The Spectrum: RIP

Last night the Spectrum closed.

For most of my life the Spectrum was one of the poles of the Montreal music geography. For my generation of music fans it was the place your favorite local band played when it had out grown Foufounes, or where your favorite out of town band played when they were too small for Metropolis or Maurice Richard Arena.

It wasn't much to look at, the sight lines were good and the sound system was loud and pretty good, apart from that it wasn't the prettiest place on earth, nor even the most grungy.

But the bands I saw, oh god the bands. Two moments stand out in my head, both of them in the company of my oldest buddy, Ian. One year the Voodoo Bar BQ, complete with indoor grilling, 7 million bands and Gerard Van Herks glasses flying into the crowd ("that's what I get for trying to be a cool rock star"). The other moment was when Ian and I caught Iggy Pop when he dove off the stage (yes I washed again, yes it was bizarre to touch the muscle that sings and walks like a man).

There were other bands, other weird moments (the concert where some guy next to me in the pit gave his girlfriend an orgasm kind of sticks out), but in the end they all kind of blur into one bit of Spectrumy wonderment.

I'll miss the old dump.