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Welcome to the My Life in Concert podcast! Join me, your host Various Artists, on my musical time travel as I look back on (almost) every live gig I have seen from 1975 to the present. This podcast series started life as a blog on Salon.com’s late, great OpenSalon.com in 2010. It gained a regular readership there until OS closed in 2015, and is now being resurrected as a podcast in February 2020. I’ve been a lifelong tunehead and fan of many genres with a particular passion for live shows, big and small. And while I’ll be discussing the music played, the podcast won’t simply be a critique of the performance.People recall a gig’s small moments that can end up defining the event in one’s mental hard drive sometimes more than the tunes: what happened before and after; things seen and heard; technical malfunctions, musicians passing out on stage, etc. Therefore, the podcast is about the “concert-going experience” rather than simply being a description of the performance: a mixture of concert review, music history, memoir, and philosophical musing. While my main musical bases in the 70s were glam in the earlier part of the decade and punk in the latter half, my tastes have exploded through the years. The podcast will go on to encompass live concerts in many genres: r&b, jazz, folk, pop, electronic, hip-hop, country & Americana, pop, blues, reggae, and more.I grew up in and have returned to London, Ontario, Canada (with a 20-year stop in Ottawa). While I will be remembering shows from a variety of locations including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit, NYC, and more, many of the early episodes will focus on concerts that took place in the Forest City from the 70s through the 90s … and now again in recent years (it will be Ottawa-heavy in-between.) There will be notable local visits by Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, Radiohead, Joe Jackson, Steve Earle, k.d. lang, Gang of Four, and more. I’ll also have special episodes devoted to the local and regional live bands I saw regularly from the late 70s through early 90s. Along the way I’ll be dropping back into dearly departed local live venues including Fryfogle’s, the Cedar Lounge, the London Arena, the London Gardens, Bullwinkle’s, Wonderland Gardens, and the Embassy along with ongoing stalwarts like Centennial Hall and Call the Office. Outside of London, I’ll also be remembering great nights at long-gone venues such as NYC’s Danceteria, Toronto’s CNE Stadium, and Ottawa’s Barrymore’s.While London was my starting base, I’ll also be looking back on shows in Canadian and U.S. cities where I saw Neil Young, The Clash, Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Janelle Monae, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Ornette Coleman, Laura Nyro, Bootsy Collins (who head-butted me), The Jam, Paul McCartney, the Buzzcocks, Al Green, and plenty more. You can also check out the mylifeinconcert.com blog for written entries, original ticket scans, and related visual and audio; VATV My Life in Concert on YouTube for live clips; and follow us on Facebook. (Instagram coming soon!)Come out and join me at the show!
35 Episodes
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Birmingham UK’s reggae outfit UB40 made two trips to London, Ontario, in the mid-80s, playing to a packed and joyous Centennial Hall on March 7, 1984, and then returning a year later almost to the week, to pack out Alumni Hall on the Western University campus on March 14, 1985. The first show came on the heels of their international breakthrough with the “Red Red Wine” single and its accompanying covers album, Labour of Love, while they were riding high in the local charts with their Gef...
The Stray Cats arrived to rock London, Ontario in 1983 at the peak of their fame.With this episode, I’ve once again jumped backwards in my story, just not as far back as that cabaret show I saw with my parents in the UK in 1977 that was the focus on EP 31, Mum’s the Word.This time, I jump back to March 26, 1983, when the Stray Cats rocked Alumni Hall here in London, Ontario.Technically this should have been Concert no. 16, falling between no.15/EP 21 on The Gang of Four at Wonderland Gardens ...
With this episode, the series jumps back in time to a Cabaret show I saw in Portsmouth, UK, in August 1977 with my parents when I was 14. The cabaret took place between my first (Roxy Music at the London Arena, February 8, 1975) and second (Bob Seger at the London Gardens on May 19, 1978) official concerts. My initial plan was to include it as part of an upcoming compilation episode. However, I’ve decided that this cabaret was a unique live performance along with being the only...
My final 1983 gig-going-entry recaps a couple of shows I took in during a crazy/nuts four-day trip to NYC. While I will be discussing the performances by hardcore titans The Circle Jerks and post-Throbbing Gristle offshoot Psychic TV, I’ll also be looking at the madcap trip to Manhattan as a whole, recounting the hijinks that MZ, Miss B, myself, and others got up to. If you’ve heard or read EP 25 on the Flipper show at Fryfogle’s, then you’ll have somewhat of an idea o...
This is the big one! THE ultimate! The single most anticipated show I ever attended, when I—along with my co-hort Miss B—and 60,000 other fans, all of whom who were going Absolutely Freakin’ Bananas, moseyed on down to a packed CNE Exhibition Stadium during a sweltering Labour Day weekend in 1983, for David Bowie. He was on his global Serious Moonlight tour for his worldwide smash hit album, Let’s Dance, with the great Rough Trade opening the show and warming up the troops. On the e...
David Bowie’s Labour Day Weekend concert in 1983 at Toronto’s CNE Stadium remains the most anticipated and exciting show I’ve ever attended. He was on his global Serious Moonlight tour for his worldwide smash hit album, Let’s Dance, with the great Rough Trade opening the show and warming up the troops. I discuss the show itself in Part 2—(EP 29b, no.22b) Let’s Dance: David Bowie with Rough Trade, CNE Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday September 3, 1983. First, however, in ...
