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Morperhaus Concerts

@concerts.morperhaus.org
12 followers 29 following 38 posts

Every show I've been to since 1984 — one person who kept the stubs. Setlists, venues that aren't there any more, and the gaps in between. New liner note most weeks. concerts.morperhaus.org

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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 08/10/2026
Twelve artists, September 1993 — the bill ran from Crowded House's jangly pop to traditional rhythms from Burundi. I don't think the music industry believed it again after that. Read the note → @itspetergabriel.bsky.social @crowdedhouse.com #InnerCircle #JahWobblesInvadersOfTheHeart
Peter Gabriel, Crowded House, Inner Circle, Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart, James & Elizabeth Johnson, P.M. Dawn, Sheila Chandra, Sinead O' Connor, Stereo MC's, Ziggy Marley, Terem-Quartet, The Drummers Of Burundi at Olympic Velodrome, Carson, 18 September 1993. Card reads: Peter Gabriel headlined, but The Drummers of Burundi opened the same show..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 08/10/2026
Nine years ago today, Bat Fangs played The Anthem with The Messthetics, Danger Painters, and Kid Congo Powers opening. I never caught any of the four again. Setlist and the full night → @theanthemdc.bsky.social @kidcongopowers.bsky.social #BatFangs #TheMessthetics
9 years ago today: Bat Fangs, with The Messthetics, Danger Painters and Kid Congo Powers, at The Anthem, Washington, DC, 8 October 2017.
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 07/10/2026
New Order at Irvine Meadows in 1985 — I was still learning their catalog when I bought that ticket. The Hollywood Bowl in 2022 was the first time I heard them knowing exactly who they were. Read the note → #NewOrder #NewWave
New Order at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, 23 August 1985. Card reads: Brotherhood came out the following year. I heard those songs before they existed..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 06/10/2026
I caught Billy Idol at Irvine Meadows on August 13, 1984, nine months after Rebel Yell dropped. In four decades of concertgoing since, we never crossed paths again. Read the note → #BillyIdol #IrvineMeadows
Billy Idol at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, 13 August 1984. Card reads: Rebel Yell had been out nine months, and he played it. I was already done..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 04/10/2026
Thompson Twins were touring 'Into the Gap' when I caught them at Irvine Meadows in May 1984. The Olympics hadn't started yet, but the city already felt like it had. Read the note → #ThompsonTwins #NewWave
Irvine Meadows. Thompson Twins, Adamant (IT), Billy Idol, Echo and the Bunnymen at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, 12 May 1984. Card reads: Four new wave acts, one venue, and the Olympics landed right in the middle of my 1984 run..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 03/10/2026
I was at Irvine Meadows in 1987 and didn't see Duran Duran again until The Cure's festival bill in 2003. Sixteen years, and Le Bon hit the same notes like no time had passed. Read the note → @durandurancom.bsky.social #NewWave #IrvineMeadows
Duran Duran at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, 27 July 1987. Card reads: Simon Le Bon's voice in 2003 sounded exactly like 1987 — which made the 16 years feel impossible..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 02/10/2026
Stryper at Knots Berry Farm, May 1985 — two years after they formed, before the album that made them famous. I caught them once and never went back. Read the note → #Stryper #Metal
Stryper at Knots Berry Farm, Buena Park, 17 May 1985. Card reads: To Hell with the Devil hadn't dropped yet. I was headbanging to hymns at an amusement park..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 01/10/2026
Nine bands on the sand at Huntington State Beach, heavy on synth-pop and new wave — and the songs that once felt like the future now felt like a reunion. Read the note → #TheHumanLeague #NewWave
The Human League, The Alarm, Dramarama, The Motels, Naked Eyes, The Untouchables, Gene Loves Jezebel, When in Rome, The Polecats at Huntington State Beach, Huntington Beach, 12 May 2018. Card reads: We sang every word and realized, somewhere on that beach, that we'd become our parents..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 30/09/2026
The Smithereens in 1992 at Celebrity Theatre, then nothing until 2013 at The Hamilton Live in D.C. The power-pop hooks hit exactly as hard 21 years on. Read the note → #TheSmithereens #TheCelebrityTheatre
The Smithereens at The Celebrity Theatre, Anaheim, 4 June 1992. Card reads: 21 years is long enough to forget a band exists — and long enough to feel the whole gap at once..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 26/09/2026
