 

Wilco didn’t do the “Willy Wonka” intro that they had done the night before, but also opened their set with “I’m Trying To Break Your Heart”. Jeff joked later that “we’re doing some of the same set… I don’t know if you noticed that. We’ll play some different songs later, but we’re making a movie… Sorry. There’s continuity issues. I have to move the same way I did last night… which is very easy for me… I’m a robot” and then they did “Pot Kettle Black”. A couple songs later, we were granted the honored distinction of hearing them perform “Pieholden Suite” for the first time in front of an audience. Afterwards, he mentioned, “Every night we get a show of hands. Who’s got the record already?” Jeff looked around and said, “That’s not too bad” then noted, “There’s something very formal about tonight. Sorry, I don’t know what it is. I’m really having a good time. I feel like we’re playing as well as we can play… You’re having a good time? From up here, it’s hard to tell. You guys could be having the time of your lives”. Reassured by the cheers of the audience, they went on and did “Heavy Metal Drummer” and then finished their set with “I’m The Man Who Loves You”.

They came back for their first encore, beginning it with “Far, Far Away”, and afterwards, Jeff joked, “You know what happens a lot at Wilco shows? There’s a lot of the same people standing up front, night after night. And they stand here and I go, ‘Did I already play this song? Did I already sing that line?’ It’s all deja vu every time. You guys are going to have to go to the back. Give somebody else a chance. Either that or we’re going to put up some bleachers on the stage… On the sides? Both sides? No, actually we love it… We love you” and then the followed it with “California Stars”. Next, they did “Red-Eyed & Blue”, one they didn’t do the night before, did a couple more, and then returned for another encore, a generous one five songs long. Suffice to say, Wilco fans at The Fillmore got their fill that weekend. They would return to town the following September and as expected, their success would graduate them to playing The Warfield that time, a venue over twice the size of The Fillmore.

I’d like to mention one final epilogue concerning these Wilco shows, so bear with me for moment. A couple weeks later during the Christmas holidays that year, I flew to Iowa to visit my father and his side of the family in Ames as I often had done. This was one of the only occasions that we actually stayed in a nearby, modestly priced hotel instead of shacking up in one of my Uncle Judd & Aunt Sandy’s guest rooms. Anyway, while at the hotel, I took advantage of the indoor hot tub they had there and while soaking it, warming my bones from the usual bitter, frosty weather outside, I was joined by a trio of teenage girls. Nervous that I would be perceived as some (almost) 30-something loner/pervert, I did my best to make some inoffensive small talk. When I had mentioned some of my rock & roll past, one of the girls mentioned that her father worked for Wilco and I was relieved that I could regale them a bit from my memories of these Fillmore shows. It’s indeed a small world after all. 

https://archive.org/details/wilco-fillmore-12301

https://archive.org/details/the-bellyachers-fillmore-12301

https://archive.org/details/for-stars-fillmore-12301

https://archive.org/details/wilco-fillmore-12201

https://archive.org/details/mercury-rev-fillmore-12201

Born Naked, Floater, Tres Pistolas, Turn Me On Dead Man, Soulvine, Paradise Lounge, SF, Thur., December 6

It was a rare occasion when I would see a show at the south of Market venue, Paradise Lounge, and even a rarer one that I would record. In fact, I think this show might me the only one I taped there before its eventual eviction and closing nine years later. It had been raining heavily all day and the news of the fall of Kandahar had just come in, the defeat of the last of the Taliban’s strongholds in Afghanistan. Yes, the invasion was all but over, but our disastrous occupation of that poor, long suffering country was only beginning. I and the others at the gig that night would at least be temporarily distracted from that scene with the musical stylings of Born Naked. To those who have read my stuff before, you might have run across me mentioning this local grunge trio, ably managed by my former roommate Patrick. The trio had recently become a quartet with the addition of Tim “Herb” Alexander, the former drummer of Primus. Herb had left that band in 1996, continuing on with his own band, Laundry, and collaborating in other projects involving Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan like Puscifer and A Perfect Circle. Herb had always been close to Born Naked, friends with their frontman Sal, and had recently produced their new self titled album as well as joining the band itself, taking a break from the drums to try his hand at guitar. 

