I saw the Violent Femmes open for Nina Hagen (of all people) in Madison, WI, probably before their first album was released (so late 1982). There were only a handful of people there in this very small club who were interested in the Femmes, since they were so different musically, but I thought they were amazing. I remember that Brian Ritchie was basically pogo’ing on his bass (which must have been massively reworked internally to support him) and Gordon Gano was playing a round-bellied silver spanish guitar. Victor DeLorenzo played a battered old snare drum inside a metal garbage can. It was an amazing set and a treasured memory of my college experience,
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