Join the Seeing Them Live podcast for our inaugural year-end concert review show. Special guests Eric Green, Jessica Catena, Doug Florzak, Steve Pothel, Summer, and Scott Patrick Wiener, join Charles to recap the top concerts each attended in 2024. From Eric's experience returning to post-pandemic live shows, seeing bands like Bim Skala Bim and Foo Fighters, to Summer's adventure at Lollapalooza with her son, and Scott's emotional concerts with family, including taking his daughter to her first show. Listen in as the panel discusses their favorite gigs, the impact of the pandemic on live music, and the concerts they are looking forward to in 2025.
In the first-ever year-end concert review show for the 'Seeing Them Live' podcast, host Charles and his panel of previous guests, including Eric Green, Jessica Catena, Doug Florzak, Steve Pothel, Summer, and Scott Patrick Wiener, review their concert experiences from 2024. The panel members take turns speaking about their most memorable shows, spanning a wide range of venues, cities, and genres, providing vivid anecdotes along the way.
Eric discusses his rich year, including covering bands like Bim Skala Bim, the Dandy Warhols, and Foo Fighters. Summer shares her experiences of attending Lollapalooza and seeing Green Day at Wrigley Field among others. Jessica details her rain-soaked yet impactful experience at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park and makes plans for 2025. Doug recounts his concert experience joining Charles and previous guest Art Gregg seeing a Led Zeppelin cover band, Led Zeppelin II, at the House of Blues in Chicago. Doug also describes a Soraia concert where Doug and Charles recorded podcast content. Steve recounts emotional concert memories, such as traveling to see Joan Jett and the Psychedelic Furs and plans for upcoming shows.
The episode also highlights special 'podcast moments', where Charles meets listeners and potential guests at concerts he attended.
BANDS: Afghan Whigs, Alanis Morissette, Benson Boone, Bim Skala Bim, Bridget Calls Me Baby, Cat Power, Doja Cat, Dua Lipa, Eye for an Eye, Foo Fighters, Foster the People, Friko, Green Day, Harry Styles, Infinity Song, Jack White, Jane's Addiction, Jelly Roll, Jesus and Mary Chain, Joan Jett, Kim Deal, Led Zeppelin, Life on the V, Love and Rockets, Matthew Sweet, Metallica, Nothing But Thieves, Pantera, Pearl Jam, Post Malone, Psychedelic Furs, Quicksand, Raul Alejandro, Ringo Starr, Rival Schools, Sleater Kinney, Smashing Pumpkins, St. Vincent, Stevie Nicks, The Breeders, The Cannons, The Church, The Cure, The Dandy Warhols, The Deftones, The Killers, The Pixies, The Smiths, The White Stripes, Thursday, Wussy
VENUES: Central Park, City Winery, Club Passim, Fenway Park, Gillette Stadium, Grant Park, House of Blues, Leader Bank Pavilion, Liars Club, Lollapalooza, Madison Square Garden, Northerly Island, Paradise Club, Park West, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Royale, Salt Shed, Soldier Field, South by Southwest, Staples Center, Summit Music Hall, The Tender Trap, Wilbur Theater
[00:00:00] Charles: Welcome to our first ever Seeing Them Live year end concert review show. We have assembled a panel of guests who have appeared on previous episodes of this podcast, and I'd like to give credit to two of the guests Eric Green and Jessica Catena, who on separate occasions, asked the question if we're ever going to do end of year concert review.
[00:00:23] So I want to thank you guys for that. Eric mentioned it in his uh, interview and then Jessica, you brought it up again. I'm like maybe we should do this. And to get things started, I thought I'd do a brief introduction of everyone, and then we'll kind of stay in that order just to give it some structure, but, by all means, chime in, comment, as people talk about their list of concerts. This is a list of concerts, obviously, that everybody attended. You guys sent in a list.
[00:00:52] And in 2024, these are the concerts you went to. So, we’ll start with Eric. Eric Green is an award-winning writer, director, and producer of documentary films, features, and shorts. His films have screened at film festivals and independent cinemas all over the world, broadcast on television, and streamed online.
[00:01:14] In 2022, his documentary, Life on the V, the Story of V66, was added to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's library and archives. And you definitely should check out his blog called Greens Party on Tumblr. He talks about albums and reviews, concerts, and movies, and all sorts of music and culture stuff. So definitely check that out.
[00:01:39] Summer, you're going to be number two, and Summer is a nurse practitioner and an avid concert goer. And Summer just completed her PhD yesterday, congratulations Summer as a nurse practitioner. Welcome to Seeing Them Live.
[00:01:54] Patrick Wiener is an artist, lifelong skateboarder, and currently teaches art at Hanscom middle school in Massachusetts, he lives in Bell Rica, Massachusetts, and serves the community by collaborating with the Rec Department on skateboarding and Pokemon card classes. When pushed, he names his genres of choice as hip hop, alternative punk, industrial, and tends to fall back on Sonic Youth, the Smiths, The Cure, Gangstar, Public Enemy, and A Tribe Called Quest as his favorite groups. Admittedly, though, he quickly points out that choosing favorites in music is a fool's errand.
[00:02:35] Doug Florzak is the producer and co-host of this podcast, and he plays bass in the band Wrought Iron Soul.
[00:02:43] Jessica Catena is the creator and host of the Music Notes with Jess podcast, a weekly show featuring the latest trending news in the music industry. Jessica began her podcast five years ago and has recorded over 270 episodes covering a wide range of topics and music genres.
[00:03:05] Steve Pothel is an accountant and a live music fan. He's featured prominently in my book, Ticket Stub Stories, a Memoir of Live Music, in the chapter, The Tender Trap, which used to be a bar that Steve and I would DJ at occasionally.
[00:03:23] So everyone, welcome to Seeing Them Live's year end concert review. So, Eric, I thought we'd start with you. Your list starts early in the year, January 6th. You saw this band, Bim Skala Bim.
[00:03:39] Eric: It's great to be back here, Charles. I was a guest over the summer, and then we did the special uh, the special edition, Scott and I, about the infamous Jane's Addiction Show, where we tried to unpack everything about that and, now being back in the year end edition is uh, very cool.
[00:03:54] It's so cool that Jessica and I, I guess, planted the seed in the idea of a year, year-end review of this and stuff. No, it's great to be back. I'm sure this has come up about you know, lack of uh, concerts during the pandemic and stuff. So, I kind of returned to live music in um, the spring of 2022.
[00:04:09] And that was my first show in two years that I had gone to. So, I think 2022 was slowly baby stepping back, and then 23 was getting deeper into that. And then I think looking at the concerts I went to in 2024, I think I was back to pre-pandemic levels of live music that I went to. Yeah, in uh, January I went to go see the ska band Bim Skala Bim.
[00:04:31] They they go back to the 80s and they were popular in the 80s, 90s, they're out of Boston and I had interviewed one of the members of the band for my documentary Life on the V, the Story of V66. I also had worked with one of the members of the band as well, and they don't, they're all spread out all over the world and so they don't play that often. So, when they do it's like a big deal So this one Because they're all like in their, I guess early 60s now They just did an afternoon show for all the aging hipsters. And that was a fun experience, just going to a concert in the afternoon in January and stuff So that was that was really cool.
[00:05:05] Just to see them and the fact that I knew some of the people there And then a few months later in March I got to go to Royale in Boston. I got to see the Dandy Warhols who I had seen before, but this was a really special. Charles has mentioned. I have a pop culture blog where I get to review concerts and albums and talk to musicians.
[00:05:24] And I've talked to some of the members of the Dandy Warhols in the past, but for this one, I got to go to Royale. Earlier just after soundtrack and I got to interview guitarist Peter Hallstrom before the show, and then I got to check out the show and yeah, it was great.
[00:05:37] They're, they're great bands, 30 years strong and still doing some good stuff. And uh, you know, they did uh, some deep cuts, so that was a lot of fun. And then later that month on St. Patrick's Day, March 17th, I got to see Sleater Kinney. And that was really special because I hadn't seen them since 2002 not by choice, I just hadn't really gotten around to it.
