land of the sonic beasties
My record collection grew by two today as I received the new Sonic Youth album in the mail (The Eternal) and the vinyl reissue of the Beastie Boys’ 1992 album Check Your Head. It was a nostalgic confluence for me as the first time I saw either band perform was when they played a show together as part of a joint tour (also featuring on the stop in Salem, L7 – House of Pain were no shows for some reason). There are hardly any adventurous shows like that in the indie world anymore, as bigger concerts tend to be streamlined affairs with likeminded acts – I’m thinking here of the upcoming Decemberists/Andrew Bird/Blind Pilot show. So, I put this question to my slim audience – when was the last time you saw a bigger theater/stadium concert (not a festival) that blurred genre lines? I’m wondering if this phenomenon died out in the mid-to-late-’90s or if I’m simply overlooking recent trends. Leave a comment and let me know.
Hi. I remember seeing The Red Hot Chili Peppers open for X in about 1987 in Portland’s Starry Night. Wonderful show, though in retrospect two very different bands. But in those days the scene was small and the punk and hardcore scenes blended pretty easily.
One could argue that some contemporary bands are a genre-mixing tour in and of themselves. Maybe seeing TV on the Radio is the 2009 equivalent of seeing the Beastie Boys and Sonic Youth together.
Maybe it was a ’90s thing. I saw Nirvana, the Breeders and Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy, L7 at the Cow Palace in ‘92. Nirvana was so-so. L7 killed. And Breeders and DHoH put on great performances.
I remember some friends saw the Beasties and Pearl Jam back in the Check Your Head days. Aside from local shows in Chico, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a diverse bill.
@ Jason Simms – I like the way you think. Maybe the mixture of acts on bills in the ’90s spawned groups like TVOTR.
@ Mark – DHoH were one of the few acts of that era that I absolutely loved but did not get to see in concert.
Nine Inch Nails and Janes Addiction are touring together (the NINJA tour, lol) and besides being, like, from the same era these bands don’t really have anything to do with each other sonically. I think.