Hypno+Raygun's

Well I have often been asked "What bands have you seen," and "Which have been the best?" So I decided to put up a list of concerts that I have been to. I think this is most of them. They should be in somewhat of a time wise order. But who knows? I will try to put little memories by them and maybe some of the concert tickets if I get real inspired. This background picture is of Noah and I. A few of these are just famous person sightings or autographs that I thought I would put in here. Well I am typing out my memories now..This could get a little long winded! Be prepared! So without further ado, here they are…The concerts…..

Dead Milkmen and Possum Dixon (Nov. 12, 1993) The Regency in Springfield, MO. $6.00: This concert I attended with my (not at the time, but future) brother in law. I remember that Possum Dixon was good, and The Dead Milkmen were too. Um, it was really hot and my bro-in-law had to help these little punk kids from falling down. My brother in law was wearing his leather Jacket he had just picked up that day at the Harley Store. He didn't have anywhere to put it, so he wore it, and man it was hot. As Paul Harvey would say, The rest of the story is that the jacket was later stolen at a Mason concert in Cambridge, MA. I guess Nathan (bro in law) let his friend wear the jacket and this friend got hot, so he laid it down and someone grabbed it. Ya, that was not too smart. A fight ensued and I am not sure what happened next. I wasn't there. Oh the joys of rock and roll! It was a fun show though, the Dead Milkmen one that is.

Slaughter, Jackal and Damn Yankees (Not sure when, around 93) Memorial Hall in Joplin, MO. $FREE. Well this was just a fun little thing to do. There wasn't many concerts around this area at the time, (and still isn't) but they were coming and my girlfriend at the time got us free tickets from her mom. So we went, it was funny. Very loud. That was about it. Oh, I got Ted Nugent's autograph through this girl I knew from school. Her uncle was good friends with him and got it for me..ROCK!

#1) The Smashing Pumpkins and Red Red Meat (March, 28 1994) University Plaza Center in Springfield, MO $15.50. Well I would say that this concert was a huge turning point in my musical life. Unbelievable! I have been a Pumpkins fan ever since the first week Gish came out, so I had plenty of time to build up before I had seen them here in '94. I had already obtained tons of Pumpkins stuff by this point. This was also the first time I saw them, and not the last! So I got the tickets for my birthday and several of us went. We got there early and looked around. I went behind the building and sneaked in, and was kicked out, but I saw the Pumpkins on the stage jamming. So we waited, tons of stupid people had meet and greet passes from a radio station, but I did not..So I made my way in and got in the very front. The way the barrier was I could squeeze in by these two metal bars and hold on, and no one could get in front of me. So I was totally in the front. Man I was excited. Red Red Meat was okay. I thought they sounded Nirvana-ish at the time. So then it happened. I mean this was a dream come true. The Smashing Pumpkins!! I was literally like 2 feet from Billy the entire show. It was great.. Well afterwards this girl I knew got backstage with her pass and met them. She had them sign the Bootleg of Mayonnaise Dream. Billy asked her if it was any good and he said he didn't care about bootlegs and not getting money for them. So I didn't meet them, but it was cool…

Bush and The Murmurs (March 20, 1995) The Regency in Springfield, MO. $6.00.Well, I had barely heard "Everythings Zen" by Bush but it sounded okay. So I thought we should check this out. My buddy Noah and I went up and drove around before the show. I always check stuff out before. So all the artists I know stay at this one hotel. So we go there and Gavin and the guitarist were there. So we talked to them and shook their hands. This is the one time I didn't get an autograph. I mean these guys were totally unheard of then. So anyways, we went to the show and The Murmurs rocked. I really had liked a few of their songs I had heard before. The crowd was really rude to them, and I remember one of the girls in the band broke all of her 12-string guitar strings while she was playing! WOO! Noah and I were impressed! Bush came out and rocked. It was very loud, and Gavin stopped and told them to put on the house lights, that someone was going to get hurt up front. He demanded it for a long time, they never did. But no one got hurt..So it was a good show.

Moxy Fruvious (early 90's?) I think at a HMV in Calgary, Alberta. Free. Basically this was a free show at a record store. So my dad and I went and checked it out. They were really good and I got their tape and autographs. Good show..

