- June 9, 2000 at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota
I woke up at 10:00 am on Friday morning and decided to take a shower at home. My twin brother was coming to the shows with me. Our Mom was going to pick us up and let us use her car, since we don't own one. She called about 10:20 am to let us know that she was leaving to pick us up. She arrived around 12:00 pm, late as usual (it's only about a half hour drive). So we got into the car. It was a very hot day that day. We had to pick up our paychecks to get some souveniers money and then to the bank to cash it. Finally on our way we stop at Hardee's to grab something to eat. We drove home and took our showers and packed all of the stuff we would need for the two days. On the way there I waved at an older couple as they were passing me and both of them flipped me off. You wouldn't expect that from some old farts now would you? We stopped in Hudson, Wisconsin to get some food and fuel up. We took I-94 into Minneapolis and then had to back track a little, because we didn't know where we were going. Did I mention that the car was dying? It would sputter when you tried to drive from a stop. It wouldn't do it in Wisconsin. No it had to do it in a big city where I didn't know where the heck I was. Well, we finally found a street on the map and a street on the road to correspond to each other and we finally parked the car. It cost $6.00 to park that '88 hunk o' shit!!!
We walked up the path to the Walker Art Center, past the famous Spoon and Cherry sculpture. We were waiting in line, but then took a walk up further and found out that there was a will call line.
We picked up our tickets, got our alcohol wrist bands and waited about 15 minutes or so until they let us in. We walked up to the stage and had front row. The weather was hot, but there was a breeze. The show was an outdoor show with us looking into the sun. The stage had a roof over it.About 6:30 pm Sunship Sextet took the stage. The guitarist came out and "jammed" for about 20 minutes then out came the drummer and he bashed away. Three other members came out dressed in costumes that allowed other noises to be made when in contact with their equipment. It was a noisy show. Thurston came out and watched them from back stage.
Stereolab came out next and played a great set. I only heard of this band from London, England, but never heard of any of their music. They played for about an hour.
Then a little after 8:30 Sonic Youth came out!! Yeahhhh! The crowd went wild. Jim O'Rourke played with them and Kim played a lot of guitar on the stage. All songs are in the order that they were played. I wrote them on my arm so that I would have the correct order in which they were played. They started with Teen Age Riot and played an awesome version of it. Then they kicked into free city rhymes and renegade princess, one of my favorite songs off of nyc ghosts & flowers. Then they played the first Sonic Youth song that I ever heard, Kool Thing. The crowd wasn't pushy like they usually are. It was a calm show, which made it very enjoyable. Then they played two more new songs,
nevermind (what was it anyway) and side2side. Another song that I did not expect them to play was Mote. Next they played Tom Violence , one of my all time favorites. Everyone went nuts when they kicked into White Cross. Then they played nyc ghosts & flowers, if I'm correct. That was the only song that I can't be truly sure of. Lee sang it, but I wasn't too familiar with that exact song. Then the they left the stage. Sonic Youth! Sonic Youth! Sonic Youth! shouted the fans. The five musicians came out and played two encore songs: lightnin' and Schizophrenia. The show ended at 10:00 pm. It was an awesome show.- June 10, 2000 at the Riviera Theatre in Chicago, Illinois
- Day two. We woke up at 9:00 am and we were dead tired. Didn't get moving about until 9:45 am. We took showers and packed our things up. We drove to Kwik Trip and got some more gas and ate at Burger King. Finally we hit the road at 10:45 am and then we stopped at Mauston for a break. I drove for a couple of hours then my brother took over to let me sleep. Once we got near Chicago I-90 was under construction. It took almost two hours to go 20 miles. We stopped at the Des Plaines Oasis and ate at the Mc Donald's there. It was 96 degrees out. Another very hot day. I took over driving and we finally found Lawrence Ave. We found the Riviera and parked the car. After standing in line for an hour and a half we finally got in. The security guard took my pen. God knows why? I went to the merchandise counter and bought 3 shirts. Dropped another $60.00 on souveniers. I found my brother and then they let us in. We got front row again!!!
We stood there and finally Quix*o*tic came on. They are from Baltimore, Maryland. They played a good set.
