# First concert you ever attended...



## SquarePeg (Aug 27, 2017)

I'll go first but don't judge.  I was only 12 or 13...  it was one of those multi artist teeny bopper Christmas concerts put on by our local top 40 radio station in Boston, WRKO.

Sean Cassidy, Andy Gibb, James Montgomery Band, England Dan & John Ford Coley and the pièce de ré·sis·tance, the...   



Spoiler



Bay City Rollers!  S-A-TUR-DAY NIGHT!!


----------



## zombiesniper (Aug 27, 2017)

Oh my. That line up may just have killed me. lol

1979 in Albany. Judas Priest, Hell Bent For Leather tour. I was 8 and on top of my uncles shoulders. It was probably the first time I got stoned from second hand smoke as well. lol


----------



## tirediron (Aug 27, 2017)

Never been to one.


----------



## JonA_CT (Aug 27, 2017)

On my own though? 

I saw John Butler Trio and O.A.R. at the State Theater in Portland, ME when I was 17. John Butler still might have put on the best live show I've seen, and I've been to at least 50 shows since (although mostly club level music).


----------



## 480sparky (Aug 27, 2017)

Maynard Ferguson, 1976.


----------



## snowbear (Aug 27, 2017)

With parents - We used to go see the USMC band play at the Iwo Jima Memorial grounds, in Arlington, VA during the summers when I was a kid.
Without parents - Frankie Valli, Jay and the Americans, and one other I can't recall.  Went with a couple of the guys. (around 1972)
"Date" with a girl - Not a concert but a musical at high school with Jackie T., a very attractive redhead I'd gone to middle school with (1973 or 1974)


----------



## yamaha pat (Aug 27, 2017)

Queen opened for Mott The Hoople at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1974.


----------



## 480sparky (Aug 27, 2017)

yamaha pat said:


> Queen opened for Mott The Hoople at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1974.



I wonder how much my Queen World Tour '80 T-shirt is worth now?


----------



## oldhippy (Aug 27, 2017)

1970 Fleetwood Mack, Alpine Valley Wisconsin.


----------



## limr (Aug 27, 2017)

yamaha pat said:


> Queen opened for Mott The Hoople at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1974.



Excellent!

I think my first 'proper' concert was 1987 or 1988. My sister and I were visiting our other sister in Florida and we saw Luciano Pavarotti at the Orlando Civic Center.

First "rock" concert was in college, 1989, at the UFlorida bandshell. B-52s.


----------



## RowdyRay (Aug 27, 2017)

AC/DC with Blackfoot. 1980 at the Met Center in Bloomington MN. It was their Back in Black tour. One heck of a night.


----------



## 480sparky (Aug 27, 2017)

I wonder how many young-uns are reading this thread and thinking "Who the *&$@ is THAT?!?!?!"


----------



## limr (Aug 27, 2017)

480sparky said:


> I wonder how many young-uns are reading this thread and thinking "Who the *&$@ is THAT?!?!?!"



How many active users under 40 do we even have?


----------



## tirediron (Aug 27, 2017)

limr said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > I wonder how many young-uns are reading this thread and thinking "Who the *&$@ is THAT?!?!?!"
> ...


What means "under 40"?


----------



## limr (Aug 27, 2017)

Now I have "All the Young Dudes" stuck in my head.


----------



## vintagesnaps (Aug 27, 2017)

Oh no, why does this site (usually the Coffeehouse or Leaderboard) always get some song stuck in my head?!?! lol now I'll have stuff going thru my head all night...

I guess it was the Doobie Brothers, before anybody knew who they were. Saw them at college, Jeff "Skunk" Baxter sat out on the front of the stage in our basketball arena. Yep, they were still unknowns...


----------



## 480sparky (Aug 27, 2017)

limr said:


> 480sparky said:
> 
> 
> > I wonder how many young-uns are reading this thread and thinking "Who the *&$@ is THAT?!?!?!"
> ...



Beats me.  I don't have access to that metric.


----------



## terri (Aug 28, 2017)

I know I had a chance to see Pink Floyd during the Animals tour, and was not allowed to go.    Mom, I want to forgive you but it's hard.    Alice Cooper scared her, too.   

I can't recall for sure, now - likely something she considered tamer for my age, like the Doobie Brothers or Beach Boys (after Brian Wilson quit touring, sniffle).    Oh, or maybe Bob Seeger; he played Detroit a lot back when he was still worth seeing.


----------



## Designer (Aug 28, 2017)

First and last: 

John Fogerty in Stephens Auditorium, Ames, Iowa.  (maybe sometime in the 1990's ?)

