What Was Your First Live Concert?
 

The "first R-rated movie" thread just made this pop into my head. It should be a real gender-gap bonanza, this one.

My first live *rock* concert was Bloodrock and Grand Funk Railroad, Municipal Auditorium, KCMO, 1970.

The *very* first thing that I saw that could reasonably be termed a concert was a strange thing that our venerable outdoor theater (Starlight Theater) did for a couple of years in the mid-60's. They brought in currently popular pop groups and (rather uncomfortably) insinuated them into the course of their usual musical stage productions. For example, Gary Lewis and the Playboys in "Bye Bye Birdie", with Gary Lewis (Jerry Lewis's son and the leader of the band) as Conrad Birdie. There was also a show that had the Buckinghams at the height of their popularity, but I can't remember which show that was.

The bands would come out in mid show, play three numbers (if they were lucky, they actually had that many popular tunes in their repertoire), the chickies would scream, and then the show would go on. I was young and impressionable and a great afficianado of Top 40 AM radio music at the time, so it was cool.

AC-DC when i was about 12
then probably Big Day Out. a big festival here

I still haven't gone to one. It's generally too expensive to go... considering going to concerts are rather low on my priorities.

I think it was Ray Price with my folks when I was in short pants, outdoor venue Ghost Town in the Glen. On my own, it was probably the Charlie Daniels Band at our hockey palace in Binghamton.

get a load of this. Judas Priest opened for them. I was nine. My dad took me. He said it was the loudest thing he ever heard.

Momma took me to Three Dog Night.

First show without mom was Asia, the pathetic "supergroup" which gave us so much pain in the early 80s.

Living in Maine, we would only get one (or if we were lucky, two) rock bands coming through each year.

Just after I graduated from high school, I saw REM playing at the Cumberland County Civic Center. They had just released Fables, and were touring with The Three O'Clock, a band from LA. The Civic Center held about 5,000 people, but it wasn't full that night. It was a lot of fun.

Moody Blues

The Beatles, 1964 Las Vegas with Jackie DiShannon and The Righteous Brothers.
Wish I had kept the stubs but I was only 11 :(
and they were good ones -- 7th row floor, center.
That same night I went to see Liberace -- one of the few LV Club shows kids could go to.

Paul Simon, Rhythm of the Saints tour, 1990.

Yes. Close to the Edge tour (1975?)

Jeff Beck at The Palladium, Sunset Blvd.

Glastonbury 2005. One of the best times of my life, can't wait to go back '07 :).

We were supposed to play Glastonbury in '05, but band members' wives started popping out babies and no one could afford the plane fare. I've always wanted to play the side stage at a big festival and then walk around listening to bands for the rest of the day.

I can't remember the first concert I saw...I used to lie to classmates and say I had been to shows that my parents wouldn't allow me to go to. My "memories" of the fake shows are as vivid as those of the real ones (because I was wasted at the real ones).

Small venue: 3 dog night
Large venue: Black Sabbath

Roxy Music/The Sharks around about 1971/72..
There used to be a bar near where I lived that had live music and I remember seeing the Average White Band,Frankie Miller,Simple Minds way before they were famous.
The wildest gig I was ever at was The Dammed headlining with the Dead Boys from New York as support, ended up a mass battle between punks and skinheads Happy days!!!

Kiss at Red Rock Amphitheatre back when I was probably 7 or 8 years old ...next was Toto in the Pensacola Municipal Auditorium around 74-75....last concert held there since the vibration was shaking it off it's pilings and they were afraid it was going to fall into Pensacola Bay. Don't remember the Kiss concert that well but the Toto one was fantastic....had some early generation lasers which totally blew me away.

Mine was also AC/DC when I was 16. Taking SEPTA from Ambler to the stadium and back alone was a new experience.

That one was followed by a long string of hard rock concerts (a miracle I can still hear). I began wearing earplugs so that the tinnitus wouldn't bother me the next day for the Billy Idol (Hell Freezes Over) concert in Norfolk Arena circa 1988. This concert thing culminated with the last concert I went to, Yanni, with Dagney. Amazingly, I enjoyed it. The therapy has been making progress.

Hot Tuna, Humble Pie & Mountain.:D

Hey, I just bought an instructional video from Jack Casady, bassist for Hot Tuna. I haven't watched it yet... too busy screwing off.

Don't know if this counts, but my mother worked at the local cinema as the book-keeper. As TV started to take a hold in the late 50's the cinema occasionally held live concerts - I managed to sneak in about 15 minutes of one with Lonnie Donegan and Tommy Steele once.

I was only about 9 or 10, and I think it must have put me off for a while as the next event wasn't until I was 16 and riding around on a chrome-bubbled Vespa 160GS (picture not of mine, sadly - used to have a pic, but think it went the way of many that my parents had when they had the odd clearout), and was the original Moody Blues with singer Denny Laine in Balham South London (still have the 45 rpm record 'Go Now' up in the loft somewhere...)

