Elton John at the Hollywood Bowl in 1972. Introduced by Linda Lovelace (yes, THE Linda Lovelace). Amazing! |
David Benoit at Cal Berkeley in 1990.
I'm not sure the Egyptian Lover mixing on turntables at UOP in 1996 counts. |
Peter, Paul & Mary at Loyola Field House, New Orleans 1963 |
Peter Gabriel in 2003. I was 10. |
Yes, might be my fav of all time. It's etched in my brain even after all these years. |
Lowrider
That was not my first concert but personally ranks as my best ever. Been to over 1,000. What a first concert. |
1974...Elton John with unannounced guest John Lennon. |
My first free show was the Animals in 1966.
The first paid show was Hendrix in 1968.
Got to hear lots of great bands at local dancer here in New Orleans. |
ZZ Top's Worldwide Texas Tour, July 26th, 1976 at Pine Knob, MI with REO as the opening act. 2 great bands and one great concert. |
Philadelphia Dance concert at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. I believe it was in December of 69 or January of 70. $4 admission and you could sit where ever you wanted. I believe it was the first concert ever held at the Spectrum. |
Mountain was the second concert I ever saw. It was at the Stanley Warner theater on Rt. 4 in Paramus NJ in 1970. Loved it. |
That's a good one, Giancarlo. I saw Mountain at Fillmore West in August 1969, a couple of weeks before Woodstock, and had the same reaction. |
Went to suny geneseo...Saw Lesley west..mountain in Rochester ny fall of 1969...blew me away... |
The Doobie Brothers...1974...Ft. Worth, Texas...(8th grade). Rock'in show! |
Aerosmith w/ Rick Derringer MSG 1975 |
Warren,I could only imagine how cool that had to be! By the time I saw him the LP Welcome had just been released,,or was getting ready to be released.The band came out and asked the crowd for a moment of silent meditation..Santana had just changed his look.He had short hair and a white suit.I was so far up and back ,I did not believe it was Carlos ,I had only seen pictures of him with the long hair ,until he started playing! And what a great concert that turned out to be! |
Rolling Stones Steel Wheels Tour-Alpine Valley, WI |
BTW, Ray, Santana's first concert? Indeed; Woodstock. I remember when they came on. No one ever heard of them and they were playing Evil Ways. You should hear the crowd. They knew something great was happening. |
Wow !Warren,What an experience for a first concert!!! My first was Santana,I think Black Oak Arkansas opened for them. |
Wow. You definitely DO win, warrenh. |
OK, it must have been an acid flash. My very first concert? Ready for this? WOODSTOCK! Purchased tickets, ran away(16 yrs old) from home, hitched upstate and the rest was history. Got there a day early so we caught it all: Richie Havens to Jimi. Did not sleep. don't get better than that...I win! :) |
Neil Diamond I had just graduated 8th grade and my parents thought I was staying at a friends house and I lived in Chicago and took the elevated across the city and walked a mile through a section of town I probably shouldn't have to get there. It was awesome. He recorded Hot August Nights that year. The walk, actually run at 1030 at night back to train was interesting. |
Cat9 ,I had a Canadian family that lived 2 houses down from me in Ocala ,Fl in 1974-75 during the school year.Their Daughter and I became good friends, she turned me on to April Wine.The song that always stuck in my head was Cats Claw. |
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big hall: Beach Boys, Chad & Jeremy, Lovin' Spoonful, Neal Ford and the Fanatics at the Music Hall (Houston)
club show: The Outsiders w/Neal Ford and the Fanatics at the Catacombs (Houston) |
Pink Floyd, Monza (Italy), 1989 |
The Doors here in Louisville 1968 front row maybe 1000 in attendance pre rope and smoke. Tom |
Jethro Tull/Filmore East. |
U2 ZooTV tour at Dodger Stadium |
1970- Led Zeppelin at the Miami Beach Convention Center. the sound was TERRIBLE- sitting way in the back of a warehouse-shaped building. it took a few seconds for the sound to arrive from the stage to my ears, resulting in a mess so that i could barely tell what song they were playing. Robert Plant's jeans were cut so low there was only one thing that could have been holding them up...