The Offspring with the Luna Chicks and The Vandals (May 23, 1995) Shrine Mosque in Springfield, MO $13.50 This was a good show that Noah and a foreign exchange student went with me. We got a hotel room in the hotel where the band stayed too. So we met Dexter before the show, he was just walking in front of everyone and no one really noticed him. So I got an autograph and then a few others did. I got in the pit hard core at this show. I remember this guy trying to slam me in this circle and I just threw him down several times. Then I thought I had better get out of there before something major happened and I didn't want to get kicked out. So I jumped back in the crowd, and this kid says, "Man that was AWESOME!" The Vandals did this rocking version of "Baby Got Back" it was funny. So the show was good, they played part of a Weezer song too. Um..We met the Luna Chicks that night and the next day and got their autographs and we also got the bass player from Offspring's autograph. Pretty good show. We were just going for the fun of it.

Nine Inch Nails and Marlyn Manson with Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (Sept. 16, 95?) Shrine Mosque in Springfield, MO $26.50 The evil tour of death! Not really. My sister was able to get backstage passes and a photo pass for this show. (my idea!) So she got some good pics of Trent and interviewed Marlyn Manson. This was honestly WAY before they were famous. I mean NO ONE knew them. Their first CD had not been out too long at this point. The Jim Rose Circus was funny and gross, we really didn't watch it very close though. So, Manson's show was crazy, lots of crazy stuff. After their performance Manson and the others just walked around in the crowd for a long time. They were signing autographs and stuff. So it took a VERY long time for NIN to come on. But when they did…Wow…It was awesome. I was sitting in the back (this is a great place for concerts, can hold a lot of people but still small with good views!) with my sister and bro-in-law and just getting blown away. It was amazing. I remember Trent trashing his keyboards and throwing down the mic stand over and over after the roadie had set it up. He would also throw his Les Paul way back into the stage. It was crazy. After the show I waited for Trent to come out and he did, and I yelled at him and he stopped and I was going to get his autograph, but his manager ? pushed him on the bus and told me he had signed enough and that he was tired. Whatever. It really made me mad because I was the only one there standing, and Trent stopped. Oh well…Good show! I want to see NIN again. It would be worth it.

Petra, DC Talk, Audio Adrenaline, Cindy Morgan, Wes King, Newsboys, Out Of Eden, Prayer For Rain (Various dates around mid 90's) Various venues These were some Christian concerts I attended for fun. Nothing that major. I do know that Newsboys rocked pretty good, and Audio Adrenaline the several times I saw them were very good.

The Presidents of the United States of America (1995) in front of Allston Beat in Boston, MA. Free. Nothing big here. They were not too famous at this point (were they ever?), and I got their set list and some pictures. It was a good little free show..

Weezer with That Dog and Teenage Fanclub (Aug 2, 1995) Avalon in Boston, MA. $18.00. This was a very good show. I will always say that this was one of the most rocking shows I have ever been too. (Pumpkins excluded from that statement) This was the first week I was in Boston and my friend that had been a foreign exchange student in MO was in Boston for a few weeks as part of his program. I didn't have a ticket because it was sold out, so I just went and someone sold me a ticket for face value! So I rushed in and my friend saw me! It was awesome. The main thing I remember is that Weezer rocked very hard. It was just a good show due to my feelings and the simple fact that Weezer rocked. This concert would be one that was a turning point in my life too. I mean I always listened to Weezer (and Pumpkins of course) with my best friend Noah. And now I was moving to Boston, seeing this concert, fresh out of High School, and I got to see my good friend there, and man….It was great…

Foo Fighters with Shudder To Think (Aug. 11, 1995) Avalon in Boston, MA $10.00. Well I almost missed out on this show. I didn't get the tickets in time so it was sold out. So my Brother in law and I were at Guitar Center and Pat Smear (From the Germs, played with Nirvana and then at the time in Foo Fighters) comes in. So I talked to him and got his autograph. But he didn't get me in..I tried! So I just went to the show and got a ticket from some guy that had extras. But I didn't have to pay extra. It was cool. The show itself was good. Nothing too major, but it was a good show none the less.

Vigilantes of Love (summer of '95) At a park in Boston, MA. Free. Nothing too big here. They are from Athens, GA. And Peter Buck helped them on some of their album stuff. Good free show.

Meet Elton John in Tower records. He was buying tons of CD's and I just went up and said hello and shook his hand. No big deal, but funny all the same.

Sonia Da Da (summer of '95) a park in Boston, MA. Free Nothing big here either. They were going to be on Conan O' Brian the next day though..