[00:05:59] And they're a great band. And I think the, there's all the purists, they're like, Oh, they're not the same band without drummer Janet Weiss, who uh, parted ways in 2019. They put on a great show there they, they really emphasize the new album in the show, but especially seeing a concert in Boston on St. Patrick’s Day is an event in and of itself, but then seeing them, I thought was a really, it was definitely the most packed that's seen the paradise club since I'd been there. And then uh, keeping things going in uh, April, I went to the Wilbur Theater. I saw Matthew Sweet. It was my sixth time seeing him.
[00:06:33] And looking back at all the concerts I went to; I think this definitely was one of the most special ones because it was my sixth time seeing him. I had interviewed him over the phone. A few weeks earlier and um, you know, it was just one of the best shows I'd seen him do. He had uh, Debbie Peterson of the Bangles on drums.
[00:06:51] He had a really great band and really emphasized a lot of, a lot of the stuff off Girlfriend and 100 percent fun. And then of course, as some of you, I'm sure had heard six months later he unfortunately suffered a stroke and he's on his road to recovery now. And I think his live performances are, on hold for the foreseeable future.
[00:07:12] And if that really was the last time I got to see him, it definitely was one of his best shows for sure. Yeah, then let's see, June 21st, I went to Royale again, and this time I got to see The Church and Afghan Wigs, two college rock veteran bands. I'm very late to the party I'd always had you know an enthusiasm for both groups, but never really got heavy into them. But I got to cover that and seeing them both there.
[00:07:38] It was really great just and I went down the rabbit hole of The Church and Afghan Wigs prior to going there and yeah, it was really uh, just seeing these two college rock 80s 90s veterans really uh, something special.
[00:07:51] Scott: Can I ask a question about the Afghan Wig show?
[00:07:54] Eric: Sure.
[00:07:54] Scott: Did you and Greg Dooley bond over Monument Ave while you were there?
[00:07:58] Eric: We should have. Yes. Yeah. So, sidebar the first movie I ever worked on. I was an intern on Ted Demme's film Monument Ave and Greg Dooley and Ted Demme were very good friends. The band Afghan Wigs appeared in Beautiful Girls and then he had a small supporting role in Monument Ave and wrote a phenomenal song and scored the film.
[00:08:20] And uh, so yeah, I didn't get a chance to talk to him, unfortunately, Scott, I was hoping, you know, we'd uh, have that, secret handshake that we were both, part of that film. But yeah, you guys should check that out if you have a chance. But yeah, so that was that was really exciting.
[00:08:33] And then in July when, when probably the first stadium show I went to last year, I saw Foo Fighters along with special guests, the Hives and Amyl and the Sniffers at Fenway Park. My buddy Ron, he and I, it's become this annual tradition of him coming up and us going to a show.
[00:08:49] So we had gone to the 23 Boston Calling, which was only a few shows after they had announced Josh Freese as being the new drummer for Foo Fighters, and uh, yeah, it was really just exciting. I think it's really special to see a show at Fenway Park, and uh, I've seen Foo Fighters umpteenth times, and they never disappoint.
[00:09:07] That was really exciting, and then then, skip ahead, August, I went to Gillette Stadium, I saw Metallica. Uh, they're on this big stadium tour, two shows in each in each city and no two set lists are the same. So, I went to one of them. My friend Mike and I, we had seen Metallica along with Guns and Roses and Faith No More in 1992 in Foxborough.
[00:09:29] And then here we were 32 years later reuniting and going to see them again. So that was really exciting. Pantera was the opening act. And I guess the current lineup has Zach Wilde and Charlie Bonante of Anthrax. So that was cool. It was cool just to be there see a show that was heavy on uh, the Black Album and Master of Puppets.
[00:09:49] And then, September 13th Leader Bank Pavilion, I got to go see Jane's Addiction with special guests Love and Rockets. Yeah, backstory, I'd seen Jane's Addiction on Lollapalooza 91, and Scott and I are old friends, and uh, we bonded over Jane's Addiction in high school, and we're still friends to this day, and I got to cover this show, and I got to bring him with a Photo Pass to cover the show it was really exciting, just uh, to hang out with my old friend who early days were, you know, fans of this group and it was the original lineup and we were uh, really looking forward to it.
[00:10:22] And we had a great time. And then of course, all hell broke loose. And then before you know it, we were, just the international news of a Boston concert, Jane's Addiction, violence on stage. And, it was this big thing. I will, we'll get to that in a minute, of course, Scott, but, but that was just being there with my friend Scott and getting to see this original lineup.
[00:10:44] It was, it was a good show until it kind of fell apart at the seams. It was cool just to, where were you when this happened kind of moment. It was fun just to feel almost like you were a reporter versus a music critic. Like, this is what I saw happen kind of thing. Whereas I feel like Matthew Sweet kinda went out, if that was my last time seeing Matthew. Sweet. That was a phenomenal show. I'm just glad I saw Jane's Addiction back in 1991 on Lollapalooza at that time.
[00:11:10] So yeah, then within that same week I got to go back to Fenway Park. I saw Pearl Jam It was my third time seeing them and they're just well-oiled machine. That's just I mean if you're gonna see a concert a big stadium concert I thought Pearl Jam really did a fantastic show there and also people a lot of time when I cover these shows, I never know, like in terms of press passes, you know, where I'm going to be. And this was, I was on the turf at Fenway Park. This was the most phenomenal view I've ever seen at a concert at Fenway Park ever.
[00:11:43] And then and then that same week I got to go see Ringo Starr and His All Star Band. Um, lifelong Beatle fanatic. And this was my third time seeing Ringo and he's been doing this for many years where he has an all-star band where he'll do, he'll sing some Beatle and solo hits, and then other people in the band will do some of their hits, so Colin Hay from Men at Work will sing a few of their hits, and one of the guys from Toto, and other people, and it was just such a contrast to see this band that really enjoys being on stage and is playing well off each other too. Earlier in the week seeing Jane's Addiction where it was just falling apart at the seams there.
[00:12:20] But overall, I thought it was a really great year for concert tours. I thought especially post pandemic and everything slowly, you know getting back, out there and seeing bands going back on the road and stuff. I thought this was a really a great year for live music, especially the experience of going with Scott to Jane's Addiction, my friend Ron to Foo Fighters, my friend Mike to Metallica, looking at the concert experience as a whole of reuniting with friends through music. I think it was definitely something really special for sure.
[00:12:47] Charles: That sounds like quite a busy year. You had there, Eric. I thought it was really cool too, you with Matthew Sweet, you put his go fund me linked and he talked about that and you could donate money to his cause to help his recovery and such. So yeah, check that out. His Go Fund Me page.
[00:13:04] Eric: Charles, when I talked with him, back in April, earlier this year, he had released a solo album of a live concert he did in Chicago in 1993 I believe. I don't know if you've listened to it. It was during the I think Altered Beast era.
[00:13:18] Charles: Was that at the Park West?
[00:13:21] Eric: It was an outdoor venue. I don't know if it was Grant Park.
[00:13:25] Charles: I saw him, God, I'd have to consult the ticket stubs. Yeah, like around that period, it was at the Park West, which was an indoor place, a smaller place. So this was a live album?
[00:13:36] Eric: Yeah, live in Grant Park, Chicago, Illinois, July 4th, 1993.
[00:13:41] Charles: Yeah, that's a WXRT. Radio station in town and they always did the free 4th of July concert. So, he must've been the headlining act, I would imagine.
[00:13:51] Eric: Cool. Cool.
[00:13:52] Charles: Yeah. And I've been to some of those. I saw The Go's once with that. God, The Replacements, they broke up on stage that 4th of July concert. Literally, they just stopped playing. And that was the end of the band during that concert. But yeah, they, I don't know. I don't think they do it anymore, but they used to do it every year for many years. That's totally cool. You know, there are some overlaps here, like Summer you saw Metallica as well, right?
[00:14:20] Summer: Yes, I saw Metallica, August 9th. It was day one at Soldier Field in Chicago. And that was a good concert because I was able to see Pantera and then Mammoth Wolfgang Van Halen
[00:14:34] Jessica: Mammoth WVH.
[00:14:36] Summer: Yes.
[00:14:37] Eric: I showed up late. I, we missed, I just heard the Mammoth WVH as we were coming in and then we got to see Pantera and Metallica,
[00:14:44] Jessica: My friend actually saw them at Citi Field in June, and Charles and Doug, you'll be amused by this story. It rained on them, of course. What happened was, they had The Pretenders come out as the opening act. Then they had Wolfgang Van Halen come out with Mammoth WVH. And then what happened was Foo Fighters was supposed to come out and it started raining.
