July 31st 1990, Nine Inch Nails at RPM

There's a meme I've seen recently that speaks to the idea of how important people who share music are, and that really resonates with me. I've long felt that musical discovery can be a shared journey and while there's no doubt that it can sometimes be a solitary path, there's a lot to be said for having a guide to help you along your way.

I've been lucky enough to have a few guides over the years, a few people who have shared music with me and introduced me to new sounds, and I'm grateful to all of them. My friend Dave from high school is probably one of the most significant of those people, somebody who played a major role in shaping my tastes in many ways that remain to this day. We went to the same suburban high school in the eighties, and while our tastes weren't identical there were enough parallels between them that formed a strong basis for a good friendship, and within that friendship there's no question in my mind that Dave was better able to find new artists than I was. He was much more in tune with the next thing, much more curious about a new sound or a new band, and was often saying things like "Have you heard this?" and "Check this out...". I was the kind of person who would find a band and would dive in and immerse myself, wanting to amass a collection and revel in deep album cuts and obscure B-sides. Dave was wide spread in his interests and his appreciation and he was always willing to share his discoveries with me. And like the meme says, people who share music are important.

Over the years, Dave and I made countless visits to the Yonge Street Record Run from Bloor to Queen, visiting Records on Wheels, the Record Peddler, Starsound, Sam's, and multiple Cheapies, all in search of new extended versions or rare imports, and after we were done Dave would make tapes of his finds for me so I could hear them too and share in his own discovery. It was pretty awesome, and I'll always be grateful to him for all of the music that he introduced me to. As we got older, Dave and I also started going to concerts together, and he was there with me the first time I saw Depeche Mode at Kingswood, and at my first Cure show at the Grandstand, and a long list of other great shows too. But it was seeing Nine Inch Nails at RPM that stands out in my mind as the quintessential Dave music experience. There was a tape, and an introduction, and a show, and in my mind it really captured so much of what our friendship was based in.

Along with making tapes for me to hear, Dave also made tapes he could listen to in the car, and one of those tapes had "Pretty Hate Machine" by Nine Inch Nails on it. I already knew Down In It and Head Like a Hole from a million plays on Chris Sheppard's Club 102, but I hadn't heard the rest of the album until Dave played it for me one night while we were driving somewhere.

And it was pretty fucking mind blowing. 

"Pretty Hate Machine" stands as one of the most influential and significant albums of the nineties, an incredible synthesis of Industrial, Goth, Pop, Metal and more. It brought together outsider sounds and made them accessible and appealing, giving a voice to the lonely and alienated and isolated and broken, serving as an initial blueprint for Trent Reznor's work over the next thirty years. There's no question that in the years to come he would scale even greater artistic heights, that he would create monumental and epic albums that would define his talent more succinctly, but it all starts with "Pretty Hate Machine", that's the foundation for everything that he would do moving forward, the basis for everything else he's done ever since.

It's an incredible album, and in that first listen in Dave's car I knew that it was something special. I had no idea what Reznor would become or where his music would take us in the years to come, I had no idea what influence this album would have, but in that moment I knew that it was an amazing collection of songs and that was enough for me. More than enough.

Shortly after that first listen a show was announced for Toronto, a club gig at RPM, and when Dave suggested that we should go I readily agreed and picked up three tickets for Dave and my friend Brooke and I. Brooke is another person who had a big influence on my musical tastes, and if my memory serves me correctly this was the first show that she and I ever went to. In the years to come we'd see dozens of shows together, and she'll no doubt pop up in other entries as this blog continues...

To place it in people's minds, RPM was part of the same entertainment complex down by the Lake that would eventually become The Guverment. RPM is kind of a legendary club space in Toronto, known for thousands of shows and DJ nights over the years, and it held about 1500 people which was perfect for an act with buzz like Nine Inch Nails was at the time, but to be honest I don't really remember it being very crowded that night. I mean, there were a lot of people there, but I'm hard pressed to think that it was sold out. Maybe, but I don't think so. I remember moving easily through the crowd, easily shifting from the upper balcony for the opening act down to a spot in the middle of the floor when NIN came on. It may have been one of those shows that may not have been quite the event at the time that it is in retrospect.