You are so much cooler than me.

It was far from my first concert, but I saw Jorma (from Hot Tuna) at a small nightclub/bar a few years back. He was amazing.

speaking of Hot Tuna... my first Hollywood Bowl concert was Jefferson Airplane and The Greatful Dead (lightshow by Headlights). IIRC it was 1967.

They cut the power to the stage midway into The Dead because people had gone up onto the stage to dance. It was cut again during The Airplanes set.

Twisted Sister. Dokken was the front band.

3 dog night at 11. doobie bro's at 14. the commodores with lionel richie at 18. a friend worked at the stadium and we had front row, center seats, i was mad at my boyfriend and (a bad week) and sat there and scowled the whole time! lionel richie kept looking at me trying to get me to smile and i just wouldn't. at one point one of the other band members jumped on the chair next to me (occupant was up dancing, i was still sulking) and i got pissed cuz he pinched my leg with his foot. what a bitch!

Foo Fighters.

My younger brother was actually the one begging to be allowed to go, and my mother told me she'd buy my ticket for me if I would go with him. Don't know what good she really thought I'd do, since as she should have suspected we separated immediately inside the doors and only met up again at the end. Actually, we did cross paths once--when he kicked me in the head while crowdsurfing.

Fun concert though.

just live music?or rock ROCK!!!!!! show?

live?(other than 'garage' or bluegrass bands) blackflag/whiteflag

ROCK!!!! areana style? Billy Idol

yeah, sad I know

The first was when I was ,,,,, Well I don't rember but I got dragged to Sonny and Cher , Shanana , The Carpenters , etc,,,,,
The first I wanted to see was The Blues Brothers , but I used to slide my young self in to some local clubs and saw George Thourogood and the Destroyers ( they ROCKED that club ) and a few others .

I was trying to figure out how to say exactly this sort of thing, then I read your post. This would then, in turn, make you cooler than me.

I didn't even count those kinds of shows ... I saw a lot of acts including Sha Na Na, Harry Chapin, Chuck Mangione, Benny Goodman, Helen Reddy, Arlo Guthrie, and others at the Temple University Music Fair, which was very near my home. (all before 1980, IIRC)

I didn't either, Wolf..... Peter, Paul & Mary at a beatnik coffee house or Bob Dylan at a Tufts' University dive, don't count.

No way! Have you guys been drinking? :headshake

What would the odds of that be?

Ep doesn't drink, but we know Griff's a big fucking alkie. :)

My first concert was Barry Manilow in 1981...I'm not ashamed.

Chick Corea, Dave Weckl, John Pattatucci

Catalina's Bar and Grill, one of LA's best jazz clubs. I sat right next to the stage, watching Chick play piano, close enough that I could see the voicings he was using.

I still have yet to attend a big arena rock show. I've played in more than a few, but never attended one.

My first concert was Barry Manilow in 1981...I'm not ashamed.

My Mother PAID me to go see him with my sister .

I was 5 at the time...my mom is a big 70s lite rock fan. Saw him again in 1985...he puts on a hell of a show.

Don't know what exactly...
A luxemburgish band maybe on a school concert, band called T42 in 1992.
First festival, a small Blues Festival with headliners : Golden Earring and Michael Katon. Rocked like hell.
Concerts with Paolo Conte (famous italian jazz-man), Dave Brubeck or Paul McCartney (World Tour). Don't know anymore.
But a lot of good memories.

INXS on their Kick Tour

What I remember most about it is that the opener was Steel Pulse, which was a kinda rastafarian speed metal band. The crowd essentially booed them off. I think they only got about three songs out before they gave up.

I have never been to a rock concert. **sniff**
In 3rd or 4th grade I was on a class trip to hear the Denver Symphony Orchestra, and I've been more interested in classical/symphonic music ever since.

Yes, I really am that []. :p

That is a shame they are not a bad band, of course an INXS fan wouldn't know. ;)

Peter Frampton LIVE - 1976 in Philly. I really went for the opening band which was YES. Kinda funny as my older brother was forced to take me if he wanted to go. When we got a block from oour house he stopped the car and said "Anything that happens tonight does NOT get back to Mom - clear?" I competely understood after we picke up his friends and they all started partying. I haven't missed a Yes concert in 30 years and have taken my own kids to several - a great memory and a great beginning to a legacy.

Ah, one of my favorite shows of all time was Yes, 90125 tour, Hersheypark Arena. Just remembering that show for Jac the other day. It was outdoor, night, general admission on a football field, but the band was newly reinvigorated and in great form. Somebody had a massive banner reading Give Peace A Chance, and Mr. Anderson remarked on the state of the moon in the clear sky above.