My son bought us tickets.  

I had no idea who he is or why I was going. 

The music was very loud.


----------



## Braineack (Aug 28, 2017)

The Vandals at the Black Cat in DC.

We got to see about 3-4 songs before we had to go home--it was a school night.


----------



## Designer (Aug 28, 2017)

tirediron said:


> What means "under 40"?


Something like a long time ago, I think.


----------



## BrentC (Aug 28, 2017)

zombiesniper said:


> Oh my. That line up may just have killed me. lol
> 
> 1979 in Albany. Judas Priest, Hell Bent For Leather tour. I was 8 and on top of my uncles shoulders. It was probably the first time I got stoned from second hand smoke as well. lol



Funny mine was Judas Priest in the mid-80's at CNE Grandstand.


----------



## limr (Aug 28, 2017)

BrentC said:


> zombiesniper said:
> 
> 
> > Oh my. That line up may just have killed me. lol
> ...



Judas Priest was one of the bands that we all used to draw in pen on our denim 3-ring binders in the 80s  And of course, everyone knew how to do the funky Styx "S". Never saw either of them in concert, though. 

The concert that wasn't my first, but the most important for me to see was Rush. Saw them twice, actually - once in Jacksonville and once in Pittsburgh. I had always dreamed of seeing them in concert in Toronto - hometown crowd and all - but I am not sure that's ever going to happen. First, I know they're still touring, but I imagine opportunities are more limited than they once were. Second, I am now old enough that all I can think of is how much I do NOT want to deal with crowds and parking and being bone tired.


----------



## BrentC (Aug 28, 2017)

limr said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> > zombiesniper said:
> ...



Unfortunately Rush retired from touring last year.   They were another favorite of mine but never saw them in concert.  For Prog rock I did see Yes and Jethro Tull.

Geddy lee and Alex Leifson are supposedly forming an offshoot group.  No Neil Pert.


----------



## limr (Aug 28, 2017)

BrentC said:


> limr said:
> 
> 
> > BrentC said:
> ...



Bummer! Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall hearing something about this. I think I blocked it out of my memory - too traumatic 

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the offshoot group. I mean, I kinda get it, and I know those two were childhood friends and they started Rush with a different drummer. And I am really really curious to hear what they come up with. 

But man, those three are just so great together, so it's hard to imagine them not making music as a trio.


----------



## webestang64 (Aug 28, 2017)

1979 (I was 15) saw the group Kansas. 

Still go to shows.....going to see the Scorpions in Chicago Sept 23rd. ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!!!!


----------



## limr (Aug 28, 2017)

webestang64 said:


> 1979 (I was 15) saw the group Kansas.
> 
> Still go to shows.....going to see the Scorpions in Chicago Sept 23rd. ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE!!!!



Kansas is definitely still touring! Kansas Tour Dates 2017 - Upcoming Kansas Concert Dates and Tickets | Bandsintown


----------



## oldhippy (Aug 28, 2017)

My son Dan was a road'e with Iron Maiden for a couple years. Saw the in concert in the 70s


----------



## jcdeboever (Aug 28, 2017)

The Ramones, way back in the day. Detroit.


----------



## SquarePeg (Aug 28, 2017)

zombiesniper said:


> Oh my. That line up may just have killed me. lol



After my admittedly laughable start, I became a bit of a concert junkie.  At around 16, I had a friend whose uncle had something to do with the music business (can't remember what it was exactly - record company? recording studio?), anyway, he got her tickets and sometimes backstage passes to everything that came into Boston back in the late 70's through the late 80's - Blue Oyster Cult and Foghat - I didn't even know who they were, still don't!,  KISS, AC/DC, Aerosmith (at least 5X), Van Halen, Journey, Prince, the Police, Queen, the Cars, Pat Benatar, Meatloaf, Guns n Roses...  anyone even remotely mainstream from the late 70's through the 90's, I've seen them live - even some not so mainstream - Echo and the Bunny Men, ???

I took my daughter to our local top 40 radio station's Christmas concert last December when she was 13.  It was a bunch of teeny bopper stars.  Today's Sean Cassidys!  Full circle right?


----------



## zombiesniper (Aug 28, 2017)

Okay.
A shaky start but a pretty good finish. lol


----------



## runnah (Aug 28, 2017)

Primus.


----------



## limr (Aug 28, 2017)

runnah said:


> Primus.



They opened for one of the Rush concerts I went to.


