The bulk of my live music intake occurred between 1986 and 1993. In that time I took in a number of great acts across numerous musical spectrums—punk, jazz, rock, folk and so on.  For this list I’ve selected 55 bands along with 55 different venues that I caught them in covering 11 different cities in 7 different states.

Boston, MA
Scruffy the Cat @ Tower Records
Flaming Lips @ The Rathskellar
Sonic Youth @ The Channel
Blake Babies @
Concrete Blonde @ Axis
Love and Rockets @ The Orpheum
Firehose @ Northeastern Campus Quad
Billy Bragg @ Northeastern Cafeteria
David Sylvian @ Berklee Performance Center
Stevie Ray Vaughan @

Madison, WI
Descendents @ O’Kayz Corral
Television @ The Barrymore Theatre

New York, NY
The Replacements @ The Ritz
Herbie Hancock Quartet @ Lincoln Center

Cedar Falls, IA
Dead Milkmen @ Dean’s Parkade Lounge
Black Flag @ The Boathouse
The Police @ The UNI Dome
Freddie McGregor @ The Old Auditorium
Buena Vista Social Club @ Gallagher Bluedorn PAC

Waterloo, IA
Captain & Tenelle @ McElroy Auditorium [my first concert]

Iowa City, IA
REM @ Hancher Auditorium

Ames, IA
Pat Metheny @ Stephens Auditorium
The Crazy 8’s @ The Maintenance Shop

Denver, CO
The Fluid @ The Grove
Crime and the City Solution @ German House
Crash Worship @ Classroom
B---hole Surfers @ Mammoth Events Center
Zoviet France @ Mercury
Les Mystere de Voix Bulgares @ Paramount Theatre
John Doe @ Herman’s Hideaway
Danzig @ Colorado Indoor Sports Complex
7 Seconds @ Rainbow
XYMOX @ Rock Island
Swans @ The Garage
Einsturzende Neubaten @ Gothic
Social Distortion @ Aztlan
Neil Young @ Red Rocks
Cure @ Fiddlers Green

Boulder, CO
Soundgarden @ CU Fieldhouse
The Who @ Folsom Field
The Kinks @ Coors Event Center
Nirvana @ Penny Lane Coffeehouse
Meat Puppets @ Ground Zero
Nice Strong Arm @ Quigleys
Peter Murphy @ Glen Miller Ballroom
Fred Frith @ First Baptist Church Basement
Iggy Pop @ Boulder Theatre
Pato Banton @ Mary Rippon Theatre
Jello Biafra @ Boulder Chataqua

Minneapolis, MN
Adrian Belew @ First Avenue

St Louis, MO
Elvis Costello @ The Pageant
Chuck Berry @ J Scheidegger Center for the Arts
Thom Donovan @ Ciceros
Idan Raichel @ 560 Music Center (Washington University)
Israel Houghton @ Edward Jones Dome