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Erwin Center Concerts (you saw & ones you wished you could have seen)

Guest Lobo

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Chad Fuck

Chad Fuck 17684

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Posted

I'll play.  Definitely brings back some memories.  As I look back on it, I didn't see a lot of shows at the Erwin Center.  Those were hi-dolla shows back when ole Chad didn't have a lot to lay out on arena tickets and was hoarding money for beer, pizza and pennies for scamming Columbia House out of CDs.  Nevertheless, here we go:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/neil-young-and-booker-t-and-the-mgs/1993/frank-erwin-center-austin-tx-33d1b035.html  - I'm pretty sure this was my first live Neil show.  I had totally forgotten about it until this thread.  Blind Melon opened.  

This was a great show.  Bob Dylan/Paul Simon package tour.  Knocked out seeing two greats in one sitting:

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/paul-simon/1999/frank-erwin-center-austin-tx-4bda93be.html

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/paul-simon/1999/frank-erwin-center-austin-tx-4bda93be.html

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bruce-springsteen/2000/frank-erwin-center-austin-tx-33d63cd1.html  - I was dating a real sweet girl in law school who could just bat her eyes and get damn near anything.  For some reason, I never had that capability and was shocked seeing it in action.  We were downtown for some reason, and she ducked into a hotel to use the bathroom.  The concierge gave her a ticket to this show just because.  The show was less than a couple hours away and what's the concierge gonna do with a single ticket?  We rolled over to the Erwin Center and tried to get in with just the one ticket, but nothing doing.  So she waited with me outside until someone was coming out and asked for the stub.  Then we went in with her ticket and the stub.  We missed most of the show.  That was alright though, because for me the more fun was to be had outside.  Good times.

I also walked the stage there twice for my diplomas.  Also good times, but for different reasons.  "Good Bye, and Good Luck!"

The one I most wanted to see but didn't get to was Sonic Youth/Nirvana together.  Or maybe they weren't together just closely in time.  It was after In Utero.  Just didn't have the scratch.  But looking back on it, damn, the Erwin Center hosted a bunch of great shows in the mid-late 90s, which was when I was on campus.

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 105154

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Front row for Billy Joel 1990. Buddy and I were driving by the EC when the radio announced that wristbands were available. He screeched to a stop, parked illegally, and we ran to the box office to get bands 2 and 3.

Took a girl I’d just started dating. Kissed her for the first time during Scenes from an Italian Restaurant. We’ve been married 27 yrs.

Early 90s shows: Don Henley also put on a good show, but Paul Simon blew us away. Incredible show.

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horn4life

horn4life 3761

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On 9/23/2021 at 11:15 AM, HouTex said:

1980 Bruce Springsteen-second row on the floor. That and his show in Houston in 1978 were the best live performances I ever saw.
1981 or 1982 Christopher Cross.
1983? Diana Ross (with girl friend).
There probably were one or two more that I can’t recall.

I was at both those Springsteen Shows.  I think the Houston show was better for me simply as my expectations were far exceeded. A girl asked me to go in Galveston earlier in the day, glad I said yes!  Think I saw him in Houston at the Summit in '79, ( first row upper deck) when he came out with his Christmas "Santa Claus is Coming to town" hit.  

Oddly enough I saw Christopher Cross two years earlier in August or September of '79, as the band for a welcome part at Dobie. He had just released his album as I recall.

Too many to list right now.  I worked at Club Foot a couple years and knew bartenders at most of the live music venues.  Highlights would likely be the multiple times I saw SRV, along with U2 and Billy Idol at Club Foot. Van Halen in '78 is in the mix as well.  Spoon at Continental Club a couple years ago was pretty killer too.

 

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Goofyboy

Goofyboy 3293

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holy shit what a setlist.  Its gonna be my biggest regret ever not seeing him.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/prince/1997/frank-erwin-center-austin-tx-7bd9ae5c.html

Not trying to be an asshole, but it was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. The man played damn near every instrument on the stage. He also interacted / played with the audience as much as one could in a big arena.
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Hate

Hate 20109

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I've only seen a few shows at the FEC.  I saw Amy Grant there (church group thing in high school).  She was absolutely beautiful.  I saw James Taylor there sometime around 97 or 98.  And last, I saw Dead and Company in 2017.  That was a great show! 

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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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16 minutes ago, Hate said:

I've only seen a few shows at the FEC.  I saw Amy Grant there (church group thing in high school).  She was absolutely beautiful.  I saw James Taylor there sometime around 97 or 98.  And last, I saw Dead and Company in 2017.  That was a great show! 

