Check out March 8-14—that is one epic week. For those of you not in Minneapolis: the capacity of the 7th Street Entry is 250.
Wow.
Look at the two nights devoted to Winnepegian band Personailty Crisis. It does look like Prince was in the Main Room that night. And apparently Husker Du opened for DNA. Which means the Huskers played three shows in March at the venue.
About that 7th Street Entry capacity, my Google-fu is weak, so I have been unable to find this, but I remember reading in either the Strib or PiPress at the time that Ben Folds Five’s first show their in 1995 filled the Entry to a possibly fire-code busting 501. That’s the number I remember. Could’ve been 251 though.
Their 97 all ages show in the Main Room of First Ave remains one of the most suffocatingly packed shows I’ve ever been at. Most likely due to how all ages shows used to be handled. Alcohol was only served upstairs, so other than the bathrooms, under 21s were not allowed upstairs. And though First Ave capacity is probably around 1000-1500, the majority of people at all ages shows were under-21, when I say a majority I mean you were sometimes looking at 95% of the crowd being all ages since the shows generally started early (sometimes doors were 5pm on a week night), and the band was actually playing two shows in one night: one all ages, one “drunk.” So most people over 21 and up went to the “drunk” shows.
My first “drunk” show was Elliot Smith in 98. My car was used to shuttle people from Carleton College in Northfield up to the show, though I was not a student there. My one condition was that I go, and that I not drive. I took advantage of the waiters that waded through the crowd with a case of beer atop their head. Frequently.
Smith played Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon” and it was amazing. Will never forget it. Even through that strange 21 year old “Hey, I can drink in public. Awesome!” haze.
(Source: partywok)
