Concert Chronicles - KnotFest Iowa (Slipknot, Megadeth, Lamb of God, Gojira, Trivium, $uicideboy$, Tech N9ne, Fever 333) 2021-09-25 Indianola, IA

I hate day(s)-long outdoor music festivals.  The positives of these festivals are that I get to see a lot of bands that I might not otherwise get to see live and I get to experience new music that I might not hear otherwise.  The negatives, however, are many and the older I get the more annoying that I find them - such as: short sets, excessive time between acts, long lines for everything, the expense, the parking, the insane amounts of people, the dirt, unpredictable weather, etc...  

So I didn't think I would be attending Knotfest.  I've seen Slipknot many, many times, and although it is (now) always a good show; I wasn't sure that I wanted to put up with all the festival negatives.  That changed the day or two later when the full line-up was announced.  Most people who know me would guess that Megadeth was the deciding factor.  Megadeth did play a big part in the decision, but the tipping point for me was Faith No More.  I've enjoyed their hugely varied musical offerings since I first saw a VHS recording of MTV's 120 Minutes with the video for We Care a Lot.  I can't say that they were ever my favorite band, but they were always intriguing and a good listen.  I enjoyed the Angel Dust album at a time when most people were disappointed in it because of the perceived differences from the previous (hugely popular) Real Thing album.  It's not the best album, but it definitely is better than many gave it credit at the time.  To me, FNM continued to explore the musical landscape and I enjoyed the variety.  Again never my favorite, but always compelling.  Is that enough to overcome my hatred of festival shows?  Possibly but wouldn't have been certain without the song Last Cup of Sorrow; which I find brilliant and would love to see live.  Unfortunately, Faith No More canceled their appearance less than 2 weeks before the show for mental health reasons.  I was highly disappointed at the news, but support mental health and applaud FNM for doing what is healthy for themselves.  Hopefully, I will see you guys in the future.

The weather was expected to be great - mid to upper 70s with clear skies.  I was busy helping get my wife ready for her job and knew I would not arrive at the festival for the beginning but I was more than alright with that as it was already going to be a long day.  Knotfest was expecting over 30,000 attendees, I knew parking would be a disaster.  I decided to take the free shuttle that was offered.  This was a festival first for me.  Previous festivals that I attended usually didn't have this option and the one time that I do remember it being offered, it was completely out of my way and inconvenient.  The ride on the shuttle itself was fine...maybe took 10 minutes longer than driving myself but saved time in the long run by not having to worry about parking.  I (on the shuttle) arrived at the festival grounds at 1:00pm-ish.  This was 2 hours after the doors opened.  I had hoped that the initial crowd would be thinned out and it would be pretty smooth sailing getting in the gates.  I was wrong.  The line was over 1.5 miles long, winding through the parking lot and doubling upon itself on the road several times.  You could just barely hear the band (Gatecreeper who I kind of wanted to see...but not enough that I tried to arrive earlier) and the people behind me were talking about how they hoped to be in before the next stage one band (Knocked Loose) took the stage at 2:15pm.  I didn't think there would be any way for this line to move that fast but at least we would be closer and they should be able to hear it ok.  I was wrong...we didn't make it in AND the sound was terrible from our vantage, they were very disappointed.  As the line finally made its way toward the gates it curved and wrapped through the VIP parking lot.  These were people who paid like $400 per ticket and got special parking and got to basically skip the lines.  Unluckily their cars were really dusty from the gravel road into the parking area and some irate fans in line started drawing dicks in dust on their vehicles.  Witnessing a sea of cocks drawn on these vehicles was pretty humorous to all of us that had been plodding along forever.  It was harmless fun, but I would have liked to see some of their faces when they noticed after the show.  As usual, the majority of fans waiting were tolerant and patient with the situation; even though they were frustrated with the poor planning.  There were a few outstanding people too - like the purple-haired girl that brought a large trash bag picking up trash people left and letting others toss their trash while they waited in line.  This should have been something done by the organizers, but of course, it wasn't.  Others were sharing drinks and food and just being amiable humans stuck in a bad situation.  There were exceptions though - most notably the non-Iowan meatheads behind me who: a)  bragged that they were going to "fuck people up in the pit", b) complained that all the bands suck except for the 3 they liked, c) complained that these fans were different than the fans that used to go see Slipknot, and d) how Iowa is more white-trash than Missouri (not sure what their reasoning was here).  I couldn't get away from them fast enough.

I was finally ticket scanned and inside the festival grounds proper at 3:10pm.  Over two hours to get inside the festival.  It doesn't look as great of a period of time when you look at the schedule but holy crap: three full band sets and half of another missed.  Why?  The production company had been saying for weeks that they expected huge crowds (get your tickets now before they sell out).  They should have been prepared.  The biggest problem was that everyone had to go through a metal detector.  On paper, they had plenty of walk-through metal detectors, at least 20, maybe more...but they missed one tiny detail.  They didn't have tables or baskets for people to bypass their harmless metal objects past the detectors (a few did, but maybe only a third of the metal detector lines were so equipped).   Every time virtually anyone walked through the 2/3 of the other metal detectors they then had to then be hand-wanded because nearly everyone had a phone, keys, watch,  or something else harmless that would set off the detectors.  It brought the entire line to a slow creep.  It was an idiotic oversite by the production company.  Unfortunately, just one of many.

