Merch Tables I Have Known
I've been pretty good over the years at buying CDs at shows to support the cause. Only rarely have I ever bought anything else. I've never bought vinyl (or lord help us, cassettes) and generally speaking I don't get any other kind of merch. However, I recently mentioned a bowling shirt I bought at a Red Elvises show in 2002, which means this is a good time to list out all the shirts I've bought at shows over the years. It's actually a surprisingly short list, even when I add freebies I got along the way.
- The Moody Blues, 1995 (96?). When my family took my mother to this show in Fargo, I bought a black t-shirt. I wore it a few times, realized it was both uncomfortable and uncool, and gave it to my mother.
- Fishbone, 1998. I bought a really cool grey t-shirt featuring a fish skeleton on the front. The fish skeleton had a big cigar and was wearing a hat just like Angelo's. I wore that shirt until it fell apart.
- Red Elvises, 2002. As mentioned, I bought a bowling shirt with the cover of the Better Than Sex album on the back. I wore it a few times and gifted it to my fraternity brother Jon. Note: in case you're wondering, Better Than Sex is not in fact better than sex.
- Mustard Plug - early 2000s. I didn't actually buy the hideous red and yellow "For those about to skank, we salute you" AC/DC rip-off shirt that I wore to Studio-A-Rama for close to 20 years. The band gave it to me, probably because they realized it was hideous and they'd never sell it!
- Solomon Burke, 2003. Ok, so I didn't buy a shirt at this show, but for one of the few times in my life I caught a tshirt when it was thrown into the crowd. Alas, it was sized for a petite women rather than my own rather Solomon Burke-esque physique, so I gave it to Watson, who was my guest for the evening.
- Falls Festival, 2004. The one and only festival I've ever gone to was a two day festival in Australia on December 30 and 31. I really wanted a t-shirt. Naturally, the only one left was even smaller than the one I caught at the Solomon Burke show. I have no idea why I bought still it, and I'm pretty confident I gave it away to some petite woman (maybe my sister, who was with me?).
- Freekbass, early 2000s. At one of the 7 or so times I saw Freekbass, I supported the band by buying a black tshirt. The front featured the Freekbass logo, which was a riff (so to speak) on the MLB logo with Freekbass on it in red white and blue. The back had the number 1 with "on the" printed on it. I wore this occasionally, but it was heavy and uncomfortable and I gifted it to Elise at some point, I think.
- Moxy Früvous, 2005, sort of. I never bought a Früvous hockey jersey because I was a broke college student all six times I saw them. When I was the best man for Mike and Meredith's wedding Meredith, a certified FrüHead herself, got some printed up. So it doesn't really count as band merch, but I love it anyway.
- Matt Harnish, 2016. When I hosted this house concert I was given a tour tshirt that featured "Nathan's House" as the venue. I don't wear it often, but I'm never getting rid of that one!
- Iron Maiden, 2019. Iron Maiden has the coolest shirts, and I'd always regretted not buying one at the 2004 show I went to. I bought the tour shirt for 2019, which featured old album covers as stain glass. It's pretty great, and I should wear it more often.
I also have a pile of Studio-A-Rama t-shirts, but I didn't any of buy those either, they were given to radio station staff members. I used to have a lot more but I've given away quite a few of them unworn that I was clearly never going to put on. If we want to talk about repping venues, I bought one Beachland Ballroom shirt and one Cleveland Cinematheque shirt.
So basically, from 25+ years of concert going today I own a bootleg Früvous hockey jersey, a free Mustard Plug shirt that I only wore once a year and a free Harnish tour shirt, plus one Iron Maiden shirt I actually bought. Throw in a Fishbone shirt I wish I still had, and that's two total tshirts that I bought with my own money and actually wore.
By comparison, over roughly the same period of my life as all these concerts I bought two Rent shirts for myself and two more for other people. I've purchased two Oakland A's shirts at games, one at spring training and one at the Coliseum. Those four, I actually wear (or wore, in the case of one of those Rent shirts that long since wore out).
