vambot5 @ 2026-07-18T14:55:00

2026-07-18T20:27:15Z

I realized that it's never going to get easier to start compiling a list of all the bands I've seen. Why didn't I do this 20 years ago? To be honest, I probably did. I probably did it in a moleskine notebook, and it probably got lost and ended up in a landfill. I don't think I ever did a digital version.

Anyway, it's remarkably hard. I managed to barf out a couple pages' worth very quickly, but I don't have the shows arranged in any sort of organized way in my memory, so I'm just free-associating all over the place. I haven't been including any local bands, because I wanted to focus my attention on big shows. But I probably should have just put them in and kept going, it kinda derailed my thought process and I hit a wall.

I used to attend package shows sometimes, all-day affairs, 20 bands on the bill, but half the bands have dropped off by the day of the show. I know I saw so many bands at those things but it's hard to find any record of them. Even if I remember the name, the venue, and at least one of the bands who played. Just gone. I was able to find the bands who played Katt Fest 98: Local H, Monster Magnet, Stabbing Westward, and Candlebox. That was Monster Magnet's Powertrip era and they didn't want to be there and it wasn't their best set. Stabbing Westward aren't too cool these days, but they were a HUGE influence on my keyboard playing. Local H are underrated. Candlebox were fine. For years every time I heard a mediocre rocking band playing somewhere I would joke "Hey, is that Candlebox?" They could take it. Frankly, I think Candlebox deserved the hate a lot more than Nickelback, who were just Canadian. Candlebox were hugely popular with listeners but tastemakers hated them and Kevin took it very personally. It wasn't enough to be popular, he needed to be loved too.

The worst show I ever saw is an easy one: Bush with the Goo Goo Dolls. I was 15 and had to ride in the back of a van. The opener were great (a then-unknown No Doubt), but the Goo Goo Dolls were like a comedy act, talking as much as playing, and generally flailing through their songs. Bush were sloppy as hell, but it didn't matter because you couldn't hear them over the 10,000 screaming girls. Awful. But I did meet Justin Sowers that night, future owner of Guestroom Records.

Although that was the worst show, it wasn't really the most disappointing, because I didn't love Bush and hated the Goo Goo Dolls. The most disappointing was probably Liz Phair. I LOVED Liz Phair as a teenager, I listened to both Guyville and Whip-Smart all the time, particularly around 13-15. She wasn't really an influence on my guitar playing but she was an inspiration for sure. I loved her story about writing the songs playing an electric guitar in her bedroom without an amp, because that's how I usually had to play as a teenager. (Even with no amp, playing guitar would often wake up my super light sleeper mom across the house.) I loved her. I had a picture of her on my wall. I had a lot of pictures, sure, but she was one. So it was sad when I finally saw her in my 40s and just...didn't like her. She talked quite a lot and every time she opened her mouth I just liked her less and less. I have hardly listened to her albums since the show, but I did put on Guyville this morning and confirmed it still slaps.

I guess to go forward I need to catch myself every time I talk/think about a concert and immediately check that the artist is on my list. It's annoying, but at some point I'll have enough familiarity with the list that I'll know immediately when I remember a band that isn't on it.

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vambot5 @ 2026-06-27T20:39:00

2026-06-28T01:44:44Z

Doing karaoke at Legally Brewed for the first time in a long time. I used to come every time (it’s every other week at a microbrewery downtown), but I got burnt out on it. Not with singing, but with the karaoke part. There were several times in a row where I felt like I got skipped and left disappointed because I wasn’t getting to sing.

Paul messaged me tonight saying the place was dead and I should come down. It’s certainly not packed, but it’s busy enough that I’ve been waiting 20 minutes and I haven’t sang a song. Neither has he. I think he just got here early.

I will probably sing a couple and see what time it is at that point. I would rather be practicing guitar and/or working on songs. Karaoke is fine, but it’s not as rewarding as making music for real. That said, I haven’t made any progress with my singing in the last year, really. I really should practice my singing more than guitar.

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