Jill Sobule, Juliana Hatfield, Machinery Hall, Throwing Muses (summer of '95) Hatch Shell in Boston, MA. Free. Pretty good show. I remember that Jill Sobule (SP?) just had a guitar and she rocked big time. Then Juliana Hatfield came out with the entire band and she sucked. Jill totally blew her away with just an acoustic guitar! But it was a fun free show.

Soul Asylum, Matthew Sweet, Victoria Williams with The Jayhawks (Aug, 29 1995) Great Woods outside of Boston, MA. Free for me!! Well I won the tickets for this show on the radio so my sister and I went. I really am a big fan of Matthew Sweet so I was glad I could see him. He was good, but didn't play long enough. Um.. The Jayhawks really stunk in my opinion. BORING. But then Soul Asylum came out. They were pretty good. I remember they played this song that they said was new and it was really hard and good. At the very end everyone came out and sang, "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy!" It was funny.

Green Apple Quick Step, The Bogmen, Rusty, The Caufields (Aug '95) Hiens (SP?) convention center in Boston, MA. Free. This was a free get back to college thing. It was fun. GAQS was very good. But where are they now? Hmm..I got The Caufields autographs, and a few of the Bogmen's. The Bogmen were hilarious. It was a fun show/convention thing. There were also Soap Opera stars, and one of the girls off of the Cosby show was there too.

Meet Fred Snyder of the B-52's (summer of '95) Tower Records in Boston, MA. He was there signing autographs, so I met him and got a shirt signed I have. Funny guy.

R.E.M. with Grant Lee Buffalo. (Oct. 3, 1995) Fleet Center in Boston, MA. $42.50. This was the first concert at the new Fleet Center. I was going crazy to get tickets for this show. I talked to tons of people and got up at 4:30am to go wait for tickets. But I still got some crappy ones. Well, they were okay, but I wish I could have had better. But it was an amazing show. Seeing REM was great. I was really excited about the show and had a good time. That was about it.. ha ha..It was fun.

Paula Abdul (as MC of this concert), Bruce Hornsby, Harry Connick Jr., Cyndi Lauper, The Blue Men Group (summer of '95) The Commons in Boston, MA, Free. This was a free two-day event. It was fun. I got Cyndi Lauper's autograph. And Harry Connick Jr. Rocked. He put on a good show. I saw the Blue Men Group at their theater one time also. They are really good.

Natalie Merchant and Innocence Mission (Oct. 6 and 7, 1995) Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA. 23.50. I really like the Innocence Mission and also Natalie Merchant so I went both nights. The first night I had really bad seats, then the second night I bought from a scalper and I had a better one. I am glad I went the second night because the show was better. Innocence Mission is very good. And Natalie was really good too. These two shows were um…ya…really good…

Marlyn Manson (Halloween in '95) Newbury Comics in Boston, MA. Free autograph signing. This was fun. My sister and bro-in-law and I dressed up in costumes and went to this for part of our Halloween. If you had the freakiest costume you could go to the show at Mama Kin (Steven Tyler's old club) for free. So we went and got some autographs on my CD. And when my sister went through Manson said, "Hey I have a picture of you two! Didn't you interview me or something?" (See NIN and Manson Show for more details!) and she said yes. It was a Goth moment..ahh.. There was also this one girl there that really liked the band that my Brother in Law was in and she had been picked as one of the freaky contest winners. She wasn't the freaky-est, but she was so in love with Manson. After the signing they had a freak parade over to the concert. It is just a few blocks away. I didn't stay for that though. I read a few days later that the shows were really bad and the band had got into a fight on stage.

Watched Sonic Youth talk to fans after concert (in '95) after a show at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, MA. I mean I could have got their autographs too. But I really don't care too much for them. I mean I respect them as musicians but it was no big deal to me.

Garbage and The Ventures (Nov. 14, 1995) Axis in Boston, MA. $8.00. Well I don't know if this was the original Ventures but they were good. And I remember the crowd being very small here. It is a tiny club anyway. Come to find out that the Pumpkins live sound man had did the sound that night and he told me later that half of the PA had been out during that show. I would have never known. It was a good show to me. Shirley must have been happy, because it was raining outside. It was a good show..