[00:15:06] So they actually had to take a temporary recess. They were going to try to treat it if it was going to be like when they do with the rain delays. Cause of course I've experienced having a rain delay at City Field too. But what happened was, they canceled the concert the rest of the night. So everybody who went that night in June, in July was given a free ticket to come back the next night and Foo Fighters performed just for them.
[00:15:31] Summer: Wow.
[00:15:32] Jessica: Yeah.
[00:15:33] Summer: That's awesome. Like a smaller group of people then?
[00:15:37] Jessica: I dunno if it was a small group. I think it was just they offered anybody who could try to see them the next night. But my friend was one of them and he took his girlfriend and that's how they were able to see Foo Fighters perform because they just stopped and they just made people wait a couple of hours to just say, I'm sorry, we have to cancel the concert because it's just not safe with the lightning.
[00:16:00] Summer: Yeah. Oh my gosh. Actually, Foo Fighters is one of the first concerts I took my son to when he was about eight or nine. And I was so happy to see Taylor Hawkins, as you mentioned, the drummer before he passed. And then my first concert ever was a Alanis Morissette with him as the drummer. So, it was a full circle moment, but so my son is 15 and all of a sudden he was into like nineties alternative and rock. And I was so excited because I grew up mostly in the late eighties, nineties, and I, it took me back. And so, this summer we were able to plan to see green day and Charles actually had gone to Portugal with his family to see Harry Styles. So, then I'm like maybe I should go to Europe to see a concert.
[00:16:52] Charles: The tickets are cheaper. It's just the airfares get you though.
[00:16:56] Jessica: Yeah, a lot of people did that with Taylor Swift, too, they flew out the Eras Tour, they all went to Europe this year.
[00:17:01] Charles: Yeah.
[00:17:01] Summer: And it was great. I actually researched the concert venues all over Europe and I didn't realize quite a few of them were pretty like open field venues. And I didn't want to get into a situation where we were in big crowds with like mud everywhere. So we picked Wembley and you don't understand like the vastness of that stadium until you get off the train and you're looking, and I was, like overwhelmed. My son was, he's kind of a nervous kid.
[00:17:31] He's like, you know, I see all these people going in, what's going to happen when we have to leave this concert and get back on that train. It was a great concert. They had the opening act for them was Nothing But Thieves. That's a great concert to see if you ever get a chance. But we did leave a little bit early, so I did take him back to Green Day. I didn't put that on my list, in Chicago at Wrigley.
[00:17:56] For me to see the Smashing Pumpkins that day was amazing because I've never had a chance to see them and they actually played all their hits and it was a good concert. The biggest concert we went to, I actually got to go with Charles for Lollapalooza, August 2nd and we did Saturday at Grant Park and that was my first time going to Lollapalooza. And I was pleasantly surprised because bringing a 15-year-old to this type of venue and I prepared him like, you're going to see a lot.
[00:18:29] Charles: Interesting people walking around.
[00:18:31] Steve: Was that just a sea of humanity at Grant Park? Like just like when the Bulls won the championship and 150,000 people packed in, was it that bad?
[00:18:41] Charles: I don't know, Summer, I would say it is pretty well organized from previous Lollapaloozas and they have this kind of midway with restaurants, food all the different stages, of course, and I'd read there's a hundred thousand people every night, for four nights, and there was only like six or nine arrests.
[00:19:04] It was like very calm. And even when we were in the middle of The Deftones, they just left it all out on the stage. It still was, I don't know if I think maybe it's the younger people. don't get like as crazy as some of the shows, metal shows I used to go to in the 80s where, you might definitely mix it up with somebody with you weren't even expecting it, but no I thought it was great.
[00:19:26] And yeah, Steve, it was, Summer and I and her son and my wife Summer and my wife were primarily there to see The Killers, right, Summer?
[00:19:35] Summer: Oh yeah.
[00:19:36] Charles: My wife's been dying to see them and they had played at Lollapalooza, I forget when Jane's Addiction was headlining, and we went to see Jane's even though she wanted to see The Killers and never hadn't let me live that down until uh, just recently redeemed myself this year.
[00:19:53] But yeah, we were like right by the sound and lighting fence. So there was nobody in front of us in that area and then there were lots of people in front of that. So we felt insulated from the madness of the crowd. But yeah there, there were a ton of people there. Ton.
[00:20:11] Summer: Ton of people. Yeah, that was a great, summer of concerts. My son officially said he's retired. I think I said maybe I'll go on my own. I'll just leave you be for a couple of years.
[00:20:23] Charles: Summer, you mentioned like overwhelming and I've never been to Wembley stadium, and I, I forget the name of the place where we saw Harry Styles, but it's outdoor field.
[00:20:33] Summer: Yeah.
[00:20:33] Charles: At a river there, this huge river in Portugal And yeah, you walk in there and the idea is, oh let's get tickets in the pit, but with a smaller child and you know, there were 60,000 people at this show, Harry Styles, and I was glad we were like on what they call the front pitch and not in the pit, even though that's not like a mosh pit, but they called it a pit I don't think that would have worked out too well.
[00:20:57] Summer: No, definitely.
[00:20:58] Charles: I don't know if you want to talk about Lollapalooza Summer.
[00:21:01] Summer: Oh, yeah. The bands we checked out, I wrote them down. The first one we saw was Friko. I guess they're a local band from Evanston. Is that correct?
[00:21:11] Charles: Yeah.
[00:21:11] Summer: And then they had some sound issues and no, no real shade areas. It was hot that day. It was probably upper mid-nineties.
[00:21:19] Charles: Yeah, it was brutal.
[00:21:20] Summer: It was brutal. But they were passing out waters, they're making sure everybody was okay. So, I think we knew that, okay, we can do this. The second act we saw was Infinity Song. Do you remember them, Charles?
[00:21:32] Charles: Yeah.
[00:21:32] Summer: I think they're family members and they were on one of the side stages, very good, great performers, easy to listen to. I've never heard their music before. But they were great. I think the favorite of ours was Bridget Calls Me Baby.
[00:21:48] Charles: They were really good.
[00:21:49] Summer: Really good. A tiny, tiny side stage. I think they played twice that day, two or three times, but, just great performer. He reminded me of the main singer of The Killers. Very good singing voice, big time performer, great sound for that tiny stage.
[00:22:08] Charles: It was like under a tent. It was like a Toyota stage and people just kept going in there. And I'm thinking, where are they putting all these people? Cause we kind of hung back a little bit, but yeah, that, the guy's voice the lead singer, I don't have his name written down, but at times sound like Roy Orbison.
[00:22:24] Jessica: Yes, I was just gonna say that.
[00:22:26] Charles: So they, they were fantastic.
[00:22:29] Summer: So fantastic. My son really wanted to see the Boy With the Uke, U K E. I don't know if you say it, but it was a single guy completely covered from head to toe. I don't think we could even see his face.
[00:22:43] Charles: Yeah, he had a mask on and a hoodie.
[00:22:45] Summer: Yep.
[00:22:45] Charles: It's unfortunate if that's your look when it's 95 degrees and 99 percent humidity.
[00:22:52] Summer: He was dying.
[00:22:54] Charles: Yeah, he's complaining the whole time about the heat. It was pretty funny.
[00:22:58] Summer: So, we didn't stay too long for that. And then we saw The Cannons for a bit. And then by that time Valerie joined us, which she was smart. She waited until the sun went down, got on the train and then had a drink at a hotel and then joined us for the last couple of shows, Deftones and The Killers. But the best part honestly, was when everything was done and we got to walk on Michigan Avenue. You get to see the lights. It was very well organized. We had parking right in the garage. It was a great time. So hopefully we'll get to go next year.
[00:23:32] Charles: Yeah, they blocked off all the streets. One of the few times you just walk down the middle of Michigan Avenue with all these people. All right any comments before we jump on to Scott's concert list?
[00:23:45] Jessica: I also wanted to say that my mom knows how Wembley stadium feels because she flew out to Freddie Mercury's tribute concert in 1992. My dad happened to be working at an ad agency and one of the clients that they were working on was Revlon, and that was one of the sponsors of the concerts.
[00:24:05] She took one of her girlfriends, cause a few days later, it was my birthday, so my dad stayed with me, but she flew out, and she said that the two things that stood out from that concert, well, she was crying the whole time, cause she took Freddie Mercury's death like a funeral. We're huge Queen fans, and she's seen them many times.