August 30, 1985, Hollywood Park Racetrack — Make It Big was nine months old and the bill was absurdly stacked. One night, and then our paths never crossed again. Read the note → #Wham #Inglewood
Wham! at Hollywood Park Racetrack, Inglewood, 30 August 1985. Card reads: Chaka Khan opened. Katrina and the Waves opened. Then Wham! closed it..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 26/09/2026
The show was at Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana — I crossed the border for it. Oingo Boingo headlined a bill that also had The Bangles, Squeeze, Hoodoo Gurus, Chris Isaak, and The Fixx. Read the note → @squeezeofficial.com #OingoBoingo #NewWave
Caliente Racetrack. Oingo Boingo, Hoodoo Gurus, The Bangles, Squeeze, Chris Isaak, The Fixx at Caliente Racetrack, Tijuana, 30 June 1987. Card reads: Six acts, one racetrack, and a border crossing I made for Oingo Boingo..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 26/09/2026
The Smithereens played Anaheim in June 1992, five weeks after the Rodney King acquittal. Earnest melodies were exactly what that fractured summer needed. Read the note → #TheSmithereens #TheCelebrityTheatre
11. The Smithereens at The Celebrity Theatre, Anaheim, 4 June 1992. Card reads: Five weeks after the verdict, I was in Anaheim to hear power pop..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 26/09/2026
Ten artists, one Independence Day, one city that takes the holiday seriously. Foo Fighters headlined, but Trouble Funk — Washington's own — made it feel like a homecoming. Read the note → #FooFighters #BuddyGuy
Foo Fighters, Buddy Guy, Gary Clark, Jr., Heart, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, LL Cool J, Z-Trip, Trouble Funk, Trombone Shorty Orleans Avenue, RDGLDGRN at RFK Stadium, Washington, 4 July 2015. Card reads: Buddy Guy and Foo Fighters on the same bill, on the Fourth of July, at RFK Stadium..
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 24/09/2026
Ten years ago today, The Roots played inside a museum on the National Mall. I've never seen them again, and Living Colour and Public Enemy went with them. concerts.morperhaus.org/ #TheRoots #NationalMuseumOfAfricanAmericanHistoryAndCulture
concerts.morperhaus.org
Living Colour and Public Enemy opened, and I've never gone back to see either one.
The Roots · National Museum of African American History and Culture · Washington · 2016-09-24
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 23/09/2026
I was at Irvine Meadows in March 1985, when synthpop still felt like a dare. The most recent was the Kia Forum in Inglewood in 2023, and 38 years collapsed into about four bars. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/dep… @depechemode.com #KiaForum
concerts.morperhaus.org
Five shows, and Violator arrived somewhere in the middle of all of it.
Depeche Mode · Kia Forum · Inglewood · 2023-03-28
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 22/09/2026
Thirty-eight years ago today, this was my first time seeing Ziggy Marley. Five years later I saw him again, opening for Peter Gabriel. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/zig… #ZiggyMarley #MesaAmphitheatre
concerts.morperhaus.org
I saw Ziggy Marley headline in 1988, then again in 1993 — under someone else's name on the marquee.
Ziggy Marley · Mesa Amphitheatre · Mesa · 1988-09-19
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 21/09/2026
Thompson Twins built their whole appeal on the channel, and I stood on the lawn at a three-year-old amphitheater to prove it worked. The synths carried across concrete that still smelled fresh. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/tho… #ThompsonTwins #IrvineMeadows
concerts.morperhaus.org
MTV had only existed three years, and it had already decided who I'd go see.
Thompson Twins · Irvine Meadows · Irvine · 1984-05-12
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 19/09/2026
Howard Jones at Irvine Meadows in 1985, deep in the Dream Into Action era. Six shows and 39 years later, I was still buying tickets. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/how… #HowardJones #HowardTheater
concerts.morperhaus.org
Six shows, and the synthesizers still hit the same way they did in 1985.
Howard Jones · Howard Theater · Washington · 2012-07-05
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 18/09/2026
Maxi Priest headlined a seven-artist bill in Orange County in June 1991. Andrew Tosh was there carrying his father's name, and the crowd was the most diverse I'd seen in that zip code. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/max… #MaxiPriest #AndrewTosh
concerts.morperhaus.org
Dennis Brown and Peter Tosh's son on the same bill — reggae was serious that summer.
