Way back in the day there was a meme going around to list all the concerts you went to like Harv did on his tombstone. I shared some bands I’d seen and closed it with “I’d love to see Oingo Boingo and/or XTC – but I doubt I ever will.”
21 years later and Terry Chambers, XTC’s original drummer, toured with two other folks as EXTC and I caught them at Radio Artifact this evening.
Material leaned on the earlier albums and now I understand that’s because Terry left the band, possibly because they stopped touring after English Settlement (wiki).
I came to know the band during Skylarking (produced by Todd Rundgren!) and would subsequently backtrack and absorb their entire catalog. I loved them as a teenager and still do — enough to go out on a school night!
The band sounded great, the crowd was super into it and with the venue inside Urban Artifact, the choices of good drinks was excellent. (I had a Mango Tajin that had a nice kick.)
Oh! I could have seen them in Milwaukee had I known! I’ve been on a tremendous XTC kick recently, mostly because I discovered that my kids (16 and 18) are mysteriously into them. There’s a decent documentary about them on YouTube called “This is Pop” if you’re inclined.
Ooo! Thanks for the heads up on the doc. I’m putting it on now!
(the documentary was FANTASTIC)