[00:24:24] But, she was surprised to see with Wembley Stadium how it's really, from what she told me it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood. She was thinking that it was going to be set off in its own property, and it wasn't. She just found that really odd.
[00:24:40] And the other thing that she was surprised by, and we're going back 32 years, that she was also shocked by there was only one door where everybody had to go in through security, so they were actually late even though she left early to go to be on time for the concert. She had missed seeing some of the people who were on in the beginning because everybody was still checking in through security, just through that one door.
[00:25:10] Summer: Oh, wow. There's definitely multiple doors now.
[00:25:13] Jessica: Yeah, that's good.
[00:25:14] Summer: Thank goodness, we got in easy. And they actually have apartment complexes built right in the major walkway into the stadium. So brand new, like shopping apartments. It's like, you can live there like a city.
[00:25:27] Jessica: Wow. I'm just thinking of the noise ordinance. Like how do they soundproof that? I would, that's a free concert, of course, if you have the window open, but I would think, how do people live like that? That's really fascinating.
[00:25:39] Steve: I went too Wembley, I saw Adele there in, gosh, was that 2017? Maybe 2018, I forget. But yeah, they had just built all that stuff and it's amazing just what a sea of humanity that can be there. But just perfectly organized, but just, a sea of people, it's really hard to imagine it. I mean, I would equate it almost to like going, I mean, to use college football, maybe going to the Horseshoe or going to uh, Neyland Stadium, Tennessee, which just seats a hundred thousand people. It is just everywhere you look just people, but well organized, but just what it's. It'll blow your mind if you're not expecting it.
[00:26:18] Charles: That makes me want to go to a show there now.
[00:26:20] Summer: You should.
[00:26:21] Steve: And believe it or not, the sound is awesome at Wembley. It really is.
[00:26:24] Charles: I was going to ask that. Yeah.
[00:26:26] Steve: It's very excellent. They perfected it. If you ever get the chance and I love London, by the way, anyway, so it's a great city, but very easy to get around, but just, if you have the chance, do it, don't even mess around. Just go.
[00:26:38] Summer: Just go.
[00:26:39] Steve: Pick somebody, just go.
[00:26:40] Charles: Scott, you have a list here of a handful of concerts you want to, and yeah, you want to start off with, I guess this band, Cat Power. I've never heard of them. I don't think I have.
[00:26:50] Scott: Yeah, Cat Power is a person, not a band.
[00:26:53] Charles: Oh, okay.
[00:26:54] Scott: It's a Sean Marshall's project. Starts in the middle, late part of the 90s with some of the mopey-est, dreary-est saddest, most light a candle in a dark room and drink whiskey alone kind of music. And then it got really bluesy in the 2000s, like she turned into like a blues outfit.
[00:27:15] But yeah, I actually left one band off the list, but I'll get to sequentially. But yeah, Cat Power was the first show I saw this year. Cat Power is a huge Dylan fan. And she finally had enough clout to cover the entire Royal Albert Hall concert. So, she put that out as a record, she played it once, and then I guess it did well enough that she toured it.
[00:27:37] So I had bought these tickets for my dad and I. So, I could take him to go see this show because my dad my dad's really responsible for a lot of how I got into music. Like he introduced me to Dylan, like I'm not like a huge Beatles fan, but the White Album is like one of my favorite records ever made.
[00:27:57] Because of my dad and how often we listened to it. Dylan was, I think I said, Dylan, like Richie Havens was in there. It's really important. Some parts of the Who, I guess. So, you know, my dad's like, he's 76 now. And I was like, wouldn't it be cool to take my dad to see this woman performed the Royal Albert Hall show.
[00:28:15] So it kind of meant a real lot to me to be able to take him to see one of my favorite artists playing one of his favorite artists. And it was nothing short of exhilarating, really. It was awesome to be there, to be there with my dad and experience like his favorite music and some of my favorite music.
[00:28:33] Andyeah, I'm glad I got to do it because he's getting up there and not going to be, it's not going to be here forever. So I was really happy to do that. And yeah, it meant a lot. So that was a, started the year off with a bang. And then, so Rival Schools, is one of Walter Schreifels bands. I guess famous is, a relative term, but he's known for fronting a band called Quicksand old post hardcore outfit, coming out of the early, coming out of the early 90s, Revelation Records they eventually got onto a major label for a little bit. Put out a couple of records. But then he went on and did this Rival Schools thing, which was a bit more song oriented, a bit more melodic than what quicksand was doing, which is a little bit harder edged.
[00:29:15] I never got to see them when they put out their first record. And if you have not heard Travel by Telephone, by Quicksand or by a Rival School that's on the United by Fate record is one of the great openers to any rock album I've ever heard. And I never got to see them.
[00:29:30] So I went to, I was psyched. I got tickets to go see them. They were, it actually wasn't a Rival School show. It was a Thursday show. And I am not into Thursday. I do not care what they do. I don't care about their music. I don't like how they're one of these bands that ruined Emo for the rest of us, kind of people. So I went with my friend, we saw Rival Schools, and other friends were there, and they were like, oh, are you going to stick around?
[00:29:58] I'm like, absolutely not. I am here for Rival Schools, I am going to watch them, and I am going to go home. They were great, and that's what happened. The one that I left off was happened on May 15th. This is another kind of, this is probably the most important show I've ever gone to in my life.
[00:30:13] It was a band called Wussy. It happened on May 15th. It was in Alston, in somebody's living room. They were just playing. It was the two the two singers for Wussy playing acoustic stuff. And so, they're a Cincinnati, Ohio band, for those of you, for those of you who don't know them. They are Robert Christgau's darlings somehow Robert Christgau loves this band can't say enough good things about them if you value anything that guy says. But Wussie is a band that where I have been singing their, like a selection of their songs to my kid since the day that she was born.
[00:30:48] So she was born in 2015. I'd gotten into the band around that time and I got to take her to go see Wussie as her first concert. And because it's a living room show, like we walked in, it's just me and a bunch of people, my age and my kid. And people up front, they were like, come down here. There's two seats.
[00:31:07] So we sat right in front of them. And it was basically like my daughter's name is Lex. Chuck and Lisa are the two singers. It was basically the Chuck, Lisa and Lex show. It was just banter between them the whole time. And at one point, like Lex raises her hand and she goes.
[00:31:23] Will you guys play Hello, I'm a Ghost? And they, they did. They did their best to play it. Chuck forgot the lyrics and stopped and remembered the lyrics and then sang the rest of the song like a couple, like another song later. So that was that's probably the most important show I've ever been to in my life to this point.
[00:31:41] And then I got to see Eye for an Eye, which is an old Boston Hardcore outfit. I was into them when I was a kid. Me and my friend Jeff had gone to see, gone to see, did I, Jeff had seen them a bunch. I don't think I ever saw them back in the day, maybe one time. But when these hardcore bands get back together, we were into them.
[00:31:57] Cause we were going to all these all ages shows and we were young and in high school and our friends were putting them on and things like that. So, Eye for an Eye played again and we went and saw it and it was cool. But definitely not as good as it was when I was a baby. And then the last show that I saw this year was the aforementioned Jane's Addiction show, where they, you know, Perry Farrell on brand, punched one of his band members, or tried to start a fight with one of his band members on stage.
[00:32:28] And I remember the first few songs were good. That's for sure. Eric and I have talked about this, but it was, like it was a mess of a show. Perry was a wreck. Totally junked out on whatever he was doing. Drinking. The whole thing. And yeah, at one point he got upset, probably more at himself, and went over and tried to start a fight with Dave Navarro, the guy who probably was struggling the most to be there after his long, his two-year fight with COVID, and trying to like, stay healthy and all that's all this stuff, which was like a little bit disappointing.
[00:33:01] I remember the conversation on the way back to the car was its Jane's Addiction. This is probably the way that it was going to happen anyway. If it wasn't here, it was going to be somewhere else. That band is notorious for falling apart. And also like, I think I said this before, like Perry Farrell's like, public persona is not great.
