Gin Blossoms are one of my favorite bands from the ’90s. Their album New Miserable Experience was the first album I purchased on CD (technically, a split purchase with my brother that also included the album Vitalogy from Pearl Jam) and I eventually collected a number of their albums, including some (at the time) rarities like the Dusted album (I think this was a cassette purchase?), Shut up and Smoke and the original version of NME that had a different cover and CD design (a basketball?). I even purchased albums of some of the band members’ side projects, namely Robin Wilson’s Gas Giants group.
I first caught the Gin Blossoms live way long ago when they performed a Z100 Morning Show in Bryant Park. The show also included a performance from the Broadway cast of RENT, which I wasn’t familiar with at the time. But somehow I ended up with the cast recording on CD (courtesy of Z100) and gave that a bunch of spins — but that’s a separate story.
Before 2017, I may not have seen the band since 2002 or so at a show in Virginia. I say “may” as I know I had wanted to see them a bunch of other times they came to the NYC are, and I actually maybe saw them in Stamford for an Alive at Five show but I didn’t ever note that on my concert history spreadsheet so I would have to take the time to ask someone else if they remember going. In any case, the band’s late 2017 tour was celebrating New Miserable Experience with a full album performance, so I knew I had to go. Check out the photos of Gin Blossoms, The Cringe (whose frontman gave me some awesome photo opps) and Holy Tunics (a CT band that is friends with friends of mine (and are playing tonight at Sunnyvale with the band Veda Rays) that I shot for Irving Plaza and Live Nation below.
Holy Tunics
The Cringe
Gin Blossoms