Lisa Loeb (Summer of '95) Tower Records in Boston, MA. Free. She gave a free little show there at Tower. It was really good. Then her managers were making her leave and she wanted to stay and sign autographs. She was really upset. So she left and most people did too. Then I just stood there, like…"HUH??" so then a few mins later she came back and I was the first in line because I had just stood there in denial. She is very pretty and nice…Wow…cool person…

Traci Lords (Summer of '95) Tower Records in Boston, MA. Free signing. Yes the ex-porno queen. I just got her autograph. She was nice..She also had a stint on the show Profiler for awhile..??

The Rachels and June of '44 (sometime in '95) Middle East in Cambridge, MA. $?(not much). This was a show that this crazy guy I worked with at Starbucks told me about. We all went after work. I really don't remember much. It was okay..A little slow..but I honestly wasn't in the best of moods and the show seemed boring.

V-Card, Loader, Quintanie Americana, OTIS (in '95) Middle East in Cambridge, MA. Few dollars. This was a show that I went to so I could try out my brother in laws portable DAT recorder. It is pretty big really, the recorder that is. Man, I want one of those things. I am remembering now how great the show came out and it was just some local bands and I wasn't doing anything special except standing there recording. Quintanie Americana was hilarious. They were like a hillbilly rock band. It was good. And one of the first bands rocked really good, but I only heard the last few songs. But it was a fun little show.

The Rentals, Silverchair, The Red Hot Chili Peppers (Feb. 8 1996) Fleet Center in Boston, MA. $23.50. The only reason I went to this show was for The Rentals. I mean I didn't mind seeing the other bands, but really I was there for The Rentals. Also I had front row. I mean THE FRONT ROW. Thousands of kids behind me..I had a friend that worked at a ticket booth and she got me the ticket. Here is a secret for getting good seats. Well it works, SOMETIMES. According to her a lot of the times for big shows they will hold back the first few rows of seats when they first go on sale. Then a few days before the show they will release them. I don't know why they do this, but she kept checking and sure enough they released them and she got one for me. She also told me she could have had front row for REM but didn't get them. ARG! I tried a million places to get good seats for that show and here she was telling me she could have got them! Oh well. This was a good show. I liked the Rentals and went up to Matt Sharp after (he was sitting down in the crowd by the stage) they played and told him "good job", ya I'm cool. I had seen The Rentals at Newbury Comics in Harvard SQ. that day. They had an acoustic show and signed autographs. One of the girl singers was from St. Louis. So she waved at me on stage. That was neat. Silverchair rocked, but it seemed like the guy was trying to sing like Kurt too much. And Red Hot Chili Peppers were..Hmm..Okay. All these girls were screaming at Dave Navarro and he was giving me the evil eye I think because I was a guy and not clapping! Ha ha..Oh well…It was an okay show.

Blur and The Elevator Drops (Feb. 11 1996) Avalon in Boston, MA. $15.00. The ONLY reason I went to this is because The Rentals were originally supposed to be there, but they got on the Red Hot Chili Peppers show instead. So I went because I had already bought the ticket. It was a good show though. The Elevator Drops rocked. They were all theatrical and stuff. At first the crowd didn't know what was going on, but at the end they all seemed to really like it. Blur was..Blur…Pretty good. I talked to the guys from Elevator Drops after the show. They were wondering if the crowd liked it. I think they did..But the crowd was there for Blur, so it really didn't matter. But they were cool. Pretty good show.

Moxy Fruvious (Around in March) Middle East in Cambrige, MA. $Few Dollars. This was a really good show. My friend Noah came up to Boston on his Spring Break and we went with my sister. They are really good I think. The best part of the show was a cover of "Brown Eyed Girl" man it was awesome. They pulled some girl out of the auidence to sing with them. I don't know if they knew her or what, but she rocked too. It was a really fun show.

Primus and The Cows (Apr. 11, 1996) Orpheum Theatre in Boston, MA. $28.00. Well this was one of the last shows I saw while I was in Boston..sniff sniff. I had really wanted to see Primus for a long time. And well…I will probably never see them again. We had some pretty bad seats, but that was fine. But the Cows were really bad. And this place was not a good place to see Primus, you couldn't move. The seats are fixed. The sound was probably the worst concerts sonically I have ever heard. Really muffled bass and bad. So when Primus came out it was kind of blah. I mean they were good, but combined with the sound and the fixed seats it was not too good. On top of that they didn't play very long at all. I felt ripped off. This was kind of a bad concert experience.