Maxi Priest, Andrew Tosh, Carlene Davis, Dennis Brown, Little Lenny, Shinehead, Team Band · Pacific Amphitheatre · Costa Mesa · 1991-06-02
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 17/09/2026
I first saw Social Distortion in 1990, when their self-titled album was not yet six months old. The Belasco in December 2024 hit with the same raw honesty as that first night. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/soc… #SocialDistortion #TheBelasco
concerts.morperhaus.org
Eight shows in 34 years, and Mike Ness never once softened the edges.
Social Distortion · The Belasco · Los Angeles · 2024-12-06
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 16/09/2026
Thirty-six years ago today, this was my first of eight times seeing Social Distortion — but I didn't see them again until 2005. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/soc… #SocialDistortion #CalStateFullerton
concerts.morperhaus.org
Only show I've ever caught at Cal State Fullerton, and it took Social Distortion fifteen years to earn a second.
Social Distortion · Cal State Fullerton · Fullerton · 1990-09-13
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
I saw Crowded House open for Peter Gabriel in Carson when Woodface was barely two years old. Thirty years later they were headlining the Wiltern, and the craft that got them there hadn't changed. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/cro… @crowdedhouse.com #TheWiltern
concerts.morperhaus.org
Opener in 1993, headliner in 2023 — and five songs from that first set were still in the second.
Crowded House · The Wiltern · Los Angeles · 2023-05-09
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
I first walked into Irvine Meadows for Adam Ant in 1984. Sixteen shows and thirteen headliners in all, and the last was Peter Gabriel in 2003. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/irv… #AdamAnt #ThompsonTwins
concerts.morperhaus.org
I kept going back to Irvine Meadows for 19 years.
Adam Ant, Thompson Twins, Billy Idol, Echo & The Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, New Order, Duran Duran, George Michael, Oingo Boingo, Erasure, Jimmy Buffett, Peter Gabriel · Irvine Meadows · Irvine · 1984-04-27
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
Five shows at Universal Amphitheater across three decades: Howard Jones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tears for Fears twice, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/uni… #HowardJones #SiouxsieAndTheBanshees
concerts.morperhaus.org
Howard Jones walked me into Universal Amphitheater. Tears for Fears walked me out, 16 years later.
Howard Jones, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Tears for Fears, The Brian Setzer Orchestra · Universal Amphitheater · Los Angeles · 1989-07-05
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
Ziggy Marley took the Mesa Amphitheatre stage in 1988, more than 17 years before Love Is My Religion existed. Two songs I still play from that record started as nothing that night. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/zig… #ZiggyMarley #MesaAmphitheatre
concerts.morperhaus.org
Seventeen years before he made a record I'd love, I was already watching him.
Ziggy Marley · Mesa Amphitheatre · Mesa · 1988-09-19
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
Garbage have played 17 different songs from their debut across the six shows I've seen, 2005 to 2022. The 9:30 Club night landed right at the album's 20th anniversary remaster. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/gar… @garbage.com #930Club
concerts.morperhaus.org
Six shows, 17 debut songs — and they play every one like it's still an argument.
Garbage · 9:30 Club · Washington · 2015-10-28
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
Foals at The Belasco, UB40 at Peacock Theater, X at Pacific Amphitheatre — three genres, three venues, one Southern California summer. The playlist was incoherent. That was the whole point. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/3-c… #Foals #UB40
concerts.morperhaus.org
Indie rock to reggae to punk in 12 days, and I never once stopped to ask if it made sense.
Foals, UB40, X · The Belasco · Los Angeles · 2023-07-18
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
Squeeze opened for Oingo Boingo in Tijuana in 1987. I caught them headlining Rams Head Live in Baltimore in 2012, after seeing them open for Sting in between. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/squ… @squeezeofficial.com #CalienteRacetrack
concerts.morperhaus.org
They opened for Oingo Boingo at a racetrack in Tijuana. Twenty-five years later, they were headlining.
Squeeze · Caliente Racetrack · Tijuana · 1987-06-30
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
I first saw Tears for Fears live in Costa Mesa in July 1985, when their second album was under five months old. The Kia Forum in 2022 was a different scale entirely, and the choruses still held. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/tea… #TearsForFears #PacificAmphitheatre
concerts.morperhaus.org
Four shows over 37 years, and Universal Amphitheater got two of them, twelve years apart.
