The grateful damn dead summer 1987. RFK stadium. 16 years old and loved every minute of the whole weekend with my good friend Greg Imbur
Your first concert was to see who and when?
I'll kick off with Pink Floyd at The Bay Hotel, Sunderland in February 1969.
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@rockadanny @sns I too was in Detroit in the late 60s and saw all the locals. We had an impressive scene! An early fave of mine was The Frost. The Grande hosted a lot of local bands in its first year or two: the Psychedelic Stooges, the 5, the Frut, Jagged Edge, Up, etc. My first non-local band concert was either Tim Buckley or the Paul Butterfield Blues Band at the Grande, sometime in ‘67, maybe ‘68. I don’t rightly remember anymore. Time blurs and the belly sags! |
I actually lived in Ann Arbor, we used to take the City bus which came right through our neighborhood to UM campus. We were like 12 when we first started this so I was pretty young during 'summer of love'. So many legendary bands based in A2 and the entire SE Mi area during that time, what a time and place to have one's consciousness raised, I'd never trade if for anything! |
November of 73, senior year of high school. Focus, riding high on "Hocus Pocus" all over the radio, at the Felt Forum, now called The Theater at Madison Square Garden. Bought tickets very close to date of show, and ended up in the second of two rows of metal folding chairs at the front of the room, apparently hastily added after the regular sears sold out. It was wonderful and VERY LOUD. Next stop, MSG's arena for Yes on the Topographic Oceans tour in February of '74. |
Well ---- I guess the word "concert" has been appropriated for another use these days. My first concert [in the classic sense] was to see "The First Piano Quartet" at The Philadelphia Academy of Music when I was about 10 years old. I still have the 12" 78RPM records that my Mother bought in the lobby as we departed. It was a life-changing event that directed my life in the direction of becoming a professional musician. Great memory ! |
First concert (other than local area bands) was Bob Dylan with the Hawks at the Bushnell Theater in Hartford CT on 10/30/65 when I was 16. Saw him again for my second concert on 2/18/66 at the New Haven Arena. Went up to the side of the stage at the end of the first set and shook Bob's hand. My third was 6/17/66, the Rolling Stones at Dillon Stadium in Hartford. Not bad for my first three....hundreds more since then.
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Ray Charles, September 1976, Bohler Gym, WSU Pullman, WA. I was 13 and went with two girls who were best friends, one white, one black. And did we get a lot of looks. I truly didn't understand why. It was an incredible show. I had never heard or seen anything like that. Made me a fan for life, and aware of how many singers tried desperately to equal Ray Charles on an average night. |
Summer of 1977 Chicago was the place to be. Attended all the Super Bowl Of Rock shows at Soldier Field. Great summer after HS Graduation before heading to Notre Dame. June 4: Climax Blues Band, J. Geils Band, Foghat, Emerson, Lake, and Palmer.
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I posted before that my first concert was Frank Zappa at Beloit college auditorium, small venue. The lead singer of the Turtles, forget his name, was in the show with Zappa. I think it was 1970 and I was 17 or 18. I was thinking "rock concert" but really my first concert would have been to see Virgil Fox, playing the biggest pipe organ in Rockford IL. I was about 13 or 14. Went with my dad and my grandfather. My dad was a church organist for 50 years. My grandfather was a piano tuner/builder from the time he was 13, in 1911. One of his best buddies was a guy named Clarence Helsing, who was an organ builder/tuner. He knew Virgil Fox and introduced us to him at the end of the concert. It was pretty cool. I still consider him to be the best organist ever. I probably have 50 records of his and 25 or so Cd's.
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