Red Hot Chili Peppers, Mary's Danish, Raging Slab at Ritz's

It would be super-hard to drink without elbows.

And sticky, too - if you were, say, trying to drink apple cider out of a gallon jug without your elbows...

Flaming Lips at Trito's Uptown

The internet tells me this was at Trito's, but I would have sworn it was Mabels.  Still the most sense-overwhelming show I've ever seen.  Loud.  Lights.  Smoke.  You name it, they brought it.  And turned it up to 11.

REM, NRBQ at Assembly Hall

If memory serves (and it sometimes does), Lionel scored "good tickets" last minute for all of us for cheap. I was dubious, but went in on them. The seats were actually pretty close. And right behind a pole.

Were other roommates here? Probably. I can't really remember anyone there besides Michael Stipe and the pole.

Fine Young Cannibals at the Aragon

New Order, Public Image, Sugarcubes at Poplar Creek

We saw the show from the lawn.  I remember it being mostly pretty chill.  Alas, Johno was not there (was this summer he was in far away California? or perhaps Ohio?).  But we all danced in his honor.

Smashing Pumpkins at Trito's Uptown

All i remember about this show is that it was kinda boring.  But i got in for free, so there's that.

Fishbone, Ipso Facto at SIU Springfest

7 Seconds, Poster Children, bad flannel at Mabel's

I think i was at this show...  I know i saw 7 Seconds at Mabel's with Johno, and this is the only time i can find they played there, so...

I'm pretty sure that 99 Red Balloons was the only song i recognized.

Speaking of 7 Seconds and Johno, some time after this (maybe right after, maybe a couple of months later), Johno and i drove up to see them in my '78 rabbit (which, while old, wasn't nearly as old at the time as it sounds now).  The show was at Bowen Park up in Waukegan.  One of Johno's favorite bands playing in one of his favorite parks - the stage was set for an epic show.  Unfortunately, the car broke down (can't remember what exactly, but it certainly didn't go) in a toll plaza on the way up.  We called my mom somehow (cell phones were still only on Star Trek at this point) and she sent a tow truck.  Alas, she sent it to the wrong toll plaza, so it didn't come for hours.  We missed the show, but had the longest, strangest conversation while stuck in the car.  I don't remember many of the specifics, but i know we did touch on semis driving sideways down the highway and phlegmsicles.  And was this the genesis of the word 'flabbergasket'?  If so, we certainly owe the tow truck mixup a huge debt.

The rabbit would never be driven by me again (and probably no one else).  The repairs required cost way more than it was worth, so my mom donated it to the Zion high school auto department.  At least we all thought she did.  Months later, i got a notice that it had been abandoned near the high school...