Tears for Fears · Pacific Amphitheatre · Costa Mesa · 1985-07-10
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
My first time in the Kia Forum was March 1990, for Erasure, that synthesizer sound filling every corner of the bowl. Depeche Mode in 2023 closed it out — same room, different person. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/kia… #Erasure #BellBivDeVoe
concerts.morperhaus.org
The Kia Forum has held five different versions of me, 33 years apart.
Erasure, Bell Biv DeVoe, Elton John, Tears for Fears, Depeche Mode · Kia Forum · Inglewood · 1990-03-11
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11/09/2026
Brian Setzer in Dana Point in May 2009, then The Human League in Huntington Beach in May 2018. Every show I saw in between was in D.C., Maryland or Virginia. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/my-… #RobThomas #TheBeat
concerts.morperhaus.org
No California shows for almost nine years, and 50 in a row on the other coast instead.
Rob Thomas, The Beat, Echo & The Bunnymen, Social Distortion, Bad Religion, The Dollyrots, The Go-Go's, Squeeze, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Cult, Howard Jones, Joe Jackson, Dropkick Murphys, Garbage, The Smithereens, Rancid, Gary Numan, Kraftwerk, Berlin, Snarky Puppy, The Offspring, Streetlight Manifesto, The Head and the Heart, Royal Blood, Foo Fighters, Dirty Heads, Prophets of Rage, The Roots, Duran Duran, Midnight Oil, The Skints, Blondie, Alison Moyet, Bat Fangs, Colin Hay, The Brian Setzer Orchestra, Beck · EagleBank Arena · Fairfax · 2009-11-10
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 06/09/2026
Forty-one years ago today, A Certain Ratio and the Abecedarians opened for New Order at Irvine Meadows. I didn't see New Order again until 2022. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/new… #NewOrder #IrvineMeadows
concerts.morperhaus.org
37 years between the first show and the second — and A Certain Ratio opened the first one.
New Order · Irvine Meadows · Irvine · 1985-08-23
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 06/09/2026
The Human League were headlining, but The English Beat are the reason I keep thinking about this night — twenty-three years ago today. I didn't see The Human League again until 2018. concerts.morperhaus.org/ #TheHumanLeague #TheGroveOfAnaheim
concerts.morperhaus.org
The English Beat opened. I had no idea I'd see them nine more times after that.
The Human League · The Grove of Anaheim · Anaheim · 2003-08-24
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 06/09/2026
Ten years ago today I caught The Smithereens at Birchmere — my fourth time seeing them, and the only show I've ever attended there. Still the last time, so far. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/the… #TheSmithereens #Birchmere
concerts.morperhaus.org
Four times in 25 years, and only once did they open for someone else.
The Smithereens · Birchmere · Alexandria · 2016-08-26
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 05/09/2026
Twenty songs that night, opening with 'Steppin' Out' — and that was twenty-three years ago today. I didn't see him again until 2012. concerts.morperhaus.org/ #JoeJackson #HouseOfBluesAnaheim
concerts.morperhaus.org
My first Joe Jackson show, and I didn't go back for nine years.
Joe Jackson · House of Blues Anaheim · Anaheim · 2003-08-29
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 05/09/2026
Chaka Khan and Katrina and the Waves both opened that night, and I've never seen either of them since. Forty-one years ago today, at a racetrack. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/wha… #Wham #HollywoodParkRacetrack
concerts.morperhaus.org
Three openers, three acts I never saw again — Wham! headlined.
Wham! · Hollywood Park Racetrack · Inglewood · 1985-08-30
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 05/09/2026
Five years ago today I saw Future Islands for the first time — and it's still the only time. I'm not sure what I was waiting for after that. concerts.morperhaus.org/ #FutureIslands #HouseOfBluesAnaheim
concerts.morperhaus.org
Once. Just the once. And I still haven't gone back.
Future Islands · House of Blues Anaheim · Anaheim · 2021-08-31
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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 05/09/2026
Howard Jones at The Hamilton Live — ten years ago today. Show number five, and I didn't catch him again until 2024. concerts.morperhaus.org/liner-notes/how… #HowardJones #TheHamiltonLive
concerts.morperhaus.org
Fifth time seeing him, and then eight years of nothing.
Howard Jones · The Hamilton Live · Washington · 2016-09-03
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