As several of us continue to lionize the eroding remains of the 11th Street Ritz (a.k.a. Webster Hall) as it literally falls apart, it's easy to overlook the club's less-celebrated iteration as The New Ritz, which claimed the space once occupied by Studio 54 on West 54th between Broadway and 8th Avenue between 1988 and 1993. I've written about the New Ritz a number of times -- notably here and here -- and was lucky enough to see some amazing shows in that space -- from the top of my head….Killing Joke, The Mission, the Sisters of Mercy, Robyn Hitchcock & Billy Bragg, Concrete Blonde, Iron Maiden, Danzig, Ministry, the Revolting Cocks (with The Mentors), Skinny Puppy, KMFDM (with COP SHOOT COP), Public Image Ltd. (with Big Audio Dynamite and …er… Blind Melon), Siouxsie & the Banshees (with the Wonder Stuff), GBH (with KRAUT), Motorhead, the Buzzcocks, Public Enemy (with Onyx & House of Pain), Bad Brains, GWAR and even a shitty Guns N' Roses show that featured more costume-changes than a Liza Minelli revue.
One of my favorite-ever shows witnesses there, however, was in June of 1992, featuring Los Angeleno punk legends FEAR, with the Dwarves opening. I'm informed by my friend Phil Freeman of Burning Ambulance that Elvis Hitler was also on the bill, but I was probably by the bar for their set. In any case, I remember it being the event of the season, as they say. I went with my friends Rob D. and my recently late friend Danny Choy, and a splendid time was verily had by all.
Memories are slightly hazy, on this point, but I believe it was during this same visit in 1992 that I also saw FEAR deliver an incongruously acoustic -- but still endearingly objectionable -- performance as an impromptu event at the New Music Seminar in Times Square's Mariott Marquis hotel. Sadly, I've found no documentation of that performance, but a current co-worker remembers it well.
In any case, I owned a copy of the Ritz show below on VHS cassette for many years before it was regrettably purged in a campaign to make our home less rife with anachronism. Someone evidently uploaded it onto YouTube as recently as last December, so it's now everyone's to enjoy, once again.
Enjoy FEAR at the New Ritz in 1992. If you squint closely enough, you might even spot me on Rob's shoulders. I'm wearing a fIREHOSE shirt under a white denim jacket (hey, … it was the 90s).
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