[00:33:19] Like he is not a nice person. If we have anyone to blame for the disillusion of James addiction, I blame that guy. But uh, all their shits on sale on their website. If anyone wants t shirts or the last songs they recorded on vinyl. I had to commemorate that show with a shirt. I had seen them, I'm still, I will never forgive Eric for this, but he got to see them in '91 where I, my parents went on vacation. That week and I had tickets, I didn't get to go see them at Lollapalooza in all their glory which would have also included like Nine Inch Nails and Rollins Band and Susie and the Banshees.
[00:33:50] I did get to go to the Lollapalooza the following year, but not to go too off topic. But I saw them in 2009 with the original lineup and that was, that was pretty good. This, everyone was good except Perry at this show and if they never get back together again, at least I got to see the one where they got into a fist fight. That about does it for the year.
[00:34:11] Charles: Yeah. Now, those are two great stories with your dad and your daughter. Those are awesome stories. I love hearing stuff like that.
[00:34:18] Scott: Yeah, music. I think I mentioned this before. Music for me is like fully autobiographical and it's like super. The whole world of music is an incredibly emotional place for me. And when I can connect things like that, like I talk about this on the show too, like also going to that Chill Mark show a couple of years ago or a year or so ago. That's when shows mean the Most to me. Or going with Eric and watching Jane's Addiction fall apart.
[00:34:42] Eric: Yeah, I, I echo Charles. Scott, you got an interesting, year between going with your father to see Cat Power perform on Bob Dylan, and then going with your daughter to her first concert. And, Summer you brought this up bringing your son to, you know, concerts uh, this past year, too. I think it's interesting, you know, the way you grow up and as you're getting older, you want to introduce your children to music. My son's nine. He hasn't, I haven't taken him to a concert though. We've talked about next year, maybe Weird Al Yankovic being the first one. Maybe.
[00:35:11] But, I go to these concerts and I talk to families that fly in from all over like, hey, we're bringing our four-year-old from Texas because we follow Pearl Jam or Foo Fighters around and stuff. But as you get older you want to introduce them to the things you enjoy and stuff. And I think that's really a kind of a cool, both those shows being a really special moments for you, Scott.
[00:35:31] Scott: AndSummer you talked about Smashing Pumpkins, too, yeah. I saw them in 1991. It was my first show on Gish. Nobody knew who they were.
[00:35:39] Charles: There are a couple other no name bands there too, Scott?
[00:35:43] Scott: Yeah, the Smashing Pumpkins, no one, like that was a no name band, so it was Pearl Jam opening for the Chili Peppers before Under the Bridge hit at BU on an ice-skating rink.
[00:35:54] Summer: What?
[00:35:54] Eric: Was it Northwestern or BU?
[00:35:54] Scott: It was BU.
[00:35:57] Summer: Wow.
[00:35:58] Scott: It was definitely BU. Yeah; I've tracked it because my memory is fuzzy. Yeah, even you're right, Eric. I actually don't even really go to shows unless I'm going with someone who like, I care about.
[00:36:08] I went to see Jane's Addiction with Eric, the Eye for an Eye, and the Rival School show, I went with my friend Jeff, who we were going to hardcore shows together, my daughter with Wussy, and then Cat Power with my dad.
[00:36:39] RnR Chicago Podcast: Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie and this is Hollywood Mike with the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast coming to you from the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, where once a week we are interviewing local musicians and singer songwriters and the podcast itself covers a wide range of topics.
[00:36:54] Including, but not limited to the history of rock and roll in Chicago, the current state of the scene and the challenges and opportunities facing musicians today. So join us every Tuesday for a new exciting episode of the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast.
[00:37:23] Charles: And we'll move to Doug.
[00:37:26] Doug: Yep.
[00:37:27] Charles: You and I kicked off the year, January 13th, on a recommendation from previous guest Art, His episode is Jimmy Page Calls in Sick. He's a big Led Zeppelin fan. And he's like, you guys got to see this, this Led Zeppelin cover band, Led Zeppelin two. And I was like, oh yeah let's, let's check it out. So we met him there. Right, Doug.
[00:37:49] Doug: Yep.
[00:37:49] Charles: I mean, these guys were unbelievable at two sold out shows, the House of Blues in Chicago. They vary the set. One night is more, what would you call it, Doug? Like, not acoustic.
[00:38:02] Doug: No, think it was. I think one night was acoustic and the next one was more, the traditional rock band sound.
[00:38:11] Charles: Yeah.
[00:38:11] Doug: But yeah, I guess my segment's going to be the shortest because I've only been to two shows this year. Probably because I'm so busy editing episodes for this podcast. I, I can't even imagine what kind of a nightmare it's going to be editing this episode with seven guests, but we'll see. That'll be something for me to look forward to.
[00:38:31] But yeah, the Led Zeppelin show is very good. My friend, Art Gregg, who was on the show and talked about his experiences seeing, the real Led Zeppelin before. He said, basically, this is one of the top tribute bands for Led Zeppelin and we should see it.
[00:38:48] It timed out well. We all got tickets. We went and saw it at House of Blues, which is a nice venue. It's well known in Chicago for, club sized bands. In other words, bands that aren't, arena sized bands yet. So a lot of bands, a lot of tribute bands play there. And it was it was really a good experience.
[00:39:08] The sound system is very good. The musicians in the band are excellent. Really sound like, the original. They had, a nice effect with the lighting and the fog machines and everything. The audience was nice. It was a mixture of maybe older people that might have heard the original Led Zeppelin, but a lot of younger people, maybe people that were, children of fans of Led Zeppelin and grew up hearing that type of music, which I'm always glad to see because the more we can pass on the history of this type of music, the better.
[00:39:42] But I really liked it. And I said to Art and Chuck, I said maybe one of the things we ought to try to do is see all of the major Led Zeppelin tribute bands, because there's another one called Kashmir, and there's an all female one called Lez Zeppelin, which I'm curious to hear also. So maybe that's something we could shoot for next year.
[00:40:01] Butthe other show we saw was really completely connected to our podcast. And that was Soraia. It started out the first show of season two. We interviewed Dawn. And she had quite a story to tell. She described her experience with this band called Soraia and her interaction with the lead singer ZouZou Mansour.
[00:40:23] And, we listened to it and then Charles also went and listened to some of their music and I did too. And we really liked them. He said let's try not only to go and see them, but let's see if we can get ZouZou or one of the band members to be on the show.
[00:40:37] And Dawn was encouraging us to do that because they're very interactive with their fans. And so, I shot a Instagram message to ZouZou and she agreed to be on the show. So, we had her on. I don't remember exactly what, when it was it April or something like that? And they were scheduled to come and play here in September.
[00:40:57] So, as September approached, we bought tickets. We went there to the Liars Club. It's a small club. It's more like a neighborhood club, I guess would be a good way to describe it, Charles.
[00:41:06] Charles: Yeah.
[00:41:07] Doug: We got there. They were not actually the main act was a punk band called DOA. I'm not really in the punk genre, so I don't know all the punk bands, but apparently, they were a pretty big punk band from, the 80s.
[00:41:21] Yeah. They, though, one of their members had been injured and he wanted to save himself for Riot Fest, which was going on at the same time in the Chicago area, so they dropped out. But that was okay for us because we went there to see Soraia anyway. And so it was, it ended up being Soraia, a band called Tarah Who, and they added on somebody that I had actually seen before, Ricky Liontones.
[00:41:49] It worked out and we decided to actually record an episode around it. So on the way there, we discussed our thoughts about what we thought we were going to see. And then when we got there, we actually, we got there early enough. There was nobody there. The only people there other than us was Soraia the band. So, it was actually perfect because it was relatively quiet. There wasn't a big crowd. So, we got to go and introduce ourselves to them. We did a little quick clip with ZouZou before the show.
[00:42:18] So then people started filtering in and started filling up. We decided to interview a few fans. So, the noise level started to raise in it, and we did the best we could salvaging our interviews based on the noise background. But it came out pretty good. And then I had to talk Charles into staying because he was like ready to pass out because he, originally, we had thought, when I had communicated with ZouZou, she said we think we're going on first. And we thought, oh, this is great. We're a couple of older guys. We don't like staying up late.
[00:42:49] Charles: Yeah. That was like, 830s. They were supposed to come up.
[00:42:52] Doug: You know, 8:30, maybe to 10, we're out of there. 10:30 the latest. But when DOA dropped out, it reshuffled everything. She talked to, um, the manager of the place. So, what they shook out was that actually it was, going to be Ricky Lion tones, Tarah Who, and then Soraia was going to go on last.
