'Beer for Breakfast'? Remembering the young, wild Replacements
by Jim Bickal
September 12, 2014
Replacements shows have snagged consistently good reviews since the band reunited last year. But the polished performances these days are a lot different than the 1980s.
Back then, Replacements concerts were wild and unpredictable — a great show one night, a drunken disaster the next.
As excitement builds for Saturday's concert at St. Paul's Midway Stadium — the Replacements' first home town performance in 22 years — it's worth remembering one of their more infamous shows, a fast, beer-soaked wreck on the campus of Grinnell College in rural Iowa in 1984.
"They pulled up in their van, and a case of beer cans rolled out the door," recalls Grinnell alumnus Leif Larsen. "They did not finish one song during the set."
"It was crazy and I just remember commenting to other people, 'It's true rock n' roll' ... it was intoxicated rock n roll at its best'."
Opening for the Wallets, the Replacements' set descended into a near-riot involving broken gear and the local police.
Click on the audio link above to hear the full story.
This story originally published on MPR News website.