So, where were we?
20/07/97 John Adams, conducting: Steve Reich, Lou Harrison, Philip Glass, John Adams and Frank Zappa at the Royal Albert Hall.
It was 'modern' night at the Promenade concerts, the only time I ever went to the Proms.
01/08/97 Albert Ssempeke at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
He was from Uganda. It wasn't great.
05/11/97 Stereolab at the Terrace Club, Princeton.
Princeton didn't have fraternities, but instead it had places called 'eating clubs', which served as social hubs for the undergraduates. Among these various eating clubs, Terrace had a reputation as the hip, bohemian one; and, when Stereolab were touring the States, they managed to persuade them to add an extra date to their itinerary, exclusively for members and their guests (I was a guest). And it was interesting to see them in such an intimate setting -- although, as it turned out, it was nigh on impossible to see them at all. There was no stage there, they just set up at one end of the room, and all that most people could see was just a sea of people.
13/12/97 The Seahorses at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
You'll notice that I was coming home every Summer and every Christmas. Keeping in touch with things. This was John Squire's post-Stone Roses band, and they seemed better at the time than they do in retrospect.
15/12/97 someone or other at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
I don't know who I saw. Local bands, but I don't know the names. None of them were much good. One played a cover version of 'Australia' by the Manics.
08/05/98 Kristin Hersh at the Knitting Factory, New York City.
I think this was when she was working under her own name, but with a full electric band instead of the usual solo acoustic business. Or maybe that was another time. I'm not sure.
14/05/98 The Fugs/Philip Glass & Patti Smith at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, New York City.
Allen Ginsberg had died the previous year, and his chums put together this free tribute event in his honour. I know that several other people were there, but I don't remember who they were. I think that Amiri Baraka was due to appear, but didn't. I know that Ginsberg's brother did speak. But my main memories are of Patti Smith, who read some of Ginsberg's poems while Philip Glass tinkled on the ivories, and then The Fugs. I was a huge fan of The Fugs as a teenager, and I never thought I'd get a chance to see them in the flesh. And yet there they were! Ed Sanders sang a long, narrative song about Ginsberg, 'Allen is fallen', while Tuli Kupferberg just sat around at the back of the stage. And then Tuli got up and sang 'Nothing'. The set only lasted fifteen minutes or so, but it was completely and utterly wonderful, and it meant an awful lot to me.
16/06/98 Pulp at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City.
I don't remember who supported them, but probably no one very interesting. But I happened to run into someone I knew from Princeton in the middle of the moshpit, and went to a bar with him for a few drinks after the show. I paid because he was low on cash, and he promised to pay me back, but never did.
23/08/98 All Saints/Ian Brown/PJ Harvey/Robbie Williams/Space/Theaudience at Hylands Park, Chelmsford.
I had an arm in a sling, having fractured it the previous weekend; and it poured with rain; and I missed the coach back to Cambridge at the end. And yet my memory is of an utterly fantastic day. It was certainly a fantastic line-up. Theaudience were the first band on the second stage, and they (or rather their audience) got the worst of the rain. Space were on the main stage, and they weren't a great band overall, but that one song, 'Me And You Vs The World', that one went down a storm. This was the same summer when Robbie had his 'breakthrough' moment at Glastonbury that everyone talks about. But he played here too, and it was quite palpable that this crowd, a crowd which one mightn't necessarily have expected to accept a reject from a boyband, had absolutely taken him to their collective heart. And then PJ Harvey... I don't actually remember very well. Ian Brown had a percussionist in a turban, who played the most remarkable solo at one point. And then All Saints (in the dance tent: I can't even remember who was headlining on the main stage) were... well, the word that comes to mind is 'louche'.
24/10/98 Kristin Hersh at St Ann's Church, Brooklyn.
This was around the time of Murder, Misery, And Then Goodnight, and she played a few songs from that, plus her usual back catalogue. And it was a long show, two separate sets, with a break in the middle for juice and cookies.
01/11/98 Belle & Sebastian at The Supper Club, New York City.
In those innocent pre-Ticketmaster days, we were instructed to go to Other Music on 4th Street (or was it 3rd Street?) at 3:00 on a certain day, and there would be a guy selling tickets for the show. So I made the journey in, and bought my ticket from the guy who was indeed where they’d said he would be, sitting on a chair in the corner of the shop; and then I made the journey in again for the show itself. It was an incredibly swanky venue, all gilt and velvet, like something from the 1930s. And Belle & Sebastian still had that air of mystery about them: I had never even seen a photograph of the band! But a little ginger-haired fellow in a white t-shirt went up to the microphone and started singing 'The State That I Am In' in that voice, and I figured: oh, I guess that'll be Stuart Murdoch then. He changed the reference in that particular song's lyrics from "Marks & Spencer's" to "Sears & Roebuck", which was a nice touch. It went down well with the Americans. And then they did the song, 'Belle & Sebastian'; and then 'She's Losing It', which I didn't even know at the time, as I didn't have a copy of the original pressing of Tigermilk. And they did 'The Boy With The Arab Strap', and lots of others, and it was very, very special.
15/12/98 Manic Street Preachers/Catatonia at Wembley Arena.
Catatonia were a bit disappointing really. Cerys didn't seem capable of hitting the high notes in a live setting. The Manics were the Manics. Nicky skipped.
16/12/98 Manic Street Preachers/Catatonia at Wembley Arena.
And back again the next day for more.
29/12/98 The Saffs at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
This was put together by the R*E*P*E*A*T fanzine, and I never quite understood why they thought so highly of The Saffs. I couldn't see anything special in them at all.
