My Life in Concert.com
Welcome to the My Life in Concert podcast! Join me, your host Various Artists, on my musical time travel as I look back on (almost) every live gig I have seen from 1975 to the present. This podcast series started life as a blog on Salon.com’s late, great OpenSalon.com in 2010. It gained a regular readership there until OS closed in 2015, and is now being resurrected as a podcast in February 2020. I’ve been a lifelong tunehead and fan of many genres with a particular passion for live shows, big and small. And while I’ll be discussing the music played, the podcast won’t simply be a critique of the performance.People recall a gig’s small moments that can end up defining the event in one’s mental hard drive sometimes more than the tunes: what happened before and after; things seen and heard; technical malfunctions, musicians passing out on stage, etc. Therefore, the podcast is about the “concert-going experience” rather than simply being a description of the performance: a mixture of concert review, music history, memoir, and philosophical musing. While my main musical bases in the 70s were glam in the earlier part of the decade and punk in the latter half, my tastes have exploded through the years. The podcast will go on to encompass live concerts in many genres: r&b, jazz, folk, pop, electronic, hip-hop, country & Americana, pop, blues, reggae, and more.I grew up in and have returned to London, Ontario, Canada (with a 20-year stop in Ottawa). While I will be remembering shows from a variety of locations including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Detroit, NYC, and more, many of the early episodes will focus on concerts that took place in the Forest City from the 70s through the 90s … and now again in recent years (it will be Ottawa-heavy in-between.) There will be notable local visits by Elvis Costello, The Smiths, Iggy Pop, Marianne Faithfull, Radiohead, Joe Jackson, Steve Earle, k.d. lang, Gang of Four, and more. I’ll also have special episodes devoted to the local and regional live bands I saw regularly from the late 70s through early 90s. Along the way I’ll be dropping back into dearly departed local live venues including Fryfogle’s, the Cedar Lounge, the London Arena, the London Gardens, Bullwinkle’s, Wonderland Gardens, and the Embassy along with ongoing stalwarts like Centennial Hall and Call the Office. Outside of London, I’ll also be remembering great nights at long-gone venues such as NYC’s Danceteria, Toronto’s CNE Stadium, and Ottawa’s Barrymore’s.While London was my starting base, I’ll also be looking back on shows in Canadian and U.S. cities where I saw Neil Young, The Clash, Lou Reed, Aretha Franklin, Joni Mitchell, Janelle Monae, Sonic Youth, The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, PJ Harvey, Ornette Coleman, Laura Nyro, Bootsy Collins (who head-butted me), The Jam, Paul McCartney, the Buzzcocks, Al Green, and plenty more. You can also check out the mylifeinconcert.com blog for written entries, original ticket scans, and related visual and audio; VATV My Life in Concert on YouTube for live clips; and follow us on Facebook. (Instagram coming soon!)Come out and join me at the show!
- Update frequency
- every 41 days
- Average duration
- 61 minutes
- Episodes
- 36
- Years Active
- 2020 - 2024
(EP 34, no.027) Siouxsie & the Banshees with Images In Vogue: Cities In Dust, The International Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Tuesday July 10, 1984 with Phil Robinson
After years of devoted fandom, I finally get to see the one and only Siouxsie Sioux and her plucky Banshees in a cavernous—but wonderfully air conditioned—venue on Toronto’s outskirts.
I’d been follo…
(EP 33, no.026) UB40: So Here I Am, Centennial Hall, London, Ontario, March 7, 1984 & Alumni Hall, UWO, London, Ontario, March 14, 1985 with Phil Robinson & Skye Sylvain
Birmingham UK’s reggae outfit UB40 made two trips to London, Ontario, in the mid-80s, playing to a packed and joyous Centennial Hall on March 7, 1984, and then returning a year later almost to the we…
(EP 32, no.015.5) The Stray Cats: Rock This Town, Alumni Hall, UWO, London, Ontario, Canada, Saturday March 26, 1983 and Dr. Rockits, Wednesday, October 5, 1988 (also London) with Phil, Noelle, and Marc
The Stray Cats arrived to rock London, Ontario in 1983 at the peak of their fame.
With this episode, I’ve once again jumped backwards in my story, just not as far back as that cabaret show I saw with …
(EP 31, no.1.5) Mum’s the Word!—In Town Tonight—In the City—UK ’77: My Mother’s Life in Music + a Portsmouth Cabaret with Susan Maughan, Tessie O’Shea, Pam Ayers, & more + Our UK Trip Amid Punk Rock Mania, August 1977
With this episode, the series jumps back in time to a Cabaret show I saw in Portsmouth, UK, in August 1977 with my parents when I was 14.
The cabaret took place between my first (Roxy Music at the Lo…
(EP30, nos.23&24) The Circle Jerks/Psychic TV, The Reggae Lounge, Wednesday, November 16/Danceteria, Thursday November 17, both in New York City, USA, 1983: Back Against the Wall with Discopravity
My final 1983 gig-going-entry recaps a couple of shows I took in during a crazy/nuts four-day trip to NYC.