Regardless of how many people were there, it was still a great concert. NIN's stage show was pretty simple at that point, it was early enough in the band's career that they didn't have the same video and visual effects that would define later tours, but there was a set of ropes hanging from the lighting apparatus down to the floor, and during the show Reznor and others would lean on the ropes, or wrap themselves up in them, or even sometimes swing out over the audience with them. It was a simple prop, but it was also quite effective, expanding the space on stage and giving the band something to interact with outside of themselves and the audience. I've never really seen a band use rope as effectively since then, and now that I think about it I'm kind of surprised because, y'know, it seems really obvious...

In addition to swinging on the ropes Reznor threw a lot of water or beer or whatever he was drinking at the audience, a series of cups that were sipped from once and then thrown out into the space with a pretty solid throwing arm. As noted we were about midway back from the stage, almost halfway to the bar, but we still got splashed a few times during the night. Definitely a solid throwing arm, and I'm sure there's an alternate reality out there in the Multiverse where Reznor went on to have a solid career in the Majors...

Since this was a tour for the first album the setist was focused primarily on the songs from "Pretty Hate Machine", along with Suck by Pigface, and a cover of Get Down Make Love by Queen. Terrible Lie was great that evening, and Something I Can Never Have was a moment of calm in the eye of a hurricane, a chance for both the band and the audience to catch their breath amid everything else that was happening. It was a really physical show, with Reznor and the band constantly moving, jumping, swinging, throwing, all of that, and I'm sure that a break was appreciated at the time.

The set closed with Down in It and Head Like a Hole, and they were the most manic of all the songs of the night, vicious guitar riffs and screaming vocals that exceeded everything else that came before them in the set. They were the hits at the time, right? People were waiting for them, looking forward to something epic, and knowing that the band fully delivered.

It was a really great night, a really amazing show by a band that were poised for great things, and I'm really glad that I had the opportunity to see NIN when they were just starting out. It was an excellent preview of greatness to come, and while I would never be able to guess the levels of artistry that Reznor and company would achieve in the future, it was still enough to tell me that they were worth keeping an eye on. Of course I probably wouldn't have had that opportunity if it hadn't been for Dave hearing them first and introducing me to them. Like I said at the beginning of this post, Dave always had a gift for picking out bands and sharing them with others, and of all the bands he suggested that I check out, I'll always be grateful for him sharing NIN with me so early on...

July 18th 2018, Japanese Breakfast at the Phoenix

My first introduction to Japanese Breakfast came from a random suggestion from Bandcamp that thought I might be interested in "Soft Sounds From Another Planet", and when I checked it out I was VERY interested in it. Led by singer/songwriter Michelle Zauner, Japanese Breakfast instantly connected with me, and I was greatly impressed by the album's solid songwriting and slick pop hooks, along with intelligent lyrics and little flourishes that kept me coming back for repeated listens.

Around the same time I was also lucky enough to catch a live set when Japanese Breakfast opened for Slowdive on their 2017 tour. It was a good pairing, complimentary acts that worked well together to make a great evening out, a show that added to my already favorable thoughts about the band and inspired me to keep listening to the "Soft Sounds..." album on a constant loop. 

By the time that a show at the Phoenix was announced for July 2018 I was firmly committed in my fandom and was really looking forward to the opportunity to see a headlining set by Japanese Breakfast, and I'm happy to say that it was everything that I hoped for and more. In addition to being a great songwriter, Zauner is a solidly engaging performer, sharing stories and leading the band through hits and album cuts alike, all with a direct and resonant appeal that ensured that they connected with the audience like they were meant to. Songs like Road Head, Boyish, and Machinist all sounded amazing that night at the Phoenix and were well received by the audience. Zauner's choice to cover Dreams by the Cranberries during the encore was a nice dual purpose nod to her own influences and also to the idea of Pop music as a whole, a nice way to cap the show by celebrating the joy and appeal of a well written song. It should come as no surprise to any of you that I had a wide smile on my face all through the night...