#2) The Smashing Pumpkins and Grant Lee Buffalo (Sept. 1 1996 rescheduled from Jul. 20) Kemper Arena in Kansas City, MO. $25.50. This was my second Pumpkins show. Well this was a very good show to say the least. This was rescheduled from the original date due to the death of the keyboard player (Jonathan Melvoin) and the firing of Jimmy. I think it was like the second show back on the road. I talked to the sound guy and I had made some connections at a recording school I went to, so I got to set with him the entire show in the sound area. It was fun. I got the set list too. He was totally going to get me backstage but he did not know Billy didn't want anyone backstage after everything that had happened. So I missed out again. But it was fun. I had originally had some nosebleed seats, but these drunk guys had an extra floor ticket so I traded tickets because they said they were going to get their money back..ha ha..Yeah right! So anyways..It was really fun..

Beck (April, 15 1997) Shrine Mosque in Springfield, MO. $16.00. This was a fun show. I can't remember who opened, but it was some rap group. The Cardigans were going to open originally, but they didn't. I wished they had been there…Meow! You know.. So Beck was a crazy man like normal..It was fun. That is about it..

Superdrag, Tuscadero and Apples in Stereo (April, 29 1997) at the Regency in Springfield, MO. $10.50. Really good show. I am a big Superdrag fan, so this really rocked. There was like, NO ONE at this show. It was bad for them, but great for us. Man they rocked. The other bands were good too, but I really don't remember much about them. Superdrag totally gave it their all. After the show I got all of their autographs on my CD. They were really cool. Great Show…

HUM with Fuel (May, 6 1997) at the Regency in Springfield, MO. $8.00. This was a really good show. No one knew Fuel really then, but they were really good. Now everyone knows them and poor HUM I think has broken up. Sigh.. But I was there for HUM. They are so good. Tons of people were at this show. It was funny in a strange way because Just a few weeks before at Superdrag no one was there. Hmm. So HUM rocked and after I got all of their autographs. The Drummer took my CD in so that all of them would sign it. They are a great band..This show was loud, but very good.

Jim Rose Circus Sideshow (Nov. 25, 1997) at Cain's Ballroom in Tulsa, OK. $8.00. These are the guys we saw open for NIN about 4 years before. It was a gross and funny show. Jim Rose is really funny. He is about the wittiest man I have ever seen. Jim Rose had some people come up on stage and he pick pocketed this guy and stole his watch and he didn't even know it. Then Jim taunted him with it and told him off. It was really good. They are definitely worth seeing if they ever come around you.

#3) HORDE Tour: The Smashing Pumpkins, Barenaked Ladies, Ben Harper, Alanis Davis, Blues Travelers (July, 14, 1998) at Sandstone Amphitheater in Kansas City, MO.$30.00. Third time to see the wonder full Smashing Pumpkins. This was a good show. Everyone went crazy for Barenaked Ladies. I hadn't even heard of them. It was funny. They were really funny during the show. The other bands were okay. Blues Travelers are a total snooze fest for hippies in my opinion. But the Pumpkins rocked. I had some bad seats but I stood up and could see pretty well. Everyone around me was yelling to sit down, but the strong survived. This was my first attempt to tape a show. It came out really well I think. This wasn't the Pumpkins tour, so no meet ups here. It was a good show, nice and hot during the day.

 #4)The Smashing Pumpkins (Aug. 5, 1998) at The Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN. $35.00 (30 to charity 5 for Grand Ole Opry). This was the fourth time to see the Pumpkins. This was a tiring and wonderful concert. Noah, Micah and I had driven down and got there way early. So we looked around the place, we saw an open door so we went in. I talked to some people and they let us sit there and watch them set up. We got quite a few of Billy's pics. So then Billy came out and looked at us, then stated playing piano! I could not believe it. But then a BIG guy came up and told us to step out. So we just went in the foyer. We still heard everything. I would peak through the curtains too. It was unbelievable. Billy was kind of gripping at the drummer, it was funny. He said something like, "What we are doing here is an acoustic rock show." And something about, don't make this harder than it is. So we had to get ready for the show at some point, we were being told to go backstage if we were with the band, and of course we weren't. So we had to get out of there. So we went out the front doors. It was hilarious. All of these people were watching us and wondering who we were, because my friend had his huge camera with him. (No, we didn't take any pics, we didn't want to push it.) So we got ready and came back. It was a wonderful show. I taped it and it sounds good. So that was a GREAT SHOW!

Come see part two! The 1999 shows and beyond!! It is right here, Concert List Page Two!

Or go back to the main page. Right here.