1998

The Family Values Tour 10/13/98

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The Family Values tour was created and headlined by Korn and 1998 was the first edition. That year it also featured Rammstein, Ice Cube, Incubus, Limp Bizkit and Orgy. The reason why I included this show is because it never happened. This tour didn’t run through Seattle or Portland so we decided on Boise, Idaho since that was the closest the tour came. Instead of getting to finally see Korn (see Lollapalooza 1997) the curse continued and the concert was cancelled. The really shitty thing was they didn’t cancel the show until four days beforehand. I was so upset that I ended up writing Korn a letter (super funny to read now). Needless to say, I never got a response. They did end up releasing an album of material that was recorded live on that tour. Unrelated but I had also started a job at UPS working in the warehouse.

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Sugar Ray 6/26/98

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I really wanted to go to this show to see Loudermilk again. They were a local band that in my opinion were second only to the Ladybird Unition. I went to school with the drummer, Isaac Carpenter and bass player, Shane Middleton. I met all of them at one point or another because I had friends that knew them and they had all been in different local bands prior to that. They also used to practice in my first girlfriend Daisy’s barn. They ended up getting a record deal, moving to Seattle, then Los Angeles and changing their name to Gosling. The problem with this show is that I misjudged the time that they would go on stage. I was out in the parking lot of our local fairgrounds drinking beers until the time I thought they were about to go on. When Jason and I started walking toward the entrance we spotted Isaac. I went up and asked him when they were going on. He said, “we just got done.” Shit! The good news is that it wouldn’t have been the first time I had seen them and would not be the last. We did stay for Sugar Ray, which were about as good as the first time I saw them. Nothing to write home about but I did hear a rumor later that Mark McGrath was downtown asking around for some cocaine…

KUFO Rockfest 6/21/98

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Portland, OR had two big rock stations back in the day: KUFO and KNRK. Every year they both had a summer show with at least a few big bands. This was my first experience for KUFO’s Rockfest. I was increasingly starting to go to Portland because of Rose’s parents in Corvallis. Besides, Seattle and Portland are both pretty equidistant from Kennewick, WA. The Portland Meadows is a horse racing track in North Portland that was definitely not made for concerts. The area right in front of the stage was just loose dirt that whipped up into a dust storm whenever someone good was on stage. I was excited to see Clutch, Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, Deftones, and Creed. Clutch didn’t end up showing up for some reason so Jimmie’s Chicken Shack was the first band I wanted to see of the day. Roscoe turned me onto them somehow and they were exactly what I expected-they rocked. I only remember the singer/guitarist saying that he wrote the song “High” in his bedroom when he lived in Portland. The second time seeing Deftones was not as cool as the first but they rocked just as hard. I was cracking up with laughter when they decided to cover Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” and nailed it. I heard of Creed from Rose and am ashamed to admit it but got into their first album My Own Prison, which is what they were touring for at this point. This was before Scott Stapp turned into a Jesus-Christ-Pose little bitch. I do remember being very impressed with their guitar player Mark Tremonti, who fucking killed it that night.

 

God Lives Underwater 4/24/98

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I learned of God Lives Underwater the night of my Senior Prom. This type of event wasn’t my thing but a girl asked me so I decided to go in a tux with combat boots. Tara (my date) and her friend picked me up and went to get her date, who was a singer in a local band. He was playing for people in his house that night. Before they went on we got really, really stoned and were listening to this incredible music I had never heard before. It turns out it was God Lives Underwater. The singer decided he was too cool to go to a high school prom so I ended being stoned out of my mind and showing up with two dates. Who was the cool guy now? I bought the self-titled EP and Empty and loved them both. I went to this show with Marvin. They were on tour for the album Life in the So-Called Space Age. I remember that many parts on the album that were keyboards or synthesizers were turned into guitar parts for the live show, which made the music heavier and translated better for such a small venue. The highlight of this was “The Rush is Loud.” This was the last time I ever saw a show at the RKCNDY. R.I.P. David Reilly.

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Our Lady Peace 3/27/98

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By the time this show occurred everything was pretty much restored and back on track. My cousin Tony helped me get a 1985 Mustang so I could get to school. The police had found my Firebird on New Year’s Eve when they were called to an apartment complex for domestic violence and started running plates when nobody answered the door. The thieves had put about 3,000 miles on it in 2.5 weeks, burned all the rubber off the rear tires from burnouts, fucked up the steering column, and put a huge dent in the rear driver’s quarter panel but I had it back in my possession. It was pretty much worthless but I managed to get a loan against it to pay off the lease. I successfully sued Jack for the money he owed me partially because he didn’t even show up to court (it would be years before I was actually able to collect on the money). I not only patched things up with Rose but also moved in with her. My chameleon survived. I had started working with my mom at the Tri-City Herald (local newspaper) at night. The job was alright sans the fact that it payed minimum wage and every Saturday night was shot because work started at midnight when the press started for the grand daddy Sunday paper. I was turned on to Our Lady Peace by my ex-girlfriend Daisy. About the time of this show was my first Spring Break. Marvin and I decided to drive to Vancouver, B.C. with very little money in our pocket because being 19 years old we were legal to drink. I mention this because we listened to the album Naveed constantly on this trip. Our Lady Peace was on tour for the album Clumsy and La Luna was a great place to see a show. It is now defunct or maybe just called something else. I went to the show with Rose because we figured we could drive to her parents house in Corvallis after the show. This was my first time ever being to Portland, Oregon and I was not impressed. I swore to myself I would never live there. Hold that thought…

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