Yet Another Music Hiatus

 This time, the start of my last concert hiatus was not my doing. Yup: Covid.

When it hit, and we were about to go into lockdown, I had 3 shows booked:

Fontaines D.C. (Feb 25/20)

Cabbage (March 5/20)

Faith No More (June 16/20) 

If memory serves, the news about Covid was building, and I just didn't think it was a good idea to be in a crowded audience. I went to one play in February (Taming of the Shrew at Sam Wanamaker Playhouse), which was barely half full and realised that many people were already skipping public events. Even with plenty of space around us, I felt uncomfortable. We just didn't know anything about Covid yet and it was a nervous time.

I had seen Fontaines DC three times, including recently in November, so, as much as I love them, it was my first skipped event. Then Cabbage were opening for Blossoms, but again, I'd seen them once so missed it. Alas, they have since disbanded. Finally, I had seen FNM twice in 2015, and they were so good, I immediately bought tickets when they announced they were playing London again. This one was cancelled. I just did a search to see if any shows have been played or planned since, and read an article about how Mike Patton pulled out due to agoraphobia and they haven't played together since. Although Patton has played quite a few shows with Mr. Bungle in the past 3 years, including a 2024 London date I didn't even hear about. It's looking like FNM won't reform, but I hope I'm wrong.

After all the lockdowns and restrictions were officially over, I stayed more socially distanced than most, and was in no rush to resume going to events or taking holidays. We didn't travel overseas again until 2023! We moved to our new house at the end of 2010, so being homebodies has been nice for awhile. Lots of new middle-aged hobbies: bird watching, photography and gardening.

It was finally a Laura Jane Grace show in late 2024 that got me out of this hiatus. She'd only visited the UK for one festival in 2022 since covid, so I couldn't miss this one. 

Fittingly, it was her band Against Me! that made me end my last music hiatus in 2014, and even more importantly how I met my great concert friend, Janey - whom I've now seen more concerts with than anyone else, including seeing LJG together nine times and counting.

But wow! Five years between shows? Oof.  

The (Almost) Complete Concert List

I like lists. I like to document stuff. In the past year or so, I've used setlist.fm to double-check the setlists I post here, or add them there for others. That's led to adding all the concerts I can remember going to.

My username is 45rpms

There are a couple of concerts that I can't add, because I can't (yet!) verify the actual date of the concert, but it's pretty close to complete. The different acts in festivals and as opening bands make it look like more concerts than I've been to, but by my own math, I've seen at least 61 concerts. Not bad.

If I'm not sure I saw it, I've left it off, like was I at that Tears for Fears concert in 1985 at the Lethbridge Sportsplex or am I just remembering my brother's photos? Not sure.

This weekend, I dug out an old diary that had a lot of exact dates of concerts, so I could finally add most of the early missing concerts that had been bugging me. Pleased as I am with the setlist.fm list, it struck me that losing it would be a blow, and a major pain to reproduce, so I'm reproducing it here now, as a back up...

These are (almost) all the dates that aren't listed over there < < < in the left sidebar:

d/m/y	Band	Opener	Venue	City
06/08/03	Evanescence		Mesa Amphitheatre	Mesa, AZ
30/07/98	The Crystal Method	Velvet	The Rage	Vancouver
05/07/95	Lollapalooza		Thunderbird Stadium	Vancouver
	Mighty Mighty Bosstones	DDT
	Sinead O'Connor	Pavement
	Hole	Sonic Youth
05/12/94	Bad Religion	Samiam	Commodore Ballroom	Vancouver
06/11/94	Ween	Kyuss	Starfish Room	Vancouver
01/10/94	The Selecter	Gonch Messiah	Town Pump	Vancouver
27/09/94	Nine Inch Nails	Jim Rose Circus Sideshow	PNE Forum	Vancouver
18/06/93	Lollapalooza		Thunderbird Stadium	Vancouver
	Primus	Tool
	Alice in Chains
08/02/93	D.R.I.	Propain	Alternative Cabaret	Winnipeg
09/12/92	SNFU		Spectrum Cabaret	Winnipeg
20/07/92	The Levellers	Uncle Green	The Opera House	Toronto
16/07/92	Bad Religion	Helmet	The Spectrum	Toronto
03/07/92	Sons of Freedom		La Brique	Montreal
02/07/92	The Dead Milkmen		Les Foufounes Electrique	Montreal
01/07/92	Furnaceface		Alternative Canada Day	Ottawa
12/03/92	Rollins Band	God	Clapham Grand	London
29/02/92	Mega City Four	Midway Still	University of Essex	Colchester
??/??/91	The Long Tall Texans		Crash Musikkeller	Freiburg
18/05/91	GBH	Rumble Militia	Crash Musikkeller	Freiburg
05/05/91	The Sisters of Mercy	Loud	Stadthalle	Freiburg
26/10/88	Midnight Oil	Yothu Yindi	Olympic Saddledome	Calgary

(Not listed: small, local (bar) bands in Winnipeg, Vancouver, etc.)