In the last few months Zauner has been receiving a lot of well deserved recognition and praise for her first book, "Crying in H-Mart", a frank and honest retelling of her relationship with her Mother and about caring for her during her battle with cancer. It's a moving read, and I won't deny that I cried a couple of times reading it. Along with the book, Zauner has also released her third album "Jubilee", another collection of well crafted and intelligent Pop songs including Be Sweet which she performed on The Tonight Show a couple of months ago, fulfilling her career goal of becoming Jimmy Fallon Big. 

So far 2021 has been a huge year for Japanese Breakfast, and I hope that these successes continue to widen Zauner's audience and introduce new fans to her work. A tour to promote "Jubilee" has been announced for the fall, another chance to introduce people to her music and build on her success, and while there's no show set for Toronto just yet I'm hoping that a date will be added in the near future, 'cause I'm really looking forward to seeing the new songs played live...

July 11th 1987, Peter Gabriel at CNE Grandstand

Peter Gabriel's fifth solo record "So" was released in 1986, and spurred on by the success of the Sledgehammer single and video it became a hugely popular album that cut across musical borders, genres, and styles. At the time Gabriel was pretty much universally enjoyed by everyone, a sound that everybody could appreciate, largely because his music wasn't something that was easily defined or labelled, it was just really good and really accessible. But even more importantly, to me at least, in addition to being a popular and successful album, "So" also helped me get a job at a record store. 

In the fall of 1986 I used to hang around the local shopping mall a lot, particularly the Sunrise Records there, because, y'know, records and stuff. And one day when I walked in they were playing "So" and I hung around to listen to it while I flipped through old albums and an assortment of twelve inches. And while I was looking at Depeche Mode remixes listening to Peter Gabriel, the store manager was having an argument with the guy behind the counter. I wasn't paying much attention to the details of the fight, but I remember that it was pretty heated, enough so that the guy got quite angry and said "Fuck You!" and promptly walked out of the store without looking back. And in that very second I decided I should ask for his job.

I didn't have any real work experience, but it seemed like the logical thing for me to do. At that point my only other knowledge of the working world had been a short gig as a paper-boy and a month long run as a carry out-boy at the local Canadian Tire store (a potential career in automotive parts ended swiftly when I dropped a TV and a microwave both in the same day...), and neither of those places had given me the know how I'd need for the high-rolling world of record retail. But what I did have was a love of music and I figured that would be enough.

So just as the other guy was leaving the store, I walked over to the counter to where the manager was standing, and with the combined courage and lack of etiquette that comes from being a teenager I said "I guess he doesn't like Peter Gabriel very much, does he?" The manager looked at me for a second and then smiled and said, "Nope, not a big Peter Gabriel fan," and she went back to doing whatever complicated stuff record store managers do. But I had an in with that smile, and I wasn't going to let it go. "I like Peter Gabriel," I said. "I really like this album, he should put out "Red Rain" as a single...". She looked up at me again, and we started talking about the merits of the different songs on the album, complicated record store manager stuff all but forgotten by this point. And after we'd talked a little more, I said "So I guess you need to hire somebody new, right? You should hire me..."

And she did.

Admittedly, Sunrise wasn't the best record store in the world, but it was a great after school job while I was in high school and I loved working there. It led to me making a number of friendships, to seeing a number of shows, and a number of other great things that were the direct result of my being there, and I wouldn't have traded the experience for anything. And every time I think about that period in my life I always remember that it all started with Peter Gabriel's "So" album. If you were to ask me what the most important albums in my life were (a very different list from my favorite albums), "So" would definitely be up there for helping me get that job.

Anyway. Peter Gabriel. "So". Great album from 1986 that everybody, including me, really liked. And the following summer I had the chance to see him play live at the CNE Grandstand. If you grew up in Toronto in the 80s you probably have fond memories of the Grandstand for one show or another. It was a baseball stadium down by Lake Ontario and during summer road trips when the Blue Jays were out of town it was used for outdoor concerts in either a stadium configuration with the stage at the end of the outfield (room for about 60,000, used for stadium bands like The Rolling Stones and The Who) or a grandstand mode where the stage would be set up in the middle of the field facing a covered seating area (room for about 20,000, and ideal for popular bands that hadn't quite reached that level of Rock Stadium Godliness yet). While not in the stadium level of popularity, Gabriel was well suited for the Grandstand, and so it would come to pass that I went to see him on a very warm July night.

