FIRST AVE MEMORIES

Hello everyone. I am writing this on a sunny Sunday morning from Los Angeles. Brigitte Fontaine “Comme a la radio” is playing on my stereo.

I came across some of my First Avenue ticket stubs from when I was a teenager in the 90’s and wanted to share some of my memories of these formative experiences before I forget them. Playing through the memory reels in my mind, I’m already a little shocked by how little I recall. Yet I can still remember how a lot of these performances felt like and look like in my head. The way the stage lights hit the performers. The mist of cigarette smoke hovering around the stage as the lights illuminated it.

If you are unfamiliar with First Avenue it is a nightclub in downtown Minneapolis that’s been open for nearly fifty years, iconically known for the club scenes in Purple Rain. I started attending concerts there in the early 90’s (I think I was fourteen years old the first time I ever went to a concert at First Ave.), until I left Minneapolis in 1998. Many of the concerts I saw there and the culture of the venue played a role in shaping who I am today. I had the honor of performing twice at First Avenue with Chromatics. Once in 2012 when we did a string of shows with Hot Chip and then returning in 2019 to headline our own mainroom show. Still one of the coolest things I’ve ever gotten to do in my life!

JULIANA HATFIELD THREE - September 21st, 1993

Like many of you of my generation reading this, much of my tastes as a teenager (and an adult) were shaped by MTV. Juliana Hatfield Three was the first concert I ever attended at First Ave and I couldn’t have been more excited because Juliana Hatfield was all over 120 Minutes at the time. Getting to see an artist whom I’d spent so much time watching on our television screen, so up close made experiences like this feel all the more precious. I loved Juliana Hatfield’s album “Become What You Are.” I still do. I attended this with my friend Liam Gearity. I was enraptured by the opening band Madder Rose and after the concert both Liam and I became huge Madder Rose fans. I still love their first two albums.

LIZ PHAIR - March 10th, 1994

I went to see Liz Phair with my older friend Laura. She was in her 20’s and worked at the comic store, always wore a black leather motorcycle jacket with a black skirt and had dyed red hair like Miki Berenyi from Lush. I can’t recall much from this other than that I was obsessed with “Exile In Guyville” that year and that by the time Liz Phair hit the stage it was already really really late. It was a school night and I was in 8th grade. After the show after midnight my dad came and picked Laura and I up outside First Avenue and he was not happy. I believe that the aftermath of this concert concluding so late sparked a prolonged heated debate in our household about whether or not I would be able to attend concerts on school nights. I think I made enough of a fuss that I still ended up getting my way.

PAVEMENT - MAY 2nd 1994

This ticket was sadly never used because I caught the flu that week and was probably the sickest I have ever been in my entire life. I was so bummed. Although I did get to miss over a week of school, which I was happy about. Crooked Rain had just come out a few months earlier that year and it was my one of favorite albums. To this day hearing it reminds me of walking around Minneapolis in 8th grade in the springtime. When the snow melts into dark, murky puddles and you have to remember to keep far away from the traffic as you’re walking along the sidewalk because the cars driving down the street will splash you.

DINOSAUR JR. - November 7th, 1994

This was the 2nd time I saw Dinosaur Jr. The first time was at Lollapalooza 1993. I remember this one going late on a school night as well. Which I’m sure again my parents were not thrilled about especially as my first class of the day started at 7:15 am. I think I missed Juned but did see Come and recall thinking that their music felt solemn and powerful. Dinosaur Jr. was so loud. I didn’t have earplugs and my ears rang for days afterwards. When I returned home I took a shower and still smelled like cigarettes the next day. The atmosphere in those First Avenue shows was always viscous with smoke. During band changeovers a screen would drop in front of the stage to play clips from A Clockwork Orange, which terrified me. I’ve still never watched the film in full.

SEBADOH - March 8th, 1995

I was so excited to see Sebadoh. I was in 9th grade. Bakesale was my favorite album that year. Midway through their set Lou Barlow had an explosive tantrum and stormed off the stage ending ending the set. I heard he had a reputation for outbursts and I anticipated one. I barely remember Evergreen, it wasn’t the Gravity Records Evergreen but a different one which had some former members of Slint (or “former members of Flint” as it says on the ticket). The Frogs put on a warped and weird set that was over my fifteen your old head. I believe I saw The Frogs once before on the second stage the previous summer at Lollapalooza 1994 as well.

PAVEMENT - May 26th, 1995

My first time finally seeing Pavement although I wasn’t as big of a Wowee Zowee fan as I was Crooked Rain. I barely recall anything from this concert other than that when Wilco was performing and did their big single of the moment “Box Full Of Letters,” the teenage girl behind me was singing along, staring into her friend’s eyes while doing some sort of interpretative dance. Dirty Three were very dramatic onstage which confused and intrigued me. Warren Ellis dangling from his violin.

