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Feb 2, 1990: The Mighty Lemon Drops

2/2/2012

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John Wesley Harding and The Ocean Blue opened for The Mighty Lemon Drops at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit. Total price for each ticket: $13.50.

Some of these re-caps are difficult because I don't remember a lot of details about some of the shows, such as specific songs. This show was 22 years ago. That's more than half my life, so I hope I can be forgiven for some of the occasional vague details.

I do have feelings about most of the tickets I have. The thing I recall most about this show was that it was a lot of fun, and it was a good night.

Like many of the shows I'll cover, I was there with my future ex-wife. At this point we'd known each other for about a year, and we were excited to see these bands.

As I mentioned in my Ministry recap, I had to do much of my musical education on my own. I found myself drawn to British artists like Elvis Costello, Echo and the Bunnymen, and The Mighty Lemon Drops.
We were (and, I suppose, still are) fans of The Ocean Blue. Although they were from Hershey, PA, they shared the jangly Brit-pop guitar sound with The Mighty Lemon Drops. So they were a good fit.
During their set, they threw out Hershey's Kisses ('cause that's where they're from, get it?). I don't recall catching any of them. 

We had great seats, though. I haven't been to St. Andrew's Hall in a while (I'll be going back soon), so I don't know if the upper level is open anymore, but it was then. We got there early enough that we were just to the right of the stage in that balcony level. So we were just feet away, looking down from above, in seats. Comfy.


I don't recall being familiar with John Wesley Harding before we saw him, but it's possible we knew who he was. We worked at a record store, and we were hip to new stuff. (And I would meet him a little over a year later, but that'll be a story for the Radio Bucket)

I do remember that he did an acoustic version of Madonna's "Like A Prayer". Which at the time was pretty Novel and Awesome. Nowadays, it's pretty common for an "alternative" artist to do their own versions of pop songs. 

It's irony or something.
Like I said at the beginning, I don't remember tons of details, but I remember it was a good time, and I bought a Mighty Lemon Drops T-shirt that I wore until it wore through. 

I'm sure there's a photo of me somewhere wearing it, but I'm still waiting on getting that box back from my baby mama. 

Were you a fan of these bands? Or St. Andrew's Hall? Were you at this show? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!
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    The Ticket Stub Project

    I've collected many tickets stubs from all the shows I've seen through the years.  

    There are shows I've seen that had no ticket, and I have lost a few stubs here and there.  This is my attempt to chronicle what I remember about each stub that I have. I'll post about each on the day of the year that the show happened!

    If you were at one of the shows, please share your memories in the comments!

    Here's the list so far!

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    Prior Stubbery

    All
    01/06 1990: Ministry
    01/26 2003: David Gray
    02/02 1990: Mighty Lemon Drops
    02/14 1991: Replacements
    02/19 1988: Sting
    02/22 1992: The Cult & Lenny Kravitz
    03/03 2003: Coldplay
    03/10 1989: Replacements
    03/13 2010: Muse
    03/14 1991: Sting
    08/31 1992: David Byrne
    12/31 NYE Party


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