Once into the festival grounds, it was all lines. Lines everywhere.  Lines for food, lines for water and other drinks, lines for the attractions, lines for merch...pretty much if there was something it had a line.  The one exception was the bathrooms.  Here the promoter did a great job and there were probably a couple hundred porta-potties around the edge of the field.  If you had to wait for a bathroom, it was never very long.  Everything else was a different story. I had originally planned on grabbing some food when I first arrived at the concert but then decided to grab a breakfast sandwich and a huge soda to hold me over for a while before boarding the shuttle...this turned out to be a lucky move.   I found a nice, spot to watch the show and spent my time people-watching between acts (especially the people in the lines).  Food and drink lines crossed nearly the entire field.  People were standing in line for two hours or more for water.  Many foods were running out and it was still in the afternoon.  Lines were so bad that there were people fainting while waiting in line for a drink (of course no outside food or drink was allowed).  After being at the show for hours, the lines had not changed much.  Talked to some people near me and they said they waited in line for two and the only food left at the vendor was french fries.  So that is all they had eaten all day (and they had been at the show since 10am...it was now 6pm).  People who made it through the lines and were now starting to buy more than they needed (if the vendor actually had food & drink) and then scalping the extra.  I saw several people pay $20 for a can of water and another guy gave someone $50 for a hamburger and beer.  I think the production company is very lucky that there were not more dehydration injuries (and there were a bunch).  It was poorly run.  It seems like one of those situations where they were like "We will limit the number of vendors so everyone makes more money!" but I think everyone would have made more money if people were actually able to buy food instead of waiting in a line for hours.  I know I decided it wasn't worth it and skipped spending the money that I had planned.  From what I could tell, lines stayed pretty consistent until about 8:30pm when they started to decrease some (not a lot, but maybe only a one-hour wait instead of two plus).  A bit later, I now feel very fortunate that the mismanagement didn't lead to any deaths (hearts out to the people that were injured and killed at Astroworld 2021).

Seeing the breadth and variations of humanity at festival concerts is always interesting.  I try not to judge people too much, but there there is always a few people that I think to myself "What were you thinking when you decided to wear that?"  There were definitely poor fashion choices, but nothing that was completely insane.  I mean, I do question the reasoning of the guy that wore the sloth onesie that was 2 or 3 sizes too small as it looked like his family jewels were more than a little smashed...but I guess that is what he wanted.  Of course, there were tons of people in Slipknot jumpsuits and masks (my calculations: 85% Corey v1 masks, 13% Joey v1 & v2, 2% Clown v1, and 1% Jim various).  Lots of people in various obscure band tees...this was often me when younger, but I wore a muppet tee this time.  I always like seeing the more uncommon shirts and even better when 2 people connect over a little-known band.  I always try to compliment someone when they are wearing a good but not popular band shirt.  The outfit that I had the biggest issue with was the shirtless chubby guy that wore star pasties over his nipples.  I am not sure if the pasties were for sun protection or privacy, but it was a total missed opportunity in my mind.  If you are going to see Slipknot and going to wear star pasties on your nipples, I would think the MINIMUM effort would be to turn the stars upside down and draw a circle around it to create an inverted pentagram.  Such a waste.

The music - I got inside the grounds about halfway through Fever 333's set.  I still didn't get to see that much of them, as I still had to work my way through the masses of people, but the song's that I was able to pay attention to (Burn It and Hunting Season) were enjoyable and I wished I was able to catch more of their set.  Tech N9ne was up next. Although I had not seen Tech before, I had checked his music previously after noticing that he plays at a local venue once or twice a year.  I enjoyed Tech N9ne's show, the horror rap he has is interesting.  My biggest issue was him trying to get the crowd to participate in various Kansas City chants and his Red Kingdom song.  To me, it just wasn't the right crowd - even though central Iowa is closer to KC than Minneapolis, Green Bay, or Chicago...I would say that none of their teams garner a majority of support.  And of those, Kansas City probably has some weaker support (completely based on the small circle of people I know)...it just didn't seem to connect with most of the audience.  I think Tech N9ne was a drag on the crowd...there were enough people just not interested in giving rap a try that the energy just started dissipating.  

I had seen Trivium before...but it had been many years ago.  I wasn't a huge fan back then but I thought they put on a pretty good show at KnotFest.  I thought Matt put a lot of heart and spirit into his performance.  Being a vast majority hard rock/metal crowd, Trivium really helped pump energy back into the crowd.  It still took several songs, but by the end of Trivium's set, the crowd was back to rocking and really ready for Gojira.  This was my second time seeing Gojira.  Previously had also been opening for Slipknot in 2019.   But, I had been a fan of them well before seeing them live.  They are one of those bands that I am surprised are not bigger than they are...still waiting for that one breakout hit, I guess.  Gojira put on a great show and I really look forward to a time when they come back to Iowa as headliners.

The crowd went nuts for Lamb of God.  Personally, I have never understood the appeal.  I've seen them a few times in concert, I have friends that swear by them, I've listened to the albums, I think Randy is pretty hilarious in interviews, etc...I have tried, but their music just doesn't stick with me.  At all.  Even now, I couldn't name a sing LoG song and would have difficulty even producing a lyric, I might be able to identify a couple riffs (maybe)...but mostly it goes right out of my head, so every time I hear it is like hearing it for the first time and being bored by it all over again.  I don't what it is, but my brain just translates Lamb of God to "This is the most generic, boring music I have heard" and quickly forgets it.

$uicide Boy$ were next and I was not familiar with them at all...and I would say the same for most of the crowd.  There was a small group of people that made their way to the front and seemed to be really into and knew the lyrics, but a lot of the crowd decided that it was a good time to hit the bathrooms or grab a drink.  There was some booing, which I didn't agree with as they were doing a decent job...it was just the wrong crowd.  I can appreciate what Slipknot was seemingly trying to do - expose people to a wide range of music.  I think that is great, but I think the rest of the conditions of the festival made the crowd more than a little angry and not receptive to new things.  I think the crowd might have been more receptive if they played earlier.  From my vantage point, I also thought they had some sound issues with the bass being way too loud and blown out.  So not only did it all sound a bit too fuzzy, but also it was so loud that the vocals were lost in the mix.  Overall,  I thought their set was OK.  I would have loved to see Run The Jewels in their place but that is only because I am more familiar with their music.

