The
Replacements (Civic Center) 
In
1989, I was in High School and I can recall always
playing my cassette tape of Don’t
Tell A Soul that
my girlfriend gave me. This show was amazing; I can
recall the opener, Night
Club Jitters (from Pleased
to Meet Me)
and how a drunk (as usual) Paul Westerberg came out
on stage grasping a martini glass and his microphone.
After that, “The Mats” launched into cuts from Let
it Be and Tim. I can remember this show getting extremely
loud towards the end and how the lights came on in
the venue during their second encore. The
highlights from this show were Skyway and Can’t
Hardly Wait (both
songs from Pleased
To Meet Me).
Whiskeytown
(Club Tavern) Sometimes
as I drive down University Avenue and pass the Club
Tavern what
flashes though my memory is a young, disheveled Ryan
Adams sitting
on a barstool reading a worn out copy of some paperback
novel. Whiskeytown
played the small, but intimate Club Tavern on 3/22/98
and fortunately my wife and I were there to witness
this great local performance. A year or so after this,
Whiskeytown broke up and Adams launched into his prolific
solo career.
J.
J Cale (Luther's Blues)
An American icon with a full band
in a great venue made for a remarkable experience in
the summer of 2002. We arrived
early and moved to the front of stage left never really
knowing that the microphone stand directly in front of
us was Mr. John W. Cale’s. To experience this show up
close was truly a life changing event. The Highlights
included Ride Me High and Travelin’ Light. Check out
JJ Cale Live:
A close match up to this show. 
Gillian Welch
and David Rawlings (Barrymore Theater) A rainy evening
and a great last minute decision to venture out to the Barrymore brought
an intimate evening with two accomplished musicians. 
After
this show I became an admirer of David Rawlings. His guitar
style, being truly unique and Welch’s guitar/banjo blended
together so well with their indistinguishable vocal harmonies.
The highlights of this show included an out in front (no
microphones) rendition of Long
Black Veil. This was that kind of performance that
left you speechless on the way out of the theater.
Tortoise (Barrymore
Theater) Around the time of this show I was really
into the Standards album
and how they started to initiate more eletronica into their
already complex progressive sound. I had always wanted
to witness Tortoise in live setting.
Autumn
of 2002 at the Barrymore Theater, I recall talking to Dan
Bitney (former Madisonian and ex-Tar
Babies member) about their tour, the recording process
and how I was excited to witness Tortoise for the first
time. I was not prepared for what was to follow. As a musician,
I was so intrigued at how each band member was so musically
adept and could freely move about from one instrument to
another. The highlights from this show was when Herndon
and McEntire got behind the drums kits and dove into TNT (from TNT)
and Seneca (from Standards)
The latest rumor is that drummer/producer John McEntire
(Sea & Cake)
is hinting for a late 2007 Tortoise release!
Guided By
Voices (Annex) The Annex
on Regent Street: What an amazing little place to witness
a band up close…close
enough for lead singer, Robert Pollard to 
hand
me a beer from his “stage cooler”. November, 19th, 2003
- his show was about one year before they had decided to
announce the end of GVB. Since then, the creative Pollard
has put out several great solo releases. Also check out
the new live release
from GBV. See pictures from
this show.
fS
