Big Audio Dynamite II/The Farm
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
I'm not 100% on the date for this show, and I can't find any corroborating info on the web. I've finally found documentary evidence of the date and other details of this show!
It was one of the most fun concerts I've ever attended. I've been to perhaps better concerts, on a number of criteria, but rarely have I enjoyed myself more at a show.
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This was an outdoor concert at Deiner Park, a lawn built over Route 18 and overlooking the Raritan River. It was beautiful September night, with that sort of coolness which, when mixed with activity, is neither chilly nor hot.
Mick Jones' B.A.D. II's album The Globe had just connected with the cultural zeitgeist in a way that he hadn't managed since his days with The Clash (and, at this writing, he was not to do so again). Fueled by the big-beat dance-rock sound that was soaring to ascendency during 1991 (in what was also to be effectively its swan-song, as the hammer was even then being cocked to fire grunge's gun square at American musical tastes), "Rush" was just then becoming Jones' only U.S. post-Clash Top 40 hit; at WHTG, we had been playing it since late Spring. But the entire album was as good as that single, and I was listening to it more than almost any other album around that time.
The Farm was also achieving unique success with their terrific Spartacus release (justly proclaimed "100% groovy" on the CD's cover).
As I recollect, it was a free show and the place was packed. The entire field of people was bouncing and dancing throughout this show--enough so that, at its apex, I kept imagining this field build on what was essentially a glorified highway overpass was actually and perhaps dangerously moving in earthquake-like fashion.
As a fan of this musical style, and given its tremendous success of late, I can perhaps be forgiven for thinking of this night as a figurative--and nearly literal--tectonic shift in American culture. As it turned out, it was alas, a mere diversion before grunge, the actual headlining act in (and eventual destroyer of) '90s alternative rock. Either way, though, a damn great time.
The early opening band was Downtown Science.
post continues....
This was an outdoor concert at Deiner Park, a lawn built over Route 18 and overlooking the Raritan River. It was beautiful September night, with that sort of coolness which, when mixed with activity, is neither chilly nor hot.
Mick Jones' B.A.D. II's album The Globe had just connected with the cultural zeitgeist in a way that he hadn't managed since his days with The Clash (and, at this writing, he was not to do so again). Fueled by the big-beat dance-rock sound that was soaring to ascendency during 1991 (in what was also to be effectively its swan-song, as the hammer was even then being cocked to fire grunge's gun square at American musical tastes), "Rush" was just then becoming Jones' only U.S. post-Clash Top 40 hit; at WHTG, we had been playing it since late Spring. But the entire album was as good as that single, and I was listening to it more than almost any other album around that time.
The Farm was also achieving unique success with their terrific Spartacus release (justly proclaimed "100% groovy" on the CD's cover).
As I recollect, it was a free show and the place was packed. The entire field of people was bouncing and dancing throughout this show--enough so that, at its apex, I kept imagining this field build on what was essentially a glorified highway overpass was actually and perhaps dangerously moving in earthquake-like fashion.
As a fan of this musical style, and given its tremendous success of late, I can perhaps be forgiven for thinking of this night as a figurative--and nearly literal--tectonic shift in American culture. As it turned out, it was alas, a mere diversion before grunge, the actual headlining act in (and eventual destroyer of) '90s alternative rock. Either way, though, a damn great time.
The early opening band was Downtown Science.
Labels: Big Audio Dynamite, New Brunswick, NJ, Rutgers, The Farm
2 Comments:
I was there for that show and it was great. One of the best I went to. The best part was that we went out side of the area to go to the bathroom and ended up near back stage. We watched the Farm from the side through the fence and Mick Jones comes out to watch with us. We talk for a few minutes then asks where the bathroom is and we go back into the show. Lots of crowd surfing.
"Lots of crowd surfing"....
LOL- that's my big memory of that night - my friend and I were working together getting people up to crowd surf. It was a VERY fun night
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