----------



## webestang64 (Aug 28, 2017)

limr said:


> webestang64 said:
> 
> 
> > 1979 (I was 15) saw the group Kansas.
> ...



Oh yeah, they were here in St. Louis on my B-Day....10-21-2016......


----------



## yamaha pat (Aug 28, 2017)

480sparky said:


> yamaha pat said:
> 
> 
> > Queen opened for Mott The Hoople at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1974.
> ...


----------



## jcdeboever (Aug 29, 2017)

The best concert I ever went to was Peter Garbriel, I was in the Marines. What a show! 

However, I loved the Chicago Symphony Orchestra when I lived there. My wife went once and struggled all the way through it and totally ruined it for me so I went back by myself many times. The Los Angeles Philharmonic is on my bucket list.


----------



## vintagesnaps (Aug 29, 2017)

Don't Fear the Reaper and Slow Ride, SharonCat. 

And you don't know Echo and the Bunnymen?? geez... lol Now you're getting into my alternative rock/indie rock or whatever they're calling it now.


----------



## Gary A. (Aug 29, 2017)

Not quite if my first was Three Dog Night at the Greek, with Aretha Franklin opening or Neil Diamond at the Greek (One Hot August Night).

My date for both concerts:


----------



## Dean_Gretsch (Aug 29, 2017)

I think my first was Head East, Point Blank, REO Speedwagon and headlining Bob Seger at the Summer Jam 1979 (?) @ U of Louisville football stadium.


----------



## CharlzO2k (Aug 29, 2017)

Oh boy. First one I ever went to, back in 95 I think? Boyz II Men with Montell Jordan (girl I liked loved Boyz II Men, so I was all for trying!). Thought my dad would freak (had to buy a ticket for him too, so he could drive us), the first song comes up, and Montell and his entourage come out with hooded robes like it was a freaking cult. 

Since then, I've progressed into better tastes. And coming circle, hitting GnR in Boston on October. Bucket list item to be crossed off!


----------



## Dean_Gretsch (Aug 29, 2017)

I don't count the ones ( country, bleh! lol ) I was forced to go to with my parents somewhere around 1970-72


----------



## Gary A. (Aug 29, 2017)

A couple of weeks ago I hit Queen at the Hollywood Bowl.  Absolutely Wonderful!


----------



## BrentC (Aug 29, 2017)

Gary A. said:


> A couple of weeks ago I hit Queen at the Hollywood Bowl.  Wonderful!



I would have loved to have seen Queen when Freddy Mercury was still with us.  One of the best voices in rock ever.  I hear Lambert does a pretty good job.


----------



## Gary A. (Aug 29, 2017)

Lambert was excellent with the right combo of homage and humility. Mercury was seamlessly worked into the program via video.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Hertz van Rental (Aug 30, 2017)

BrentC said:


> I would have loved to have seen Queen when Freddy Mercury was still with us.  One of the best voices in rock ever.



I nearly punched him once


----------



## Ysarex (Aug 30, 2017)

Il Trovatore -- would have been around 1964 and Montserrat Caballe sang. Still can't get that anvil out of my head.


----------



## terri (Aug 30, 2017)

Hertz van Rental said:


> BrentC said:
> 
> 
> > I would have loved to have seen Queen when Freddy Mercury was still with us.  One of the best voices in rock ever.
> ...


What, did he beat you to the punch? Did he hurt you? !


----------



## 480sparky (Aug 30, 2017)

https://safr.kingfeatures.com/idn/c...aaXRzLzIwMTcvMDgvWml0cy4yMDE3MDgzMF85MDAuZ2lm


----------



## Antarctican (Sep 3, 2017)

I think my first concert was Queen's _News of the World_ tour in Toronto in November 1977.  (Didn't have an opportunity to punch Freddie Mercury though...my seat was way too far back)


----------



## Dragster3 (Sep 3, 2017)

Mickey Gilley/ Cash when I was 10 with my pops, The Roidz  via my skate board(local punk band 1989/90,), Pop Band Beastie Boys 1992

My parents took me to a lot of concerts...


----------



## Dragster3 (Sep 3, 2017)

jcdeboever said:


> The Ramones, way back in the day. Detroit.


I saw the Ramones...They were awesome...


----------



## pez (Sep 3, 2017)

Er, umm... Black Oak Arkansas...


----------



## gckless (Sep 5, 2017)

Garth Brooks, can't remember the year, but when he first got popular. I was young. I don't like country at all, but everyone likes Garth Brooks.


