Metro Chicago

I started coming down to see shows at Metro in 1990, I think, being chauffeured in an Astro van by my girlfriend’s dad. My first show was Inspiral Carpets, and I remember it better than most people probably remember that band. My most memorable, though, was later that year, when Revenge—the band led by Peter Hook of New Order—headlined (the Internet tells me it was August 5, 1990).  A diehard New Order fan at just 16, I made my way to the front of the stage early, and rocked out to songs that nobody really remembers. (Okay, maybe Pete Hook and Joe Shanahan do.) At some point, Hooky’s bass strap broke, and a roadie gave it to me. I was in heaven. It got better; I ended up backstage and chatting with the man himself, who seemed delighted that this young dork was excited to meet him. I asked him to sign the broken bass strap, to which he replied something like, “That’s not broken! I need that back! I get ‘em in China and I have to put two of them together to make them as long as I want!” (He also said something about Asian people being short, if I remember correctly.) Anyway, he offered to swap me a T-shirt for it, and since I had already bought a regular one, I insisted that he find me one of the shirts that the club had printed specially for the show—basically the flyer printed onto a shirt. Even though he has a reputation as a grouchy pirate, Hook was game, got me one of the special shirts, and autographed it “My best swap yet! — Pete Hook.” 

-Josh Modell, A.V. Club Chicago