The headliner of stage 2:  Megadeth.  Megadeth is always a big draw for me, I have been a fan since my older brother first brought home the Peace Sells album in 1986...I was in sixth grade.  I have been lucky enough to have seen Megadeth many times on many tours - in large arenas, mid-sized concert halls, and smaller live music bars.  (I'll get chronicles up about most of those eventually.)  This show, however, was probably the most disappointing.  I might have had my expectations set way too high because I was really looking forward to this show...even with the unfortunate dismissal of David Ellefson a few months earlier, I still had high hopes. But to me, this show just seemed off.  It was still good, just not as good as I had hoped. When I think of a Megadeth show, I think of a dark stage and all of a sudden lights flare up and they bust into a ripper like Hanger 18 to melt faces.  It's zero to sixty in no time flat and it always gets my blood pumping.  This show however started with the recorded version of Prince of Darkness played over the PA system with video of various Vic Rattlehead and Megadeth images swirling and moving about on the video screens.  And this went on for minutes.  I think they thought it would build tension for Megadeth, but for me, it did the opposite.  It was diminishing, it took away all the impact of Megadeth's wall of noise, killer opening.  I was also surprised at how weak Dave Mustaine's voice sounded.  I have been to shows where his vocals were mixed too low but you could still tell his intense sneer, but this wasn't just low vocals it was like he didn't have his usual power.  I know Dave just turned 60 and that he battled throat cancer just a couple years earlier...but still I became distracted, it was hard to concentrate on the current set when my mind was comparing these vocals to all the vocals of past shows.  There also seemed to be a lot of breaks between songs.  I don't remember this happening in the past...the shows I recall were Megadeth coming out and just busting for 45 to 90 minutes, maybe a little banter or rant in the middle but mostly just killer song after killer song, no breaks.  Maybe it was equipment issues, maybe it was age...but play a song, stop for 2-5 minutes, play another song, stop for a few minutes....it just sapped all of my excitement and of course then they can't play as many songs in the set, which was just a waste.  I became wistful and more than a little depressed that this was perhaps the winding down of my faithful companion for the past 35 years.  I still enjoyed the show, it was still very good and these are all just minor flaws of a hardcore fanning pining about the loss of his own youth.  I told others at past shows when there was a lineup change or something wasn't as great as it could be: "a bad Megadeth show is better than many bands' good shows".

Finally, Slipknot.  I've seen Slipknot many, many, many times and after they struck it big, a home state show is always a glorious, high-energy affair.  And this was no different.  But after being somewhat let down by Megadeth, having been on my feet for 9+ hours, having nothing to eat or drink...I was worn out and not really in the mood.  I retreated further back onto the festival grounds to further distance myself from the crowds and just watched the video screens.  It is pretty amazing to see how they have transformed over the years and honed their sound.  Slipknot was good but a little after midnight, I decided that I was done for the day and headed for the exit and shuttles.  I did miss the last couple of songs and the Paul/Joey tribute but I was ok with that so that I could avoid the crowds...and I am glad I did.  I was able to get directly onto a bus and was back to my parked car in about 40 minutes, which wasn't bad.  But as we are getting dropped off at 1am, over the bus' radios you can hear the dispatcher begging for the drivers to return to the festival fairgrounds and pick up more loads of people.  From the radio chatter, it sounded like the production company had only contracted the drivers until 1am and so they were all taking their buses and going home...but the show didn't get over until 12:30am.  Later, I heard a bunch of people had been stranded at the festival grounds until 3 or 4am due to lack of buses and drivers.  Just another poorly planned aspect by the production company.  Personally, I was starving and parched so I headed to the nearest fast-food restaurants...all were closed.  I guess I hadn't really been out late since COVID started and hadn't realized that all these restaurants that used to be open until 3am or even 24 hours were now closing early.  Even most gas stations were closed.  I was thankful to find an open Quik Trip gas station and it was packed with fellow Slipknotters. I grabbed a soda and their last microwave sandwich (which was awful, but also delicious since I hadn't eaten anything since 13+ hours earlier).

Concert Chronicles - Jane's Addiction (w Chickasaw Mudd Puppies) 1991-05-18 Davenport, IA

I don't remember how I came to possess it, but Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking CD was one of my first few CDs.  I didn't personally own a CD player at the time (1989/1990) and used a player borrowed from my brother - which I expected him to take back any time. So I always still bought records or cassettes.  But I did start acquiring a few CDs.  I remember how I obtained the other early CDs - Megadeth Rust in Peace was purchased at a midnight release sale at CD Warehouse; Rocky Horror Picture Show 15th Anniversary soundtrack was purchased with a B.Dalton gift certificate that I got for Christmas; Toad the Wet Sprocket was left by my brother.  But Nothing's Shocking?  I don't remember buying or borrowing...it just seemed to appear one day.  Months later, I'd asked everyone I knew if they had left it and all said something like "No, you always had that before anyone else," or "YOU introduced us to Jane's Addiction," etc...  It became clear that either I bought it thinking the cover is cool (which seems like me) and had forgotten (which doesn't seem like me) or it had magically appeared as a divine gift (nothing's shocking?).

And a gift it was.  I put it in my CD player, put on my headphones, laid back on my bed in the dark, and was completely blown away.  The music, the vocalizations, and the odd syncopations of the lyrics almost put me in a trance.  Everything about it was just mesmerizing.  I put this album on repeat for months, I went out and bought the cassette version so I could listen while driving.