[00:43:11] Charles: And that was 1 o'clock in the morning.
[00:43:14] Doug: Yeah. So, we were on the hook to one o'clock and I said to him, I said Well, I'd like to see at least one or two songs. So yeah, I talked him off the cliff. He got his second wind. And we, we actually ended up seeing their whole show. So, it worked out good. And that was a lot of fun. So, I, I like the idea of maybe we can do this more next season, doing on site recording of, of a show.
[00:43:36] So I'm hoping maybe we can do one or two more of those. Maybe I'll get a better microphone or something and, be able to capture that with a little bit better quality. But that about sums up my experience this year, my two whole shows that I went to, but I've been living vicariously through all of our guests listening to all of their experiences. That kind of makes me feel like I'm actually there, which is the point of the show, so I'll turn it back over to you guys.
[00:44:01] Charles: And Doug, I have a couple of podcast moments, I'll call them. So, while Doug and I are at this Led Zeppelin two show, I walked down these stairs. We were at the, like a raised bar on the right side of the stage, walked down a few stairs, standing in front of this huge, like garbage can, basically to that blocks the alleyway between the stage and the crowd.
[00:44:23] And I see this guy taking pictures. He's photographing the band. And his daughter, who I, who turned, it turns out she's eight years old, has one of these huge Canon cameras, she's taking pictures. So, yeah. Uh, the guy, Barry he walks over and I tap him on the shoulder and music's blaring, you know, Led Zeppelin songs.
[00:44:45] And I give him my card and he like gives me a fist bump. I'm like, I want to interview your daughter, and so she's on, she was on the podcast the world's youngest concert photographer and she is seen and met, some crazy high-level bands and has photographed them, which it was such a sweet episode.
[00:45:05] She was really a great guest. And then at that Soraia show, we met Shelley Van who we interviewed, she had some really interesting things she was up to with this virtual True Band room, it's called. Yeah, it was like a podcasting moment, picked up a few guests along the way at some of these shows.
[00:45:25] But Jessica, your list and I don't know if it was a complete list or if you had more, but you went to that Global Citizens Festival in New York City.
[00:45:35] Jessica: Yes, so well, first of all, I want to thank you for having me back on the show and crediting me for today's episode. You guys are doing all the work, but I'm glad to be here. And yes, so I attended the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park. It's a festival that they've done a little over a decade where it's a nonprofit organization that hosts a concert, the end of September in Central Park.
[00:46:00] And the last concert I went to was the one in 2019, which ironically had the same date, September 28th. So, the weather that day was fantastic, but this year, not so much. And unfortunately, I may have to say it could have been listed under the most disappointing Charles, if we have that category. Still, because I left half the time, I thought I was going to be there because of it, the rain was not expected.
[00:46:28] I was not dressed properly, and so that put a damper on things. But the way that I got the tickets was I won them on the raffle that they have on their app. Basically, you do online petitions and quizzes for all these world issues that you try to help get support and the headline acts were Post Malone and Doja Cat, but I didn't get to see them because of the rain.
[00:46:54] So the other artists that I were able to see was a Brazilian DJ named Alok. And he was invited because, I guess the way that they organize this organization is that they meet at these UN conferences or any of these world conferences to network around, to not only help out each other, but also plan out the concert.
[00:47:18] So Alok came out as the first DJ to really pump up the crowd. And because they saw it was raining; they hoped people like me wouldn't be leaving. But the artists I was able to see were Benson Boone and Jelly Roll. The other Singers that were there was Ray, who's a soul British singer. In fact, she's nominated best new artist for the upcoming Grammys as it's Benson Boone.
[00:47:43] Well, I should say the other people were Raul Alejandro, who's kind of like a Latin R& B dance artist. He's fairly new. And then they also had Lisa, who's from Korean pop band, Blackpink, and the other two artists were Doja Cat and Post Malone. But the one thing I was disappointed with was they spread this out across six hours, and I would have thought that once they saw the rain, they could have tightened the set list a little bit, even though they had celebrities come out and introducing everybody to the crowd.
[00:48:18] I was disappointed in that. And even though I got the tickets for free, the other people who, if they didn't get the tickets for free, they were $150. To stay the whole time, you couldn't leave. No reentries. So, I wish it was planned a little bit better because they really should have had just a plan B, being that it was outside.
[00:48:41] And if they had all these acts and these celebrities, I just wish it was coordinated a little bit better. But the reason why the rain occurred was because it was during the hurricane season. One of the celebrities there was Bill Nye the Science Guy and he was talking about climate control and he was saying that that was Hurricane Helene. We just got basically the after tear teardrops, the after raindrops from the storm heading its way out. It just traveled north instead of the ocean.
[00:49:12] Charles: In your interview Jessica, which is George Michael Sings to Jessica, in it, you are plagued by rain frequently.
[00:49:20] Jessica: Yes, I am. I'm starting to look at indoor venues for next year's concert because it just seems like it's too big of a risk to do the 50 percent chance of being outside.
[00:49:32] Charles: Yeah, but you turned to technology to finish off the concert, right?
[00:49:36] Jessica: I did. Yes. So, what happened was that was recorded on a live stream. So, by the time I was getting back home, I was able to see the rest of the concert and see Doja Cat and Post Malone through their YouTube channel, and whatever I missed, I saw it the next day, and I know that's the antithesis of what this show is about, Charles, but it did make me feel like I do have some sort of credit of having them on my digital ticket stub where I could say, okay, so I did get at least the access to see the show. So that's one perk where technology came in handy because it really is a shame where I could have just missed out on those acts and just seem they had a chance and I tried, but I just, I would have gotten sick if I stay there because I did not have the proper sweatshirt with me and my clothes were actually stuck to me.
[00:50:32] So I just said, this is, it isn't worth it. If it was another, like another two hours, I maybe could have winged it. But for another four hours that I would have been there, it just, and I didn't, I don't live close to New York city. I'm an hour North. So it would have just been, it just wouldn't have been good idea to stay that long. And the person who I brought with me, they even left a little earlier because they weren't as brave. They just, they couldn't withstand the rain.
[00:50:58] Charles: Yeah, not good when it rains like that, but I think I've mentioned before in the past, my friends and I go to the Salt Shed, my wife and I, a lot, too. It's in Chicago, it's a new venue, and they have an outside fairgrounds and then the indoor part, and they sell raincoats there for $15. They have snaps, they have pockets, they have a hood with a drawstring. It's a pretty good rain jacket for $15, and when it was raining once when we were there, they sold out of those things rather quickly.
[00:51:32] Jessica: Oh, I imagine.
[00:51:33] Charles: For something like that, that kind of venue, they should you know, outside like that, maybe offer that, not only a nice benefit for the fan, but you make a few bucks selling raincoats in a downpour.
[00:51:44] Jessica: It's funny you said that, Charles, because on the way in, they, I don't know if they were connected to the festival or not, but people were selling slickers. And the only reason why my friend bought it and I didn't is because I didn't have any cash on me, because they gave perks where if you won on the app, whatever they were serving for food, they had a discount, and you just showed your ticket, because they were trying to be all environmental, there was no, they're trying to have no cash or no bags or no, anything was basically trying to just keep everything so simple.
[00:52:16] In fact, this is the second time where I mentioned when you interviewed me last time, there was no alcohol at this concert. It was only water. If you wanted your own water bottle, you could have bought it, but they did have water stations, so that way everybody was hydrated. It looks like that could have been a good idea, but I think that once they saw the rain, I would have postponed the concert and just rescheduled it somewhere else indoors? Because it's Manhattan. There's so many other options they could have chosen. And I know would have been too last minute to turn everybody away. But you got to think of safety and how far everybody else was coming. It was tough. There were some people who left the same time as me. There were other people going in while I was out, but it came to common sense basically in terms of how people were just choosing to stay or not.
[00:53:04] Charles: Yeah, and I guess if there's lightning, a rain jacket's not really going to protect you from that.
[00:53:08] Jessica: This time it wasn't because the difference from the last, when the Lady Gaga concert that I told about with the rain, there was no lightning. It was just more of a drizzle where it wasn't heavy, but it just kept on going. It was almost like a hose. Was on me low speed and it just there was no relief.
