A look at 25 years of Higher Ground, one concert at a time
Higher Ground wanted to find a way to honor its 25th year, but how does one celebrate a music venue that’s hosted thousands of acts in its first quarter-century?
Instead of focusing on all those shows, the South Burlington night spot homed in on more than 350 concerts where, at the end of the night, club employees dispensed artful commemorative posters to often-surprised patrons as they headed home. The posters, and some of the stories behind them, are represented in “Echo: A Survey at 25 Years of Sounds, Art and Ink on Paper.” The hefty book, to be published April 1, features images of those posters.
That includes the first one produced, for a concert April 17, 1998 – Higher Ground’s third day at its original site in Winooski – by Phish guitarist and Vermont resident Trey Anastasio, who formed a project called 8 Foot Fluorescent Tubes. (A group of Vermont musicians led by guitarist Bob Wagner will recreate that music in an April 13 concert at the South Burlington venue dubbed “4 Foot Phosphorescent Cubes.”)
The book includes a letter Higher Ground co-owner Alex Crothers sent in 1998 to Michael Jager of Burlington graphic-design firm Jager DiPaola Kemp. Crothers laid out his proposal for the company now known as Solidarity of Unbridled Labour to “design one poster each month (or more if desired) for an event of your choice,” emphasizing that “you would answer to no one – you would have complete artistic control.”
Crothers told the Burlington Free Press he was inspired by a visit to The Fillmore, Bill Graham’s legendary music venue in San Francisco, which handed out free commemorative posters after shows.
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“I just thought it was a really amazing give-back to the music fan and the community,” Crothers said. Most of the Higher Ground posters are 15 inches square – similar in shape but slightly larger than an album cover – and silkscreened on heavy paper stock by the Burlington-based Iskra Print Collective.
Jager told the Free Press he grew up on a farm in St. Albans as an “addicted music fan” with a fondness for David Bowie, The Clash and the Sex Pistols and a talent for drawing. Music posters covered every inch of his room.
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“Music was always a big piece of what motivated me and interested me,” Jager said, so when Crothers sent his request, he felt “a kinship.” Money, he noted, was never a topic.
“I think it’s an act of love,” Jager said. “I hope people really experience the love and can feel it and see it and be part of it.”
Crothers wants that as well. “They help you remember this moment that’s very fleeting,” he said.
On that note, I decided to go through my dusty, dinged-up collection of posters from concerts presented by Higher Ground to prompt my own memories of those fleeting moments. Here are a few of those recollections, and the posters that help spur them.
The Decemberists – May 24, 2005
The poster depicting a whale’s tale – not unlike the sculpture visible off Interstate 89 in South Burlington – reminds me of the band’s raucous version of “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” they ended the night with. But I got another great keepsake from this show as well, as this was the (brief) heyday of when bands created instant live-CD recordings of all of their shows. The two-disc set I have from The Decemberists is definitely one of the more-unique offerings in my music collection.
Grace Potter & the Nocturnals – Oct. 14, 2005
The nocturnal owl that greets viewers of this poster may be telling them to keep an eye on this band. After seeing the rising Vermont group play smaller venues such as Halvorson’s Upstreet Café, Nectar’s and Club Metronome, this was the first time I caught them headlining Higher Ground’s Ballroom. The question when a band moves up to a larger room is, can they fill the space with their sound and their presence? After this night, there was no doubt. Grace is still rocking houses 18 years later.
Editors – March 21, 2006
I had just returned home after covering the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, where I was disappointed to be shut out of a filled-to-capacity venue where this hot new band from England was playing. Consolation prize – I got to see them as part of a disappointingly small crowd at Higher Ground. The band was great that night, but their ensuing albums were increasingly uninteresting. Until last year’s super-charged “EBM,” that is, which proves that you should never fully give up on a band you really believed in once upon a time.
