When I was 12, I thought R.E.M. rocked for one simple reason: because my sister thought they rocked. Her influence even had me believing that Duran Duran rocked before I knew what rocking was. At seven I thought John Taylor was fine.
But back to the guys from Athens, GA. Kristin was a mega-fan. Their tapes blared on her boom box all the time. And it was old-school stuff like Murmur and Reckoning--long before "Stand" became their flagship song. But it was Stand's album, Green, that R.E.M. toured for in 1989.
And that was the year I attended my very first concert.
Having a big sister who's into music is helpful for moments like these. That way you don't end up with a story like, "My first concert was Color me Badd. 'I Wanna Sex you up' was their opening song."
No, for me, it was much cooler. It was March 21, 1989--Spring Break. Like I said, I was 12. So Kristin was 17. We were in Austin with our parents for a quick mini-vacation. It was pouring so we couldn't do the regular Zilker Park/Barton Springs excursions. We drove by the Frank Erwin Center and the marquee said that R.E.M. was playing that night. Duh, like Kristin didn't know that already. She had tickets to see them two days later in Houston. Somehow we convinced our parents to buy us tickets for that evening since we didn't have any other plans. I remember that they were $17.
Along with having no musical taste of my own, I had no sense of fashion either. Luckily, Kristin picked out a very appropriate outfit for me--all black. We looked like we were going to the rockingest funeral ever. My parents dropped us off at the Frank Erwin Center and we took our places in the nosebleed section (this seems to be a theme in my life).
Before the boys took the stage, I noticed a strange smell in the area. I inquired about it and Kristin said, "Shh...it's pot..." Huh? "It's marijuana!" Well, what's a first concert without some drug paraphernelia?
Then the lights dimmed and the band entered much in the same way Britney Spears would enter 13 years later--with some sort of explosion. They opened with "Pop Song 89" which you know better as "Hello, I saw you I know you I knew you..." Luckily, I had spent a lot of time with Kristin's cassette's too so I was able to sing along with our neighboring pot heads.
The set list went like this:
Pop Song 89
Exhuming McCarthy
Welcome To The Occupation
Turn You Inside-Out
Pilgrimage
Orange Crush
Cuyahoga
Feeling Gravity's Pull
Time After Time
Begin The Begin
World Leader Pretend
Pretty Persuasion
Frogmore - Tired Of Singing Trouble - I Believe
These Days
Get Up
Auctioneer
It's The End Of The World As We Know It
Then they did THREE Encores which included Stand, Fall on Me, Finest Worksong and some others.
Yes, I remember it like it was 15 years ago but it was really 16. NO--they have these set lists on the Internet! Some other loser documented every single R.E.M. concert ever. That's how I knew the exact date too. I'm not that psycho sentimental.
So I thank my sister for taking me to my rocking first concert. Unfortunately, after she went off to college I had no musical guide and my tastes faltered. And now I have to live with the fact that my fifth concert ever was, in fact, Color Me Badd. And lucky me, they did open with "I Wanna Sex you up."
8 comments:
My first concert was in 1989 too! I had to look it up on the internet. Unfortunately I do not have a cool, older sister to help with my choice in music. But I'll never forget the excitement of going to Starplex and seeing the New Kids on The Block with Tiffany opening! What a show. I even bought a black concert shirt. Man, I miss the 80's.
Oh, no, Tay. I actually almost used NKOTB as my "glad I didn't have to say that was my first concert" reference. Although Tiffany does rock the remakes.
We all have skeletons in the closet. I would probably still go out with Joey McIntyre if he asked.
I have to say that my first concert was also NKOTB w/ Tiffany, and I SWEAR that Joey looked at me!! (no, that would be impossible as I was 12, and broke, and the concert was at Astroworld, and I sat on the lawn, at the very back) But that was the rockingest concert ever. I still dance along when I hear "Hanging Tough" on the radio.
Glad you had a rockin' time at Th REM concert. I agree with Thea I think I would go out with Joey M, too. I somehow think he is married, it's sad that I might know that......
Kristin W, I am disappointed in you. It was because of you that I hated NKOTB in junior high. When I would go to slumber parties I was the only girl who didn't know the words to all their songs. I was an outcast! And now you tell me you were a closet NKOTB lover the whole time?
No one good ever came to Corpus. The Outfield came once at the height of their rockingest, but I was on restriction for smoking in my mom's car so I wasn't allowed to go.
No I was never a NKOTB fan, I just think Joey is cute. Now the Backstreet Boys are a whole other subject!
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