Jimmy Page spent 30 minutes experimenting with a violin bow as if it was the first time he'd ever use one. Not very tight...! |
Front row, Kiss with Uriah Heep; Tulsa,OK, 1977. Destroyer tour. Yikes! |
REO Speedwagon. Chrysler Arena, Ann Arbor MI, 1981. The 16 year old me was amazed! |
Stones, DC Coliseum, 1965. |
Rolling Stones -- Steel Wheels Tour at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC. |
Lynryd Skynrd, 1974, Ft. Wayne Memorial Coliseum. I was 14. The band had just finished a marathon tour opening for The Who. Imagine being an unheard of band from nowhere and opening for The Who every night in 1973-74! Sweet Home Alabama was getting tons of airplay, they were now headlining their first tour, and they were now rock stars. And rock they did! I've never seen anything quite like that. It was a great night! |
Santana, in Isla Vista (UC Santa Barbara) free concert. Before they went to Woodstock and became famous. |
The Cure at Dodger Stadium 1989. Love and Rockets and the Pixies opened. Talk about a show. That was the first time i smelled that "funny smell". I was 16. |
The first concert I went to was the Yardbirds with Jimmy Page on lead. This was right at the end before Jimmy took off for other more interesting musical adventures. They were playing in a small civic center in a hick Florida city and I think I was the only person there who realized what a great group was in front of them. Most of the crowd was interested in getting drunk and rowdy. I sat on the side of the stage by Jimmy's Fender Twin Reverb amp and proceeded to get my ears pummeled for two hours. I think they rang for a day afterwards. Jimmy was so pissed at the stupid crowd he stormed off the stage at the end of the show, muttering invective and looking dour. He was nice enough to give the geeky kid at stage right (me) a string of his love beads and a guitar pick. |
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Alice Cooper's "Welcome To My Nightmare" at Madison Square Garden in 1975.
I was 15 at the time and its still my BEST CONCERT so far. He was on another planet with a tremendous band. |
Allman Brothers Band opening for Johnny Winter in the Fall of 1971 at the Spectrum in Phiadelphia. It was a short time before the quintessential "Live at the Filmore East" album was recorded. I was 15 years old, got a tremendous "contact high" from all that strange smoke filling the air, and was absolutely fascinated by the interplay between Duane Allman and Dickey Betts. It was an amazing show. |
First concert. Cream 1968 at the L.A. Fourm... |
My first real concert was Max Webster. I believe it was in 1978 or 1979 in my home town, Brantford, Ontario, Canada. They were at their finest.
That hooked me on live music for life. |
This is a great thread.
My first was the Police, w/ Madness & Oingo Boingo support, @ SDSU football stadium in 1983. I went with mum, dad and sister. From our nosebleed seats we could see (over the lighting truss to behind the stage) Madness roll up in a pair of limos and stroll out on stage, all the while wearing giant sombreros! (we're pretty close to Tiajuana here.) Police were on top of the world then, just before they consciously decided to step off the ride. My hat's off to them for it.
First show on my own was not long thereafter - Yes touring for 90125 at the Sports Arena. Lights went down and the opened up with a quick screening of "Duck Dodgers in the 24th 1/2 Century!" Daffy duck & co. Pretty sweet. Yes played a really good show.
Yes tix face value was $12. I paid a scalper $20. Highway Robbery!!!! Little did I know how bad the scalping would get, legalized even (Ticketmaster). These days you're lucky if the 'service charge' isn't $20. I just bought tix for Joe Jackson in LA in October: fee to snail mail tix is now $1; fee to PRINT IT YOURSELF is $2.50!!!!!
Since then it's been many shows, many venues, many countries. Some great, mostly good, a few were crap. It's funny, back then I would go to many, many shows, and I could never understand why some of the older fans couldn't be bothered to go to more of them. Now I'm older and I understand what they were on about. It can be exhausting to stand for hours at a small or medium venue, waiting for the headliner to go on at 10:30 or so. And if they should short-change us with a <90min set, after everything it can definitely feel like a big ripoff. |
Arlo Guthrie doing Alice's Restaurant circa 1968. Thereafter and more memorably, Steppenwolf-- John Kay in leather pants and dark glasses, Goldy McJohn's giant red afro bobbing over a vintage Leslie, and Nick St. Nicholas with a bass guitar hanging down to his knees like a hippie gunfighter. |
My first concert was Mountain farewell tour and Blue oyster Cult was the warm up.BOC just came out with Tyranny and Mutaion.I think it was winter of 1973.I was 16 and both were just Fabulous.It was at Louisville Gardens in Louisville.A small hall that held about 6000 sold out and had good acoustics.Plus the floor was wide open no seats which made for great concerts in those days.Lots of crazy things went on in those days in the floor crowd.Those were the Days |
dan fogleberg in 1973. It was a good concert but he was booed off stage at NLU in Monroe, La. Crowd just was not into him. He came back to Monroe 2 years later and filled Civic center, go figure! |
Moody Blues, Chicago Stadium, 1981. Patrick Moraz was behaving strangely, as if he was drunk or stoned. ;-) |
Nancy Wilson, At Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.
Back in the 70's I think. |
The Carpenters-Saratoga Performing Arts Ctr., Saratoga Springs,NY 1971 "Close to You" tour.
They were tight as hell as I recall ! |
