Advertising insert from alternative newspaper The Boston Phoenix, promoting their concert showcase of local bands playing at the Coop bookstore in Harvard Square on September 25, 1988.
This was actually the second Boston Phoenix/WFNX-sponsored concert event I attended. The first one had happened the previous weekend, at the MIT location of The Coop. The presence of three local bands on that bill was completely overshadowed for me by the incongruous presence of Marty Willson-Piper of The Church, there to play a solo set in support of his latest album on Rykodisc. But I got there early enough to catch the local acts, opening my eyes ever-so-slightly to the presence of a local music scene.
So when I learned of another free outdoor concert the following weekend, I was all in, even minus any star power. I had never heard of any of these local bands before, either. But maybe some of them would good?
Turns out, I was right. The set by Galaxie 500, just a few weeks before the release of their debut album, Today, was revelatory. This is... jangly? Kind of like, uh... R.E.M.? (It would be a few years yet before I heard The Velvet Underground for the first time.) I ended up reviewing their set, along with the rest of the acts performing that day, for my high school newspaper.
In fact, I also fell pretty hard for local rockers Heretix, whose dramatic, slightly goth sound would fit right in on local radio. Heck, I enjoyed everyone that played that day, from the bluesy, garage-rock of The Titanics to just-shy-of-metal The Unattached to, yes, even the ska bands (Plate O’ Shrimp and Bim Skala Bim). I even captured songs from a couple of the band’s sets on my shitty tape recorded though, alas, not the one by Galaxie 500.
So even though I felt a little out of place hanging out by myself at an event filled with older people (the event was clearly meant for college students), it was good training for my rock club-going future self.