In general, I try to avoid souvenir tshirts in other aspects of my life. I have two that I can think of in my dresser now, one from the Tour de Mt Blanc and one from the Galapagos, and I never wear either. I have a BWCA shirt that my father bought for me that I actually wear, which replaced an earlier shirt that wore out.
- The Moody Blues, 1995 (96?). When my family took my mother to this show in Fargo, I bought a black t-shirt. I wore it a few times, realized it was both uncomfortable and uncool, and gave it to my mother.
- Fishbone, 1998. I bought a really cool grey t-shirt featuring a fish skeleton on the front. The fish skeleton had a big cigar and was wearing a hat just like Angelo's. I wore that shirt until it fell apart.
- Red Elvises, 2002. As mentioned, I bought a bowling shirt with the cover of the Better Than Sex album on the back. I wore it a few times and gifted it to my fraternity brother Jon. Note: in case you're wondering, Better Than Sex is not in fact better than sex.
- Mustard Plug - early 2000s. I didn't actually buy the hideous red and yellow "For those about to skank, we salute you" AC/DC rip-off shirt that I wore to Studio-A-Rama for close to 20 years. The band gave it to me, probably because they realized it was hideous and they'd never sell it!
- Solomon Burke, 2003. Ok, so I didn't buy a shirt at this show, but for one of the few times in my life I caught a tshirt when it was thrown into the crowd. Alas, it was sized for a petite women rather than my own rather Solomon Burke-esque physique, so I gave it to Watson, who was my guest for the evening.
- Falls Festival, 2004. The one and only festival I've ever gone to was a two day festival in Australia on December 30 and 31. I really wanted a t-shirt. Naturally, the only one left was even smaller than the one I caught at the Solomon Burke show. I have no idea why I bought still it, and I'm pretty confident I gave it away to some petite woman (maybe my sister, who was with me?).
- Freekbass, early 2000s. At one of the 7 or so times I saw Freekbass, I supported the band by buying a black tshirt. The front featured the Freekbass logo, which was a riff (so to speak) on the MLB logo with Freekbass on it in red white and blue. The back had the number 1 with "on the" printed on it. I wore this occasionally, but it was heavy and uncomfortable and I gifted it to Elise at some point, I think.
- Moxy Früvous, 2005, sort of. I never bought a Früvous hockey jersey because I was a broke college student all six times I saw them. When I was the best man for Mike and Meredith's wedding Meredith, a certified FrüHead herself, got some printed up. So it doesn't really count as band merch, but I love it anyway.
- Matt Harnish, 2016. When I hosted this house concert I was given a tour tshirt that featured "Nathan's House" as the venue. I don't wear it often, but I'm never getting rid of that one!
- Iron Maiden, 2019. Iron Maiden has the coolest shirts, and I'd always regretted not buying one at the 2004 show I went to. I bought the tour shirt for 2019, which featured old album covers as stain glass. It's pretty great, and I should wear it more often.
I also have a pile of Studio-A-Rama t-shirts, but I didn't any of buy those either, they were given to radio station staff members. I used to have a lot more but I've given away quite a few of them unworn that I was clearly never going to put on. If we want to talk about repping venues, I bought one Beachland Ballroom shirt and one Cleveland Cinematheque shirt.
So basically, from 25+ years of concert going today I own a bootleg Früvous hockey jersey, a free Mustard Plug shirt that I only wore once a year and a free Harnish tour shirt, plus one Iron Maiden shirt I actually bought. Throw in a Fishbone shirt I wish I still had, and that's two total tshirts that I bought with my own money and actually wore.
By comparison, over roughly the same period of my life as all these concerts I bought two Rent shirts for myself and two more for other people. I've purchased two Oakland A's shirts at games, one at spring training and one at the Coliseum. Those four, I actually wear (or wore, in the case of one of those Rent shirts that long since wore out).
In general, I try to avoid souvenir tshirts in other aspects of my life. I have two that I can think of in my dresser now, one from the Tour de Mt Blanc and one from the Galapagos, and I never wear either. I have a BWCA shirt that my father bought for me that I actually wear, which replaced an earlier shirt that wore out.