There were a handful of other acts opening that night starting with Turn Me On Dead Man, a local glam/psychedelic pop band who had signed to Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles Records, a label I once interned for in college. Their name came from the alleged phrase that one would hear if they played “Revolution #9” by The Beatles backwards, leading to the conspiracy that Paul McCartney had actually died in a car crash in 1966 and had been replaced by a clone/android/alien… Take your pick. I quite enjoyed them and wished I taped more of their set, but I’d get a chance to see them again four years later when they opened for Jello on Halloween at the Great American Music Hall. They were followed by Tres Pistolas and finally by Floater. I’d actually recorded Floater back in 1997 when they were inexplicably paired with Steel Pulse at Maritime Hall. They were sort of a jam band from Oregon, not a reggae act at all, but then again, they were quite different from Born Naked too. There was another act called Soulvine playing on the smaller stage in the lounge upstairs and I think I caught one of their songs between sets. 

Sal greeted us as Born Naked came on stage, “What’s up y’all?… Bear with us for just a moment… Thanks for hanging out on a soggy Thursday”. He dedicated “Innocent”, the second song in their set to somebody in the crowd named Shelby and wished us all a “Merry Fuckin’ Christmas”. Later, he wished a woman named Pam a happy birthday saying, “She’s 23!… She’s 25!” Though I’d seen Born Naked quite a number of times, I didn’t know any of the new material, but I do know they also did “What The Hell”, “Man Kills”, and “Minus One”. Before they finished their set with “Weeds”, Sal mused, “It’s an elementary deduction. None of us belong here. Like myself, you have been driven through a dimensional doorway. In my case however, only time was affected, not location. Those monsters are my antecedents. This is the past of its own. I am the future”. Makes you think…

Anyway, Herb held his own as a rhythm guitarist, though he didn’t play on the new album. This was the only time I’d see him perform with Born Naked and I’m pretty sure this was the final time I’d see that band play altogether. I know I had mentioned it before, but it bears repeating, that Born Naked deserved to be bigger. Their music was intense and they wrote catchy songs too. Likewise, Patrick deserved more as their manager as well, being a savvy businessman and working diligently for years to promote them. Before I walked out of that show, I joked with Sal and the others “the Grateful Dead’s got nothing on these guys”. Born Naked was off to play in Sacramento the following night and I strolled away into the wet weather sadly never to see them again. There are however not one, but two bands today performing under that name, one from South Africa, the other from Ontario, Canada. On a side note, I did spot Patrick years later at one of Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festivals in Golden Gate Park, but I’m sorry to say that I didn’t talk with him. I’m ashamed of that and if I ever see him again, I’ll make sure not to make that mistake again.

https://archive.org/details/born-naked-paradise-lounge-12601

https://archive.org/details/floater-paradise-lounge-12601

https://archive.org/details/tres-pistolas-paradise-lounge-12601

https://archive.org/details/turn-me-on-dead-man-paradise-lounge-12601

Slayer, American Head Charge, Chimaira, War., SF, Fri., December 7

SETLISTS : 

(CHIMAIRA) : Let Go, Lumps, Severed, Sp Lit, Silence, Forced Life, Dead Inside, This Present Darkness

(AMERICAN HEAD CHARGE) : All Wrapped Up, Reach & Touch, (unknown), Seamless, Never Get Caught, Pushing The Envelope, A Violent Reaction

(SLAYER) : Disciple, War Ensemble, Stain Of Mind, New Faith, Postmortem, Raining Blood, Hell Awaits, Here Comes The Pain, Die By The Sword, Dittohead, Bloodline, God Sends Death, Dead Skin Mask, Seans In The Abyss, Captor Of Sin, Mandatory Suicide, Chemical Warfare, South Of Heaven, Angel Of Death

“SLAYER!!!!”… The unmistakable war cry/mating call to all those who love metal. Though this would be the third of five times I would ultimately see them at The Warfield, this show would have the unique and privileged distinction of being the one where they recorded their live DVD, “War At The Warfield”, an appropriate title considering the brutal nature of their sound and it being recorded coincidentally on the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. In hindsight, I feel almost unworthy of having witnessed it when I think about the legions of Slayer fans out there who would have crawled through broken glass to be at that show. That feeling has been compounded recently when I came to the realization that I really didn’t even begin to listen to metal until I was out of college. To be fair, I had little exposure to it and was distracted by such genres as punk and ska in my youth, as well as being versed in the obligatory classics like The Beatles, Bob Marley, Hendrix, Zeppelin, and so forth. But thanks to my compulsion to usher and a genuine crash course in metal during my four year stint at Maritime Hall, I grew to appreciate these barbarians, especially a group as venerable and revered as Slayer.