KT Tunstall – June 11, 2006
This is still one of my top Burlington musical memories. The Scottish-born Tunstall busked on Church Street one summer, long before 2006 when she became an international pop star with hits such as “Black Horse and the Cherry Tree” and “Suddenly I See.” I remember this show being a lot of fun, but the short set she did a few hours earlier on the Church Street Marketplace – reliving her busking days but with a much larger crowd on hand – was a one-of-a-kind treat.
Higher Ground 10-year anniversary – April 15, 2008
I have few recollections of this night – I think it was more about socializing than hearing live music – but the oversized poster that’s framed and displayed in the Free Press offices is one of my favorites. The artwork, with the name of every band who performed at Higher Ground in its first decade written into images of a fan’s hands in the air, is pretty astonishing. Every now and then I pass this poster and look for the name of the band that played the first show I attended at Higher Ground in Winooski – Luna on Dec. 13, 1999. (It’s upside-down beneath the thumb on the right hand.)
Feist – May 11, 2012
Leslie Feist was still riding high on the fame hits like “1234” garnered her a few years earlier when she played this Higher Ground-presented show at the Flynn in Burlington. The music was lovely and intense, but most of all I remember that at the end she invited anyone in the crowd who wanted to join her and her band on stage to do so. I think those of us who stayed in the audience to watch were outnumbered by those who packed on stage in one giant celebration.
Morrissey – Oct. 16, 2012
This was another show by Higher Ground at the Flynn, and I was hesitant to attend. As a big fan of The Smiths in college who caught the band in Montreal on “The Queen Is Dead” tour, I wasn’t sure I wanted to sully that memory by seeing their mercurial singer on his solo ego trip. But Morrissey was having a good night, and so were we in the crowd, as his music was as powerful and insightful as ever.
Eagles of Death Metal – May 10, 2016
This is the most-historic show I’ve seen at Higher Ground. The American rock band played its first concert in the U.S. since terrorists stormed the Bataclan club in Paris on Nov. 13 of the previous year, slaughtering 89 people while the Eagles of Death Metal were on stage. The band didn’t acknowledge the moment until about an hour into the show, when the crowd spontaneously erupted in sustained applause. “We need you tonight and you did not let us down!” front man Jesse Hughes shouted.
Alvvays – May 30, 2018
Sometimes we get lucky to have a band pass through Vermont on their way to bigger things. That was the case when these Canadian pop-punk purveyors played Higher Ground. They broke into “Plimsoll Punks,” my favorite song from their 2017 album “Antisocialites,” and I was instantly ensconced in my own little corner of heaven for the next four minutes.
The Milk Carton Kids – Oct. 18, 2018
The duo’s music is low-key, achingly beautiful, almost dour. That’s part of what makes the hilarious, smart, droll banter between Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale so special. The poster from this night captures that vibe. It reads: “With compliments, please enjoy as treasured keepsake, birdcage liner, impromptu umbrella, folded plane to distract recalcitrant child, crumb collector, or emergency automotive coolant funnel.”
Richard Thompson – Aug. 24, 2021
This was Higher Ground’s first show back in 531 days, after being shut down by the COVID-19 pandemic. I was working this night covering the reopening, not absorbing the music in quite the same way I would as a fan in the crowd, but I remember feeling relieved to be back in a room I had spent many hundreds of happy hours in. It felt strangely normal, which was extremely welcome after a year and a half of near-total abnormality.
Parquet Courts – Nov. 3, 2021
I had seen this creative New York indie-rock band in Higher Ground’s smaller Showcase Lounge before, but this set in the larger Ballroom was charged with special power. This show was also a reminder to go early to see the opener, something I always try to do. The first band that played, Public Practice, displayed their funky, fun brand of post-punk pop-rock that made them my new favorite band of 2021.
4 Foot Phosphorescent Tubes with Soule Monde: Tickets, times and location
WHAT: 4 Foot Phosphorescent Tubes with Soule Monde
WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, April 13
WHERE: Higher Ground Ballroom, South Burlington
INFORMATION: $20 in advance, $25 day of show. www.highergroundmusic.com
Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.
This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Higher Ground marks 25 years with 'Echo' - a book of concert posters