SONIC YOUTH - May 29th, 1995

I was fifteen years old. Freshman year at South was coming to a close. Washing Machine had just been released and while I didn’t own the album, my friend Kyle regularly lent me his copy of it on CD. Sonic Youth always brought the coolest bands to open for them. In retrospect I can’t believe I got to see them with the Dead C. Not listed on the ticket but opening first was a noise rock band from Minneapolis called Wrong, whom I remember liking. Sonic Youth were on tour with R.E.M. who were probably one of the biggest rock bands in the world at the time. This was a one off show, since Sonic Youth were already in town. Towards the end of the night Thurston Moore made some joke that went something like “we’re doin’ a gig tomorrow at this place the Target Center.” The Target Center across the street from First Avenue and is the arena where the Minnesota Timberwolves play.

JULIANA HATFIELD - July 5th, 1995

My only memory of this was that I took Natty to this show and that this was the first show he ever attended at First Avenue. It was the summer between freshmen and sophomore year of high school for me.

JAWBREAKER - October 11th, 1995

All I can recall from this one is that I was excited to see Jawbox because I had seen their video for “Savory” on frequent rotation on 120 Minutes.

FUGAZI - October 14th, 1995

Chisel and Lungfish opened up the show. All the bands’ performances were great. Though my strongest memory from this concert is of the additional added taxes to Fugazi’s standard $5 ticket fee. It made the tickets each cost $5.65 which irritated Walt the clerk at Roadrunner Records where I purchased my ticket (and later worked at the following year) because all the loose change was difficult to count and keep track of and had to be sorted out into plastic ziploc sandwich bags. I was disappointed that Fugazi didn’t play much from the first self-titled EP, which was the only Fugazi record I owned.

SONIC YOUTH - October 30th, 1995.

I rushed down to First Avenue after I got home from school to attend the earlier of two shows that night. I was (and still am) a big Kim Deal fan. It was exciting to be in the same room as her but I was left feeling underwhelmed as I couldn’t help but compare them to the Breeders. Both times I saw The Breeders (w/ Nirvana & Shonen Knife on December 10th, 1993, and at Lollapalooza on July 12th, 1994) were fantastic. Sadly I do not recall anything about Sonic Youth’s performance that evening.

THE FUGEES - March 18th, 1996

If you are from Minneapolis and reading this you probably remember how First Ave. would frequently distribute comp tickets at the indie record stores around town to fill out the crowds of shows that hadn’t yet sold out. I’m not sure why that was the case here as The Fugees were popular and I do remember getting to First Ave. early so I could be guaranteed admission. “The Score” had just been released a month earlier. I remember this show was packed and had a great energy. I attended this with a whole crew of my high school friends. We likely all smoked weed outside on the street before hand. The Roots’ bass player took an extended bass solo where he jammed doing his best Jimi Hendrix imitation. I thought that was cool.

THE SPECIALS - June 20th, 1996

I went to this expecting to see the same Specials I saw perform on reruns of The Young Ones that would air on Comedy Central. I remember feeling confused when that wasn’t the case.

LOW - October 10th, 1996

This one was at the Cedar Cultural Center but presented with First Ave. Dirty Three were hypnotic. I can’t remember anything much about Low but I’m sure I enjoyed it as I loved their music and owned a few of their CD’s. I saw them play an in-store once in downtown Minneapolis at Let It Be Records and Zak Sally’s amp started smoking and caught on fire. It was just a funny thing to see happen for a band like Low, whose narcoleptic slow drone ballads are the opposite of rock and roll pyrotechnics.

PAVEMENT - April 29th, 1997

I can’t recall anything from this one other than that I attended with my friend Dominic and that while I still liked Pavement, I had already moved away from the era of whimsical college rock and begun getting into different things. Things like Joy Division/New Order, Morrissey, Pulp, Suede, Gravity Records and deeper into anything Olympia/K/Kill Rock Stars/Slampt records based.

Shows I remember attending but no longer have ticket stubs to.

-Hole, Veruca Salt, Madder Rose on the “Live Through This Tour.” Amazing concert. I loved all three bands. My friend Liam and I were so obsessed with Madder Rose that we were shouting each individual band members’ names between songs which they seemed to appreciate yet also be confounded by.

-Jon Spencer Blues Explosion touring the album after “Orange.”

-The Cardigans. Great show. I loved their album “Life.”

Thanks for reading this. Hope it triggered some memories for you!

-Adam

“Having fun is more of a spiritual experience than reading about spirituality.”

-Nicole Benham