Ten days after the final Police Picnic in Toronto at the massive CNE Exhibition Stadium, I took in a more intimate, but hotly anticipated, show by the legendary Marianne Faithfull. The by-then gravel-voiced ‘60s pop icon and former Jagger paramour was in the final throes of a triumphant, early ‘80s comeback. She was undertaking her first-ever tour of Canada, where her records had performed very well, conveniently beginning her tour at my local watering hole here in the Forest City. &nbs...
It’s the third and final Police Picnic on August 5, 1983, once again at CNE stadium as well as the 4th and final consecutive summer of attending a huge, open air festival. This time around the fest featured James Brown, Peter Tosh, King Sunny Adé, Blue Peter, and The Fixx along with the titular hosts. While the first fest ran overlong but otherwise smoothly, the 1982 edition was the worst concert experience of my lifetime, even if the music was good. As was also the case with ...
The Velvet Underground’s John Cale comes to Fryfogle’s and plays an intense, riveting solo set in June 1983. It was particularly extraordinary for me that I finally got to see him at this point in time, not only because I was way deep in Velvets-mania in the early 80s — with all the original Velvets albums finally being widely and easily available, arriving alongside “Edie: An American Biography” — but also because I ended up sitting cross-legged on the stage about two feet in front of ...
Flipper, San Francisco’s sludge rock contrarian refuseniks, come to town one month after that Beat/R.E.M. show from April of 1983. An evening of debauchery and over-indulgence ensues for myself and crew of people on that night, with Flipper — both as persons and performers — interweaving with us at various points of our night (and their lining up to see Return of the Jedi, too).Tune in for missing persons, dangerous fire escapes, hostile groupies, and massed stimulant consumption....
This concert crystalizes a moment in time, representing a changing of the guards in the alternative music world, when The Beat—or The English Beat as they were called on this side of the pond—come to Alumni Hall in London, Ontario with a new, unknown American band called R.E.M. in tow as the opening act. The show took place as The Beat were in the last throes of their career but also peaking in popularity in North America. Meanwhile, R.E.M. released their classic debut LP, “Murmur...
Welcome to my first anniversary episode, celebrating the second anniversary of the mylifeinconcert.com podcast (I didn’t do one the first year so I’ll be doing two this year to make up for that). For these anniversary EPs, I will be jumping into the future of my series and selecting gigs from throughout my concert=going years that are personally significant for me or that I really want to highlight or talk about. And this first anniversary podcast jumps into 1988 and a gig wherein I...
In February 2020, Caribou returned with his first new album after an absence of six years. It was released to universal critical acclaim and commercial success, and an extensive world tour was planned. And then …. Suddenly …. Everything was off, as the Covid pandemic shut down the planet, including live music. 2020 turned out to be the first year since 1976 wherein I did not see a single live music performance. A seriously depressing proposition for an admitted live-musi...
Leeds’ furious and funky post-punk innovators The Gang of Four make an indelible, unforgettable visit to London, Ontario’s Wonderland Gardens, four months after the chaotic Iggy Pop gig at the same venue. Euphoria ensues. I had been listening to the band incessantly during that 1980-83 corridor and was thrilled they were coming. This March 1983 concert was not only my first ticketed gig of a musically busy year, it also marks the start of a new and welcome chapter in my life a...
Three weeks after the Joe Jackson concert, Iggy Pop comes to town with Toronto’s bandaged electronic mummy, Nash the Slash, in tow. I first and finally got to see Iggy the previous year when he gave a spirited performance at Police Picnic ’81, a festival I covered in EP 15: The Boiler. So how did this second appearance, this time at the historic Wonderland Gardens, stack up against that first one from the previous year? Tune in dear listeners for musical scuffles, pushed button...
One month after The Clash—and from one Joe to another—I take in a second, very different five-star, three-hour show from Joe Jackson. This marathon set is the subject of Episode 19, Night & Day. Once again, the effervescent triumvirate of Lady B, Le Chateau et moi take in another concert together: one that far surpassed all our expectations. And with the best view in the house. The music was ebullient, spirited and unforgettable, even if a certain someone...
It was one of the best and most exciting concerts I have ever seen. After five years of obsessing over my favourite band in the world, I finally get to see The Clash as part of a huge, passionate, and excited audience at the CNE Grandstand. Black Uhuru also delivered a stunning and memorable opening set. It was also one of the best double bills of my lifetime. To say that this visit to CNE Stadium was a far better experience than the 1982 Police Picnic just three weeks ea...
It was Friday the 13th in more ways than one. Dear Listeners and Readers: Welcome to THE WORST CONCERT EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE! One poster for the show read “…make this your lucky night.” Yeah, right. While Police Picnic ’81 was a fairly sober and orderly experience for me and my compadres, the ’82 edition felt like a sadistic joke that wouldn’t stop. It was a day of being trolled by the concert gods. The Talking Heads once again completely blew me away and The...
Electropop comes to London, Ontario on a freezing March evening with Liverpool’s Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or as they are more simply known, OMD. Their set may have been egregiously delayed amid a brutal Ontario winter storm, but OMD more than made up for it, playing a blazing show to a small but dedicated audience who danced right through the whole thing. London’s own Mettle, featuring former Demics guitarist Rob Brent, also delivered a terrific opening performance. My...
My next podcast jumps ahead 17 months (as I have already covered The Ramones and the Heatwave festival) to August 1981 and the first of three consecutive, annual Police-headlining festivals. It was the second of four consecutive summers where I went to a big open air festival following Heatwave in 1980, and then followed by Police Picnic '82 (concert no. 11) and Police Picnic '83 (concert no.19). It was also my sole live gig for that year.And while free of mind-altered shenanigans that charac...
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