A year or so later when Ritual De Lo Habitual was released, I was at the record shop the first-day buying.  I had to wait until after school and I was worried that the store would run out as they didn't carry many copies of alternative or hard rock music.  When I said that I was glad that they still had a copy, the clerk told me I was the first to buy it...this was at 4pm and it made me sad.  A week later, there was the big dust-up about the album cover and then it seemed like the record was flying off the shelves!  (Oh no!  Plaster boobies and penis corrupting our children!)  It didn't make much sense to me, but it seemed to be good for record sales.  Hopefully, some of those people also listened to and enjoyed the music.

Ritual was another powerhouse release for Jane's Addiction.  From the frenetic guitar of Stop! to the delicious monumental-ness of Three Days to the subtle heartache of Then She Did.  The entire album is a tour de force and still a favorite listen.

So I was excited when I heard that Jane's Addiction would be coming to Iowa.  There were two problems:  1. The concert was a 3-hour drive away and being relatively newly licensed, I didn't feel comfortable making the drive.  2. The Red Hot Chili Peppers (with openers Nirvana and Pearl Jam) were playing the next day the opposite direction.

Problem one was easily solved by enlisting my brother Kelly and friend Steve to go with me.  I don't know if Steve was much of a Jane's Addiction fan, but he was always up for concert fun.  Kelly had become a pretty big fan of Jane's the past 6 months with the Ritual album.  So additional companions and drivers = check.

Problem two was trickier.  I really wanted to go to see Pearl Jam and Nirvana, but liked but didn't love the Chili Peppers.  Both Pearl Jam and Nirvana were unknown at the time (neither Ten nor Nevermind had been released yet)...but I had heard a lot of buzz and some bootleg cassette copies of songs.  I thought it would be a good show to see.  There were a few deciding factors here.  

A) was the cost - Red Hot Chili Peppers' tickets were like $20 (plus fees) which was pretty steep back then. 

B) the bands I wanted to see were just the openers.  

C) since they were newer, little-known bands I figured I would have plenty of chances to see Nirvana and Pearl Jam (who would have guessed a ticketmaster boycott would put PJ touring on hold for years...and then of course Kurt). 

D) Kelly found out that the Black Crowes (with Jellyfish opening) were playing Davenport the same night and we could just stay for that show.

Problems solved.  Plans were made.  We were going to Jane's Addiction (tickets were purchased), crashing at a friend of Kelly & Steve's place (I believe he was a former student teacher they had in art?), then going to The Black Crowes (tickets would be bought at the door since I couldn't afford to front the cost for both shows).

This was the first concert that we went to at the Palmer Auditorium.  I was expecting some kind of slightly stuffy theater-type theater, but it was really just a gymnasium for a small, local chiropractic college.  We thought it be a kind of amateur experience, but Palmer ended up being on of the better places to see a show that we would go to.  It was just big enough to pull good size acts, the security was cool, and from 1992-1995 hosted an amazing assortment of concerts.  The main gym floor would be standing and then they would have the bleachers half open for the people that wanted to sit.  Good and somewhat intimate views from all locations.  It felt big and small at the same time.  Unfortunately, I heard someone was being a drunk idiot on the bleachers at one of the shows, fell, and was severely injured*.  This of course turned into a lawsuit (even though completely this person's own fault) and so the Palmer stopped booking any more concerts.  *So I was told while waiting in line at the last show I attended there in 1995.

The Chickasaw Mudd Puppies opened the show.  I had never heard of them but their high energy, catchy songs, and odd instruments (like the washboard) pulled me in.  I still love and regularly listen to their two albums.  I would have loved to see them again when I was more familiar with their music.  There are a lot of power trio bands, but with The Chickasaw Mudd Puppies you get all the power of a full band made by only 2 people.

During the switchover, I decided I would like to sit and watch the show without having to fight the crowd (I still felt rather inexperienced with and a little intimidated by the general admission crowd).  We headed up into the bleachers and had a good view of the stage.  But there was a distraction behind us.  Some middle-aged, dumpy-looking guy was standing on the bleachers and kind of dancing and kind of doing yoga poses at the same...none of which matched the music.  It was weird and he didn't stop jiggling and shaking then entire show.  He did this during the taped intermission-music as well as throughout Jane's set.  One of his favorite moves was making his arms all wavy (like Jake from AdventureTime) and then bringing them together over his head in a pyramid shape, then keeping his arms outstretched, slowly bringing them to his side.  We nicknamed him Jello-Man and in the future often referred to Palmer Auditorium as Jello-Man auditorium.

Kelly and Steve also started talking to some girls (I was still too shy).  One had recently had her nipples pierced and although she wouldn't show them (and I don't blame her), Steve did talk her into letting me touch them.  It was over her shirt, but she wasn't wearing a bra and it was pretty great for young me.  So whoever you are, pierced nipple girl, thank you.

The curtain goes up for JA and the drum kit on its riser is upon a persian rug, with candles arranged, and a few strings of christmas lights strung around the area.  This is a good sign, to me it says that they will play my favorite song.  I didn't think they would, it's a 10-minute song, a bit odd in places, and I wasn't sure how others felt about it.  Three Days is my favorite Jane's Addiction song. It has been since the first time I listened to Ritual de lo Habitual (it might have taken 2 listens).  The stage is still dark (besides the ambient christmas lights and candles); the bass line for Up the Beach starts reverberating through the hall and the lights snap off which the first drum clash.  It was beautiful.  Eric Avery has intriguing and powerful opening bass lines on many Jane's songs and I don't think he got as much respect as he deserved by the public.

