My Compulsive List of Every Concert I Can Remember Seeing Part 1

There is no reason for writing this except for my love of music and my love of lists. Let’s see how many concerts I can remember attending and how many I can find exact dates for from the internet. We’ll start from the first show I ever went to and go from there. I’ll try to keep my memories brief.

1. Lollapalooza ’92 – August 22, 1992 – Bicentennial Park, Miami – What a way to start. No wonder I became addicted to concerts. Lush, Pearl Jam, Ice Cube, Soundgarden, Ministry, and Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was so hot and sweaty. My skinny 14 year old self tried to mosh. I couldn’t understand why I kept going into the pit, but I did. Biggest memory though was getting home and my Mom saying we had to pack because Hurricane Andrew was on its way to wreak havoc.
2. Beastie Boys, The Rollins Band, Cypress Hill – November 14, 1992 – Bayfront Park, Miami – Who knew there were so many skinheads in Miami? These punks who kicked around their steel toed Doc Martens were vicious. But I braved them to see the Beasties who started my music addiction as a 9 year old when I bought a cassette of License to Ill from Spec’s Records. A bonus that night I got to learn about two other crazy acts in Rollins Band and Cypress Hill. Decades later I’d get to interview members from both groups. Still holding out hope of talking to one of The Beasties one day.
3. Soul Asylum, The Goo Goo Dolls, Vic Chesnutt – April 3, 1993 – University of Miami – I went to hear Soul Asylum, but it was The Goo Goo Dolls who blew me away with their high energy rock. I was really confused when they made it big a couple years later as adult contemporary soft rock.
4. Stone Temple Pilots, Butthole Surfers, Basshead, Firehose – June 19,1993 – Bayfront Park, Miami
5. Belly, Radiohead – September 23, 1993 – Cameo Theatre, Miami Beach – I live a half mile from this club and every time I pass by it I think about how I once saw one of rock’s biggest ever bands in this little space. Radiohead singer Thom Yorke was all glammed out doing his best David Bowie imitation. And Radiohead wasn’t even the headliner. That honor went to Belly who became one of my favorite bands.
6. Nirvana, The Breeders – November 27, 1993 – Bayfront Park, Miami – I wrote my memories of this legendary Thanksgiving Weekend show for The New Times in 2014. Read it by clicking here
7. Pearl Jam -March 28,1994 -Bayfront Park – I don’t remember too much about this show except I jumped the fence with hundreds of other ne’er do wells to get in and that during the show one shirtless drunk guy pointed to his friend at a helicopter in the sky and they both simultaneously stuck up their middle fingers and shouted “FUCK YOU!!!” at the pilot hundreds of feet above them.
8. Rollins Band, Helmet, Sausage – July 20, 1994 – Bayfront Park
9. Lollapalooza ’94 – August 15, 1994 – Bicentennial Park- All my friends waited all summer for this show and it didn’t disappoint. All our favorite bands were playing A Tribe Called Quest, The Breeders, Smashing Pumpkins, The Beastie Boys.
10. Chuck Berry – January 1995? – Bayfront Park- The first concert I attended that I can’t find any proof of happening on the internet. I remember it was free and some guy kept yelling at Chuck, “Elvis might be the king, but you’re the prince!”
11. Bob Marley Festival – February 11, 1995- Bayfront Park – I love Bob Marley but don’t remember the slightest thing about the music on this all day event. I think me and my high school friends simply went to see how many joints we could be a part of. We got home that night and tried to skimboard on the flats by the moonlight. I don’t think any of us caught the board even once.
12. Natalie Merchant – September 1995? – Gainesville – Some kids in my dorm at Florida State were driving two hours to see her play. I went along for the ride.
13. Sonic Youth, The Make-Up – October 14, 1995 – Legion Field, Athens, Georgia – Sonic Youth was one of my favorite bands. When I saw someone post a handwritten piece of paper anyone want to drive to Georgia with me to see sonic Youth I jumped at the chance. The Make-Up blew me away too. Like if Prince was the lead singer of The B-52’s. Athens was a super cool college town too filled with record shops and vegetarian restaurants. Shame I’ve never been back.
14. Burning Spear – October? 1995 – The Moon, Tallahassee
15. The Toasters – November? 1995 – FSU, Tallahassee – This ska band was incredible. Never been in a club where so many people were dancing like their lives depended on it.
16. Los Straitjackets – December? 1995 – Grand Central Cafe, Tallahassee – I loved this bar and restaurant and I loved this band that played surf music while obscuring their faces with Mexican wrestling masks. I remember while dancing having the epiphany that you can only really have fun if you’re sweating. People who have smelled my body odor might disagree.
17. Blonde Redhead – February ? 1996 – Grand Central Cafe – My best friend was in town visiting me in Tallahassee. This guy in my college Italian class recommend we check out this show. There were only maybe 25 people in the audience, but every person stuck around until the end to buy a cd from the band of two Italian brothers and two Japanese women.
18. Dick Dale – February ? 1996 – The Moon – My college FSU would bring all these great free concerts for students. this was one of them. Interviewed Dick decades later. was disappointed he was a Donald Trump fan, but what a guitarist!
19. De La Soul, Fishbone – October 15, 1996 – The Moon – What a great show I’d been listening to De La Soul’s album Stakes Is High all summer and their live show didn’t disappoint. I feel like they played on a school night way past 2 am.
20. Lollapalooza 1997 – June 25, 1997 – Coral Sky Amphitheatre, West Palm – We drove an hour North to see Porno for Pyros which was great. We were all in a tiny tent. Lead singer Perry Farrell took a swing from a bottle of wine and passed the bottle around to the crowd. He eventually drank from it again. Life before COVID! We saw Snoop Dogg and Orbital too, but with hindsight I look at the line-up and kick myself for missing Tricky and Doctor Octagon.
21. The Kelley Deal 6000 – October? 1997- FSU – A couple months after starting to write for a local newspaper, I got the first assignment I was so excited for the chance to interview Kelley Deal. She never called! I was so disappointed. She still put on a great show. Decades later when I did get to interview her she was the sweetest lady and even apologized.
22. Pavement – October 12, 1997 – Birmingham, Alabama – I could only find the date for the show because I remember driving back the four hours from Alabama back to Tallahassee that the news said John Denver died in a plane crash. Pavement was my girlfriend in college’s favorite band. After seeing this show they became my favorite band too.
23. Mike Watt – 1997? – FSU
24. The Make Up, Thee Headcoats – July ? 1998 – New York City
25. Beastie Boys – September 2, 1998 – Lakewood Amphitheater, Atlanta
26. A Tribe Called Quest, Black Eyed Peas – November? 1998 – Gainesville
27. Modest Mouse – November ? 1998 – FSU – Another band that quickly became my favorite immediately after seeing them for the first time. I’ve seen them countless times since. Although I suppose when I finish this list I will be able to count how many times I’ve seen them.
28. Yo La Tengo – 1998? – Cow Haus, Tallahassee. The list continues by clicking here….