My First Show: Beau Wagener Tells Us About Seeing Weird Al in '87 In Advance of His Debut With People on Vacation This Weekend

Welcome to My First Show, where we give bands a chance to talk about the first shows they ever attended -- no matter how uncool and embarrassing those tales may be.

Beau Wagener

​Beau Wagener might be best known around town as the bassist for Macavity and, more recently, as one of three guitarists in The Crash That Took Me. This weekend, though, he returns to bass to play with People On Vacation, which has already received a few mentions here on DC9 and will make its live debut this weekend, with its first Dallas show coming Saturday, January 29, at the House of Blues' Cambridge Room.

But even with this busy schedule, you'll still spot Wagener at many shows around town these days and, perhaps, even DJing, which he does under the spot-on nickname of Beauner Jamz.

As for the first show he ever saw? Why, it's kind of a classic -- especially for any self-respecting child of the '80s. That's right: Waganer's first ever concert experience came with "Weird Al" Yankovic. After the jump, we enviously get to the bottom of how that came to be.

What was the first concert you saw? Did your parents accompany you?
My mom took me to my first concert in the summer of '87. It was The Monkees reunion tour sans Mike Nesmith at Starplex, and Huey Lewis & The News and "Weird Al" Yankovic opened the show -- complete with giant Mr. Potato Head dancers during "Addicted to Spuds." I've bought every "Weird Al" album since, no joke.

What was the first show you saw with your own money?
My first show that I went to on my own was seeing Sonic Youth in '95 at the Bomb Factory with Polvo and Unwound opening. The bass player of Unwound played with his guitar to his knees, was like, 6'5" and went by the name of Carp. He also blew the cherry from his cigarette out into the crowd in total Star Wars battle fashion. He was my hero for an hour. Then I witnessed Sonic Youth. I had never heard textures and noises like that. Listening to their records was not sufficient enough to understand what it is that they do. I was completely mesmerized with every aspect of them and their abilities to draw in the audience and spiritually bring everyone to their knees. Not to mention leaving them deaf for two hours after the show. Just fucking incredible.

People On Vacation debuts live this weekend. What can we expect?
People On Vacation is totally awesome! I'm honored to be a part of it. It's a group of hilarious guys playin' music specifically engineered for smilin'. Jaret and Ryan's ability to write so well together shines through in all the songs. There's no pretense, no egos, just upbeat, good-natured tune-age. I can't wait for everyone to hear it!