Set your DVRs, because The Replacements are prefacing their big homecoming show in St. Paul, Minnesota by playing on The Tonight Show tonight. Normally this wouldn’t be such a big deal, except for one thing: The band was banned from 30 Rockefeller Center back in 1986. (True, they were broken up for 21 of those 28 years, but still.) Lorne Michaels banned the group from the building after a sloppy, drunken performance on Saturday Night Live that included switching outfits between “Bastards Of Young” and “Kiss Me On The Bus.” However, according to former lead guitarist Bob Stinson, Michaels had provided The Replacements with a free bar tab, so the whole thing was pretty much his fault to begin with.
But apparently Lorne doesn’t have quite the pull he used to, because Jimmy Fallon has lifted the ban and invited the older, ostensibly wiser, reunited Replacements to play on The Tonight Show. Tonight’s guests also include Debra Messing and Keith Richards, who could probably teach those snot-nosed punks from Minneapolis a thing or two about trashing a hotel room.