Even though Been Caught Stealing (personally, the worst song on the album) had been a big hit, I think Jane's Addiction was still very much an"alternative" band for most people.  They were weirdos.  We didn't have cable when I was young, so I hadn't really seen many of Jane's videos...but a friend had taped the videos for Stop and Ain't No Right for me.  So my image of the band was based on those two videos and the pictures from the album covers; I was a little disappointed when Perry came out and didn't have dreadlocks, a crazy outfit, or a corset on.  His head was closely cropped and he wore a linen suit with a white tank top, suspenders, and a matching fedora.  He looked so normal - I was expecting a freak show.  We, the audience were the freaks!  Still for all normal appearance Perry still completely rocked and made his outfit look good.  Looking back, Dave Navarro looked SO young; and although I thought he seemed the epitome of cool back then; he has only gotten better with age.  It seemed like Perry had a new echo pedal on his microphone because he played with it for a lot of the show...too much for my liking because his vocals were awesome without it.  Perry vomited several times throughout the show into the side-stage garbage can - was he rocking that hard, was he sick, was it drugs, nerves?  Who knows.  It didn't matter.  I felt very connected with the crowd and music at this show.  It was the quintessential concert experience for me, filling my senses and emotions.  A natural high that I keep chasing at concerts but only rarely obtain.

I've copied the setlist listed on setlist.fm below, but I know for a fact it is wrong.  They did NOT play Three Days (I was disappointed - maybe Perry was puking at that time) and I am sure they played Jane Says in there.  It was an incredible show and one that I wish I could live over. 

We stayed at the friend's apartment but my brother and Steve decided they didn't want to hang around town all night and wait for the Black Crowes concert.  I was disappointed but figured I could then hit up RHCP with Pearl Jam and Nirvana...but one the drive back we heard that show had been postponed (it would take place without Nirvana about 6 months later, but by the time they put tickets back on sale RHCP had really started to take off and tickets were very hard to get - and I was unwilling to pay scalper prices - Pearl Jam would really take off a couple months after this show).

Setlist by Setlist.fm

 

Concert Chronicles - Queensryche (w Suicidal Tendencies) 1991-09-15 Ames, IA

I enjoyed Queensryche's Operation Mindcrime and Empire.  However, I really didn't care for their earlier albums.  Geoff obviously had a voice, but his screaming and cheesy lyrics on the earlier albums just killed them for me.  I was very skeptical about Operation when it was released and it took a bit, but Queensryche finally won me over as a fan.  That still feels weird for me to say that after hating on them for years.  That means that although I did want to see Queensryche, I was REALLY excited to see Suicidal Tendencies and ST persuaded me to buy tickets.

Suicidal Tendencies was riding high on their Lights...Camera...Revolution! album at the time and they were getting surprisingly good MTV airplay on You Can't Bring Me Down and Send Me Your Money; but had been a fan since I first heard Institutionalized years earlier.  Join the Army was one of the first albums that I bought with my own money at the local record store when I was in sixth grade.  I thought ST would be one of those bands that I liked but would probably not ever get to see in concert - too heavy and too weird for Iowa.

I was once again joined by my friend Steve and we both highly enjoyed the ST set, although this was back in the day when opening bands often didn't get to use the video cameras and screens that the main act used...so although they sounded great they were hard to see really well from our seats.  It just took some of the energy out of it for us.  

Between sets we went out to the never-ending circular hallway and hoped we would see something humorous like the puke slip and slide we witnessed at the Poison concert but no luck.  I'm not sure if it was longer than normal or if it just seemed that way after being pumped up by Suicidal Tendencies...but the switchover between bands felt like it lasted an hour.  I was totally bored by the time Queensryche came on and it took me a while to get back into the music.  

Queensryche opened with Resistance which is decent, but not one of my favorites and didn't quite get me out of my boredom.  Followed by Walk in the Shadows from the Rage album (which I hated), definitely didn't lift my mood.  I was starting to think I had made a mistake coming.  Luckily, things really started picking up with Best I Can and Empire.  By the time Jet City Woman hit a couple songs later, I was fully back into the concert mood.  I am not sure if it was the performance, the energy of the crowd, or just my mindset finally locking into place, but Jet City Woman was very powerful to me that night and became one of my favorite Queensryche songs (I considered it just ok before the show).  It remains in a top spot to this day.

Operation Mindcrime was then played in full.  I wasn't really expecting that and was very pleased.  I was expecting about half of it broken up with songs from the first two (disliked by me) albums.  So hearing Operation Mindcrime in its entirety made a much bigger fan out of me than when I went in.  It also made me appreciate it more because I don't think I had ever listened to it when I wasn't driving, and so probably had not heard it non-stop.  Driving to school, I would usually only get 2 or 3 songs so it was hard to get into the entire concept.

I went away from the concert happy to have gotten the chance to see Suicidal Tendencies and a much bigger Queensyche fan than I went in.

Setlist by Setlist.fm

Concert Chronicles - Poison (w Warrant) 1990-09-25 Ames, IA

Several people who knew me back in the day were surprised that I had planned on going to see Poison.  I was known more for liking heavier metal - Megadeth, Danzig, Iron Maiden, Anthrax, Metallica, etc... But I always had a rather eclectic taste in music, I just promoted the heavy metal image more at the time. Much poppier than what I often listened to but fun and light were a nice palate cleanser sometimes.  I also think the first few albums were half great (although the album cover of Open Up was terrible..and the others weren't great either).  Talk Dirty To Me, Nothin' but a Good Time, Every Rose Has Its Thorn, Ride the Wind, and Something to Believe In...they all make for an amazing greatest hits album.  I figured this would be a fun concert and hopefully a lot of attractive girls to look at (obviously I would be too scared to actually talk to them, but I could look).