And although Slayer had been giving eardrums around the world the what-fer since 1983, it would only be this year that they would be nominated for thier first Grammy. Their 10th studio album, “God Hates Us All”, like so many other albums that year, had the unfortunate timing to be released on 9/11, but its first track, “Disciple”, was up for Best Metal Performance. They would ultimately lose to Tool’s song “Schism”, but rest assured Slayer would be nominated five more times since, winning one in 2007 and another the following year. The new album also gained particular attention for its provocative cover, an image depicting a Bible with nails driven through it, branded with a pentagram star, covered in blood, with the word “Slayer” boldly burnt across it. Well, the folks at the major retail outlets for some strange reason found it somewhat disturbing, so Slayer graciously released it with the option of a slip insert placed in front of the cover as to not make sensitive Christians wet themselves. In a related story, I recently learned that Slayer singer-bassist Tom Araya is in fact a Republican, but I’m beginning to suspect he’s just saying that for the shock value.

Any-who, the first of the two openers that evening was Chimaira from Cleveland, Ohio. Named after the mythical, fire breathing beast, with the body of a lion, the head of a goat, and the tail of a snake, they were fairly new, having just released their debut album, “Pass Out Of Existence” two months before this. Granted, any opening act facing the Slayer crowd had best be a heavy one, but god damn were they loud and their singer, Mark Hunter, had the voice of a man in the midst of being viscously tortured. Seriously, after a couple songs, I felt like giving him a cough drop or something. They got the crowd warmed up, Mark demanding, “San Francisco, I need to see you guys fuckin’ destroy this place! Are you guys fuckin’ ready?!?”, before they played “Severed”. Following them were American Head Charge, a band similar in sound to Chimaira with another singer screaming his guts out. As their name stated, they obviously were Yanks, not to be confused with the Englishman Adrian Sherwood and his dub reggae label, African Head Charge. There were certainly no “cool runnings” or feelings of “irae” to be had in the house that night. 

Hailing from the frosty city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, American Head Charge had recently been signed to Rick Rubin’s American Recordings alongside Slayer and just dropped “The War Of Art” album that August. They were in fact on the second stage of Ozzfest earlier that June, but I had missed them, watching whoever was on the main stage while they were playing. They got on stage to the sounds of John Philip Souza’s “Stars & Stripes Forever” blasting over the loudspeakers, perhaps a jingoistic nod to the current bloodlust flowing through everybody’s veins after 9/11. Funny, the last three songs of American Head Charge’s set would actually end up paired on a CD with my recording of comedian Sandra Bernhard’s show at The Warfield which took place three days later, quite an unlikely duo indeed. I would see both openers again at The Warfield in the years to come, Chimaira opening for Mudvayne in 2005 and American Head Charge opening for Killswitch Engage two years later.

But the night belonged to Slayer and we were reminded of the auspicious circumstances of this show before they came on with the announcement, “This is being filmed, so if you are here with someone you don’t necessarily want to be seen with, now is your chance to lose them. This performance will be released on DVD and available in the new year. Thank you and stand by”. The crowd was chomping at the bit by the time they took the stage which had the words “GOD HATES US ALL” plained on it in large, white, capital letters. They opened with the aforementioned new single “Disciple”, the first of five new songs they’d treat us to, and before they delved into the golden oldie “War Ensemble”, Tom addressed us the first of many times saying, “I want to thank you very much for coming tonight, for coming out and having a good time and enjoying your life… And now it’s time for the State Of The Union Address!” Long haired guitarist, Jeff Hanneman gave a nod to his east bay peeps, sporting a large “Raiders” sticker on his black guitar. A couple songs later, the pit would explode to “Raining Blood”, launching quite a number of crowd floaters above the heads of those rampaging heshers. 

