I was trying to remember what I had been to at the Spectrum (often confusing what concerts I had seen there as opposed to the F.U. Center,Wachovia Center,etc,etc...) then I found a handy dandy website that listed every concert performed there.
So it turns out I had only been to 4 shows there.
NOV. 26, 1989 New Kids on the Block,Dino and Sweet Sensation
okay so this was my very first concert.go ahead and mock me all you want but you probably liked horrible crap when you were a kid too.hopefully, like me, you've overcome this early life obstacle.
i was given tickets as a gift for my 10th birthday. i went with my friend and her mom.instead of the sweet nkotb tshirt and giant pins i had planned to wear to the show i was forced to wear the equivalent of an easter or christmas dress (with a bow in my hair).at the concert my friend's mother would not let us stand up or scream. the opening act dino who had a one hit wonder with the song "i like it".
he had a mullet,looked about 45 (at least to this ten year old's eyes),had a beer gut and was shirtless wearing a leather vest.grossville.
with this atrocity being my very first concert it's no wonder at all i wound up really into punk rock in high school.
fast forward to my high school years....
MARCH 30, l997 Beck, Atari Teenage Riot and the Cardigans
this wasn't my second concert or anything,i had seen hundreds of shows between new kids on the block and beck,just not at the spectrum.
around this time i was completely obsessed with beck and wanted to have his babies.my aunt worked for some company that had some deal with ticketmaster and could get tickets before they went on sale.she called me up and asked if i wanted tickets to beck.i leapt at the opportunity.while on the phone with my aunt,sitting right next to me was my boyfriend at the time hearing at least half the conversation.he pipes in that we need to get a bunch of tickets so that friends could go too and we could all sit together.i wound up giving my aunt money for a ticket for myself,2 of my friends, and mark and about 13 of his friends. at 17 years old working a part time job this was no small chunk of change (i think tickets were about $30 each).my friends paid me back for their tickets immediately,the boyfriend said he would gather the money from his friends to pay me back. about two weeks before the concert i very suddenly stopped getting phone calls from the boyfriend,mind you this was right about the same time i had forked the tickets over to him to distribute to his friends.he was supposed to give me a ride to the concert and finally the day of the show i called him.i was pretty pissed but was honestly just looking to hitch the ride i was supposed to get when he told me that he wouldn't be able to get to the show in time so i had better just meet him there (easter happened to fall on the same day that year so dinner with family was unavoidable).so my friends and i take the el and subway to the show get to our seats and all of my boyfriend's friends are sitting around me.i inquire where he is and everyone goes pretty silent.okay whatevs.so i'm sitting enjoying atari teenage riot (whatever happened to them?)
(this is the song i would blast in my bedroom when i wanted to piss off my dad)
i loooooaaaaathed the cardigans.all the guys around me of course were in love with nina perrson.i found her annoying.
finally beck comes on.this was his era of "where it's at" and rhinestone cowboy suits,fake ship captain outfits and slick mod suits.i really have to say to this day he is and was an amazing entertainer.this was my first time seeing him (though i had tried getting tickets for his previous times in philly all to no avail).each beck concert after this one was a totally different experience.all great all just different.
(this isn't from the show i was at but it was from just a couple of months later)
at some point during the show my boyfriend's brother and one of his friends started telling me how much better i could do than him.at this point i'm not arguing that point with them at all and laughing along.eventually a confession is made "he's actually right over there in the other section making out with some girl he's also been seeing the past two weeks".i was livid.this jerk still owed me for about 6 tickets worth of money-they had all paid him and he pocketed it while telling me he didn't get it from them.i lost some money out of it but i cut my losses and decided i was better off never having to deal with him anymore.follow up to the story? this guy actually had the audacity to contact me online to ask me to go to a concert with him a couple weeks ago.oh yeah, i had a reeeeaaaaal good laugh at that one.
APRIL, 2005 Duran Duran
my duran duran tickets were another birthday gift(tickets went on sale months before the show around my actual birthday).duran duran had reunited and just put out a new album with a couple of pretty decent tracks.we had pretty good floor seats.at some point simon lebon invited some girl onstage and she took full advantage of the situation by shoving her tongue down his throat for a good 30 seconds or so.it was pretty funny.they actually sounded pretty great and it was a fun show.
during careless memories the giant projection screen behind them showed this.
MAY 10, 2008 The Cure
ahhhh....the cure.it was a long time coming for me to get to see them.my seats were great.i had a fun time and they were great,really great, but i have to admit i was slightly disappointed.the cure were actually TOO perfect. too tight as a band,it sounded EXACTLY like the albums.no variation at all.every chord played exactly as you know it.i don't know why but it just didn't feel as exciting and live as i had hoped.
the setlist that night:
open
fascination street
a strange day
alt.end
the walk
the end of the world
lovesong
kyoto song
pictures of you
lullaby
maybe someday
the perfect boy
from the edge of the deep green sea
the only one
push
how beautiful you are
in between days
just like heaven
primary
never enough
wrong number
one hundred years
end
Encore 1:
if only tonight we could sleep
the kiss
Encore 2:
freakshow
close to me
why can't i be you?
Encore 3:
three imaginary boys
fire in cairo
boys don't cry
jumping someone else's train
grinding halt
10:15 saturday night
killing an arab
so yeah,they're tearing down the spectrum for a new complex they're calling Philly Live! (and yes the exclamation point is actually in the name) which will supposedly be done by Spring of 2012.it's a little bittersweet but it'll be interesting to witness the change.i wonder what my first concert there will be...i can definitely tell you for sure it will NOT be me going to a new kids on the block reunion show.
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