----------



## compur (Sep 5, 2017)

I was in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area back in the mid 1960s and played in rock bands so I often went to hear other local “garage bands” play but the first “name” musicians I went to see were probably at the original Fillmore Auditorium when it opened in San Francisco in about 1966. I went a number of times and saw many acts there including Janice Joplin, Paul Butterfield, Steve Miller, Tower of Power, Jefferson Airplane, “Big Momma” Thornton, Chuck Berry, The Byrds, Santana, Cream, the Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and many others. I also played there on an “open Tuesday” with my band opening for Buffalo Springfield. I was also at the infamous Altamont Concert in 1969 (way in the back). A good friend and fellow musician with whom I played gigs at that time went on to join one of the famous rock bands from that era (I'd rather not say who) and he is now in the R&R Hall of Fame (him, not me).


----------



## Antarctican (Sep 5, 2017)

^^^     Wow!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## pez (Sep 5, 2017)

compur said:


> I was in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area back in the mid 1960s and played in rock bands so I often went to hear other local “garage bands” play but the first “name” musicians I went to see were probably at the original Fillmore Auditorium when it opened in San Francisco in about 1966. I went a number of times and saw many acts there including Janice Joplin, Paul Butterfield, Steve Miller, Tower of Power, Jefferson Airplane, “Big Momma” Thornton, Chuck Berry, The Byrds, Santana, Cream, the Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and many others. I also played there on an “open Tuesday” with my band opening for Buffalo Springfield. I was also at the infamous Altamont Concert in 1969 (way in the back). A good friend and fellow musician with whom I played gigs at that time went on to join one of the famous rock bands from that era (I'd rather not say who) and he is now in the R&R Hall of Fame (him, not me).


Wow!! There could be a whole multi-page thread for guesses about your friend.


----------



## terri (Sep 5, 2017)

compur said:


> I was in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area back in the mid 1960s and played in rock bands so I often went to hear other local “garage bands” play but the first “name” musicians I went to see were probably at the original Fillmore Auditorium when it opened in San Francisco in about 1966. I went a number of times and saw many acts there including Janice Joplin, Paul Butterfield, Steve Miller, Tower of Power, Jefferson Airplane, “Big Momma” Thornton, Chuck Berry, The Byrds, Santana, Cream, the Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and many others. I also played there on an “open Tuesday” with my band opening for Buffalo Springfield. I was also at the infamous Altamont Concert in 1969 (way in the back). A good friend and fellow musician with whom I played gigs at that time went on to join one of the famous rock bands from that era (I'd rather not say who) and he is now in the R&R Hall of Fame (him, not me).


Sounds like it was fun while you were living through it - I bet it's rather surreal to look back and realize how lucky you were to see all this talent, and rub shoulders a bit with others.

I have come to appreciate my own naivety regarding music while I was growing up.    The unmatched talent of the bands that were putting out great albums, year after year, that have become the bedrock of any "classic rock" station you can think of, is something that I quite took for granted.   I just assumed that pop or mainstream music - however you want to refer to the music that dominated a few decades - would always be at a high standard. 

So wrong.


----------



## vintagesnaps (Sep 5, 2017)

Altamont!


----------



## OGsPhotography (Sep 5, 2017)

Blue Rodeo.


----------



## compur (Sep 5, 2017)

terri said:


> Sounds like it was fun while you were living through it - I bet it's rather surreal to look back and realize how lucky you were to see all this talent, and rub shoulders a bit with others.



Yes, it was fun and I had no idea at the time of the significance of it all. It was just part of the environment.

Jerry Garcia used to play banjo in my high school quad at lunch time (I have no idea why) long before "The Dead" and one of  Steve Miller's band members went to school there too, the late Lonnie Turner, though I didn't know either of them personally.

This was just the way it was back then. Rock & Roll, R&B, Blues, etc were everywhere. At that time most "normal" people paid little attention to any music that wasn't Top 40 radio or on TV so they were unaware of it. It was considered "underground" music if it was acknowledged at all . "Huh? Eric Clapton? Who's that?"

One other anecdote:
One day in the 60s my cousin called me and asked if I'd help him move out of his apartment which was located near Golden Gate Park and adjacent to the Haight Ashbury district of SF. He said there was a rock band living in the building and the noise was way too loud. I said sure and went over there. As I walked up the stairs of his building I passed (coming down) Janis Joplin and a couple of her band members.     Then I realized the loud rock band in my cousin's building was Big Brother and the Holding Company! My cousin had no clue what I was talking about when I mentioned this to him.


----------



## terri (Sep 5, 2017)

Love it.


