rock n’ roll road trip sixer (unplanned part i)

this is just pure, kinda cool coincidence…

…at least, to my brain, at 1:16am on saturday morning (when i’m starting to write this) it’s cool coincidence.

(yeah, keep reading…lack os sleep dep changed things a wee bit…)

one week ago (august 30th) i kept one of my longer standing traditions alive when i headed off to houston to catch depeche mode on the “tour of the universe” – the eight time i’d seen them since 1988, when they were (with O.M.D.) the first musical show i ever saw (may 11th, 1988, at the frank erwin center in austin – i still have the flier, and on a side note frank erwin was one of my dad’s drinking buddies).

for all taking notes, first “show” i ever saw wasn’t musical – it was sam kinison at the paramount theater on my sixteenth birthday, june 19th, 1987…but i think i’ve mentioned that.

i tried to come up with an angle on how i’d turn the trip into a bit – “six depeche tour memories” sounded a bit forced, and i was toying with just “six road trip stories” when it occurred to me that this trip, if i remember right, was the sixth time i’d traveled outside of the san antonio/austin cooridor for a show where i wasn’t PAID to be there, so here’s the list of times i’ve hit the road for rock n’ roll (but not for personal profit) reasons…

(and, again, once i got a little more sleep (READ: “little” meant literally. only three hours friday night, and around five hours saturday. sue me, i’m really stressed lately…). but with what little i’ve slept the real “road trip concert number” was actually a DOUBLE six, as in twelve, hence the “unplanned…” part of the title today…)

(in order of appearance)

1. the cure the summit, houston, tx – sept 16, 1989 (one of the few ticket stubs that survived the duke rampage of 1999) – i can’t remember who opened, but i remember taking my friend danielle (who was, and still is, pretty effin’ hot – at least according to her current facebook pics), and it was the closer of the two cure shows on “the prayer tour”, the one they did for disintegration. great show, great company, even though we actually didn’t sit together…we’d bought single tickets separately. also the last time h-town made the countdown till the current one.

2. depeche mode & nitzer ebb the starplex, dallas, tx – with another girl from the “curfew days”, and again i don’t think we sat together. we also stayed overnight, but not in the same room. in hindsight this was probably best. great show, i spent WAY too much on depeche merchandise, and again, in hindsight, shoulda bought a nitzer shirt as i’ve never gotten to see them since. fun trip. summer of 1990, and sinking the cash into the ticket and hotel caused me to miss the opening night of mirage night club featuring (then underground club band) nine inch nails.

3. van halen & vince neil the starplex, dallas, tx – august 5th, 1993 (i don’t still have the stub, but i DO still have the t-shirt, but i didn’t need to look at it to remember the date)– and why the hell not? because in a past relationship JAB ended up having to give up HIS tradition (only two shows deep at the time, but it’s the principle of the thing) of never missing a van halen tour through texas. i promised him the night he missed the show that the NEXT TIME van hagar (as it was then) set foot in texas we would be there – no excuses. it just so happens the next time was a dallas date that fell on his twenty-first birthday (which is why i remember the the date). i arranged the tickets, his mom got us a hotel, and off we went…

4. the smokin’ grooves tour the starplex, dallas, tx – i don’t know when this was, but i know it was after mom died and after tanya moved out so figure some time around summer 1997 or so. the house of blues folks tried to create a hip-hop lollapalooza and put together a bill that featured spearhead (which were pretty forgettable), busta rhymes (on his first solo tour after he left leaders of the new school), a tribe called quest (last national tour they did together, i believe – and with busta on the bill “scenario” sounded a lot better than the last time i saw them), cypress hill (b-real saw me on the concourse after their set and remembered me from lollapallooza ’95), and ziggy marley headlining (i know he’s bob’s kid and all, but as he had NO radio hit within several years of this tour, and cypress was all over the radio and mtv, i still don’t get the fact they didn’t headline). worth the price of admission, and marks the last time “the starplex” (don’t recall what company name it goes by now) appears on this list – i promise!

5. dave gahan centerstage ampitheater, grand prairie, tx – not sure of the date on this one, or why kathi drove instead of me, but we got some seriously hooked up tickets for the one time (so far) the depeche frontman has come to texas solo. great show, great company, although now that i’ve seen the place i wish i’d seen him at the majestic theatre down in SA with ME…but situations at the time prevented it, it allowed for some kathi bonding, and our tickets were probably better (sue me, i know people). have no idea who opened ’cause the trip was run on “kathi time” which at the time meant we walked in on dave’s second song…

6. depeche mode & peter, bjorn, & john the cynthia woods pavilion, the woodlands, tx august 30th, 2009 – which brings us back to present. i wanted to go, and after the semi-clusterfuck of cancellations after the last depeche experience (i was mistakenly charged for four tickets, which at one point had been six, but by then only needed to be two, and the story only grows from there) i said fuck it and just bought a single ticket for more than i figured it would cost me, bought a shirt for more than i figured it would cost me, and a double cd of the show for LESS than i figured it would cost me. great set with lots off the violator and black celebration albums (the latter being cool since for once i was “that guy” and wore a depeche black celebration tour shirt to the show. i’ve now heard more than one “peter, bjorn, & john” song and concluded i don’t need to see them live again…ever. DM still did a great set, so them i’ll catch live again with no hesitation…some traditions are great to keep alive. others, not so much – but never mind that now…

and again, i’ve realized this is only half the list – why didn’t i remember the other half at first? it wasn’t all drunken shenanigans! tune in tuesday for the other half….