Slayer followed that with “Postmortem” and then Tom asked, “You guys know about pain, huh? At least you think you know about pain… So, ‘Here Comes The Pain’” and then they did that new one. Afterwards, he said, “Back in ’83, we did a weekend out here. Who was at Berkeley? Who was at the Berkeley Stone? Who was at the San Francisco Stone? How many of you crazy motherfuckers were at Ruthie’s Inn? Well, then you’ll know this one, right? If you must live by the sword, then you will…” and the crowd screamed “Die By The Sword!!!!” A couple songs later, they ventured back into new territory, Tom announcing, “This song is about what we all share, what we all have in common. We all bleed! This is about our ‘Bloodline’” followed by another new one “God Sends Death”. Afterwards, Tom growled, “Dance… With the dead!… In my dreams… Listen to their hallowed dreams! The dead have taken my soul!… Temptation… I’ve lost all control!… Dead! Skin! Mask!”

He graciously thanked us once again, “Thank you very much… There goes that love again. Speaking of love, this song is going to be dedicated to all females in the audience tonight… Cus’ they are all harlots of hell. This is ‘Captor Of Sin’”. Tom continued his gratitude, “Listen, I want to thank you very much for coming tonight. I trust you guys had a good time? Did you have a good time? We’re taking votes to see if we have to come back. Should we come back? Alright… Well, we’ll think about it. I want to thank you very much for everything, everything that you’ve done for this band, so thank you, greatly appreciate everything. All the fuckin’ years, thank you very much for that first fuckin’ show we ever did here. That was an amazing show. That’s why we keep coming back! Thank you very much for everything. I’m going to ask one favor of you. Please get to know your friends. Get to know your real friends and your real neighbors. Alrighty! Something we need to do from now on. Cus’ if you find a stranger in town, you can fuckin’ kill em’!!! We don’t need that kind of shit, right? So please watch out for each other. Thank you very much. This is ‘Mandatory Suicide’!!!!”

They followed that with “Chemical Warfare”, but my tapes ran out after that. Slayer ended the night with “South Of Heaven” which went right into “Angel Of Death” and Tom thanked us one final time, “Thank you very much, alright. Appreciate it. Thank you very much for coming. Thank you for everything. We’ll see you next year! Good night! See you next time!” The chants of “Slayer! Slayer! Slayer!” continued even after they turned the lights on in the house and we all reeled from the tinnitus in our ringing ears as the crowd shuffled out into the cool night air. Strangely enough, there wasn’t poster given out to mark this historic occasion though the promise of the impending DVD was reward enough. 

Despite the earlier announcement saying that the DVD would come out the following year, it wouldn’t actually be released until July of 2003. This also would be the third to the last performance of Paul Bostaph as Slayer’s drummer, who had suffered a chronic elbow injury and would be replaced Slayer’s original drummer, Dave Lombardo. Paul would soon recover and play drums briefly for Systematic, Exodus, Testament, as well as the all star metal tribute band HAIL! until he rejoined Slayer in 2013. “War At The Warfield” would be certified gold and win the Metal Edge magazine Readers’ Choice award for DVD of the year. Poor Paul couldn’t bring himself to watch it though, feeling despondent for his departure, needing to “get some distance away from the situation and move on with my life. It’s like breaking up with a girlfriend”. But to the rest of us, that was a shining metal moment to be cherished for all eternity.

https://archive.org/details/slayer-warfield-12701

https://archive.org/details/american-head-charge-warfield-12701

https://archive.org/details/chimaira-warfield-12701

Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks, War., SF, Sun., December 9

SETLIST : You’ve Got To Believe, Milk Shakin’ Mama, Waitin’, Shootin’ Straight, Strike While It’s Hot, News From Up The Street, Walkin’ One & Only, I’m An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande), (unknown), (unknown), (unknown), Canned Music, We’re Not On The Same Trip, San Francisco Bay Blues, How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away, Savin’ My Lovin’, Payday Blues, (unknown), I Scare Myself, The Buzzard Was Their Friend

In a funny way, I came to be aware of Dan Hicks and his old band The Charlatans from my brother Alex discussing The Charlatans UK, a more recent British band who had to change their name because the former got it first. Alex was in the lobby at a Kula Shaker show at The Fillmore before the doors were open talking to Jay Darlington, Kula Shaker’s keyboardist, and pointed out an old picture of Dan and the original Charlatans hanging above them on the wall, comparing and contrasting. Yes, one would not easily confuse the two band’s music, the elder being real hippie, San Francisco “Western Swing” and the younger, 90’s Popscene stuff. Quite a different look between the two as well, the elder looking like they walked out of a turn of the century saloon, the younger, well, like college kids I guess. Anyway you slice it, The Charlatans is a good name for a band. But The (elder) Charlatans were short lived, really only together for about five years, and then Dan continued with his own band, The Hot Licks. Which leads me to the show at hand. Mr. Hicks was being honored at The Warfield that night, celebrating his 60th birthday. It was a safe bet that most in attendance were related to him in some way, family, friends, fellow musicians, and I’m sure the guest list had to be a mile long. Hell, at one point, there was around 40 people on stage alone. 