If memory serves correctly, this was the second leg of the tour and Gabriel had already played in the fall at Maple Leaf Gardens (I didn't make it to that show), so things were pretty smoothed out and wrinkle free in terms of performance. Gabriel was well known as a dynamic performer, and since he was riding such a huge wave of success with the album I guess you could make a good case for this being the ideal time to see him live. Needless to say, all these factors came together in perfect synergy that night making it an awesome show. The band was really tight, with David Rhodes on guitar, Tony Levin on bass, and Manu Katche on drums. The lighting was awesome, Gabriel moved with a manic electric insectile energy, and all of the songs sounded great live.

I can't recall the specific song order of the night, but I think that he opened with Red Rain, which used red lighting to great effect because sometimes the obvious choice is best, yeah? The lights cascaded up and down the stage to give the effect of falling rain and it was quite beautiful to see, and with that simple but effective opening Gabriel and the band launched into a setlist that included a number of other highlights spanning his whole solo career. Shock the Monkey was awesome, played as a reworked funk strut that saw Gabriel jumping around like, ummm, well, a monkey. Admittedly there was a pretty literal sense to the way most of the songs were presented that evening, but damn it, as stated a moment ago sometimes the obvious choice is best! No Self Control was amazing, a stretch of paranoid menace where harsh white lights on long hydraulic stands kept chasing the band around the stage, kind of like big robotic tendrils. I'm not doing it justice in my description, but it was very cool to see. Games without Frontiers was particularly exceptional, re-orchestrated into more of a dance-y crowd pleasing stomp, which admittedly doesn't sound very entertaining as I read it back, but was actually quite awesome to hear. Kate Bush's backup vocals were removed from the mix, because, well, Kate Bush wasn't there, and were instead replaced with a line of repeated triplets on the guitar that added a certain menace and swagger to the song, a rush and urgency that the original never had, building on it and giving the song something new in the live setting. Great stuff.

Speaking of Kate Bush, one of the bigger singles off the "So" album was a duet between Gabriel and Bush called Don't Give Up. It's a beautiful and poignant song that features the two of them performing at an emotional and technical peak, and it's easily one of the high points in both of their careers. So needless to say it was part of the set, but I can't for the life of me remember what was done for Kate Bush's part. I have a vague memory that Gabriel sang both parts, and I seem to remember liking the performance, but I really can't recall. Maybe it's one of those moments that was so bad I blocked it out of my memory? I can't say for sure, but since I'm a nice guy I'm going to assume that everything worked out for the best on that one...

Mention should also be made of This is the Picture (Excellent Birds) which featured Gabriel strapping on a Keytar to play in a choreographed line dancing routine with the rest of the band, all of whom were wearing long ankle length trench coats, kind of like a 90s superhero team designed by Rob Liefeld. I guess they were all pretty fashion forward in that regard. Anyway, Gabriel played a Keytar, and it was kind of cool.  I hesitate to say that I would think so now, but at the time I thought it was kind of alright.  Keytar! Yeah!

Other songs included Mercy Street, Solsbury Hill, Sledgehammer, a number of others. He jumped into the crowd during Lay Your Hands on Me, and while crowd surfing would come to be rather clichéd in the 90s, it was still pretty cool in 1987. The first encore featured a beautiful, starkly lit solo rendition of Here Comes the Flood with Gabriel singing and playing piano, a really great moment that's stayed with me for years. In Your Eyes wasn't associated with John Cusack or boom boxes at that point yet, it was just a great song that served well as an encore, and Gabriel invited opener Youssou N'Dour to join him on stage to recreate his part from the album. The show ended with a stirring version of Biko as most of his shows did during that era. Really, it was an amazing show, an amazing performance by an artist at the peak of his career. I'm really happy I was able to see him then.

Over the years I've been to a few more Peter Gabriel shows, and while he always puts on a great performance, there was something especially magical and special about that show in 1987, something about that night, being outside under the stars listening to music from a great album that worked so perfectly. Just thinking about it still brings a smile to my face...

