The Smiths – Hand In Glove
Versailles
Paris, France
12/1/84
It’s Friday, and what better way to kick off the weekend than a half-nude Morrissey prancing around a Parisian stage back in ’84. They played a handful of tracks from the yet to be released “Meat Is Murder” LP at this show, but I decided to feature one of my favorite Smiths tracks from their self-titled debut.
Download: The Smiths: Hand In Glove (Live Video)
Party Of Helicopters – Pounding For Vipers
Munoz Gym
Bakersfield, CA
6/24/00
I saw bands play in a lot of strange places, but I never saw a band play in a boxing/wrestling ring. Party Of Helicopters had that opportunity at this gym in Bakersfield. From the looks of it, they didn’t bust out any Mexican Wrestling moves from the top rope. Despite that, it still makes for a good clip.
Download: Party Of Helicopters: Pounding For Vipers (Live Video)
Belle & Sebastian – The Boy With The Arab Strap
Royal Albert Hall
London, UK
6/29/01
Belle & Sebastian are playing a unique show this evening at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. If you don’t live in Los Angeles, you may find it strange that a cemetery is hosting Belle & Sebastian, but Hollywood Forever is probably the only cemetery that has a “Cultural Events” section listed on their website. During the run of the summer, they show films on the lawn every weekend evening so tonight also includes a screening of Trainspotting. Seeing that it will be 50 degrees and rainy this evening, we’ll probably forgo the film but there’s no way we’ll be skipping our chance to see Belle & Sebastian in what I’m guessing is their first cemetery performance. And I’m sure there will be plenty of jokes about how audiences in Los Angeles stand around and looking dead.
Download: Belle & Sebastian: The Boy With The Arab Strap (Live Video)
Swans – The Man With The Silver Tongue
Schlachthof
Bremen, Germany
3/12/97
Recently reformed Swans kicked off their tour a couple of days ago on the east coast. Unfortunately for me, there are no plans to visit Los Angeles any time soon. I caught them on tour for The Great Annihilator and it was one of the most amazing shows I saw in the ’90s. If you haven’t seen them live, here’s a taste of what you’re in for. Technically this is a Angels Of Light track, but it was being played by Swans on their “final” tour in 1997.
Download: Swans – The Man With The Silver Tongue (Live Video)
Fugazi – Blueprint
Iowa City University
Cedar Rapids, IA
8/29/93
Here’s an “In On The Kill Taker”-era clip that a friend of mine shot the first time Fugazi played in Iowa. It would be a full 2 years before I saw them play for the first time in South Dakota. Unfortunately the video was shot standing right next to the speakers, in a huge ballroom, behind some noisy fans and using an 80′s era camcorder. Consequently, the audio isn’t that hot. It also ends a bit abruptly due to Fugazi’s habit of blending one song into another.
Download: Fugazi – Blueprint (Live Video)
Unwound – Laugh Track
Thekla
Olympia, WA
4/1/02
I missed my last opportunity to see Unwound when they played at All Tomorrow’s Parties here in Los Angeles. I figured instead of seeing them play a huge venue/festival, I would catch them next time. Unfortunately there was never a “next time” as they broke up a few months later. Today’s post is a video from Unwound’s final performance back in 2002. A friend and fellow Unwound fanatic flew up to Olympia and filmed their final performance.
Download: Unwound – Laugh Track (Live Video)
His Hero Is Gone – Chain Of Command
More Than Music Fest
Columbus, OH
6/28/98
I wasn’t properly introduced to Memphis’ His Hero Is Gone until they put out their split 12″ with Union Of Uranus back in ’98. Their style of crust/metal never appealed to me as much as the Uranus side, but HHIG live was a whole other story as this video attests. As an aside, I’m really digging Todd’s Copout shirt in this video.
Lush – Ladykillers
Hotel Babylon
1994
This is a Lush performance on a UK show called “Hotel Babylon”. I wasn’t able to find any info about the show, the only info that came up for “Hotel Babylon” was a BBC drama from 2004-2009. That would have been awesome if they wrote Lush into an episode. Maybe it wouldn’t have gotten the can had they done that.
Download: Lush – Ladykillers (Live Video)
Morrissey – Every Day Is Like Sunday
The Late Late Show
August, 2004
I generally don’t think of the words “Morrissey” and “banjo” in the same sentence but that all changed when I saw this clip. I didn’t see him on the tour for You Are the Quarry so I don’t know if it was commonplace for him to perform with, or sans, banjo. I’m curious if this was a unique line-up specifically for The Late Late Show. Regardless, it certainly give the track a unique sound compared the album version I’m so accustomed to.
Universal Order of Armageddon – Flux
New Orleans, LA
1994?
Generally we post a live set on Monday, but today I wanted to get something up in the wake of all the feedback about how awesome the Universal Order of Armageddon show(s) on the east coast were this past weekend. For how great the Southern California punk rock scene was back in the early-to-mid ’90s, there have been far too few reunion shows of these great bands. On the contrary, the east coast has been KILLING me with reunion after reunion of bands I would love to have seen play again. Recent performances by 1.6 Band, Rorschach, and this past weekend, UOA, have all been reported to be absolutely amazing and all have been missed by me. Granted I was lucky enough to have caught UOA on their first go-around nearly 20 (20!?!) years ago, but I would love to have been at Death By Audio last night to witness it. So I’m hoping the reunion show bug will hit SoCal in the very near future. I’m looking at you Gravity Records bands (Yeah, I know, technically UOA is a Gravity Records band, but you know what I mean).
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