The opening band of Warrant was a detractor for me...I just couldn't enjoy them at the time.  They eventually brought me around somewhat later with Uncle Tom's Cabin, but at this time they were all Down Boys and synchronized dancing on their knees.  It didn't help that I worked summers with a girl who was CRAZY about Warrant and I had to listen to her gab about them all day for weeks and weeks.  I think she would have killed any band.  Just shut up, Rachel!

A week or so before the show, my friend Steve had overheard some girls at the mall talking about how they had to find the perfect matching outfits for the Poison concert.  So this became our inside joke for years of concerts - "Oh, we have to go get matching outfits."

We watched a few songs of Warrant's set (and saw enough of synchronized kee dancing) that we skipped out to walk around the hallway of the arena and people watch for a bit.  Being a large hexagon, the coliseum has a continuous hallway encircling the arena.  We thought it was funny to stop people and ask them for directions because we had earlier met two really beautiful women that had told us to "meet us at the end of the hallway during Warrant" and we had been walking forever!  Most people didn't get the joke and would point one way or the other...so we would go that way and look for more people to ask.  We then witnessed a fan vomit huge amounts of clear liquid across the breadth of one section of the polished tile hallway.  I feel horrible about this now...We SHOULD have gotten staff to clean it up or at least warned people, but we were young assholes.  We stood there and watched people outside of the vomit zone and watched people walk, slip, and fall into the puke.  Over and over and over again.  Assholes - definitely.

Poison put on a good show.  I sang along needing nothing but a good time.  The audience's lighters swaying in the dark on Something to Believe In was really impressive (the first time that I had seen such a large coordinated display).  One thing that surprised me was the Brett Michaels' dancing was SO jerky looking...maybe I had watched too many Guns N' Roses videos and footage right before like concert but Brett's sideways shuffle seemed downright spastic in person. CC also came off and totally insane or totally coked up.  I hadn't planned on it, but I ended up buying a t-shirt of the skull in the purple tophat because the colors were brilliant and eye-catching (the picture that I found on the internet does not do it justice).

On the way home from the concert it started raining - hard and it was very dark.  The downpour where it is like a constant waterfall hitting your car and it is very difficult to see and hear.  I should have pulled over, but I was young and stupid and kept driving.  Luckily, I did slow down some and I got a little bit of an eerie feeling as we were approaching a railroad crossing that didn't have lights or crossbars or anything really warning about it.  I couldn't see a train - just blackness - but I figured I would stop, just in case.  As we sat there for a few seconds, the rain suddenly lightened considerably and we realized that a train had been crossing the road the entire time - dark grey and black cars just speeding past in the near pitch black of heavy rain and midnight darkness.  The train was probably three from our bumper and we had no idea.  Thinking how close we came to slamming into the side of an invisible train still turns my stomach into a knot.

Another side story to this show - I bought tickets to this show for me and my friend Steve, but I also won a pair last minute from the local radio station (thanks again KDWZ or was this Star 102.5 this time?, I forget).  I couldn't find anyone else to go with me on short notice...so I slipped the extras into the school locker of a girl that I had a crush on from afar.  No note or anything since she had a boyfriend (and I was chicken) but I thought maybe I would be able to "randomly" run into her at the show and maybe we could talk about the show at school the following week.  I didn't see her at the show, so I am not sure that if she even used the tickets or gave them away (they were free to me, so I didn't really care).

Concert Chronicles - Heart (w The Black Crowes) 1990-09-01 Cedar Rapids, IA

I have been a fan of The Black Crowes since their first album Shake Your Money Maker was released.  Such a great album - Jealous Again, Twice as Hard, She Talks to Angels, etc, etc...almost every song on that album is a great listen.  At the time, their southern tinted rock and blues really stood out on radio.  Not to mention that the Robinson brothers looked cool as shit in their crushed velvet suits.  I didn't care too much for Heart.  I enjoyed their 70s stuff like Barracuda and Crazy on You.  Nancy totally shredded back then.  But their current album and All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You was just boring pop for me.

As a poor high school student, I could not justify the price of tickets plus the 130-mile drive. This show was a no-go...especially since The Black Crowes were just openers.  Luckily, I was able to win tickets from the local radio station (thanks again KDWZ)...and the station was even chartering a bus for the winners!

My friend Steve tucked the ticket envelope in the car's visor for safekeeping as I pulled out of the driveway headed to the radio station to meet the bus.  About a block away from home, we realized that the gas tank was basically on E and we decided to switch cars to save time from stopping at a gas station.  We were soon boarding the bus with the other winners.  As the bus was ready to leave, the local DJ/station chaperone for the trip made an announcement like "Everybody, make sure you have your tickets."  I give Steve a look like "What kind of idiot forget their tickets?", right before realizing that we had left ours tucked into the visor of the OTHER car.  Fuck!  We felt more than a little stupid.  It was not a problem though, the DJ had plenty of extra tickets (we weren't the only ones that forgot our tickets).

At the show, we grabbed some seats in the lower mezzanine and watched The Black Crowes.  I was still a little tentative about mingling in the large mass of people on the main floor.  Plus I am short and I wanted to SEE The Black Crowes.  This was a pretty big tour for the Crowes.  At the time, Twice as Hard and Jealous Again had been released to moderate success; but Hard to Handle (which propelled them to a much larger fame and audience) had not been released to radio & MTV yet. Actually, I *THINK* Hard to Handle dropped as a single the day of the concert.