Another Music Hiatus

I stopped going to live shows from 2011 to 2013. Two reasons, really.

@Radiohead

1st is that sometimes I'm just not impressed by new music coming out, even by bands I love. Nothing grabs me enough to get out and see a live show. Usually at this time, I see reunion shows advertised and contemplate one or two then don't bother 'cuz I'm out of the habit, and forget how much I love live music. Why do I keep forgetting?

2nd is that my fiance, has zero musical taste. Not bad taste, just no taste really. Example: "Take Me To the River" by Al Green came on the radio the other day in the car. I have a very annoying habit of trying to name a song in the fewest notes possible, and called out Talking Heads (you know, they covered it). I was wrong and was explaining why (I'm so tiresome!), forgetting he couldn't care less who does what song, when he said, "yeah, the big-mouth billy bass song". He had to explain what the hell he was talking about, as I shook my head in disgust. Remember the late night commercials for that fake fishing trophy plaque of a fish, which turns it's head to you and sings? Yep. *Smack Forehead*.

@Pemberton Festival

My old habit in @2008 was to buy 2 tickets to any show I wanted to see, and then figure out who to go with later. When we started dating, it was natural to take my new boyfriend to all these shows I had lined up. After about 7 or 8 shows, I started to notice that he wasn't into the music in the slightest. He usually spent the show looking at the crowd. I took the hint and started to go to shows with others. But, of course, in a new relationship it's often the easier option to do something you both like, more often than not. Fortunately, we both enjoy live comedy. I must say though that he's a real trooper, and a good boyfriend, because he will always be my back-up if no one else can make it. I just counted, he's been to 15 shows with me. Awww.

@REM

Last year (summer 2014), we moved to England, spitting distance of London, and all those shows! I met a great concert buddy pretty quickly, and this has reinvigorated my interest again. That and the new Against Me! album. She knew I'd seen them live before and her boyfriend (who introduced us) was trying to squirm out of going. I'm SO glad I did. They are now a firm favourite. Faith No More releasing a new album helps too, instead of just reunion touring. Whether this keeps up or not, we'll see, but I felt I could somewhat resurrect this old blog, for my own amusement and memory.

Music Drought?

Shockingly, I have only been to two shows since my last post in September!

I could use the excuse that I'm in a new relationship with all the new activities and preoccupations that entails, but really it has more to do with getting a bit fed up with the new music I'm hearing and the lack of anything coming through town that really excites me.

This is a common theme in my music-fan-life: obsession for a couple of years, a big lull, discovery of a new scene/sound that cranks up the concert-going again. Geography has had a lot to do with this over the years, but Vancouver is one of the best concert cities I've ever lived in, so I can't use that excuse this past 6 months.

I do not dig all the new hairy 70s retro bands, AT ALL. Much of the new poppy indie stuff is too close to bad disco for me to respect. And admittedly the post-punk revival thing is getting a bit long in the tooth, but I know what I like whether it has a label that fits into my self-conception, and nothing has done it for me for quite awhile.

Here's hoping the year is young and surprising...

Work in Progress

So, posting full concert reviews after they are completed does not seem to be working for me. Admittedly my free time is being taken up by some other interesting pursuits more than before, but I still hoped to keep up with a bare bones accounting of the shows I see.

The desire to create and maintain this blog is still there, but the follow-through is very sad. Laziness may be to blame. I also find it intimidating to present a finished piece of writing, and daunting to finish an article or entry. I'm still attending one or more concerts each month, and I have lots of notes from them, but haven't had the discipline to sit down and polish them up.

The solution as it occurs to me today: push myself to make an entry after each show, no matter how cryptic or unfinished it is. I can come back and edit it later.

First up, Against Me! from September 15. Then if I have the impetus, I'll plug in some more past shows and the scraps of notes and setlists I have from them.

A Fresh Space for Concert Reviews

I'm going to several concerts a month.
I started taking crappy cellphone pics to remember them by and sharing them on Facebook. Then I wanted to duplicate the setlists on my Media Player, so started taking some brief notes. These notes have expanded to almost-reviews of the shows. So, I've decided to mint a fresh space for the sole purpose of writing reviews of the concerts I'm going to.
As a music junkie and frustrated (or lazy) writer, this seems like a natural progression for me. It should inspire me to complete the reviews I'm almost writing now and polish my writing.
If you're reading this, it means I'm ready for some feedback or comfortable enough with the results so far to share.
Welcome!