Quote:
Originally Posted by doug.goodman
Damn! Thin Lizzy at the Paradise. Amazing. I'll trade you my first show there (Steve Earle and the Dukes, March 1987) for that one!
And Spit. My first show ever in Boston was at Spit in July 1985. I was driving the equipment truck, with a guy from Wales, and selling merch. I wanted to get to the venue early so that I would have time to go to Fenway, but we kept getting lost. Each time we did we got new directions from somebody different. Finally, I gave up and decided to just go to Fenway first, the Wales guy asked how I expected to find "this Fenway place" I told him the Citgo sign would make it easy.
Nobody had told me in their various sets of directions that Spit was across the street from The Monster.
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I saw Thin Lizzy twice at the 'Dise - September 16, 1978 and December 2, 1980. Not even my first show there. I went either the first Friday or Saturday opening week, September 22 or 23, 1977. It was Rick Derringer with an unsigned local act - The Cars. I sat with the guys from Boston. They were huge at that time and came out for a show in this 550 seat club. I did not go to that many shows there, but still liked it. Shows I remember seeing there: Derringer (77, 78, 80) Ramones (79?, 80), Elvin Bishop 1979, , Peter Gabriel Halloween 1979, Boomtown Rats 1979 got Geldof's harmonica, The Cars 1978, The Plastics (Japanese new wave interviewed them after show) 1981, Secret Affair (British new wave) 1981, Greg Kihn Band, The Waitresses and Cheap Trick mid 1990's when they did their three night stay in each city. At least one of the times I went there Derringer's 2nd guitar was Neil Giraldo, Pat Benatar's husband.
Spit was originally a new wave dance club only. They did some surprise concerts while I was there in 1980 - The Neighborhoods a popular Boston band, The Modettes ("White Mice"), Chelsea an original U.K. punk band and The Skatt Brothers (Walk the Night). A few musicians dropped in - Daryl Hall, Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith), Frank Zappa and John Lennon. They also asked me to come back to work the WBCN Rumble in 1981. One of the bands I saw during that week was the Young Snakes. Their lead singer was Aimee Mann a few years before she formed 'Til Tuesday. Once they started doing regular concerts it changed quite a bit though. I only went twice - The Fall, U.K. new wave and The Waitresses. I interviewed Chris Butler after the show. It was a great place to get autographs in the early days of concerts. I remember getting The Divinyls, Buzzcocks, Michael Schenker, Ace Frehley and the Georgia Satellites. While waiting for the Georgia Satellites I struck up a conversation with the lead singer of the opening act Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes.
I have an interesting tie between The Paradise and sports collecting. I went to a concert there in 1978, maybe Rick Derringer. The opening act was a local act called Fox Pass and they announced it was their last show. At the end of the show the drummer tossed both of his sticks and they landed at my feet as I was sitting in one of the bolted down seats right in front of the stage. No one reacted so I just picked them up and kept them. I put a sticker on them to remember where they were from. A few years later I found their indie single and bought it. Fast forward 10 years or so. I was in a baseball card store in the Boston suburbs. I knew the people who ran it and there was one other person there. I started talking to him and we got to music and he mentioned that he used to be in a band - Fox Pass! It was Jon Hall of Hall's Nostalgia. He used a stage name as there was already the well known John Hall of Orleans and a U.S. congressman. I mentioned I had the drumsticks and single and gave them to him.
Every post needs at least a photo.
Mick Jones - Clash on Broadway, Bonds, NYC, 1981. I went two nights the first week.
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Mark E. Smith of the Fall Spit 1981
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Johnny Ramone - The Paradise. One of my favorite photos of the ones I have taken.
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