One afternoon a few weeks ago, I was texting back and forth with a friend I’ve known since a college summer job (we’ll call him “Rolf,” just for fun). He was trying to figure out, and I was trying to help figure out, at which show we saw Social Distortion open. At a small club in an even smaller city.
Was it the Ramones?
Was it A Flock of Seagulls?
My instinct was that it was neither, as I don’t think I’ve ever seen Social Distortion, but, admittedly, at this age, and after hundreds of shows and bands, I wasn’t entirely sure.
Plus, except for a few notable exceptions, I’m just generally really bad with remembering what band opened what show.
A few weeks later, while at my parents’ house, I remembered the exchange with Rolf and I set about trying to locate my ticket stubs. What follows is a mere fraction of my stubs, but they’re the ones I could easily locate… as most of them were still tacked, along with many other incredibly awesome, nostalgic artifacts, to the bulletin board that hung over my bed back in the day (and which now resides in my bedroom closet).
Among those artifacts…
My high school graduation tassle? Check.
An Edvard Munch “Scream” keychain? Check.
My sales associate pin from The Gap? Check.
A ticket stub to the Brontë homestead in Haworth, England, from my visit with Gwendolyn? Check.
A WDRE 103.9 keychain? Check.
Add to that loads of Anglophilia, bits of poetry, and a foam dinosaur, and it’s a perfectly preserved time capsule of my teenage and 20-something self.
All on top of a 1978 Star Wars bulletin board.
While it would be pretty fabulous to see that again … I’m so very glad that I opted to keep the bulletin board decorated. Because when I pulled it out of the closet and gazed upon it for the first time in many, many years… it was awesome.
But I digress.
The stubs that I found are as follows, as each serves as a special shout-out to the kids who made the scene.
You know who you are.
- Adam Ant (3/18/93, TLA) [This show allowed me to finally understood why women found Adam Ant hot.]
- Bauhaus (9/8/98, Electric Factory) [Oddly, I don’t remember ever seeing Bauhaus.]
- Blur (9/30/94, Trocadero) [The “Parklife” tour. Easily one of my top 5 concerts ever.]
- Blur (3/8/97, Trocadero) [I don’t remember this show.]
- Blur (9/10/97, Electric Factory) [This show was the end of old Blur. Old Blur fans left severely disgruntled. I am an old Blur fan, and I haven’t seen them in concert since.]
- The Charlatans (10/1/97, TLA) [I don’t remember seeing the Charlatans, either. And I really love the Charlatans.]
- The Cranberries (8/8/95, Camden)
- Cranes (3/11/97, TLA) [A bunch of guys I worked with were in love with lead singer.]
- The Creatures (8/1/98, Electric Factory) [The stub is autographed by Budgie.]
- The Cure (9/21/89, Spectrum) [The “Disintegration” tour… oh, yes I did. But, really, I would have much rather seen the “Head On The Door” tour.]
- The Cure (5/16/92, Spectrum) [The “Wish” tour. The “Disintegration” tour had been all goth kids and alterna-teens … and this show was all preps. It was really weird.]
- David Bowie & Nine Inch Nails (9/22/95, Camden) [I remember the rain.]
- Depeche Mode (6/13/90, Spectrum) [The “Violator” tour. All my friends went and were seated throughout the arena. The next day, a story circulated that a girl we knew cried when Martin Gore sang “Somebody.” Which brings us to… ]
- Duran Duran (7/23/93, Mann) [The first time I ever saw them… and… um… yeah, ok… I cried.]
- Duran Duran (7/27/93, Merriweather Post Pavilion) [Stalker.]
- Duran Duran (11/18/97, Electric Factory) [The “Medazzaland” tour.]
- Echo & the Bunnymen (10/26/97, Electric Factory) [Still a good number of raincoats in the audience.]
- Fleetwood Mac (9/26/97, Electric Factory) [The reunited “Rumours” line-up.]
- Gene (5/23/97, Trocadero)
- The Go-Gos (11/17/90, Tower Theatre) [The first reunion tour.]
