Gerrit's 1996 Concert Experiences

1996

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The second time I saw The Lemmings, I met K2 almost an hour early there and hung out with them until they went on stage. We saw them at The Saint in New Jersey on December 28th, 1996. This time they also played a new song which was pretty good!

I finally got a chance to see Rush when I picked Sceadeau up from Carmel, NY on Saturday, December 14th, 1996 in Uniondale, NY at This was definitely comparable to Sarah McLachlan's light show! It was absolutely astounding with the lights, videos, and lasers. Other than that, their music was spectacular! The guitar playing was awesome while the drum solo just blew every other drummer out of the water! There is a set list of the concert along with a few other things at The Rush Page.

The first time I saw The Lemmings, K2 asked me to go at the end of my Turkey Day break from RIT on December 1st, 1996. Some other local New Jersey band also played there at the Brighton Pub. The Lemmings definitely rocked the place! I even picked up a few tapes for myself and as a present to a friend. If you live anywhere near New Jersey, go check them out some time.

The second time I saw Metallica, and the first time I saw them give an actual full-length concert was at their second to last show on the Lollapalooza '96 tour in San Jose, CA on August 2nd, 1996. We showed up late, and we stayed at the main stage all day, but we caught Rancid, The Ramones, Devo, Soundgarden, and Metallica. For both Rancid and Metallica, I was enjoying the crowd's force pounding all around me with their smelly sweaty body moving to the music and staying out of the Mosh Pit for the first seven or eight songs before I got out of there so I could breath again. I lost a plain black shirt and my beloved memorable green pouch, but I still think the concert was well worth it!

The second time I saw No Doubt was at Kamp KOME on August 1st, 1996. They also definitely headlined this event with a lot of other really cool bands who only got 25-30 minute sets (which really sucked). I was there to see and enjoyed thorougly Goo Goo Dolls, Dishwalla, No Use For A Name, Filter, 7 Mary 3, Gravity Kills (missed them), Poe, and No Doubt. This concert was great, with an added bonus of getting a great view of the snow fight up on the lawns from down in the thirteenth row in the front right section.

The fifth and sixth times I saw Jewel live were a completely special and mind blowing event in Bearsville, NY (5 min from Woodstock) for Everyday Angels (mailing list) only on July 18th, 1996. Jewel read some lovely poems first before playing a two and a half hour set. She played a lot of old(er) songs of which I especially enjoyed "Summer Home In Your Arms." Everyone has been calling it JewelStock '96.

I saw Jewel for the fourth time live in San Diego at the Del Mar Fair on Saturday, June 29th, 1996. The place was packed. I managed to get front row center, the best location (free general admission!) because I got bored of the fair after only a few hours. She was only able to play for a little over an hour, but put on an excellent performance as usual along with her neato stories (including the Pot story!).

I saw Jewel for the third time at LIVE 105's BFD III Concert. There were a total of 18 bands, including 5 local bands on the second stage, playing at Shoreline Amphitheatre on Friday, June 14th, 1996. I was way in the back in row O in the upper section (about 40+ rows back). The bands which performed perty good include Dance Hall Crashers, Stabbing Westward, Dishwalla, and Cast. Jewel also put on a great performance and got a pretty good reception, especially to her yodelling. Garbage and Lush got great reception and did an excellent job. The crowd seemed to enjoy the bands, but didn't even start to get pumped up until Joan Jett rocked the stage and even performed an encore. No Doubt got everyone going and was definitely the headliner after looking at it. I thoroughly enjoyed the concert even though no one was on for more than an hour each.

Metallica came and performed on June 4th, 1996 in front of Tower Records on Blossom Hill and St. Theresa in San Jose, CA on the day of the release of their new album, Load. They put on a pretty good show with a short set of five songs, both new and old.

I had a second chance to see Jewel when she played at The Opera House in Toronto on May 13th, 1996. We were only able to stay for the first hour because the security wouldn't let us back in after we left to move the car and avoid getting it towed. Even with the three hour drive, Jewel was still worth it! Duncan Sheik opened for Jewel and I thought that he was pretty good so I bought his album. Jewel opened with a song by Tracy Chapman, Behind The Wall. She loved the Toronto audience and sounded like she would love to sing all night there. She started out acoustically solo and after a few songs brought out her new band for their fifth performance together. In the short time I was there, it was obvious that the crowd loved her (no assholes or anything) and she put on an excellent performance as usual.

The first time I saw Jewel, my favorite singer, was on the Hub Lawn at Penn State on April 20, 1996. We drove down there from Rochester, NY (a five hour drive) to see her. She opened for Buffalo Tom, but we didn't stick around for them. She started off with her cover song, Pieces of You and continued to delight the audience with her stories behind her sonds and then the songs themselves. She played solo with her new big blue guitar. I was really happen when she played my favorite song, Near You Always. If you have not yet heard Jewel, or have only heard her song, Who Will Save Your Soul, I highly recommend buying her CD and going to at least one of her concerts. Her voice is amazing, and her deceptively innocent reception is delightful. She quickly has become my favorite artist with no problem at all. I even have this concert on tape along with my many other concert tapes.

Check out my previous experiences too!!!

1995

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amethyst@endor.org - 1997