July 8th 1994, Kristin Hersh at The Opera House

 
Kristin Hersh is one of my very favorite artists. From her work with Throwing Muses and 50 Foot Wave through to her solo material, Hersh continually amazes and inspires and I've greeted every release of hers with excitement and anticipation. In addition to the albums she's recorded she's also proven to be an excellent writer and I've greatly enjoyed her autobiographical work and the perspective she brings to her experiences. She's an impressive talent on a variety of levels, and I think that she's really cool.

In 1994 I was lucky enough to see her at the Opera House on tour in support of her first solo album "Hips and Makers". Where Hersh's music with Throwing Muses to that point was largely based around a quartet with a double guitar, bass, and drum sound, "Hips and Makers" was a much more intimate outing with Hersh singing and playing acoustic guitar over sparse arrangements, a shift in style that presented her work in a new and revealing light, stripping the songs down to their bare essence to show how brilliant and magical they were. That first album is an excellent showcase for Hersh's skill, a showcase for her talent that became a blueprint for her solo career and many other excellent albums she's released since. "Hips and Makers" is an easy choice as a desert island disc for me, and over the thousand and some times that I've listened to it I still get chills when I hear it, I still enjoy it just as much as the first time I ever played it, and the show that I saw in support of that album gave me chills in exactly the same way.

It was a pretty straight forward set up, just Hersh and a guitar and a microphone on stage at the Opera House, casually playing songs from the album. And the songs? They were all intense and raw and resonant but most of all they were honest and real, stories set to music shared in confidence with the audience almost like they were secrets between her and us, something we should keep to ourselves and be grateful for that unique connection.

It was a perfect show, a Top Ten Concert for me for sure. She played almost all of the album, everything except The Letter which was always my favorite, but I can fully appreciate that she'd want to keep that secret to herself. Me and My Charms is a close second favorite, and seeing it played live was everything to me, if ever there was a moment that I wanted to bottle up and save for a rainy day that would be a high contender. And as if all that wasn't enough, she also played a cover of Highway to Hell with opener Syd Straw and Straw's guitarist who had previously played in the Plasmatics. It doesn't get much cooler than that.

Hersh has always been an artist who's work is so personal and honest and intimate that you can't help but feel like she's bearing her soul to you, you can't help but feel like she's giving you everything she has. That kind of honesty and intimacy is a gift for any audience, and I will always be grateful for the gifts that Kristin Hersh has shared with us both on stage and on record. We're lucky to live in a world with a talent like hers...

July 5th 1995, Patti Smith at the Phoenix

 

I've admired and respected Patti Smith's work ever since the first time I heard "Horses" when I was a teen working in a suburban record store. Smith is an exceptional talent, a poet, a visionary, and in my mind she stands as one of the greatest songwriters of the last hundred years. Over the course of her career she's written some truly incredible songs along with poetry collections and books that speak to the same immense talent and gifts that she's displayed on album. Truly, Patti Smith is a wonder and a treasure.

The first time I saw Smith perform live was at a pair of concerts she played at the Phoenix in 1995, a return to the stage following an extended break from performing lasting fifteen years. I was lucky enough to get a single ticket for the first show of the evening and a pair for my friend Ewa and I for the second, and both sets were revelatory, amazing, absolutely incredible. Throughout the evening Smith made a number of comments about being nervous and about being out of practice, but there was really nothing to be worried about, she and the band were in fine form, performing with an energy and vitality that few artists I've seen since have been able to compare to. Smith and her band were incendiary that night, a triumphant return that heralded a new era in her work and solidified her reputation as one of the greats.

Over two sets she played Because the Night and Dancing Barefoot. She read poetry, including a dramatic reading of Piss Factory and some new work that she had been working on at the time. She played The Jackson Song and People Have the Power from her 1988 album "Dream of Life", songs that she had written with her late husband Fred Smith while the two of them raised their family in Michigan, a pair of live debuts that exemplified a shift in direction in her work that continues on to this day. It was a fantastic set list, acknowledging Smith's past, present, and future as an artist, and I'm so grateful that Ewa and I got to see it.

When people ask me about my favorite shows over the years, Patti Smith at the Phoenix always comes to my mind. It was a pretty incredible night, an amazingly gifted performer rediscovering and transcending her artistry, a pair of shows that have left an indelible mark on my memory...