[00:53:27] There was no sun. The clouds were basically gray. It looked much later than what it was. So that's what kind of was letting people think, oh, maybe it'll stop because it was supposed to stop but it didn't and it actually continued on the whole next day, too, even if they were gonna reschedule it was just rainy all weekend from the hurricane.
[00:53:47] Charles: You made the best of it, it sounds like, though.
[00:53:49] Jessica: Yeah, I tried. I tried and it was pretty cool that I did see Jelly Roll because he was on Saturday Night Live that night. So, I saw him before he was performing. So I found that cool. It was like a VIP moment.
[00:54:02] Charles: Yeah, I saw him on Saturday Night Live that night as well.
[00:54:05] Jessica: He's great. Very inspiring singer.
[00:54:08] Charles: Yeah, definitely. And anything else, Jessica, to add to your list?
[00:54:12] Jessica: I didsee that there were 60,000 in attendance, so I think that was probably one of the biggest concerts I went to. I don't know how much were there the last time but the crowd definitely seemed a lot bigger and I'll just keep an eye on some other concerts to see next year, mostly indoors I think is a good idea. I think that's it for me, but I'm definitely inspired by the rest of you to try to see if I can get more concerts in next year. I've been luckily been able to pay off some expenses, so it might be a good idea to splurge on some concert experiences.
[00:54:47] Charles: That's great. And speaking of the Salt Shed, Steve, you made a journey, I guess both of your concerts this year, you traveled to go see.
[00:54:56] Steve: You know, I am missing one off the list and I can't believe I blanked on this one because it was like a hallmark for me. My first show was in June. First time seeing Joan Jett. She was with Alanis.
[00:55:09] Charles: Oh, okay.
[00:55:10] Steve: Sothat was just a great tour Joan brings it. Joan is what? She might be close to 70, if not 70, stunning. Just, you felt like she was just a week away from off the runaway. She was bringing it. I mean, it was a great show. Somehow that was my first time ever seeing her. So that was great.
[00:55:28] And Alanis was, I've seen Alanis a few times and I've never been disappointed matter of fact she did some songs that I was completely wild with, but I was like, where are these? Cause they were albums. I just didn't hear about. Went to pick up the albums and now they're in high rotation because she's good. She really, really is that good. You don't have it listed here, but then, yeah, just not that one was close to home.
[00:55:50] Second one was in July. We went to uh, see Adele in Vegas. It was supposed to be the end of her residency who had planned it like that. And, she had special merchandise saying, Hey, end of the tour. And it was great, but she got sick and had to end up adding shows. It became a joke in the concert. She's like, well, this was going to be the last time I ever played this song, but guess what? I have more shows.
[00:56:12] But that was cool too. First time seeing something at Caesars like that. Cool, the setup she had done in Caesars. She actually built screens and utilized the walls so you weren't missing anything. One screen would be showing her from a different angle. It was pretty stunning. If you've never been to Caesars, it's a small venue, maybe 4,500. Hidden in the casino. It's pretty interesting to find. It was great It really was. No bad, sight lines at any point. We had pretty decent seats.
[00:56:45] So we went out to Vegas for that and then my last show and it's a slow year for me I actually gave away more tickets or just didn't even end up going to some of the shows I had bought for. Like I should drag my wife in here cuz she went to a bunch of the shows like Billie Eilish and stuff.
[00:57:00] My last show, came up to see you and finally meet your wife, and went to the Salt Shed Saw Jesus and Mary Chain, and the Psychedelic Furs, and Frankie Rose? Was she that opener?
[00:57:11] Charles: Oh, yeah. Yeah, Steve. I forgot about that. That was a trippy thing she was doing.
[00:57:16] Steve: Yeah, that was very interesting. Yeah, had never heard of her. Obviously an WXRT darling, which is great. I thought she was decent, and then she came back and did a few songs with Jesus and Mary Chain. Did she come out with the Furs too? I can't recall. I don't think she did.
[00:57:31] Charles: No. No.
[00:57:32] Steve: Okay, just making sure. Yeah, so going to the Salt Shed, which was my first time there because I had already moved down here to Atlanta before they had built that. It literally was a salt factory.
[00:57:43] Again, I know Chuck's a Chicago native. I don't know about anybody else, but just, it literally is on the river and it wasn't a factory. They converted it to an indoor and an outdoor venue. It's a really cool thing. I'd love to go back home to see something outdoor because it's spacious and just looks like a lot of fun. But the Furs and Jesus and Mary Chain were great inside. It's a strange, slightly strange setup that there's seating only on one side of the venue inside. But, it's a great show. Great show.
[00:58:14] Charles: Yeah. We had uh, general admission. We were right up on the rail. And it was the first show without Mars Williams on the saxophone.
[00:58:22] Steve: Yes. I was curious how they were gonna do that. But um, oh my god, I can't remember. Foreman Richard Foreman? The guitarist that came from GNR?
[00:58:30] Charles: Yeah. He was there playing upright electric. What? I don't even know what that was, Steve. Like a, like a, like a cello or something?
[00:58:39] Steve: For lack of a better phrase yeah, I was gonna say cello, but he filled in as best as you humanly can without a pure saxophone is there and it was an interesting sound and it worked. It quite well, but again, yeah It was the first show that I had seen them without Mars and I was curious to see how they were gonna do it. I mean, obviously they didn't do some of their songs that were heavy saxophone like Sister Europe or something, but just still a phenomenal concert when you're seeing the first.
[00:59:07] Charles: Yeah, and I thought too, Steve, I don't know if I mentioned this to you, but they sounded more psychedelic, with that added instrument in there and stuff. I felt was more true to their names. It wasn't a lot but it was kind of a more of a psychedelic sound maybe.
[00:59:24] Steve: It definitely did work for that show. Again, I don't know what I think his name was Richard, so I'm just going to keep saying Richard. I don't know how much touring, much more touring he's going to do with them, but I hope he stays because it did make a great sound. And I think I've seen two tours he's done with them and it works. So, I hope he stays.
[00:59:41] Charles: It was really cool. Cause yeah, Steve came up, and I credit him in his episode what was it? L7 gives Steve their drumsticks. You turned me on to the Psychedelic Furs, big time when we would DJ and stuff. And, when I first met my wife the first time we ever chatted, she just happens to be a huge Psychedelic Furs fan. So, I could speak knowledgeably about the band and, it made for a good first date, I guess. So, thanks Steve.
[01:00:09] Steve: Hey, I'll take what little credit I have at that.
[01:00:12] Eric: That's cool. You both got to go see Psychedelic Furs. I saw them in 2000, they were part of this package tour. It was the Go's, the B52's and the Psychedelic Furs were the first one on that show. So now that's that's really great. You got to see them with Jesus and Mary Chain on this tour.
[01:00:28] Scott: You guys got to see Frankie Rose, like Frankie Rose is uh, someone who I learned about through this band The Vivian Girls that my friend Curtis super into. And if you like animation, there was this show that I used to watch with my kid called Hilda, the cartoon that doesn't take your kids intelligence for granted.
[01:00:47] Which I appreciate. And they have the most ridiculous soundtrack. She had a song on it called Pair of Wings off her Interstellar record. Frankie Rose is like serious business. I haven't gotten this yet, but she also covered The Cure's 17 seconds in its entirety, and I need to hear that. Yeah, like that sounds pretty rad.
[01:01:06] And then also Psychedelic Furs. Now there's a band that I like. My favorite Psychedelic Furs record is The World Outside, which is like not a record that you hear too much about, but it's just a beautiful record. And I like some of the earlier stuff, but that record like blows my mind.
[01:01:24] It was also the one that doesn't have as much like saxophone on it. There's that too. It was like a big record for me in high school. So, it sounds like they, it sounds like they were they were put on a psychedelic show, maybe a little less furry, maybe a little more psychedelic?
[01:01:36] Charles: In some respects. Yeah, definitely. But that, yeah as an opening act, she was like, there was a video and she's putting her voice through some kind of, I don't know, synthesizer or processor or whatever. It was pretty interesting. And it was it was a surprise guest, I think.
[01:01:53] Steve: Yeah, she wasn't listed on anything and then, she came out and, she had that video set up, but you could barely see her on stage. I don't mean, I don't know if that's part of her schtick or whatever, but she sounded great, but it was, it was just so weird. It's like, we're here to see you, but we can't see you. Luckily, we were that close, and you could, with the stage lights, you could, but I could imagine someone being further back, like, where is this girl, because there were very little lights. We literally were on the rail, though.
