Sisters of Mercy, Chicago, 1991
Killing Joke, Chicago 1991
I'm covering two concerts here because they were close in dates to each other and both at the Riveria theatre.
First up, Sisters of Mercy, the first time I saw them. Of course, the audience had a huge Goth contingent and the heavy use of fog from the stage enveloped the audience. The audience went wild with the opening riff from the first album's title track, First and Last and Always. But what set this concert apart for me is that it is the concert where I actually feared for my safety. Why? In the audience, behind me, were members of a rough biker gang. They were rowdy and loud. Their idea of entertainment was to buy cups of beer and chuck them over my head into the audience, and to go up to people and shove them from behind. They pushed the person behind me and he fell into me. I turned around, looked at the biker guy and said "What's the problem here?". He replied "Problem? There's no problem. Is there a problem?" baiting me to engage in dialog. I turned back around and the girl I was with said "I don't have a good feeling, let's just stand somewhere else." Which is all well and dandy, since I am not a fighter - much less against a biker guy decked out in leather and missing a few teeth.
Killing Joke was noteworthy because the show started late, very late. Supposed to start at 8:00pm, the band came on at 11:00pm to an audience that was tired of waiting. They started and it was clear that more than a few members of the band were under the influence of drugs, and the band sounded like crap. After three songs, we were so disappointed in the sound, we left. I refused to see this band again on future tours.
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Yikes! Sounds like you did the right thing avoiding that guy who was baiting you. I've seen similar situations where there isn't even any dialog before any shoving or swinging or fists begins.
ReplyDeleteI saw Sisters of Mercy in Atlanta, Fox Theater, but I think it was 1992 when they were on this package tour with Public Enemy, Gang of Four, and a few other bands. The concept behind these seemingly disparate genres was sort of a spin off of the Lalapalooza concept of many bands of different fan bases all converging under one banner. However, the tour would later prove a bad idea as it went from East to West coast. I heard that Chicago was one of the last dates before it broke up.
ReplyDeleteIn a nutshell, I saw a few of the opening bands, then Gang of Four, and was invited by the label rep for them to go meet them backstage. I grabbed a friend and we followed the crew backstage and to the rickety elevator to go to their dressing room on an upper floor. There were about 10 of us in the elevator, and soon the car ground to a slow halt. A metal head in the back of the elevator said "Cool, never been stuck in an elevator before!" At the same time, a voice at the front of the lift started yelling and pounding on the door. It turned out that voice was Chuck D of Public Enemy who was set to go on in 5 minutes.
Eventually, the elevator started moving slowly, and creaked to another stop. This time, the doors were pried open from outside and a chair was lowered into the cab. We were stuck in between floors but with about 3 feet of space above the door, enough to crawl out. Once out, I realized we had crawled out onto the floor right outside Public Enemy's dressing room. They scurried down the stairs to go on stage, meanwhile the rest of us walked down one flight to Gang of Four's dressing room. It wasn't until I met them, that the reality of what happened had set in, and I was a bit out of sorts. Andy Gill of Gang of Four offered me a beer.
I did get to see Sisters of Mercy as well, but I was a bit frazzled by the experience backstage, so I watched about half their set, and left. :P
You've got some great stories... and managed to cross the barriers to meet the artists. Very cool -- I've only had a few meet & greets in my life -- but all were very memorable.
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