Back in the day, the only place one could get a concert t-shirt in Philly for a band other than Guns and Roses or Def Leppard was at a concert, or at Zipperhead, or that place in New Hope, the name of which I cannot remember. I went to lots of concerts and got lots of t-shirts, and although many of them either fell apart or were lost to ex-boyfriends, there are a few that I just could not let go over the years.
They are in a stack in the bureau in the basement. Most are either large or extra-large, which I am not, so wearing them is not really an option. Also in this category is my biker jacket, purchased during my junior year of high school. It is both leather and too big on me now. I was a little bigger when I wore all of this stuff, but more significantly, my style was a little bigger, too. Anyway:
I am fairly certain that this is one of those “vintage” shirts that is now being mass produced and sold in Hot Topic and Alloy. My high school boyfriend saw the Femmes in the late 80s with his older brother -I am guessing it was the tour for 3- and his older brother bought the shirt. When he outgrew it, he gave it to his little brother and when his little brother outgrew it, he gave it to me. Somewhere in my boxes of cassettes, I have a copy of the bootleg from the show. In it I can hear high school boyfriend -still pre-pubescent at that point- laughing in the background.
The first show I ever went to see without parental supervision was The Mighty Lemon Drops and The Ocean Blue at City Gardens in Trenton in January of 1990, probably around the 25th or so. It was just days before we moved to Cheltenham. I wore this tshirt over a blue long sleeve shirt with purple and blue pajama bottoms and black chuck taylors on the day we moved, and many, many times after that.
The bleach mark has been there forever. I still remember what the stage looked like at this show. During some of the songs, there were crazy, super bright lights behind the band in a kind of white-blue, like sunlight.
This was from the Perspex Island tour, fall of 1991 or maybe spring of 1992. Matthew Sweet opened for Robyn Hitchcock at the Trocadero in Philly. I bought two shirts at this concert. The other one was white and got so pit-stained that I had to throw it out. I loved this shirt and wore it with the aforementioned pajama bottoms, and also with cutoffs over tights and fishnets, with combat boots or chuck taylors.
My friend and I got to the Troc good and early. We were waiting outside the front door when Robyn and band arrived. He looked at us and said, “Well, they keep getting younger, don’t they?” I was in the balcony for this one, looking straight down at the band. During “Uncorrected Personality Traits,” there were two people at each mic for the four-part harmony; in one section they switched off in pairs, syllable by syllable, maintaining the harmony. It was pretty impressive.
I have seen They Might Be Giants so many times now that I cannot remember where this shirt came from. I had one from the Apollo 18 tour in 1992, but I think this was later, maybe John Henry in 1994.
I love this design. If it is, in fact, from the show in 1994, it was a great show. BU sponsored it, but hardly advertised, so there were only a few hundred people there. Bummer for the band, but pretty awesome for those of us who found ourselves in a four hundred person conga line during “No One Knows My Plan,” which might not have worked so well in a more crowded venue. I talked to the drummer for a bit after the show (he’s a libertarian), and nabbed a playlist. On the way out, I saw John and John heading into the Aerosmith bar. I was prepared to use my fake ID and follow them, but my friend didn’t have ID, so we left. Bummer.
This wasn’t from a concert, but it is in the same drawer with the concert t-shirts, and is also an XL. I won it in a silent auction for NARAL in St. Louis, hence the pro-choice business all over it. Where I stood then or now on this particular issue is not the point (actually, at the time I could have cared less, but some one from my office was obligated to go to this event), the point is that I was shocked to be at a stuffy fundraiser in the midwest and see a signed MTX shirt up for auction.
So there it is. The late 80s and 90s in t-shirts.
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