I was at that show too - spent 1/2 an hour taping my name and address to the bottom of a frisbee and threw it to Jon (lead Singer) Who held it high, smiled and tossed it back itno the crowd without ever noticing my note - Oh well.

Am I the only one who finds it frightening that (1) anyone would book Yes and Framptom together, and (2) that Yes would be the opener?

I know Framptom was HUGE during the middle 70's. Hell, I *still* can't abide hearing that Heil talk boxed "good times, good times, good ty-imes" crap after 30 years. Forget the fact that all those songs on that live album had been completely and utterly ignored by the listening public when they were originally recorded. Forget the fact that Frampton's quality work in Humble Pie was long behind him by "Comes Alive" was released. How in the world could anyone have headlined him over Yes?

And Jo Jo Gunne. ;)

I think I was 6 or 7 and my folks took me to see Conway Twitty and Loretta Lynn...

I don't remember getting in trouble so I must have enjoyed it... :)

At the Hershey show they booked a hard rock band named "Kix" I think it was, as the lead-in before YES and the lead guitarist was so wasted he couldn't even play and he had track marks all over his arm - it was bizarre - who puts these bands together anyway??? Just another question from the man with no answers. . . . . :scream:

Kix was probably booked because, like Yes, they were also on Atlantic, and they were popular in central PA and I think, Baltimore. Back in the day it was possible for an act to be regional, because radio wasn't all networked to hell and back. Kix got an unearned cult following and would sell 100,000 albums every year for a decade.

And I heard, no lie, that Kix lead singer is now a billboard painter.

At the time, Central PA had a mini-scene of hair metal with band names all with misspellings. One band actually made it out to the rest of the country: Poison. (I'm so very sorry. I tried to change things but my efforts were meaningless.)

I apparently destroyed some metal band's burgeoning carreer by admitting their lead singer for treatment following a heroin overdose the day before the band was to begin production on their first video for MTV. Their agent, and then a guy from the record company (major label) kept calling begging that he be released, just for the two days they needed him, and then they promised to bring him back.

This was some time ago, back when MTV still played videos.

My mom took me to see Cheap Trick for my 8th grade graduation. Must have been 89 or 90. We had pit tickets at Universal Amp. From then on, if I couldn't touch the stage at a concert, I was unhappy. I could have probably bought a small country with all the money I've spent on concerts.

I think I saw Cheap Trick as the opening act for REO Speedwagon during the Wheels are Turning tour ... 1984. Oh. Which reminds me of the lamest concert I ever went to. Gotta find that other thread.

Reo Speedwagon.... oh man, that woulda been cool...

My first by choice was Grateful Dead, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, 6/27/85.
I'd seen Tammy Wynette (there's a pic of me on her lap around here somewhere), George Jones, Hank Williams Jr, Kenny Rogers etc.. with my parents - and James Taylor and Scandal with my sister, before I had a choice.

I also saw REO on their Greatest Hits tour at the Valley Forge Music Fair. My seats were very close to the stage because my friend knew someone that worked for the music fair and got Inner Circle tickets. I found myself wondering if performers there ever got motion sickness.

Answering original thread question: It was supposed to be KISS but my mom wouldn't let me go with my big bro (he was trouble, at the time. haha!). It wound up being Hall and Oates for the H2O tour, at Forest Hills Stadium, NY.

Platinum Blonde. Seriously.

Evanescence, backstage. Wasn't the greatest, but I like Ms. Lee's taste in fashion.

In Dana Point (when I was much younger and still lived in SoCal), a Beach Boys tribute band called Longboard.

I was born and raised in Reno NV, so I saw many floor shows before I ever saw an actual concert. I can not really remember the 1st concert, if I were to guess it was prolly J. Geils Band. I got an awesome photo from that concert. If I had a scanner I would upload it, but it would have some obnoxious writing over the top to protect it. :p
Perhaps i will gather all my best work and go to the local drug store and have them transferred to a disk. *needs to get with the times*

My 1st floor show was Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. My fav floor show was Sammy Davis Jr.

My fav cabaret was always BB King. The Man is awesome!

Mom took to me see Elvis when he did the Louisiana Hayride tour/shows, but I was only about 3 or 4yr old... don't remember.

When I was mid-teens or I saw the Beach Boys in concert in Dallas, when they came out with "Good Vibrations" That one I remember.

After the 70s beget... I saw many multiple concert/showcases rock-jazz-blues.

(some of those I remember) My faves were Miles Davis, Blood Sweat and Tears, Nina Simone, Herbie Hancock, ZZ Top (but no one new them, they had no albums out yet), and the phenomenal Chase, (died in air crash) ... a four trumpet rock band and all could scream into the stratosphere like Maynard Ferguson.

Other than them, use to skip school to drive the Denton, TX to sneak shows of North Texas State University 1 O'clock Lab Band