The Black Crowes put on a short but packed set.  Rich looked cool in crushed velvet and Chris in his ruffle shirt.  It was pure and classic Black Crowes.  I wish I could ever be that cool.  Most of the crowd didn't seem that into it.  I think was a lack of familiarity, and I am sure they were bragging to their friends a few months later when Hard to Handle was everywhere.

During the intermission and Heart, I decided to brave the mass of people that made up the main floor of general admittance.  Being of smaller stature, I had a difficult time seeing the stage and not getting trampled by other people but was beginning to get the rhythm and feel for how the crowd moved.  After nearly losing a shoe during Barracuda, I created "Michael's Concert Rule #1" in my head - always make sure to tie your shoes tightly (and in double knots if possible).  About 3/4 of the way through Heart's set, I picked up a "fan."  An older (maybe mid-30s), obviously gay man would not leave me alone in the crowd.  He kept trying to talk to me (I'm listening to the fucking song!), following me around, and get me to dance with him.  Normally I have no issues with gay people, but this guy's persistence was making me very uncomfortable.  Steve and I left the show and hung outside the venue for the last 30 minutes or so.  We could at least still hear the music as we watched cars drive down the main strip in Cedar Rapids.  It was nice to get out of the hot arena and hang out in the slightly chilled air.

After the show, all the winners made their way back to the bus for the 2-hour ride home.  The interior of the bus was dark and everyone was starting to nod off when all of a sudden a voice from the back goes "Those aren't pillows!" and everyone cracks up.  It was hilarious.  The comedian in the back proved to be a one-trick pony as he proceeded to repeat this joke about 10 more times.

Concert Chronicles - KISS (w Faster Pussycat & Slaughter) 1990-06-02 Des Moines, IA

 As a kid, I loved KISS.  I still like them quite a bit, but probably not as much as I did when I was younger.  I loved the music, the makeup, the theatrics.  The Dynasty album was the first record that I specifically asked for as a birthday present.  I got it for my sixth birthday.  Ripping the wrapping paper off the album and seeing their painted faces was like opening the briefcase in Pulp Fiction.  I could just feel it shine on me.  It is one of my top memories.

I immediately went to play it on our record player.  It played terribly with lots of loud pops, skips, repeats, and jumps.  I was pretty dejected.  Eventually, I convinced my parents to return it to Sears (remember when Sears has a decent size record selection?) and get a new copy.  They agreed but it would be several days before they would have the time.  In the meantime, I listened to my scratched KISS album over and over and over.  An eternity later (or so it felt), we get a new copy...but, it plays exactly the same.  We figured it must be a manufacturing defect and I continued to listen to that pop, scratchy, skipping album for the next 5-6 years. I know, I drove my older brother crazy with the album and I am sure that the opening bars of Charisma fill him with dread to this day. I know this album is considered KISSco (Kiss-disco) but I still love it.

About 5-6 years after first getting this album, I got a new record player...and the record played perfectly (well as perfectly as a 5-year-old, child owned and played record can).  It wasn't a manufacturing defect after all.  It was the 1950/60s (and probably original needle) record player that I had been using.  This record player had belonged to my mom and was all I knew as a child.  So now, I could hear the record how it was supposed to sound!  But to this day my brain still misses all the pops and skips and will insert them in my mind every time I hear a song from this album.

So 10 years later, KISS is touring on their Hot in the Shade tour.  I still listened to KISS regularly and still had a KISS banner on my wall.  My friend Andrew was also a KISS fan and we decide we have to go see the local show and rush out to buy tickets (I actually won tickets from the local radio station to the show too, but gave them to my brother).  It is my first general admission show and I decide that I want to be in the front row and get the complete fan experience.  Andrew and I convince my older brother to drop us off at the venue around 9am (showtime was 8pm) to be first in line.  We are still not first but we are only a few people in front of us.  We waited and waited, slowly more people showed up.  I had imagined that it would be a group of people that I would have a lot in common with (and hopefully some cute girls to talk to) but the people that showed up early were mostly the 40-year-old stoner and boozer types that just wanted to get wasted before the show.  We were pretty much ignored as "just kids", so Andrew and I barely even talked to anyone during our 10-hour wait.

It was forecasted to be a warm day (and long for us), so we came equipped with a 12 pack of Coke, a 12 pack of Minute Maid orange soda, a box of twinkies, and a bag of chips.  This was a mistake.  It was warm and the two of us had drunk all the soda by about 5pm.  We had to pee...badly, but there were no bathrooms available nearby.  We held it but seriously felt like we were going to burst.  I am pretty sure that is the worst that I have ever had to use a bathroom.  But eventually, the countdown to the doors opening had come and we were extremely excited and we could somewhat ignore the bladder pain.  

By the time the doors opened, there were hundreds and hundreds of people in line and we were proud to be right at the front.  The doors opened and everyone behind us suddenly rushed forward.  I was pushed to the side and was getting smashed on the post between the double doors.  I could not move and I was starting to really get crushed.  Luckily, Andrew was able to grab my arm and pull me through while pushing at the others rushing in.  My left ribcage, arm, hip, and leg were completely bruised the next day from this.  Crowds can be scary and dangerous.  We got inside and had still had to pee urgently, so that took precedence over getting front row so we headed to the bathrooms.  Urinating when you have to go that badly is more difficult than you would expect.  It's like your body is clamping down so hard to keep you from pissing yourself that it is difficult to start to release.  Once we were able to finally get flowing it was almost orgasmic.

