COCTEAU TWINS: Heaven Or Las Vegas 1990

This was one of the three shirts I bought at that first “Heaven Or Las Vegas” Cocteau Twins show I saw in Atlanta in 1990. A little excessive, perhaps! But I was a huge fan back then. It looked like this was their first US date following a European tour leg days prior. But now that they were signed to Capitol in The States, there was support for touring like we hadn’t seen from these Scots prior. A classic black shirt with the bright album branding and a tiny logo on the back.

CROWDED HOUSE: Woodface Tour 1991

I had seen Crowded House a few times since my good friend Mr. Ware was into all things Split Enz. So we accompanied him to see the band at Ratona Beach as part of MTV’s Spring Break coverage in 1987. And the resulting show was shown on MTV afterward! As it was raining badly that day, the director had to corral the hard core who would not leave into a small mass that made it look like an audience of some substance was still there in the coverage. Fair enough, under the circumstances. We also ventured to a Water Park in Busch Gardens in Tampa to see them two months later. But on both of those treks, I was still not in my t-shirt wearing years yet. That changed in 1990, when I turned a corner on casual wear and comfort in sweltering Orlando!

So by the third album tour with the band showing up in a city where we didn’t have to drive an hour or so to see them, a T-shirt was a given by that point! Ironically, Mr. Ware liked album #3 less than I did, but I had never heard the über-fan circulated demos as he had! As it was, I never moved past album number three in spite of liking it far more than he did.

THE FLAT DUO JETS: 1990s Tour

My second Flat Duo Jets shirt was a simple, generic variety from the time they were signed to Norton Records, I believe. I think that same night as buying this shirt at the Go-Lounge Garage in Orlando, they might have just released their amazing “Safari” compilation of unreleased material spanning their career. [checks] Nope. That album came out in 1993, I think this short was purchased a few years later.

FRONT LINE ASSEMBLY: Tactical Neural Implant Tour 1993

Oh but I was all about the Industrial Music in the late 80s and early 90s! The one time I saw Front Line Assembly was at a 1993 gig at…Orlando überclub J.J. Whispers…I think. Or else it may have been at Visage, where most of their other dates that are in the setlist.fm database are listed at.

I wasn’t exactly enamored of the “TECHNOHEAD” printing on the back. As it was, I never could stand “Techno” but I did roll over like a puppy for long sleeved T-shirts; especially those with printing on the sleeves! But by 1995, I think I already got rid of that CD. Said to be one of their best. There was so much shady Canadian industrial stuff that was floating around back then; mostly on the Nettwerk Records label. This band were better than Skinny Puppy, but that’s not saying much.