Flashback: Juliana Hatfield at Fillmore, San Francisco (23 Jun 1995)

UK Tour Poster Read More Juliana Hatfield As long as I can remember, Hatfield started her music career with the Blake Babies. When they broke up, she had a massive hit with "My Sister" in her newly reformed band Juliana Hatfield Three …

When I grew up, I had a friend who loved Boston rock: like the Pixies and the Blake Babies. I was more of a Britpop kid, but we'd trade CDs or we would dub cassette tapes for each other... so I felt like I've known Juliana Hatfield for a long time.

After The Blake Babies broke in 1991 (but reformed in late 1999, which I'll address later), I followed her career to Evan Dando from The Lemonheads' It's a Shame About Ray and then her solo album Hey Babe in 1992. I remember the first Hatfield CD I owned was Hey Babe after dubbing all the Blake Babies albums.

By the time I owned my first car (RIP Suzuki Sidekick), I was finally able to escape to see Hatfield at the Fillmore, San Francisco (23 Jun 1995). I think the show was all-ages, as I was still under legal drinking age. This happened 20 years ago and I honestly couldn't tell you who opened up the show, what songs were played, etc.

Juliana Hatfield at Numbers, Houston (15 Jun 1995) photo: Andrew Kieschnick

The other thing is that no one else seem to have any information on this San Francisco show! I'm going to guess that she probably played mostly songs from her then-new album Only Everything and that the opener to all the USA shows were Cold Water Flat, who were also from Massachusetts. UPDATE: Opener was local band Protein. Thanks to Dakin Hardwick for providing this information.

I couldn't find any photographs from the Fillmore show, but her looks is probably the same-ish from the Texas 1995 photos - thanks to Andrew Kieschnick.

I have an advertisement for the Only Everything UK tour, which lists April 1995 dates, but probably did not take place. According to Spin Magazine (July 1995), the brief newsclipping reads:

Spin Magazine (July 1995)

Juliana Hatfield collapsed from nervous exhaustion after a concert in New York on April 13 [1995]. A spokesman for her record label offered this statement: "Overwhelmed by pressures in her personal life, Juliana Hatfield recently sought help from a doctor in a Boston-area hospital. As a result, she postponed her European tour, but the American tour will commence as scheduled on May 19." Hatfield had discussed her depression earlier in a March interview in Britain's NME: "I always used to think I wasn't f***-up enough to be a great artist. But now I don't think that. I'm definitely f***-up enough."

That's basically all the information I can provide, again one of my biggest regret was not writing about my concert attendances (and it is one of the reason why I keep such detailed reports on W♥M for current shows).

Anyway, that was the first time I saw Hatfield in person... but definitely not the last. Here are some other shows I attended:

Blake Babies at First Avenue, Minneapolis (10 Jun 2001) - see my ticket scan

Evan Dando and Juliana Hatfield at Lee's Palace, Toronto (16 Jun 2011)

Minor Alps at the Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis (16 Nov 2013)

I don't know if I've ever seen Some Girls, again, I have bad memories... but I do know that I saw Hatfield when she reformed The Blake Babies for their God Bless the Blake Babies album. I only know this because I have a used ticket stub from that night, and a friend of mine who was also at the show confirmed that I was there. Wheat opened up this show.

On the 2001 night, this person wrote reported:

Blake Babies at First Avenue, Minneapolis (10 Jun 2001) ticket stub

I saw them in Minneapolis on 6/10. (I couldn't figure out why the parking ramp across from First Ave was so crowded, until I got out onto the street, and saw that there was a triple bill at Target Center: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent, and Deep Purple.

... I ended up right in front of the stage, my head right between Juliana's registers, so I mostly only heard what she played; not too much of [John] Strohm. Juliana was playing a Gibson SG, and Strohm was on a Fender; not a Strat or a Tele... maybe a Jag$%#*% I forget the name....

The bass player [Freda Love] was using a PICK!!! Maybe I'm spoiled, growing up worshipping Entwistle and Deacon, but COME ON!!!!

Strohm even poked fun at the show across the road: "I understand there's some archery going on across the street?"

Whatever, My Love American Laundromat Records

So, I'm very excited to report that Juliana Hatfield have reformed The Juliana Hatfield Three, after two decades of hiatus, with original band members drummer Todd Philips and bassist Dean Fisher. They have a new record called Whatever, My Love, which is coming out next week, February 17th, 2015, with an upcoming tour in support of the new record.

The Juliana Hatfield Three 2015 tour dates:

02/26 | Portland, ME | Port City Music Hall
02/27 | Cambridge, MA | The Sinclair
03/01 | New York City | The Bowery Ballroom
03/02 | Philadelphia, PA | Boot & Saddle
03/03 | Philadelphia, PA | Boot & Saddle
03/04 | Washington, DC | Black Cat
03/06 | Cleveland, OH | Music Box Supper Club
03/07 | Chicago, IL | Lincoln Hall
03/08 | St. Paul, MN | Turf Club
03/11 | Seattle, WA | Tractor Tavern
03/12 | Portland, OR | Doug Fir Lounge
03/14 | Napa, CA | City Winery Napa
03/15 | San Francisco, CA | The Chapel
03/16 | Los Angeles, CA | The Roxy Theatre
03/18 | Solana Beach, CA | Belly Up Tavern
03/20 | Austin, TX | SxSW
03/22 | Atlanta, GA | Terminal West
03/23 | Charlotte, NC | Neighborhood Theatre
03/24 | Carrboro, NC | Cat's Cradle

Juliana Hatfield at the Fillmore, San Francisco (23 Jun 1995) ticket stub

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Dakin Hardwick said... Saturday, 07 March 2015 at 04:32 PM The band that opened at The Fillmore in 95 was a Bay Area group called Protein! I still have the tape the lead singer gave me...