1983-10-15 Colby Hall, Waterville
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- USA
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- (Adventures in Hi Fi pg 84). Three college students gave Peter verbal abuse throughout the show. Their offensive gesturing got too much for the band, and during a quieter song, it broke Michael’s concentration enough to stop him singing. Peter’s guitar playing turned into angry, discordant feedback as he watched Michael propel himself into the audience. ‘I recall Michael doing a stage dive,’ said Mitch Easter, ‘which the audience didn’t understand and got out of the way’ Michael also recalls the bruising incident: ‘I jumped 300 feet into the air blind,’ he exaggerated, ‘ and when I landed no one caught me.’ The rest of the band left the stage. They did return, but only to complete a shortened set. ‘There’s always a few assholes in every crowd,’ said Buck. ‘I only wish they had been man enough to stick around afterwards.’
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Tagged as: 1983, Live
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I’d read about the band and bought a ticket. For a long time I had a concert poster from the show. I grabbed a flatmate and we stood directly in front of the stage at Peter’s monitor. There was a 12 pack present and I handed one up to him from time to time. He was whirling about in Peter Buck fashion for much of the evening. There were three drunk frat boys, 80s style, about 15 feet to my left and further back. They were actually yelling at Stipe and being pretty offensive. This was upsetting Peter and Mike. The did disrupt Michael singing and at some point he did, indeed, do a stage dive — he was about 5 feet to my left when he jumped. It surprised everyone and the audience stepped aside and he went right to the floor before hustling back up on stage. Muscially, they were tight, loud and fast. Aside from the idiot drunks it was a pretty good show. We knew we’d seen the beginnings of something really new and great. I saw them life 4 or 5 more times, but never in an intimate situation like that. It is one of my favorite college memories.