It was 'modern' night at the Promenade concerts, the only time I ever went to the Proms.
01/08/97 Albert Ssempeke at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
He was from Uganda. It wasn't great.
05/11/97 Stereolab at the Terrace Club, Princeton.
Princeton didn't have fraternities, but instead it had places called 'eating clubs', which served as social hubs for the undergraduates. Among these various eating clubs, Terrace had a reputation as the hip, bohemian one; and, when Stereolab were touring the States, they managed to persuade them to add an extra date to their itinerary, exclusively for members and their guests (I was a guest). And it was interesting to see them in such an intimate setting -- although, as it turned out, it was nigh on impossible to see them at all. There was no stage there, they just set up at one end of the room, and all that most people could see was just a sea of people.
13/12/97 The Seahorses at the Cambridge Corn Exchange.
You'll notice that I was coming home every Summer and every Christmas. Keeping in touch with things. This was John Squire's post-Stone Roses band, and they seemed better at the time than they do in retrospect.
15/12/97 someone or other at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
I don't know who I saw. Local bands, but I don't know the names. None of them were much good. One played a cover version of 'Australia' by the Manics.
08/05/98 Kristin Hersh at the Knitting Factory, New York City.
I think this was when she was working under her own name, but with a full electric band instead of the usual solo acoustic business. Or maybe that was another time. I'm not sure.
14/05/98 The Fugs/Philip Glass & Patti Smith at the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist, New York City.
Allen Ginsberg had died the previous year, and his chums put together this free tribute event in his honour. I know that several other people were there, but I don't remember who they were. I think that Amiri Baraka was due to appear, but didn't. I know that Ginsberg's brother did speak. But my main memories are of Patti Smith, who read some of Ginsberg's poems while Philip Glass tinkled on the ivories, and then The Fugs. I was a huge fan of The Fugs as a teenager, and I never thought I'd get a chance to see them in the flesh. And yet there they were! Ed Sanders sang a long, narrative song about Ginsberg, 'Allen is fallen', while Tuli Kupferberg just sat around at the back of the stage. And then Tuli got up and sang 'Nothing'. The set only lasted fifteen minutes or so, but it was completely and utterly wonderful, and it meant an awful lot to me.
16/06/98 Pulp at the Hammerstein Ballroom, New York City.
I don't remember who supported them, but probably no one very interesting. But I happened to run into someone I knew from Princeton in the middle of the moshpit, and went to a bar with him for a few drinks after the show. I paid because he was low on cash, and he promised to pay me back, but never did.
23/08/98 All Saints/Ian Brown/PJ Harvey/Robbie Williams/Space/Theaudience at Hylands Park, Chelmsford.
I had an arm in a sling, having fractured it the previous weekend; and it poured with rain; and I missed the coach back to Cambridge at the end. And yet my memory is of an utterly fantastic day. It was certainly a fantastic line-up. Theaudience were the first band on the second stage, and they (or rather their audience) got the worst of the rain. Space were on the main stage, and they weren't a great band overall, but that one song, 'Me And You Vs The World', that one went down a storm. This was the same summer when Robbie had his 'breakthrough' moment at Glastonbury that everyone talks about. But he played here too, and it was quite palpable that this crowd, a crowd which one mightn't necessarily have expected to accept a reject from a boyband, had absolutely taken him to their collective heart. And then PJ Harvey... I don't actually remember very well. Ian Brown had a percussionist in a turban, who played the most remarkable solo at one point. And then All Saints (in the dance tent: I can't even remember who was headlining on the main stage) were... well, the word that comes to mind is 'louche'.
24/10/98 Kristin Hersh at St Ann's Church, Brooklyn.
This was around the time of Murder, Misery, And Then Goodnight, and she played a few songs from that, plus her usual back catalogue. And it was a long show, two separate sets, with a break in the middle for juice and cookies.
01/11/98 Belle & Sebastian at The Supper Club, New York City.
In those innocent pre-Ticketmaster days, we were instructed to go to Other Music on 4th Street (or was it 3rd Street?) at 3:00 on a certain day, and there would be a guy selling tickets for the show. So I made the journey in, and bought my ticket from the guy who was indeed where they’d said he would be, sitting on a chair in the corner of the shop; and then I made the journey in again for the show itself. It was an incredibly swanky venue, all gilt and velvet, like something from the 1930s. And Belle & Sebastian still had that air of mystery about them: I had never even seen a photograph of the band! But a little ginger-haired fellow in a white t-shirt went up to the microphone and started singing 'The State That I Am In' in that voice, and I figured: oh, I guess that'll be Stuart Murdoch then. He changed the reference in that particular song's lyrics from "Marks & Spencer's" to "Sears & Roebuck", which was a nice touch. It went down well with the Americans. And then they did the song, 'Belle & Sebastian'; and then 'She's Losing It', which I didn't even know at the time, as I didn't have a copy of the original pressing of Tigermilk. And they did 'The Boy With The Arab Strap', and lots of others, and it was very, very special.
15/12/98 Manic Street Preachers/Catatonia at Wembley Arena.
Catatonia were a bit disappointing really. Cerys didn't seem capable of hitting the high notes in a live setting. The Manics were the Manics. Nicky skipped.
16/12/98 Manic Street Preachers/Catatonia at Wembley Arena.
And back again the next day for more.
29/12/98 The Saffs at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
This was put together by the R*E*P*E*A*T fanzine, and I never quite understood why they thought so highly of The Saffs. I couldn't see anything special in them at all.