I have seen shows at First Ave before but never got to shoot a show there. A little background on the venue. It opened in 1937 as a Greyhound bus station. The current floor in the Main room is the same floor from the bus station. It first opened as a music venue in 1970 and Joe Cocker was the first to play. It became a Disco for awhile and then in 1981 it became First Avenue.
It may be best known for Prince however. He filmed much of Purple Rain there and the album version of the song was recorded live there in 1983. You can search the internet for video of that night. It is an amazing video as no one in the audience knows the song and they are all just listening. Prince is sweating and ripping it up. They hired a audio truck to record the performance and then edited it and put it on the album.
Everyone has played First Ave. Just read all the names on the stars outside. From Prince to the Violent Femmes, U2, Husker Du, The Replacements, Soul Asylum and the list goes on.
Needless to say i was stoked to shoot a show in such a legendary place. Had a good conversation with FOH man Myles about him being FOH for the Nirvana Nevermind tour. Not bad at all.
There is still a Parking spot reserved for Prince even though he has passed away.
The backstage wall is lined with past set lists of everyone from local boy Mason Jennings to Motorhead.
It was a great show. Charlie Rose from Elephant Revival joined Dead Horses for a few tunes. And Dead Horses jumped up for the final encore with Elephant Revival. Lets not forget that Charlie Parr was also on the bill...fantastic! It was an all around good jam. Beers were drank and dancing was done by the audience for sure.
There was even a sidewalk jam for 2 songs between sets! While frowned upon by management the smiles on the faces of the fans was pretty great.
Now onto the photos.
As always big thank you to Dead Horses for taking me along. Also big thanks to the crew from Elephant Revival for being awesome as well as the fantastic crew at First Ave.
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