----------



## compur (Sep 5, 2017)

vintagesnaps said:


> Altamont!



I was hanging out with some friends when somebody walked in and said, "Hey, they just announced on the radio there's a free Rolling Stones concert at the old Altamont Racetrack and it's free!"

We all jumped in cars and raced out there. The crowd was huge. Biggest crowd I've ever seen for any event before or since.  We were way, way back and the performers looked like ants but we could hear pretty well. There were lots of Hells Angeles there but at that time Hells Angels were a common sight so we paid little attention to that. It was when the Stones started playing that the commotion started. We could hear Mick telling people over and over to calm down and we could see intense activity near the stage but didn't know what was happening. Mick kept saying to the crowd, "Brothers and sisters! Brothers and sisters!" We had no idea what was going on.


----------



## yamaha pat (Sep 5, 2017)

Thats pretty epic. The best I got is seeing Van Halen at a backyard party in mid 1970's.


----------



## nerwin (Sep 6, 2017)

I feel like a loser, I haven't attended a concert yet. Too many people and too loud for me lol.


----------



## terri (Sep 6, 2017)

yamaha pat said:


> Thats pretty epic. The best I got is seeing Van Halen at a backyard party in mid 1970's.


That's pretty cool, too!    Must have been a blast.   How was the noise level - appreciated by the neighbors?


----------



## Gary A. (Sep 6, 2017)

compur said:


> I was in high school in the San Francisco Bay Area back in the mid 1960s and played in rock bands so I often went to hear other local “garage bands” play but the first “name” musicians I went to see were probably at the original Fillmore Auditorium when it opened in San Francisco in about 1966. I went a number of times and saw many acts there including Janice Joplin, Paul Butterfield, Steve Miller, Tower of Power, Jefferson Airplane, “Big Momma” Thornton, Chuck Berry, The Byrds, Santana, Cream, the Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service and many others. I also played there on an “open Tuesday” with my band opening for Buffalo Springfield. I was also at the infamous Altamont Concert in 1969 (way in the back). A good friend and fellow musician with whom I played gigs at that time went on to join one of the famous rock bands from that era (I'd rather not say who) and he is now in the R&R Hall of Fame (him, not me).


OMG- I saw all those bands also, but mostly in LA, The Aquarius, Palomino, The Golden Bear, the Troubadour, Whisky a Go-Go, The Palladium, Greek, Forum, Hollywood Bowl, Shrine ... 

I used to hang with a former Buffalo Springfield drummer and Fleetwood Mac was a regular playing in the basement of the Student Union.


----------



## yamaha pat (Sep 6, 2017)

It usually ended up going over the fence when the cops showed up.


terri said:


> yamaha pat said:
> 
> 
> > Thats pretty epic. The best I got is seeing Van Halen at a backyard party in mid 1970's.
> ...


----------



## terri (Sep 6, 2017)

yamaha pat said:


> It usually ended up going over the fence when the cops showed up.
> 
> 
> terri said:
> ...


----------



## rexbobcat (Sep 6, 2017)

nerwin said:


> I feel like a loser, I haven't attended a concert yet. Too many people and too loud for me lol.



If it makes you feel better, my first "real" concert was....2 Chainz...for my college newspaper. Going into that with no prior knowledge of the guy was...an experience...


----------



## nerwin (Sep 7, 2017)

rexbobcat said:


> nerwin said:
> 
> 
> > I feel like a loser, I haven't attended a concert yet. Too many people and too loud for me lol.
> ...



That sure does sound interesting. 

I've always wanted to go see Metallica, but I'd have to get those fancy earbuds that filters sound. My hearing is already crap, don't wanna make it worse lol.


----------



## Fred von den Berg (Sep 19, 2017)

I saw The Wombles a couple of times as a child in the 70s.  Otherwise this was my first proper concert:




It was at the Brixton Academy in London at the end of the 80s

Wild!


----------



## john.margetts (Sep 19, 2017)

First concert I went to was in 1968 to see a Jimi Hendrix tribute band - no idea what they were called but I was very I impressed even though I had never heard of Hendrix at that time.


----------



## davidharmier60 (Sep 23, 2017)

I was 17 I think. Two 20 something guys I knew took me to see Robin Trower at the Houston Music Hall. Superb acoustic venue. But I didn't love Trower. 
Next year Stix at Compaq Center.
Terrible venue. But Stick!
Years later Queensrýche at a little venue downtown. Operation Mindcrime is my favorite album. I wore out a CD of it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Tapatalk


----------