Yeah, as posted...I really don't like the sound/vibe for concerts at FEC even if I love the band.  But I think that Dead & Co. show was awesome and sounded damn good.  Our seats weren't particularly close-up or far back but I guess the Dead know how to sculpt their soundboard and amp setup to a particular venue.  Of course, it was also the last time I smoked so that probably helped.  I'm bummed out I'm gonna miss the Dead & Co. shows in Texas later this month.

I'll echo folks above that said that '99 show with Simon and Dylan.  For some reason, Paul Simon did really sound great despite it being the Erwin Center.  And despite being a living legend, Bob Dylan---in the same bill---sounded like shit at the Erwin Center.  I think that's what set me off as anti-FEC for music.  McCartney a few years back, the setlist was amazing, it was a gift just to see him in person...but if I'm honest---his setup was not right for the Erwin Center. 

But I guess that's the mystique of the place..  There really have been some amazing names roll through there in the last 45 years.  And many of them we associate with young times in our life, new significant other...the salad days.  She stinks like hell, but I'll sure miss her.

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Go Pokes

Go Pokes 979

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In my life, I’ve seen Neil Young 10x. The first 5-6 we’re all primarily acoustic shows. Never with Crazy Horse at least. My sister got me tix to a 1986 NY&CH show at the EC for my birthday. Fuuuuuuuck. Everything I hoped and more. That show made me a
fan of Like a hurricane, a song I’d previously been pretty tepid about. Neil just shredding the solo, hair and flannel flapping in the gale force blast of the industrial sized fan pointed directly at him. At least, that’s how I remember it. If you were there, don’t shit on my fondest birthday memory.

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Nuge

Nuge 1970

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I despise arena concerts.  Shitty sound, shitty seats, and higher ticket prices.  Fuck that.

 

1992 - U2 with The Pixies

Sat at the top because I was a broke ass student.  Smoked a joint and could only hear the bass guitar.

2006 - Nine Inch Nails

I really enjoyed the LED curtains surrounding the stage.  The lighting/video director really had some cool effects with it.

2012 - Radiohead

I'll pretty much go anywhere to see them.  Great show.

 

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Fastbreak

Fastbreak 3988

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Prince - Purple Rain Tour

Pink Floyd

Def Leppard

Bruce Springsteen

Depeche Mode x3

Nine Inch Nails

Elton John (the one in the round)

Whitney Houston

AC/DC x2

—-

I probably saw every concert from 84-88. My neighbor was a scalper and I would stand in line with her to buy tickets.

 

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UTCzech III

UTCzech III 2907

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Funny, I just scanned a bunch of my ticket stubs a month ago...  A couple are from other venues, just included them all...

A few random thoughts:

Roger Waters 1985 - still one of the best concerts I ever saw, on my 19th birthday, went to the Union bowling alley, bought my first legal beers, then headed over for the show, mindblowing

Supertramp 1985 - surprisingly great show, even without Roger Hodgson, the Motels opened up, nice little pop band as well, bought my tickets at the Tower Records (is that right, the big giant record store, not Record Exchange, that's right, before it was Sound Exchange, it was Record Exchange), got to the other side of campus, tickets were gone, rode the loop bus back around, there they were just laying on the sidewalk next to the Union, I guess nobody else was a Tramp fan back then...

Roger Waters 1987 - took my girlfriend (now wife) to this one, she still raves that it's the best concert she's ever seen, I remember Welcome to the Machine and the bass shaking the entire Drum

Boston 1987 - man what a snoozefest, Tom Scholz is a musical genius but Mr. Exictement he was not

Floyd 1987 - besides being insanely good, then thing I remember is that at the Roger Waters show two months before, there were two drunk a-holes from Taylor (my wife knew them from high school) in the row in front of us yelling the whole damn show, fast forward two months, what two a-holes are seated in the same section as us at Floyd?  yep, imagine the luck

U2 1987 - top 5 concert for me ever, I have a theory, right before U2 went on stage, I remember distinctly being hit with just a wall of heat, either they told the FEC to turn the heaters on or turn the AC off, probably neither and it was just me, I think they wanted the audience to be as worked up and sweaty as they were, just my imagination probably, but man what a show, Bullet the Blue Sky is an all-time high for me

Sting - yawn

Springsteen - great show but weird seeing him come out in a suit, what a weird time for him

VH - good show, too many guitar solos, I'm a DLR guy, but it was OK

Robert Plant, David Bowie - great to see legends, but nothing groundbreaking, just two pros doing what they know how to do

AC/DC - went with my brother, one of the last times we went to a show together, what a night, those guys just put on a fantastic show, that's what rock and roll is all about

Neil Young - with Booker T and the MGs backing, Steve the Colonel Cropper, Donald Duck Dunn, fuckin kicked ass, especially when they did Sittin on the Dock of the Bay

Johnny Cash - what can I say, it's John Cash, Don Walser and Jimmie Dale Gilmore opened, fuck, even June Carter Cash and the Carter kids coming out for the gospel/Branson spectacle at the end couldn't ruin that night

A few others I lost or misplaced stubs to, these all with my son, Rush 2008, Roger Waters 2012, Macca 2013, all just incredible, especially when you can share them with your kid(s)

 Oh, and don't forget to get your free Taco Bell taco after the show!

