Just read an article on a young girl in Toronto who was pulled on stage by The Boss at her first concert. It got me thinking about what an experience this is. Sure I had seen some small shows and unknown productions, but I distinctly recall my first 'real' concert - my mom took me to see Dylan in Halifax. Now, I am bit younger than some folks on here, so it was already in his later career stages, and unfortunately it was one of his less than intelligble performances, but I still remember it. I imagine some people here were probably fortunate to see some great acts back in the day too.
My first concert was Queens of the Stone Age and Interpol in 2005 when i was 14 or 15. I had gone with my parents to a bunch of reggae festivals when I was younger, but this was my first concert by myself. I remember thinking that Josh Homme was a total douche for stopping the show to yell at somebody. Ive seen them on every tour since then and realized its just something he does as part of the show. It's even on their live album.
My parents used to take me to concerts as well but dont recall them to much except for flying paper airplanes off the balcony at the Palladium. First concert with a friend was Pat Travers/Cheap trick/Blue Oyster Cult (big fan). First time I went solo was George Thourogood. First punk gig was Claude Coma and the IV's.
My first show was probably some Quebec pop at a festival, we seemed to spend our summers there... The first show I paid for was Peter Gabriel. Hey, I was -young-. Back when I was working in music and seeing multiple bands a week (sometimes a day), I got so... jaded, I guess, that I constantly fell asleep, even when the bands were rocking hard. Falling asleep on the floor about a meter from Trans Am rocking it hard was a wake-up call (if you'll excuse the pun), and I cut back a whole lot after that. I'm sort of proud to say my son's first show (well, in utero), was a Merzbow/Jim O'Rourke collab in Tokyo. He also got to hear the Notwist and Mùm through a few layers of skin.
My first concert was Ministry, about ten years ago. I was deaf for about two days and the mosh pit bruised the crap out of my love handles. I was about 15 or 16. A very fond memory, but I dont think I'd go that hard out these days on the floor. hahaha. thanks for reminding me of my first show.
I'm about to lay down the best lineup anyone has ever seen as their first concert. And I pretty much guarantee that nobody is going to top this: BOYZ II MEN opening for NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK.
Extremely embarrassing. I had a freshman-year high school girlfriend who loved Leo Sayer (most of you won't remember him ... he had a really bad almost-disco radio hit at the time, "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing.") The opening act was Yvonne Elliman (who had a real-disco hit, "If I Can't Have You.") She was a lot better than Sayer, but still... The girlfriend agreed that Sayer sucked. He kept cracking jokes about how short he was. Yawn, not funny. Shortly thereafter we went to see ELO on their big "Out of the Blue" tour, with the giant spaceship stage and the oldskool lasers. That sort of sucked too, because by that point they were really a studio band, and at least half the music being "played" was taped. Then I started seeing bands I really wanted to see. Got to see Gang of Four at a small club (Keystone Palo Alto) on their first U.S. tour ... punk was MUCH better for live shows than the over-produced disco and pop stuff of the time. When I worked for a music company we used to make new hires admit what the first album they ever bought on their own was. Most people were so embarrassed that they were tempted to lie and name something cool. Mine is so awful that I'll never tell unless you bribe me with a nice Dream Rocket toy. EDIT: Thank you TiredChildren for making me slightly less embarrassed.
First concert when I was 3 with my mom: Sha Na Na First concert when I was 12: motley crue/whitesnake I've also seen richard marx in concert, I think that beats Leo Sayer (whose afro makes him much cooler over Marx's mullet)
I'll try to remember an early concert going experience worth relating, but I have to jump in here and declare my lifelong love of BÖC! Yes, Don't Fear the Reaper, yes Godzilla, yes, even Burnin' for You... but there's so much more. Those first three albums are like hidden weapons - so razor those hooks, so surprising those melodies, so fucking insane those lyrics. I used to listen to their tapes all the time when I was a kid - a friend's older brother thing - but kind of turned my back a bit in my early teens when I started to get into your first tier weird music of the day. That didn't last - the Minutemen covering The Red and the Black slapped me right into reason, and since then you won't catch me dead without my Secret Treaties at the ready. Don't get me started on Richard Meltzer, and whatever you do, don't fear the unknown tongue. Pardon the derailment.
i started going to concerts when i moved from arkansas to oklahoma (yeah, i know... a world of difference). i was a junior in high school, so most of them were local okc acts like chainsaw kittens and WAY early flaming lips (think "she don't use jelly"-era). my first "proper" concert, however, was nirvana on their "in utero" tour. their opening acts were the breeders and shonen knife. it was the first in many adventures in losing the folks i showed up with, only to find them in less than stellar shape after the show. =p
Rush / Fastway - 1984 - Toledo Sports Arena. "Sex, drugs, rock n roll, Toledo, Toledo" This was my son's first concert earlier this summer at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. Since then he hasn't stopped singing Godzilla.
Got you all beat - John Denver! Actually I might have to defer the awarding of the cake to the Motley Crue/Whitesnake concert....
Reminds me of the time, after a Grateful Dead concert, that I saw a girl wandering around in the parking lot barefoot asking "Who did I come here with? How am I going to get home? What did I do with my SHOES?"
Soundgarden, Faith No More & Guns n' Roses in '92. I don't remember much except that it was fucking awesome.
I must have been 8 or so when my dad brought me to my first concert... Kris Kross Man, I used to bump that shit on my Walkman errrrday!! And when he was a bouncer at Toad's Place in New Haven, my dad brought me to see Weird Al for my 2nd concert. It was right around the time Amish Paradise came out, so that would have put me at around 12 yrs old. Got to hang out with Al backstage after the show, got his autograph and a couple photos with him. Man was I star struck, haha. Always had good times with my dad.
as far as I can remember it was Lollapalooza 1994.. Main Stage: The Smashing Pumpkins, Beastie Boys, George Clinton & the P-Funk All Stars, The Breeders, A Tribe Called Quest, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, L7, Boredoms (first half of tour), Green Day (second half) Side Stage: The Flaming Lips, The Verve, The Boo Radleys, The Frogs (first six dates only), Guided by Voices, Lambchop, Girls Against Boys, Rollerskate Skinny, Palace Songs, Stereolab, Fu-Schnickens, The Pharcyde, Shudder to Think, Luscious Jackson, God Lives Underwater, King Kong, Charlie Hunter Trio, Shonen Knife, Blast Off Country Style, Souls of Mischief, Cypress Hill, The Black Crowes, Angelo Moore aka Dr. Madd Vibe and members of Fishbone performed in the poetry tent with the Beastie Boys at the Shoreline show in CA.
love and rockets at the mesa amphitheater around '89-90. was sooo excited when the bubblemen came out!
Kenny Rogers, Kim Carnes and Gallagher (yes, that Gallagher) at Brendan Byrne arena, with my parents, ’79 or ’80. Kenny blew through his hits in about 35 minutes, Kim Carnes did her thing in about 25, and Gallagher was a no-show that night.
Voïvod at a some youth event in the Olympic Velodrome (before it became the Biodome!) early 85', when I was 14.
The Ramones at the Fantasy Theater in lakewood(cleveland) The Dickies opened in '88 Dee Dee was still in the band
First band..... Some scuzz bucket crust punk bar, just noise really...... First actual band same as most of us, trying to impress some girl I was trying to get my hands on, just hands. Young enough I was still tereffied from looking through the STD books of the mid 90's..... Yuck!! COLLECTIVE SOUL. Blossom ampathearter around 95ish and AEROSMITH