And I know I’ve lamented a million times before, these hippie crowds are always the hardest to usher and there’s no hippie crowd harder to usher than the rich hippies. They had set tables and chairs all the way down onto the dance floor, so space was already limited and of course the show was sold out. To make matters worse, I had to usher all night as well, instead of volunteering and being cut early, something that was happening in higher frequency. I needed the money, but god damn, did I have to work for it that night. I even remember bitterly declaring to Dirty Dave, one of the brave security guys there that this would be the last hippie show I do. But I also said that at the Rex Benefit with the Grateful Dead people earlier that month at that very same venue and viola, there I was again and rest assured, doomed to usher more in the future. Still, I made it through the night somehow, the deliciously brutal memory of Slayer tearing it up on that stage where they had painted “God Hates Us All” in huge, white capital letters on it two nights before this, sustaining me through all the whiney, entitled, hippie bullshit.

That being said, I did enjoy the music and in hindsight, consider myself fortunate to be a witness, especially since they filmed a live DVD from that show. A couple of the original Charlatans were there on stage with him as well, Mike Wilhelm on 12-string guitar and George Hunter on autoharp and from his old Hot Licks band, there was Maryann Price and Naomi Ruth Eisenberg. The list is extensive of those who also joined in, so bear with me, Sid Page on violin, John Girton on guitar, Maria Muldaur, Sherry Crow, Brian Godchaux and David LaFlamme from It’s A Beautiful Day on violin, Susan Rabin, Dave Bell on guitar, with Paul Robison serving as musical director… (Whew…) And those are just the names of the ones I know were up there. Suffice to say, that the combined hippie experience in that house for that show was staggering. 

Cynical and angrily distracted as I was all night, I do admit that I appreciated the sentimental gesture to Dan on his birthday. Everybody was happy to see him and I resisted the urge to be a party pooper. Dan had recently recovered from a decades long addiction to alcohol and drugs, leading to rather belligerent behavior and a DUI conviction, another cause for celebration. He and his people came out the night before as well, having a little party at the Hotel Utah, singing karaoke with each other. After this show, they would also have a wrap party at Enrico’s out on Broadway, performing at the open mic there. Now that I think about it, I wish I had gone to those shows instead. 

Anyway, back to the show. They had Mitch Woods from the Rocket 88’s play piano on stage before the show began, sort of intermission music. Yeah, I had a devil of a time seating people, so when the lights came down, I felt a swell of relief. Dan strolled on the tremendous applause wearing a floral shirt and began the night with “You Gotta Believe”. He thanked us, talking a deep breath and smiled, “I’m just getting used to the room here… the lights, the audience” and they continued with “Milk Shakin’ Mama”. Later on, Maryann came up and sang a cover of Johnny Mercer’s, “I’m An Old Cowhand (From The Rio Grande)”, made famous by Bing Crosby in the 1936 musical film “Rhythm On The Range”. That one I knew at least. Funny, I knew that from Robert Picardo playing the comical henchman “The Cowboy” singing a bit of it in the 1987 science fiction comedy “Innerspace”… Good movie. 

About halfway through the show, they took a moment to have Ben Fong Torres, rock journalist from Rolling Stone and the San Francisco Chronicle, come out and honor Dan. Before he began, Ben just wanted to say, “I want to send out a spiritual kiss to Ken Kesey”, the counterculture leader of the Merry Pranksters who had just passed away a month to the very day before this show. He went on to describe the early psychedelic days with the Psyche Out parties at San Francisco State and that Dan and The Charlatans were the first thing he wrote about. Ben continued to write about him in Rolling Stone and hearing him played on KSAN, reminding everyone that “The Hot Licks wrote some of our best jingles!” He then sang a few bars of one of the old jingles and sighed, “Ah, the good ol’ days”.

