First opera performance at the opening of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in 1965 I was 9 years old and brought my parents (chauffeured me) to see Un Ballo in Maschera (Konya & Price). Wow! Seen about 400 operas since then. Have 1000's of opera LPs and about 150 CD sets.
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Rolling Stones. 1969 (the get your ya ya’s concert) Madison Square Garden. My dad was just transferred . He got the tickets from a broker. The show ran late and they held the trains back to Long Island. I haven’t been the same since!
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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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The Miami Bayfront Auditorium, 1958, Ray Charles. With my school friend and his dad.
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The Dead 1976 Beacon Theater NYC.
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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.
- June 19: Pink Floyd.
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July 10: 38 Special, Journey, REO Speedwagon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ted Nugent.
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August 13: Rick Derringer, UFO, Bob Seger, Peter Frampton.
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October 20th 1977 The Talking Heads, B'Ginnings Concert Club, Schaumburg, IL .
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Rush at the Chicago International Amphitheatre, 1980 I believe.
What a blast that was!
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1979, 3rd row, The Summit in Houston, TX - Fleetwood Mac
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It's interesting that, although the op did not specify a genre of music, only two people (I think), an opera, "Carmen", and a Mahler symphony, were the only classical performances, the rest being some form of rock or pop music.
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The Young Rascals at the Town And Country Club in Brooklyn,NY in 1966
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"Well ---- I guess the word "concert" has been appropriated for another use these days." Misused I would argue.
Wagner’s Ring Cycle at Bayreuth was my first - yes all 4 operas,.
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This is a very fun thread. ;-)
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The Association, Ice House, Pasadena mid 60’s
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REO Speedwagon, 1972, Colorado Springs auditorium
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Parliament Funkadelic, 1976, P-Funk Earth Tour, Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, TX. I was 13 years old :-) What an experience. My mother dropped me and a friend (same age) off at the venue. I can’t believe she let me go!
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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.
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Jimi Hendrix 1968 at Coliseum Theater in Chicago
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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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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 !
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The Cure, Prayer Tour in support of Disintegration album. Septemer 1989 at the Oakland Coliseum CA. I was 14 and went with some high school friends and a big brother who drove. Best concert ever!!
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August 16th 1974 - Little Feat opened, Souther Hillman and Furay was up next, and Three Dog Night closed. Little Feat blew the place apart, Souther Hillman and Furay were terrific, and Three Dog Night was okay.....I've been a huge Little Feat fan since that night, I was 13
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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.
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Fifth Dimension (1967 or 68) at age 11. Saw a matinee concert with the family and friends of the family (a fun, wholesome band!)
Later in high school, the first band I bought and paid for was WAR in 1971 or 72. I recall being in nose bleed seats & my ears ringing into the next day!
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1969.
Johnny Winter.
My high school auditorium.
Right after the release of his eponymously titled first LP on Columbia.
I was 15 years old.
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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!
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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!
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Lynyrd Skynyrd / J. Giles Band 1976 Buffalo Auditorium. I thought all concerts had to be halted for rowdy behavior. And so it began...
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The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, in the spring of 1967. Loud music in a small room.
That spring I also saw Buddy Guy, Big Mama Thornton, and the Lovin' Spoonful with Judy Collins opening.
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Funkadelic in a cow barn in MS around ‘70 was an early and memorable one.
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Sacramento 1972 the Mahler Symphony #2. Years later I went to a live performance of the Mahler 8th, which often takes more than 1000 musicians to perform it. This should be on everyone's bucket list, along with witnessing a total solar eclipse.
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Rush 82 Moving Pictures at LA Forum. To this day I can’t believe how high in the air Neal would throw both sticks in between song fill and catch them in perfect time to continue playing. The professor is dearly missed.
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Not exactly sure but it was either Steppenwolf or the Beach Boys. I remember Steppenwolf was so loud I think my ears were bleeding.
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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
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My first real concert was in Canne, France. At an old Roman amphitheater - brilliant venue for the Who. Outstanding concert.
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The Jimmy Hendrix Experience at Hunter College in NYC in 1968. I saw him again twice later, but nothing compared to that night in ’68. My mind and ears got completely blown.....
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Elton John 1976 summer concert at Madison Square Garden NYC. 👍
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Believe it or not, Carmen at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC in 1968 or so. To this day, I don’t love opera but I very much appreciate the talent of the singers & musicians.
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I guess technically, fall of 1978, Mahogany Rush at a high school sock hop. But the first live convert that really affected me was Chicago at Chicago's Navy Pier in the summer of 1980.
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I can't remember the order, but I saw both Jethro Tull and King Crimson, late 1970/early 1971, Colston Hall, Bristol. Both were amazing.
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Air Supply, 1980 at Luther College (not the hall Dave Matthews recorded at). 10 years old.
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Arlo Guthrie - my parents took me and my brothers to see him in ~1975 when I was 8. My parents were scandalized that a couple sitting one row in front of us were snorting white powder off a small mirror. Took years for me to realize they were doing coke.
The first concert I went to deliberately was Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers with Bob Dylan in 1984 at Madison Square Garden. Dylan’s career was at a nadir and Petty went on tour with him to support Dylan by introducing his fans to Dylan’s work. Dylan didn’t do himself any favors because he was awful live.
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First ever concert was Queen in Frankfurt 1978.
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Elvis at the Chicago Stadium in 1976. I was 10.
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The Yardbirds, 1967 in Orlando
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The Mothers, Phoenix Star Theater (Arizona) right after "Freak Out" was released. Best show I've seen though was Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band with It's a Beautiful Day at the (Long Beach, California) Fox West Coast Theater circa 1972. The gargantuan and very potent joints passing down the audience rows added to the entirely surreal atmosphere of the event.
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The Beatles at Red Rocks, August, 1964
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Fall 1962, Peter, Paul, & Mary, with a young comedian as an opener, a guy who did this “Noah” routine, Bill Cosby. He was funny, and PP&M were very dynamic and simply superb.
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Gary Puckett and the Union Gap in Kingston, Ontario 1968. I think the venue was Queens University.
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I was 10 years old and I saw Alan Sherman.."Hello Mother ,Hello Father" Atlantic City Steel Pier..N.J...with Mom...like summer 1962...Does this count ?
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