 

stubs1a.jpg

stubs3a.jpg

stubs2a.jpg

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Knoxtnhorn

Knoxtnhorn 6054

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Depeche Mode in '93 or '94.  Thing I remember the most is laughing at the warmup band's name - The The.  Also, there was a fat chick wearing nothing but a beach towel about 10 rows down.  Friends of mine and I kept throwing ice at her.  Yeah.  I've always been super mature.

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TexasPete

TexasPete 0

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The Commodores, Earth Wind and Fire, Elton John, Prince w/Sheila E, The Cars, Springsteen (2), ZZ Top, The Cult, Christopher Cross, Sting, ELO, The Bee Gees...I'm sure I'm missing some...I had no desire to see Christopher Cross but my high school girlfriend bought tickets, asked me to go, then broke up with me. I knew where her seats were so I bought 2 tickets in the section in front of hers. The week of the show she asked me to go to with her but I had invited the hottest woman I knew to go with me. My ex had a clear view of our seats and an empty seat next to hers. I'm not a vindictive person and to prove it I rounded third and headed for home in both games of a doubleheader that night...Man, I miss camping out for tickets on the cement outside the EC! Great memories!

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Underdog

Underdog 28709

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RIP, Ol' girl.  First FEC experience was for this game... 

Also in attendance for two NCAAT Classics with the US Reed shot when Hogs beat Louisville and Sparks' 3ptr to send UK into OT vs Sparty. 

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Paul Wesley

Paul Wesley 3278

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4 hours ago, tbone_ said:


Still triggers me for ads and drops

Yeah, that's what the picture made me think of too.... waiting in a line to get in, then walking around and finding the table for the class you really needed, sitting there for four hours on a tile floor behind 6 other poor bastards waiting for someone to come drop it.  

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HiggyBaby

HiggyBaby 2537

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On 10/15/2021 at 2:46 PM, HiggyBaby said:

Like a few of you I’m sure I “worked” as an usher there back in the day. Best show I got paid to see was GNR, U2 zoo tv, plant/page, and NIN. Most of the rest were a blur. Best show I paid for was Petty late 90s.

So speaking of GNR*, a few of us senior guys got pulled aside after and were asked if we wanted to go work security at the Pantera show. I was all over it. We worked the pit and had a great time.  But I have no idea where it was. It was a small venue that I thought was somewhere off Riverside but I can’t recall. Anyone know?

 

*I’m 99% sure it was after this show in ‘93 but I’m not positive 

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45971

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The only Riverside venue I can think of that might have hosted Pantera would be The Back Room.  Also, Austin Opera House was on Academy drive, near Riverside & South Congress.

Edited by jimmyjazz
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horn4life

horn4life 3761

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Erwin Center was OK as a venue, but certainly not one I went to a lot after college.  Only show I REALLY regret not going to was walking up at the last minute for Tom Petty his last time in town.  Simply as my wife never got to see him live and I had considered it, but did not follow through, thinking... next time....

The best way to see music is in a smaller venue, and while I would have loved for my wife to see Petty at "the Drum" half the reason I did not go is that there is no way in hell he would have compared to the show I saw him play at the Austin Opry House in 1980? Highlight for Erwin Center was likely a couple of Springsteen shows.

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Litig8r

Litig8r 414

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I live in the Panhandle (of Florida).  We took a group to see Fleetwood Mac at the Erwin. Stayed at the Driskel, got way fucked up, went to the LBJ Library and toured the Texas Capital.  Would recommend.  

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ajax

ajax 2618

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20 hours ago, shakahorn said:

Aren’t they the same band?

Pretty much the same band.

If we're going to nitpick, Cinderella had better songs, Poison had better stage presence. CC DeVille is a pretty terrible guitarist, but I've heard "Talk Dirty to Me" with an actual good guitarist (Ritchie Kotzen) and it just didn't sound the same without CC on the verge messing up.

Ritchie just didn't work with Poison. And then he went and banged the drummer's girlfriend and was kicked out of the band.

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