Ben then presented Dan with a framed certificate and pronounced. “For Dan, whereas on December 9th, 2001, for his 60th birthday and for 35 years in the music industry, an event will be held at The Warfield Theater” and went on to list his accomplishments, being an original founding member of The Charlatans, member of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame, a frequent guest of Johnny Carson and Dick Cavett, his work with the Bay Area Earthquake Relief Fund, and so forth. Finally, Ben declared, “Therefore, we are resolved, I Willie Brown, Jr., mayor of San Francisco, in recognition of Dan Hicks’ tremendously inspiring career, so hereby proclaim, December 9th, 2001, as Dan Hicks Day in San Francisco!” And then the crowd went wild. They brought up some guy from ASCAP who praised a long list of his songs and saluted his “grand musical style”. Dan graciously accepted the honor and the show continued with the song “Canned Music”.

To be honest, it was kind of hard to hear what Dan was saying between songs, partially because he was a bit of a mumbler and that I also had to skulk in the back for the show, unable to stand in front of the people in the seats. It was a quiet enough show to begin with, obviously quieter than Slayer. But I did overhear him talking about Santa Rosa where he was from originally and the local spots he used to hang out there back in the day. A couple songs later, I recognized one more that they played being, “San Francisco Bay Blues”, the old folk-ragtime number that had been recently made famous by Eric Clapton on his “Unplugged” album. That actually was one of the only songs I’ve ever learned to play on guitar. The pleasure I felt from hearing that one was cut short soon after when I had a back and forth with some elderly guy that wouldn’t get out of the aisle, claiming that “my wife is up there on stage”. I’m sure she was, lots of guys’ wives were, but orders are orders and he put up a stink for a bit, before finally relenting.

Near the end of their set, in the middle of “Payday Blues”, they played a few bars of that accursed hillbilly anthem “Achey Breaky Heart” by Billy Ray Cyrus. That one really got me. My tapes ran out one song later, but I know they went on to play “I Scare Myself” and “The Buzzard Was Their Friend” too. Thankfully, they gave out a poster at the end of the night, the least they could do for the trouble I went through. Fortunately, it was a unique poster, being a little smaller than the standard size ones. Four years later, I would record Mr. Hicks with my old partner Pete Slauson from Maritime Hall at the Tribal Stomp Reunion in Golden Gate Park. “I Scare Myself” and The Charlatans’ “When I Go Sailing By” made it on the CD/DVD set. Strange, up until a moment ago of writing this, I checked song list and was reminded that I have song credits with the birthday boy. Seriously, I’m proud of it and feel remorse that I couldn’t enjoy that Warfield show as much as the patrons. Dan lived another 15 years before passing away in 2016 from throat and lung cancer, shortly after his 74th birthday. But the CDs, the DVDs, the poster, my humble tapes, and the memories of all who bore witness to that party, will carry on for Mr. Hicks and his many musical friends. 

https://archive.org/details/dan-hicks-the-hot-licks-warfield-12901

Sandra Bernhard, War., SF, Mon., December 10

And so it ends, this horribilis annus that was 2001. Having my final concert of the year be comedian Sandra Bernhard’s one woman show, promoting her new album “The Love Machine”, gave me mixed emotions. God knows I needed a laugh then, but after 9/11, most of us weren’t sure that we were ready to yet. I suppose Sandra’s brassy, confrontational style of storytelling was the tough love I and the others there that night needed in a way, especially since she was no fan of right wingers. Ever since she blew every one away with her unforgettable role in Martin Scorsese’s “The King Of Comedy”, a performance as disturbing as it was hysterical, Sandra had been weaving in and out of popular culture with her gossipy stand up routines, mingling in high fashion circles, her role in “Rosanne”, the first openly bisexual character on TV, and her on again off again relationship with Madonna. Regardless on whether or not I was ready to laugh again, it was at least a relief to usher her show which was a breeze compared to ushering the Dan Hick’s birthday bash at The Warfield the night before which had been extraordinarily difficult. 