Stereolab came on and played another great set. Here you see my ticket signed by 4 members of Sterolab. They gay fuck next to me went crazy during their set. There's nothing wrong with that except he almost elbowed me in the face a million times. With about four songs left in their set, my contact in the right eye had to go out. I don't know if you know this, but it hurts like a $@%^!*&. I had to suffer through three songs and finally got it back to normal. It still was sensitive though.
Sonic Youth came on and the crowd went nuts. This time the crowd crushed us. I was writing the songs on my arm to keep track of them. The first song they played was The Burning Spear, which I was surprised to hear. I know they still play it live, but I didn't expect to hear it that night. Next they played White Cross. That was played about the same as the night before. Then they played three songs off of nyc ghosts & flowers: free city rhymes, nevermind (what was it anyway), and side2side. Kool Thing came next and was a crowd favorite. They went nuts and everyone in front suffered. I kept getting an elbow in the kidney, but finally the guy moved his arm. The security guards were constantly pushing the crowd surfers back and hauling out the girls. One of the security guards gave me a piece of paper to write the songs down. During the show a couple of morons behind me were throwing demo tapes and cds on stage, nearly hitting Thurston and Kim. A shirt was also thrown on stage. They played Mote for a second night in a row. Then they played small flowers crack concrete and the ineffable me. Both songs were great. They ended the show with nyc ghosts & flowers. We shouted Sonic Youth! and they came back on for an encore. They played lightnin' and Tom Violence again. They came out for a second encore and played Schizophrenia, which was a perfect ending to an awesome two day experience. One of the crew was giving out the set list and he gave it to me!!
Some girl wanted me to give it to her, because she said that she was the biggest Sonic Youth fan, but I said nope, I don't think so. I saw him later and asked why. He said "I remember you from yesterday." The show ended at 11:15 pm.We left the venue and went to see if our car was still there. It was. We debated on whether or not to try and meet the band. Finally we decided to see if we could meet the band. We walked around the corner and waited. We got to talk to Stereolab and met Tim Gane first. Then we met Mary Hansen and Simon Johns. Laetitia came out and we were talking to her. She said she saw us during the Sonic Youth set. Then Kim came out and she was mobbed. I left Laetitia (if you're reading this Laetitia, I'm sorry,I left suddenly and that was very rude of me, but you have to understand that Sonic Youth are my favorite band and I couldn't miss the opportunity to say hi to Kim). I got Kim's autograph, but my brother didn't. She took off too soon, but I think that was because of the Dickweed there. He was the one that was throwing the cds and tapes. I think he was high on crack or something. Lee came out next and was happy to see every one and signed autographs. He left when Dickweed kept badgering him about a tour date with Pearl Jam. I think Lee had enough of that moron (so did I). All I needed was Thurston's autograph and a chance to say hi. Thurston came out and was mobbed. We both got his autograph, but he wasn't thrilled with Dickweed either! We hung around a little bit longer talking to a German filmer who was filming a documentary on Sonic Youth that is to be aired in Europe this winter. Then I talked to Steve a little bit. We then talked to a few fans and drove home. We stopped at the Des Plaines Oasis again. I drove until we were 30 miles from Madison and I couldn't drive anymore. My brother took over (it was 3:00 am) and he drove till we got home at 6:00 am. We then went to bed and I didn't wake up till 2:00 pm.
It was a good time and it was one of the best times of my life. Thanks Sonic Youth.
I was able to watch Coco Haley Gorden Moore having fun outside. After the show we were able to talk to Steve and Jim O'Rourke. They both signed autographs and are really kool, nice guys. Steve gave my brother a broken drum stick, since my brother collects drum sticks. We were unable to meet the other members of Sonic Youth. We then went to the merchandise area and I bought 3 shirts, one tote bag, two books, and the Goodbye 20th Century vinyl. Spent $70.00. Eventhough we didn't get to meet Kim, Thurston, and Lee, we did get to talk to Laetitia Sadier and Mary Hansen of Stereolab. Laetitia was very nice and we had a nice conversation that lasted five to ten minutes. We also talked to one of the members of Sunship Sextet who we knew before. After talking to Laetitia we went to our car and started on our way home. We got home around 2:30 am and hit the bed. That is the end our day one.
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| Thurston's Autograph | Lee's Autograph | |
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| Jim's Autograph | ||