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Lush at the Fillmore, San Francisco (08/07/1994)

Lush: Split Tour USA Summer 1994 (Program Book) photo credit: lightfromadeadstar.org Read More Lush Miki Berenyi, former singer/songwriter from the band LUSH has agreed to join forces with Seinking Ships. Miki will be Seinking Ship's guest vocalist on a few select tracks of our upcoming full-length LP... …

I have mentioned this at various time, I was more of the Britpop-sounding Lush vs their early shoegazing beginning. That doesn't mean I don't occasional enjoy listening to Gala or Spooky, of course.

I love Lush, and I caught the band when they toured America with Weezer at the Fillmore in San Francisco on August 7th, 1994.

It's really funny what I do and don't remember. I remember it was a long drive to San Francisco. Melinda drove us to see her friend near Berkeley and as a result we missed The Dambuilders. Which was fine, Mel didn't want to see them anyway. We did catch Weezer, which they ended their set with "Undone (the Sweater Song)".

As for Lush, of course they did "For Love", which was my all-time favorite Lush song. Since the tour was for Split, I'm sure they did the singles ("Hypocrite"), but I can't be sure since I have such poor memory.

I have vivid memories of watching drummer Chris Acland with his mouth wide open throughout the set (and I thought that was really strange). Little did I know that only two years later, that Acland would commit suicide... and really ending Lush as a band.

I did meet Chris, Miki Berenyi and Phillip King, who were nice enough to talk and sign my Split album. I suppose Emma Anderson was feeling unwell and went straight to their tour bus, ignoring the handful of fans waiting outside. Although this would not be the last time that a musician have shunned me, it's always left a sour taste in my mouth.

Of course, I tried to stay up and follow post-Lush, in particular Sing-Sing, but that sort of went nowhere.

Trivia: I also randomly saw Rivers from Weezer, while waiting for Lush.

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Suede: Coming Up Tour 1997

Suede at Fillmore Poster artist: Jason Winters Suede at Fillmore (ticket stub) San Francisco (05/23/1997) May 23, 1997 Setlist She Trash Heroine Animal Nitrate By the Sea So Young Lazy The Wild Ones Saturday Night Starcrazy New Generation Picnic by the Motorway Europe Is Our Playground Beautiful Ones -- Encore -- Filmstar The 2 of Us setlist courtesy of setlist.fm Read More Suede I'm sorry, but I will never refer to Suede as "The London Suede", which they are known in the U.S. It's nice to see that the band is doing well with their release of Bloodsports, out earlier in March 2013 on their own label. …

Second only to Morrissey and the Smiths, Suede (or as they are known in the U.S. as The London Suede) was my then-all-time favorite band. Even Morrissey had to bow down, covering Suede's "My Insatiable One" on his live set.

Select Magazine (Apr 1993) EMAP Metro

I was a massive fan, following their career through various newspaper and magazine covers, starting in 1992. By the time they appeared on the infamous Britpop cover on Select Magazine, published 1993, I knew the band was going to massive.

I'm almost sure I did not attend their debut U.S. tour in 1993 on account that I was still in high school and I could not leave my city to travel to Los Angeles to see the band.

Suede at FNAC Forum, Paris (11/26/1993) photograph by Mark

Instead, I heard about their Paris show from my friend Mark, who saw them on their debut tour in France. Prior to their actual concert, Suede did an acoustic and meet & greet at FNAC Forum in Paris. The four songs they played were "Dolly", "High Rising", "Animal Nitrate", and "Still Life".

Suede at Fillmore (03/05/1995) photos: Vu

I did eventually saw the band for their Dog Man Star tour in 1994-1995. I actually had forgotten all about it, but Melinda reminded that I was at the show with her Rescue Me From This Hollywood Life! article. I remember that I was on a balcony, and I heard the intro song "Introducing the Band" before Brett Anderson and company took the stage. I never saw original guitarist Bernard Butler, but this tour featured new guitarist Richard Oakes.

Suede at El Rey (05/21/1997) ticket stub Suede at El Rey (05/22/1997) ticket stub

By the time Suede came back to the U.S. for their Coming Up in 1997, we (Mel & I) bought tickets to see them on all their California dates, which included two shows at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and at the Fillmore in San Francisco.

Richard Oakes was the new guitarist, and they still did some old Butler songs (in particular "So Young" and "Animal Nitrate"), which I was happy with. "New Generation", the live version, was quite different in terms of lyrics by the time it had made its way on CD single. I'm going to assume that their setlist were basically the same, although I couldn't tell you for sure since only the Fillmore setlist is available online. There are bootlegs of their Los Angeles shows, but obviously, I don't have a copy to verify what were played.

I believe the Longpigs opened up for all the dates on this 1997 tour. Note that the poster misspelled the name as "Long Pigs". The British band was riding the coattails of Britpop in the mid-90s, but eventually broke up in 2000. A "greatest hits" album called On And On (The Anthology) was released last Summer, and singer/songwriter Crispin Hunt can be found on various projects, including working for Ellie Goulding, Florence and The Machine, Ron Sexsmith, and most recently, co-wrote songs with Jake Bugg (who I saw in Minneapolis last month).

Suede, of course, is still around, probably just as popular with their diehard fans as ever. They reformed in 2009 and released a new album called Bloodsports last year. Their shows (mostly in the UK) have been quite successful, but unfortunately there are no plans on touring in the U.S.

Suede: Coming Up Tour 1997 promotional flyer

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

The Vaccines and San Cisco at The Fillmore, San Francisco (02/15/13)

SAN CISCO in San Francisco photograph by sus We bid farewell to the great Vaccines and San Cisco tour of 2013, ending at the sold out Fillmore show in San Francisco on February 15th. Sus was there and she provided these pictures for us to enjoy. She was turned into an instant Vaccines fan when she saw them at Outside Lands in 2011 and immediately bought tickets to see them on their North American tour. Unfortunately, that tour in September 2011 was canceled due to a throat surgery. Sus finally saw them last week and reported that the band was in top fun energetic form: "Great energy, great talent!" Crazy crazy, easy tiger. Although The Vaccines is taking a break from touring - San Cisco continues their tour in March (post-SXSW 2013). Of course, we'll be covering their appearance in Minneapolis and elsewhere. San Cisco tour dates 03/21/13 Allston, MA Great Scott 03/22/13 Philadelphia, PA Johnny Brenda's 03/23/13 Washington, DC Rock And Roll Hotel 03/24/13 Pittsburgh, PA Brillobox 03/26/13 Toronto, ON The Garrison 03/27/13 Cleveland Heights, OH Grog Shop 03/29/13 Chicago, IL Schubas Tavern 03/30/13 Minneapolis, MN Triple Rock 04/01/13 Portland, OR Doug Fir Lounge 04/02/13 Seattle, WA Neumos 04/04/13 San Francisco, CA Rickshaw Stop 04/06/13 Columbus, OH Lifestyle Communities 04/10/13 West Hollywood, CA Troubadour 04/18/13 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom sus+ vu ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ podcast.weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic