I lived half a mile from the legendary Cuckoo’s Nest in Costa Mesa. It was an 18 and over club and a couple months before my 18th birthday the Go-Go’s and Iggy Pop played a double bill there. The club closed only a few weeks after I turned 18. If someone had given me a fake ID for my 17th birthday, I would have a lot more great concert stories to tell.
Assuming this isn’t going to get anyone into trouble 30+ years on lol…there was a legendary club in Ottawa called Barrymore’s, and growing up, I saw a bunch of great bands play there while I was far too young to set foot in a bar. Not long after I turned 16, Camper Van Beethoven, one of my absolute favorite bands at the time, announced a gig there. I finally decided, WTH, I’ll take a chance. So I walked in after school one afternoon and…they sold me a ticket. I should add, it’s not like I ever could have passed for drinking age…I was small, skinny and covered in acne. Then when the night came, I had another round of terror that I’d be turned away from the gig. Nope. I guess they must have figured, okay he’s here to see Camper Van on a cold November Thursday evening (it was a long weekend), he’s probably a fan and not going to cause trouble. That was a brilliant show, though TBH Syd Straw, who opened, made more of an impression on me.
I saw more Barrymore’s shows over the next couple of years…Joe Jackson, Bob Mould, and Dread Zeppelin (I went to that one because Mojo Nixon was the opening act). The Ramones played the club about a week before I went off to university and that was the only time I ever got the X on the hand, which is odd because I don’t think it had been advertised as all-ages.
Camper Van Beethoven was the tipping point, though. Up until then I’d sighed in frustration when the listings would hit the paper every week, but I was too much of a CVB fan to not even try.
ETA: my funniest Barrymore’s story…Frank Zappa was listed as an upcoming show. I’m an acolyte now, but back then I basically knew “Catholic Girls” but nothing else. Still, I was interested. I called them up to see if they had any tickets left and the very weary person at the other end of the line said “Yeah sorry, that’s a misprint. It should say Alfie Zappacosta.”
There was a club on PCH just north of the 55 that had the most amazing, eclectic line-up of concerts back in the early 80s. For the life of me I can’t remember the name of the place, but it’s been gone for decades. I spent many a hazy night at that place back in the day.
So did I. That was the Concert Factory, née the Cuckoo’s Nest. (actually on Placencia just up the hill from PCH). My Vespa took a lot of abuse in that parking lot, but that’s where I saw Social Distortion, Agent Orange, the Cramps, the Pandoras, the Toy Dolls, the Circle Jerks, and bands who’s names I’ll never remember.
why couldn’t i have been born in 66 and not 76 lol all I hear about is how good the punk/new wave concerts were back then …
Second set of a Neil Young concert where it was just him, an acoustic guitar… and the Pipe Organ!
I swear, it was like being in church, not a sound from the crowd, just Neil making what he does best. Beautiful music. The show was HOURS, and at the end, when the last note faded from that pipe organ, the crowd just kinda filed out, quietly, in a state of Grace.