We headed out to the main floor (I thought there would be chairs! I didn't realize that general admission usually meant standing only in the main area) but after checking it out, I decided that my left side was too sore from getting squished entering that I needed to sit.  So much for well-laid plans to get in the front.  We found some decent seats in the balcony on Gene's side and waited for the show to start.  I was mildly looking forward to Faster Pussycat but didn't really care for Slaughter (Up All Night was way overplayed at this time).  Unfortunately, the guy next to me was pretty drunk and All Slaughter All the Time!  Before the show and during Faster Pussycat he kept regaling me with stories about how much he liked Slaughter, why Mark Slaughter was so awesome, and how much he was going to screw all night to Up All Night.  I continuously told him that I didn't care and that I was trying to watch the show but to no avail.  I thought about changing seats but these seats had one great advantage - there were some cute girls right behind us that had cut off their shirts to just below their breasts.  Every time they would raise their arms and scream (which they did a lot) their shirts would rise up exposing their breasts.  So with a little bit of a head tilt, we could see boobies were jiggling above us quite often.  This was awesome for teenage boys.  There was a lot of boob flashing in the crowd that night (I don't remember any at Prince or Tom Petty).

Faster Pussycat was OK, Slaughter was OK but I was really mostly just waiting for KISS.  The lights go out and the announcer says "You wanted the best, you got the best.  The hottest band in the world...KISS!"* and the crowd went crazy.  I was surprised at the crowd noise level difference between the opening bands and the main act.  It seemed like a lot of people were cheering and singing along with Slaughter, but that paled in comparison to KISS.  The crowd was loud and then energy was intense.  It was so cool hearing all these songs that I listened to for years played live.  I thought it was a great show - the music, the lights, the lasers, the boobs!  THIS was a rock and roll show.  The only thing missing was KISS wearing their makeup (and as always, I wished that they played something from Music From the Elder).  I spent all the money I had on a couple of concert tees (one which was later stolen and one fell apart) and a Crazy Nights picture disc record (which I still have).  I think this concert is the one that really started my love for concerts.

*At the time, I thought this was pretty clever - "Ha! he is doing the intro from the Alive album.  That's funny."  I did not realize that this was done EVERY SINGLE TIME Kiss plays.  I would soon grow to hate it.

Setlist from Setlist.fm

Concert Chronicles - Tomy Petty (w Lenny Kravitz) 1990-02-19 Ames, IA

    I won tickets to this show from my local radio station (back then it was 93.3 KDWZ).  It was the station with current music and some decent rock mixed in.  In the early 90s, for some reason, I was really good at being X caller when you hear Y song.  REALLY good.  I would usually win about once a week and often once a week at multiple stations.  I never won any big prizes, but always had plenty of cassettes, CDs, and station merch.  For this Tom Petty Giveaway weekend, you had to be caller 10 when you heard a Tom Petty song...I ended up winning 3 times over the weekend (so that would have been 3 pairs of tickets), although on the third time I told the DJ to give them to the next caller after he recognized my voice.  This would not be possible now, as all radio stations that I know about now have some rules like "you can only win every 30 days."

    At the time, I was more interested in seeing the opener Lenny Kravitz.  Let Love Rule had been out about 6 months at the time and was doing decent.  It still seemed like he was pretty unknown, but I enjoyed the album quite a bit so was looking forward to seeing him live.  In my young brain, Tom Petty seemed a little dated, even while I did highly enjoy the current Full Moon Fever album...I think my brain was a little skewed because of his work with The Traveling Wilburys (which I also enjoyed...but so did my parents.)

    Free tickets aren't usually the best seats and this was no exception...we were in the balcony.  I thought Lenny Kravitz put on a good show although I thought he sounded a little tinny through the PA system.  Instead of sounding like a rock concert, it sort of sounded like a giant radio at the end of a long concrete hallway.  Tom Petty sounded much better but I admit that I didn't pay as much attention as I should have...I spent a lot of time looking around for hot girls instead of watching the show.  I wish I could go back and change that now.

    

Concert Chronicles - Prince 1988-11-21 Ames, IA

This is my first major concert. I had gone to other shows with my parents but this was the first show that I was able to convince my mom to order tickets for me. 

This took some doing, I was 12 years old at the time tickets went on sale and my mom did not think that I was old enough to go to a concert by myself, not to mention, my parents would not want to drive me so I also had to convince my older brother to take me. My mom was a tough sell. Our family was doing okay at the time, but not too many years earlier we had been fairly poor...so spending money on this type of was not typical. My mom was also bitter about her own parents not letting her go see The Beatles in concert when she was a teenager. My brother was easier to convince, even though we didn't get along that well as the time, because he had been into Prince during the 1999 and Purple Rain albums although he had since stopped listening by this time. 

 All this convincing took a while and I got tickets weeks after they went on sale and so we were pretty much as far away as we could be (there was maybe a row or two behind us, but basically back of the arena). 

 Originally this concert was supposed to be about 10 months AND part of the Sign o' the Times tour...but it was postponed and became part of the Lovesexy tour. For many reasons, this show was disappointing. You can read a little more about my experience with this show here. 

It was a start, however, and many more shows would follow.

Setlist from Setlist.fm

• Erotic City
• Housequake
• It's Gonna Be a Beautiful Night
• Slow Love
• Adore
• Delirious
• Jack U Off
• Sister
• Do Me, Baby
• I Wanna Be Your Lover
• Head
• A Love Bizarre (Sheila E. cover)
• When You Were Mine
• Blues in C (If I Had a Harem)
• Little Red Corvette
• Controversy
• U Got the Look
• Superfunkycalifragisexy
• Bob George
• Anna Stesia

Intermission

• Eye No
• Lovesexy
• Glam Slam
• The Cross
• I Wish U Heaven
• Kiss
• Dance On

Encore:

• Let's Go Crazy
• When Doves Cry
• Purple Rain
• 1999

Encore 2:

• Alphabet St. 

Elected Officials

Samsung