- The Go-Gos and the B-52s (7/17/00, Camden) [A package of bands with hyphens.]
- Green Day (11/5/95, Farm Show Arena) [The “Dookie” tour. Every single part of this entry is embarrassing. Which of these things is not like the others?]
- INXS (??/??/92) [The “Suicide Blonde” or whatever tour. Geoff, my best friend, and I were only there for the pre-“Kick” songs anyway.]
- KISS (7/5/00, Hersheypark Stadium) [With make-up and fire.]
- Lollapalooza 1 (8/16/91, Fairfax, VA) [NIN, Ice-T & Body Count, Living Colour, Siouxsie & the Banshees, and Jane’s Addiction. This entire day was like a John Hughes film. A very hot, very expensive John Hughes film.]
- Lush (4/26/96, Trocadero) [The “Lovelife” tour.]
- Madness (12/23/93, Wembley Arena) [The annual London Christmas show.]
- Madness (5/2/99, Electric Factory) [Geoff, Dave, and I spent the entire 2 hour show skanking heavily. Oh, youth. These days, I don’t think I could skank heavily for 5 minutes.]
- Morrissey (7/7/91, Tower Theatre) [The “Bona Drag” tour?]
- Morrissey (9/23/92, Mann) [The “Kill Uncle” tour?]
- MTV 120 Minutes Tour with B.A.D. II, Public Image Limited, Live, and Blind Melon (4/17/92, Tower Theatre) [My roommate and I got backstage and met Mick Jones, who had about six scantily clad women sitting at his feet. It was really weird.]
- Oasis (3/7/95, TLA) [The “Definitely Maybe” tour. Someone kept screaming “No-el! No-el!” until Noel finally replied, “It’s Noel, you twat!”]
- The Seahorses (8/2/97) [Remember them? John Squire’s post-Stone Roses band.]
- Paul Simon (8/17/91?, Hersheypark Stadium) [Dancing on the grass with the kick-ass Ferguson clan while Paul played “You Can Call Me Al”… twice in a row.]
- The Pretenders (10/21/94, Tower Theatre)
- Public Image Limited (9/11/92, Trocadero)
- Pulp (6/9/96, TLA) [The “Different Class” tour. This wasn’t a concert, it was a religious experience. Best. Show. EVER.]
- Simple Minds (6/1/91, Tower Theatre) [Material Issue opened. Remember them? All their songs had girls’ names in the titles.]
- Sinead O’Connor (5/7/90, Tower Theatre) [The “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got“ tour.]
- Siouxsie & the Banshees (11/29/91, Tower Theatre) [The “Superstition” tour. My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult opened, promoting their “Sexplosion!” album. There was a fabulous drag queen standing in the row in front of us whose attire was a cross between Marlon Brando, Madonna, and a motorcycle cop.]
- The Sisters of Mercy (6/28/97, Electric Factory) [It was June. It was 100+ degrees. It was sold out and seemingly filled over capacity. And every single person was wearing all black.]
- The Specials (9/29/94, TLA)
- Squeeze (10/12/91, Tower Theatre) [The Candyskins opened.]
- Sting (9/11/91, Spectrum) [The “Soul Cages” tour. Unbearable. It seemed like every song was at least 10 minutes long.]
- Suede (2/11/95, TLA) [The “Dog Man Star” tour. Probably my second favorite concert ever.]
- The Sundays (12/2/97, Electric Factory) [Another one I totally forgot about.]
- 10,000 Maniacs (10/28/90, Tower Theatre)
- U2 (3/10/92, Spectrum) [The “Achtung Baby” tour. My college roommate and I ended up in the very center of the very front row.]
- The Who (7/7/00, Camden) [All original members except Keith.]
And Social Distortion?
It turns out that I was right.
Rolf found a picture of the show’s ticket stub online — Social Distortion opened for the Reverend Horton Heat. And I saw the Reverend Horton Heat separately, at the 9:30 Club in D.C. — without Rolf or Social Distortion.
But don’t ask me who opened.
Column Soundtrack: Soft Cell: Memorabilia
