Friday, January 14, 2011

90's Hit Parade #97



I saw the Meat Puppets at the 40 Watt when they were touring for this album. They opened with this song. In the middle of the third song, the guitar sound went out. They fucked around with the equipment for a few minutes, then started again. Halfway through the next track, Kurt's mic went out. They jammed for a couple minutes, then fucked around with the equipment some more. They started up again, the mic went out again, and then the band sort of snapped. Chris Kirkwood threw his bass down and walked off stage. When he reappeared, he was carrying beer bottles in a towel. He began opening them and passing them out to the audience. Kurt Kirkwood, meanwhile was setting his guitar and Chris' bass both in front of their amps, getting solid feedback, and had started smashing equipment. The drummer was still playing. Things get a little fuzzy after that. I know at one point, Kurt took the towel, rolled it up, and was hitting the strings on his prone guitar with it. Chris was smashing the house lights over the stage with his bass while the club owner screamed at him to stop. A naked guy ran up on stage. This chaos lasted a good 15 minutes, the drummer playing the whole time, and then the band left. The house lights came on. I loitered there for about twenty minutes, hoping they'd come back. Finally I went home, although I heard later that they eventually did come back out and play a few more songs, including jamming with the opening band on "I Wanna Be Your Dog."

I'm tempted to say this could never happen in L.A., where every performer has at the back of their head the idea that this could be the show where they are discovered. I know that's not quite true, but there's something fun about living in the boondocks, where performers know there's nobody that can make or break their career in the audience.

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