Concert #51 - 10,000 Maniacs at the Greek Theater (August 15, 1989)

After having played a number of smaller venues in the area, the Maniacs finally got a headlining gig at one of LA's major venues, the Greek Theater. I went by myself, as most of my concert-going friends were not interested in the newer sounds of the day. I sat in Section A, center, about there rows back, so there are some advantages to buying single tickets.

The show was opened by Camper Van Beethoven, a California band that has achieved some recognition, but hasn't hit the big time.



The first thing that comes to mind when I think about their debut at the Greek, is that Natalie Merchant, the voice of the Maniacs, the pretty young lady who sang with intelligence about all the worthy causes in the Universe, dropped the F-bomb, live in concert. As someone who uses the F-word sparingly and only in situations of supreme necessity, I was stunned by Natalie's use of the profanity. But it wasn't all bad - she did her usual twists and pirouettes and sang songs from both their hit albums, "In My Tribe" and "Blind Man's Zoo". They played "What's The Matter Here", "Trouble Me", "You Happy Puppet" and "Headstrong", among others.

Concert #46 - 10,000 Maniacs at the Wiltern Theater (October 31, 1988)

 

My second time to see the Maniacs, the first time as headliners. I sat upstairs, in one of the first rows. Not bad. Downy Mildew was the opening act, nothing special. The Maniacs opened their set with "Hey Jack Kerouac", then they went on to play a few more songs from "In My Tribe". From their not-yet-released third album they played "Eat For Two". Natalie danced and moved around quite a bit, pretty much like in this video:

Being the huge fan that I was, I bought a 10,000 Maniacs T-shirt, with the gorgeous "In My Tribe" LP cover in the front. I still have it, more then twenty two years after the show.

Concert #39 - Squeeze at UC Irvine (February 19, 1988)

 In 1987 I discovered "In My Tribe", the brilliant second album of the equally brilliant 10,000 Maniacs. The album hit me like a train, I could not get enough of it. Led by Natalie Merchant, the Maniacs came to Southern California in 1988, but not as a headlining act. It didn't matter to me, I went to see them anyway.

The headliners were the Squeeze, a British band I knew little about. The show took place at UC Irvine's Bren Event Center. I sat in the lower section, at the "50 yard line".

Natalie Merchant

The 10,000 Maniacs were not an exceedingly polished band, their sound was somewhat raw, but I had fun watching Natalie and the boys. They played a few songs from "In My Tribe", plus a few I didn't know. Then the Squeeze came out and I immediately said to myself "I can tell why the Maniacs are not the headliners". 

Squeeze sounded tight, they were a true band of professional musicians that were in a different league altogether. In addition to permanent members Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford, the line-up also included Jools Holland, who later went on to achieve greater fame on his own. It was a great night - I got to see the Maniacs and then got exposed to a band that since then has given me tons of pleasure.

Bren Event Center (UC Irvine)

Bren Event Center (UC Irvine)