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Morperhaus Concerts @concerts.morperhaus.org · 11h

Irvine Meadows is gone, and I saw 16 shows there from 1984 to 2003 — synth-pop, new wave, and three nights of Jimmy Buffett. It closed in 2016, thirteen years after my last show there. Read the note → #AdamantIT #NewWave

Irvine Meadows. Adamant (IT), Thompson Twins, Billy Idol, Echo and the Bunnymen, Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, New Order, Duran Duran, George Michael, Oingo Boingo, Erasure (US), Jimmy Buffett, Peter Gabriel at Irvine Meadows, Irvine, 27 April 1984. Card reads: Irvine Meadows is tract housing now. I saw 16 shows before they poured the concrete..

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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 · 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