While I will be discussing the performances by hardcore titans The Circle Jerks and post-T…
(EP 29b, no.22b) David Bowie with Rough Trade: Let’s Dance, CNE Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Saturday September 3, 1983
This is the big one! THE ultimate! The single most anticipated show I ever attended, when I—along with my co-hort Miss B—and 60,000 other fans, all of whom who were going Absolutely Freakin’ Bananas,…
(EP 29a, no.22a) Changes: Bowie, The ‘70s, and Me (A Prelude to EP29B, Let’s Dance: Bowie @ the CNE in ’83)
David Bowie’s Labour Day Weekend concert in 1983 at Toronto’s CNE Stadium remains the most anticipated and exciting show I’ve ever attended. He was on his global Serious Moonlight tour for his worldw…
(EP28, no.21) Marianne Faithfull: Dangerous Acquaintances, Fryfogle’s, London, Ontario, Canada, August 15, 1983
Ten days after the final Police Picnic in Toronto at the massive CNE Exhibition Stadium, I took in a more intimate, but hotly anticipated, show by the legendary Marianne Faithfull. The by-then gravel…
(EP 27, no.19) Police Picnic ’83 featuring The Police, Peter Tosh, James Brown, King Sunny Adé, Blue Peter, and The Fixx: Walking on the Moon CNE Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Friday August 5, 1983
It’s the third and final Police Picnic on August 5, 1983, once again at CNE stadium as well as the 4th and final consecutive summer of attending a huge, open air festival.
This time around the fest …
(EP 26, no.18) John Cale: I Keep A Close Watch, Fryfogle’s, London, Ontario, Canada, Monday June 13, 1983
The Velvet Underground’s John Cale comes to Fryfogle’s and plays an intense, riveting solo set in June 1983.
It was particularly extraordinary for me that I finally got to see him at this point in t…
(EP 25, no.17) Flipper: Fucked Up Once Again, Fryfogle’s, London, Ontario, Canada, Monday May 30, 1983
Flipper, San Francisco’s sludge rock contrarian refuseniks, come to town one month after that Beat/R.E.M. show from April of 1983. An evening of debauchery and over-indulgence ensues for myself and…
(EP 24, no. 16) The (English) Beat with R.E.M.: End of the Party, Alumni Hall, UWO, London, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday April 12, 1983
This concert crystalizes a moment in time, representing a changing of the guards in the alternative music world, when The Beat—or The English Beat as they were called on this side of the pond—come to…
(EP 23, no. 51) Keith Richards and the X-Pensive Winos: Connection, Fox Theatre, Detroit, Michigan, USA, Thursday December 8, 1988
Welcome to my first anniversary episode, celebrating the second anniversary of the mylifeinconcert.com podcast (I didn’t do one the first year so I’ll be doing two this year to make up for that).
For…
(EP 22, no. 205) Caribou: Suddenly, London Music Hall, London, Ontario, Canada, Saturday November 20, 2021
In February 2020, Caribou returned with his first new album after an absence of six years. It was released to universal critical acclaim and commercial success, and an extensive world tour was plann…
(EP 21, no. 15) The Gang of Four with The Hoi Polloi: I Found That Essence Rare, Wonderland Gardens, London, Ontario, Canada, Saturday March 5, 1983
Leeds’ furious and funky post-punk innovators The Gang of Four make an indelible, unforgettable visit to London, Ontario’s Wonderland Gardens, four months after the chaotic Iggy Pop gig at the same v…
(EP 20, no. 14) Iggy Pop with Nash the Slash: Gimme Danger, Wonderland Gardens, London, Ontario, Canada, Wednesday October 27, 1982
Three weeks after the Joe Jackson concert, Iggy Pop comes to town with Toronto’s bandaged electronic mummy, Nash the Slash, in tow.
I first and finally got to see Iggy the previous year when he gave …
(EP 19, no. 13) Joe Jackson: Night & Day, Alumni Hall, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada, Monday October 4, 1982
One month after The Clash—and from one Joe to another—I take in a second, very different five-star, three-hour show from Joe Jackson.
This marathon set is the subject of Episode 19, Night & Day. Onc…
(EP 18, no.12) The Clash with Black Uhuru: Clash City Rockers, CNE Grandstand, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Sunday September 5, 1982
It was one of the best and most exciting concerts I have ever seen.
After five years of obsessing over my favourite band in the world, I finally get to see The Clash as part of a huge, passionate, an…
(EP 17, no.11) Police Picnic ’82 with The Police, Talking Heads, The (English) Beat, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, A Flock of Seagulls, & The Spoons: What A Day That Was, CNE Stadium, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Friday August 13, 1982
It was Friday the 13th in more ways than one.
Dear Listeners and Readers: Welcome to THE WORST CONCERT EXPERIENCE OF MY ENTIRE LIFE!
One poster for the show read “…make this your lucky night.” Yeah, …
(EP 16, no.10) Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) with Mettle: Electricity, Centennial Hall, London, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday March 9, 1982
Electropop comes to London, Ontario on a freezing March evening with Liverpool’s Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, or as they are more simply known, OMD.
Their set may have been egregiously delaye…