Thursday, December 15, 2005

Happy 35th Birthday First Avenue!

Click here to purchase the CD

Unfortunately I missed First Avenue's 35th Anniversary party yesterday. The event celebrated the CD Release of The Bootlegs Vol. 1 Celebrating 35 Years of First Avenue, and featured live performances by The Jayhawks, The Hold Steady, members of Golden Smog, Mike Watt, Curtiss A, and many more. Photos and multi-media presentations were also displayed.

Luckily the excellent crew from HowWasTheShow.com was there. I'm sure David and Andrea will have some reviews and photos up for you any second, so make sure you check them out...

The CD includes previously unreleased one-of-a-kind recordings live from First Avenue from a handful of the club’s most memorable performances.. Were you there for the Rev 105 Suburbs’ show in 1995? Were you there for the Guided By Voices’ sold-out show in the mainroom? How about when Throwing Muses’ Kristin Hersh wowed fans on her solo tour? Now, you can be!

CD Tracklisting:
  1. The Jay Hawks - Better Days (12-21-03)
  2. Guided By Voices - Queen of Cans and Jars (11-18-03)
  3. Ween - The Mollusk (05-13-00)
  4. Trip Shakespeare - Diane (11-26-91)
  5. Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him? (03-29-03)
  6. Patti Smith - Redondo Beach (11-21-98)
  7. The Replacements - Love You Till Friday ('81)
  8. The Suburbs - Every Night's A Friday Night ('95)
  9. Hüsker Dü - Books About UFOs (08-28-85)
  10. Old 97's - Murder(Or a Heart Attack) (01-16-04)
  11. Atmosphere - The Woman With the Tatooed Hands (07-22-05)
  12. Bettie Serveert - What Friends (10-16-03)
  13. Mark Mallman - To Speak of the Animal (11-22-02)
  14. Richard Thompson - Cooksferry Queen (9-29-99)
  15. Jay Farrar w/Canyon - Windfall (9-24-03)
  16. Kristin Hersh - Your Ghost (9-3-99)

You can purchase the album directly from First Avenue here, or look for it at your local Music Retailer (even Best Buy carries it).

Obviously the sound quality on some of the older performances could be a bit better. But overall the CD is a nice collection of live performances.

Here's a couple of tracks from the CD for you:

mp3: The Replacements - Love You Till Friday ('81)
mp3: Hüsker Dü - Books About UFOs (08-28-85)
mp3: Atmosphere - The Woman With the Tatooed Hands (07-22-05)

For me personally, I can't even begin to tell you of how many great shows I've seen at First Avenue and 7th Street Entry. Over the years it's definitely been my favorite and most attended local music venue. Highlights for me include seeing Oasis there in 1994, Pulp in 1995, The Strokes in 2004, and just this year The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Death Cab for Cutie, Constantines, The Go! Team, Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party... And so many others, I could go on and on...

One of the worst shows I've ever seen there: The Dandy Warhols in 2004. Absolutely brutal (and 2 1/2 hours of it)...

Happy Birthday First Ave!

1 comment:

queenvick said...

First Ave is only 35? I thought it had been around longer...isn't that pretty close to your age? Heehee!