She had a band with her that night and opened the show with a rather in-your-face version of “I Need A Hero” by Bonnie Tyler. I must say that I was surprised and impressed by her pipes. Sandra has a strong voice, almost operatic really. It was hard to make out in my tapes what she was going on about in the beginning of her show since it was just her and a microphone and I was so far from the stage at first. But after I was cut from ushering, I was able to make my way closer after getting a beer at the bar. I overheard that they were out of Anchor Steam that night, so I got a Sierra Nevada instead. Sandra did go on a bit about the difficulty getting on planes for this tour and sang a couple lines of Bon Jovi’s “Living On A Prayer” during one of her jokes. A little later, she made fun of Florida, mentioning that she drove past an anti-abortion billboard that was next to one from Holiday Inn where “kids stay for free”. She quipped that “next time you’re thinking of having an abortion, have two, three, four more kids instead” and that Holiday Inn would be happy to pay for their housing an education as well. “Holiday Inn will be picking up the whole tab!… Tampa makes L.A. look sane.”

Later, she lamented about the lameness of a recent Victoria’s Secret TV special and wished we had more ones with Carol Burnett and Cher like the old days. Then, she spoke about a time she was invited to some Valentino party in L.A. by a woman whose ex-boyfriend was Alan Cumming, though it’s common knowledge that he’s gay. Sandra just imagined spending loads of money getting her hair done and all dolled up with make up for it only to arrive in a Nissan Pathfinder and have her dress torn half off in the car door when getting out in front of Minnie Driver. She said that she “felt exhausted before I even walked out the door” and “cancelled the whole thing”. Afterwards, she ripped on Elizabeth Hurley a little citing her whore hair and a dress she wore recently that had a “cut up to her cooch”. Laura Bush got some smack talk from her too, mocking her advise to “tell your children their safe” saying, “Honey! Watch out for Anthrax!… Of course she had to tell her children they were safe for 18 years with a drunken imbecile for a father”. Sandra also pointed out that 9/11 might not have happened if the CIA wasn’t so busy investigating Bill Clinton’s penis.

Anyway, she took a break from the sass-mouth for a while praising San Francisco as “one of the most beautiful cities in the country”. Sandra regaled us of the time her family moved, driving to California when she was 10 years old in 1968 and they stopped in Denver where she tried sushi for the first time. When she arrived in San Francisco, her family saw a stage production of “The Fantasticks” and she sang for us a little bit of the chorus from “Try To Remember”.  Sandra also visited Fisherman’s Wharf, had some crab louie, and checked out the wax museum and she followed that with an original song that she wrote about the trip, mentioning how beautiful the drive was going up scenic Highway 1 on the coast. 

Ms. Bernhard soon returned to her gossip, making fun of how her former flame Madonna thinks she can play guitar now and teased her about being holed up in the Maldives with her new husband, director Guy Richie, joking that “if I can’t talk about this in San Francisco, I’m out of business”. Later, she sang a few bars of “Edge Of Seventeen” by Stevie Nicks praising her, saying that “She’s a Wiccan… She’s a mystery”. She went on to give props to David Lynch and his new film, “Mulholland Drive”, which just came out that October. That movie was originally conceived to be a television show and Sandra thought it was a missed opportunity not to make it a series with real actresses rather than “some WB thing” that wanted her “to be some light skinned, black girl… Get your black, ambiguous ass out here!” Then, she shared how much she enjoyed the New York Times on Sundays, the crossword, and making “sure all the jews are marrying the other jews”. 

Sandra took me a little by surprise when she brought her band back up to do a cover of “Kentucky Rain” by Elvis Presley. I didn’t see that one coming, but was less surprised when she finished her set with “Little Red Corvette”, a song that she sang on her new album, ending it with a big finish. She soon came back for an encore, doing “Get It While You Can” by Janis Joplin, a heartfelt tribute to the city that launched Joplin’s career. She ended that song with an even bigger finish, doing a wailing, gibberish, scat vocal crescendo followed by thunderous applause from the audience. And that was it, the last show of the year and it was a pity that there was no poster. Regardless, there were three whole weeks left until New Year’s, so I got out of town and visited my Dad and relatives on his side in Iowa that holiday season. The war in Afghanistan drew to a close with the battle of Tora Bora on the 17th and Hamid Karzai assuming control of the government five days later. Yes, the war was over and the occupation was only beginning. Little did we know the treacherous deceit our government would employ the following year to trick us into attacking Iraq. But that’s another story for another year…

https://archive.org/details/sandra-bernhard-warfield-121001