For the thirtysomething crowd...

[drens]

Were any of you lucky enough to see the band during, say, the Tim - Pleased To Meet Me years? I was 15 when All Shook Down was released and had only discovered them a couple of years prior. I was able to catch one of the gigs for that tour and I'm pretty sure I was the youngest person there. My dad drove me to the venue and hung out in a coffee shop down the street during the show, haha.

Fast forward to today, I'm pushing 40 and me and a pal went to a Gaslight Anthem show recently, my buddy brought his 13 year old son. He was so excited, reminded me of how excited I was that night back in 1991. It got me wondering was anyone here fortunate enough to see the 'mats at an earlier age?

[anarkissed]

- Pleased To Meet Me tour
- Don't Tell A Soul tour
- As opening act for Tom Petty
- All Shook Down tour

[drens]

Oct 5, 2012 21:58:40 GMT -5 anarkissed said:

- Pleased To Meet Me tour
- Don't Tell A Soul tour
- As opening act for Tom Petty
- All Shook Down tour

So awesome

How old were you for the first show?

[anarkissed]

Pretty old...Mid-to-late 20's...

[TomT]

I saw the Mats 2 times in 87 and once in 89 all in Chicago. Place was packed and it seemed like they were the hot thing then. It wasn't like 84 or 85 when they played bars. They played the Riviera and then The Aragon.

Lot's of crushing and crowd surfing in 87. I was front and center and did everything I could to stop my girfriend from being pancaked up into the stage but when a dude landed on our heads we bailed and watched the encore from the side. I remember they played Gimme Shelter and I Don't Know at the end and that's when all hell broke loose.

[wecantgetanybetter]

Oct 5, 2012 20:50:02 GMT -5 drens said:

Were any of you lucky enough to see the band during, say, the Tim - Pleased To Meet Me years?

If we're talking Tim era including the months before and after the album came out, I saw 'em at a big theater in New York, a small club in New Haven, and possibly the Uptown Bar in Minneapolis if they were still playing there. I too was old--20 or 21. And I never saw the band play live after that.

[Jer]

I saw the Mats 2 times in 87 and once in 89 all in Chicago. Place was packed and it seemed like they were the hot thing then. It wasn't like 84 or 85 when they played bars. They played the Riviera and then The Aragon.

I had (and still have) a ticket for that Riv show in `87. Lived in the UP of Michigan and couldn't get down for that. Broke my heart. But we did see them the next night in Milwaukee at the Eagles Club, Chris Mars in full clown makeup with a balloon.

I saw them in April of `86 in Ann Arbor for the first time. Bob was 5 songs late but once he came in it was probably the best show I've ever seen. It was an amazing night. Then after the Milwaukee show I saw them a few times on DTAS, including the opening night of the tour in Ann Arbor (and the soundcheck), both of which I recorded and are the circulating copies, Cincinnati the next night (courtesy of Slim) and opening for Petty. Then I saw them 5 times on ASD - Ann Arbor, Kalamazoo, Cleveland (PW guestlist) then Philly opening for Costello and finally the first-to-last show they played in Detroit. I feel very lucky to have seen them so many times!

[ih8music]

I first saw them in '89 for the DTAS tour at the now-gone One Step Beyond in Santa Clara, CA (SF Bay area). I was 17 and it was the first club concert I'd ever been to (and probably only the 4th or 5th concert overall). Needless to say, it was a magical night. And it was one of those nights when they were on fire; a few years ago I managed to find a torrent of the show and it was much better than I remembered (and I remembered it very fondly).

Saw them twice for the ASD tour and the vibe was noticeably different. The first show I saw at UC Davis Tommy apparently got a note thrown to him saying something to the effect of "Tell Paul to stop being such a p*ssy." It was still months before they'd call it quits (and I think it was the tour opener) but you could tell they weren't having too much fun up there compared to the last time I saw them.

Really wish I was hip enough to have known about them in '87, as those seem to be the bootlegs which resonate best with me. But I was 15 at the time and there's no way in hell my overprotective parents would have let me out to a concert back then. Pretty sure I lied to them about the '89 show, now that I think about it.

and damn, I thought I was old at nearly 41. you guys are making me feel like a kid here

[drens]

Oct 8, 2012 23:49:55 GMT -5 ih8music said:

Really wish I was hip enough to have known about them in '87, as those seem to be the bootlegs which resonate best with me. But I was 15 at the time and there's no way in hell my overprotective parents would have let me out to a concert back then. Pretty sure I lied to them about the '89 show, now that I think about it.

Haha, yup, same here. I was 13 in '87 and living in Washington DC, not the safest city in the country at the time... I'm pretty sure the answer to me asking to go to a show then would've been a resounding "NOPE."