[01:02:20] Scott: I never really thought about this before, but as we're talking about it, she ows some kind of debt to Hope Sandoval from like from Mazzy Star. Who just for fun to say out loud is recording a record with Warren Ellis right now. And I forget the guy's name. Dave Roback. The other half of Mazzy Star passed recently and it was unclear whether or not Steve would make music again. But Warren Ellis, like that's serious business. The work that he's done with Nick Cave alone is like worth its weight in gold.
[01:02:51] Charles: I'll have to revisit that because it was a good performance. Short, on a double bill with an added third act, she wasn't out there that long, but definitely interesting visually and sonically. Anything else, Steve?
[01:03:04] Steve: Like I said, I myself only made it three shows. I sent the wife along to see Eilish just cuz literally that day I was like, I can't do it. I just I don't know if I could deal with screaming girls or anything here. Take the hotel room take a friend and the horror story on that is a podcast for later. But I was just like go go go go.
[01:03:23] Somebody else I was supposed to see as well that last minute. I was just like I just can't. I can't deal with humans. I just can't I can't remember who it was, but that would add it to my list. But just that's all I got to this year. So no, that's it for me.
[01:03:38] Charles: Yeah, I thought in the interest of time, I'd just maybe focus,one band in particular on my list that my wife and I are just totally into. Is Fontaine's DC. And they played at the Salt Shed, and they did not disappoint. They were fantastic, and this is another podcast moment that totally blew my mind.
[01:04:01] We're right on the rail again, talking to this guy, his name's Peter. Says he goes to South by Southwest, and he's been to all these shows. He saw Fontaine's at South by Southwest in 2017, playing at a bar at like noon or something, you know, and he's all these stories with idols. He's seen them.
[01:04:20] He played guitar and stuff. I think it was guitar, with Mars Williams from the Psychedelic Furs jam sessions or whatever. So, I'm like, dude, I've got this podcast. I pull out my card. It's called Seeing Them Live. I interview people about their live music experiences. He goes, oh yeah, I heard the one where you interviewed Roger Mairlot, the Gig Slut from London.
[01:04:42] And I'm like, yeah, I did. There's 3000 people in this place and I'm talking to this guy. And it just blew my mind that he had listened to that episode. He pulls out his phone. And he happens to be friends with Roger. Roger goes to a concert every single night. He's a retired car mechanic. And uh, he's 75, Doug, I think he just turned. And so that really blew my mind, that I just bump into this guy who happened to listen to the podcast, which was crazy. But that was that was my Fontaine's DC story.
[01:05:15] That was my highlight, along with King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard, saw at Northerly Island, a place that holds 30,000 people, in Chicago, and what was amazing with that show, and there's a great video of it, they had a, they hired a Professional camera crew and the you can watch the entire concert, which is three hours and 16 minutes.
[01:05:40] It's Rattlesnake Milk Farm is who posted the video, and uh, must be associated with the band. But anyway, throughout the tour, certain cities they stopped at, they played these marathon sets, they were called. So, they played for three hours and 16 minutes without a break. And Stu McKenzie, the leader of the band about halfway through the show, pointed out that they played three nights at the Salt Shed outside, which I was at one of 'em the previous year, about 15, 16 songs each night. All different, no repeats. And that night, during the marathon set, this current year, 2024, they were not repeating a single song that they played at the Salt Shed. It was insane.
[01:06:25] It's kind of like Metallica, you know, where they, play these different sets. They also played a song each night specific to the city that they're in that's like their thing. So, King Gizzard, they learned like a hundred new songs for the tour, or they rehearsed. So, they would not repeat any of the songs from the previous year.
[01:06:45] It kind of had like a Grateful Dead feel to it. You know, and the parking lot's filled with cars from other states, the license plates and stuff, and if you check out this video, which is really cool, towards the end of it. Maybe the last 20 minutes, four of the guys get on this synth table and it turns into like electronic dance music, crazy psychedelic thing where some of the other members are still playing their instruments like harmonicas and stuff while these guys are on the synth table. It was unbelievable. I would rank that up very high as well in 2024 for my concerts.
[01:07:26] Steve: Quick question. Who's everybody looking forward to in a, 2025. I mean, I'll start right off hand. You mentioned it. Fontaine's DC is coming. I haven't gotten tickets. But, high on the list. Though, other concert I'm really looking forward to, on top of whoever gets announced later. But I've already got her tickets. St. Vincent.
[01:07:46] Jessica: She's great.
[01:07:47] Scott: Super cool.
[01:07:48] Steve: Really excited to see St. Vincent. I love Annie, but just, I've never had a chance to see her, cause, I'm You know, she's one of those that doesn't come south often. So, I jumped on it when I had the chance.
[01:07:58] Jessica: I still have that Dua, Dua Lipa is doing a five-day residency at Madison Square Garden. So, it looks like they're having a couple of different singers do those type of residencies now that Billy Joel ended his, but I also know that he's going to be touring in other locations and with Stevie Nicks.
[01:08:16] That should be nice. But most of our concert dates around here, we don't really find until like about April. So that way they can figure out how the summer sets are gonna be. They like to sponsor a lot from the radio stations by where I live. Cause I live between the New York and Connecticut borders. So far those are the ones that I'm scoping out.
[01:08:35] Summer: I'm looking at the Salt Shed lineup for the spring and it looks like uh, Foster the People are going to be there, which would be very cool to see on February 15th. And then and then I want to check out the City Winery again. That's a good venue that I've been to in the past.
[01:08:52] Charles: You mentioned Salt Shed, Summer and Jack White's playing two nights there, and it's about 40 seconds when I try to get tickets, and they're really, really expensive, but I've been dying for years. Twice with the White Stripes, and once, just to see Jack White and I've never been able for one reason or another.
[01:09:12] Summer: To go.
[01:09:12] Charles: So, I might bite the bullet and pay too much money to go see him. But I'd really like to see that and that's a great place to see someone like that. Anyone else?
[01:09:24] Eric: Yeah, I mean, uh, well like you were saying uh, they really haven't announced that many, just yet. So, it's just like at this point in December what's on the horizon. But I just got to review Kim Deal's solo album and obviously I love going back to The Pixies going back to The Breeders and uh, she's going on a solo tour in March, I think. So, looking forward to that. Beyond that future's wide open. Some more great shows coming up.
[01:09:48] Scott: Yeah, I think that like The Cure's new materials really good, which is a welcome change over the past, like what, two and a half decades of mediocrity. So, I might go see them, but I'm not sure I want to see Robert Smith, like roll around the stage like a grandmother.
[01:10:02] Steve: I went to that 2023 show and it was fantastic.
[01:10:06] Scott: That's what people say. That's why I'm considering it.
[01:10:08] Steve: Don't get me wrong, you're not going to a Cure show to see Bob do anything on stage that he doesn't do. He's just gonna stand there and he's just gonna sing.
[01:10:16] Scott: Kind of do some of this stuff
[01:10:18] Steve: At most. But just sound wise, it sounded like it sounded like you were just listening to a, an album. It was, I mean, and the man's almost seven over 70, I think. But it was, don't count that out. If you get a chance.
[01:10:31] Scott: That's what I've heard.
[01:10:32] Steve: Go see it.
[01:10:34] Scott: Yeah, that's why I'm considering it. Like everyone is saying exactly what you said. I like I saw the Cure in the middle of the 90s and towards the end of the 90s and that was good. But it was like Wild Mood Swings and Blood Flowers era which is like Wild Mood Swing as a record has grown on me but Blood Flowers is a steaming pile of garbage.
[01:10:52] Steve: Bloodflowers was tough. It was tough, don't get me wrong, I'm a superfan, but it was tough.
[01:10:57] Scott: Yeah, you can always count on the Cure to open a record. Like they always know how to open and close records. The the other thing too, is that I'm desperately trying to get the Undertow People to send Wussy to play at my house. So that is I have that as like a kind of a secret wish. I'm in touch with them, and they like Wussys just not doing a living room shows right now.
[01:11:17]
Charles:
I would agree with Steve. I saw the Cure in 2023 and they were fantastic. It was awesome. I would highly recommend that. But yeah, I really appreciate you guys taking time to, to meet and we'll have to do it again. Again, huge thanks for this. Really appreciate it.