chuck berry at my high school in ballwin mo in 1971. started at the top and went down from there. ha. roll over beethoven!!! |
Jerry Gsrcia, Seton Hall University Walsh Gymnasium, 1974. I was a snot-nosed Catholic high-school freshman - we snuck down in front after one song and I stood up against the stage inches away from Jerry, wondering at the 30-minute long version of Sugaree while older dudes dropped acid right next to me.
Shake it, shake it, Sugaree... |
Kiss San Diego 1976 I think cheap trick opened for them |
Denver CO in the late 60s ... Strawberry Alarm Clock and a rock-solid group called Buffalo Springfield. Such a night that was ... |
Santana . Brooklyn academy of Music . I would guess approx 1972 ? |
Saxon '82 - Eagle has Landed Tour Birmingham Odeon, UK. |
Eagles with Joe Walsh - Hotel California Buffalo Memorial Auditorium |
Gerry and the Pacemakers,on the Pier at Great Yarmouth UK,circa 1968,my parents made me go,honest !! |
Bobby Vinton at The Fountainbleu Hotel on Miami Beach.
I hated him...until I saw him in person ( and with my parents for God's sake).
He was amazing.
Seriously. |
Count Basie in the early 70's at Waterloo Village, NJ |
La Pesada del Rock and Roll in the Millington Drake Theater, Montevideo Uruguay. I was 14 years old. I couldn´t believe my ears. |
Pink Floyd Edmonton 1970 2000 people with
Rory Gallagher lead up |
Hbarrel,
By 1972 (before "Madman"), Elton John had released (at least) 3 other records: "Elton John" (which included "Your Song", his first single that I can recall hearing on the radio), "Tumbleweed Connection", and a somewhat less widely seen LP called "Empty Sky".
Wasn't my first show, but I saw him just around the same time. The show was kind of understated, just EJ and a piano out front with a backing band behind him. IIRC, I liked it quite a bit. I will note that - more than any other performer that quickly comes to mind - he has come a loooong way. He wasn't even gay back then (at least as far as the audience was concerned)!
Marty |
Went to see ELP in early 1970 and got to sit on the front speaker stack next to the band shell at the East Town Theater in Detroit.
Yes came out first and I had no Idea who they were; they blew me away. ELP followed and were tremendous. I Decided it couldn't have been that good so I went back the next night (same seats) it was better! I have spent a lot on money on concerts since then and to this day none have been better. |
Led Zeppelin, 1970, Charlotte Coliseum. I was 14. They played most of first two albums. I was blown away and hooked ever since and have been pursuing live music - rock and jazz - for 40 years. |
The first I remember was Elton John at Kent State University's Memorial Hall. May of 1972.
"Mad Men Across the Water" was the only album out and he played that plus a great deal of "Yellow Brick Road."
The only better concert I've ever seen was Pink Floyd (1973)same venue and they played more than one song, in surround sound, from an album we'd not heard. Some obscure album called "The Dark side of the Moon". |
hmmm . Roger Waters - Pros and Cons of Hitchiking tour.
Not bad for a first show. |
David Bowie 1975 at the Olympia arena in Detroit |
Funky Meters at the Warehouse in New Orleans. |
Gary Puckett and the Union Gap in my high school gymnasium, '69 or '70? |
Kiss with Styx. I think 1977 @ The Summit in Houston, TX |
The Doors in 1968 at the Hollywood Bowl. I was only 11 yrs. old. Went with an older cousin & friends. I remember Morrison starting & stopping during a lengthy version of "Light my Fire". |
At least the one I best remember.. Absolutely Unique experience, a few dozens of people laying at the ground on the top of the St.Elias hill in the centre of Delphi ancient place (itself a unique place from many points of view) at 11 o'clock at night, only the stars above and total darkness and I.Xenakis in the console with 8 speakers put around the top of the hill towards the inside where we lay, sending random electronic sounds from all over!!!! what did you say??????
thanks! |
reading over this, it looks like REO Speedwagon may lead the voting in being the most seen band on here for a first concert. Who knew?
They were not good either time I saw them. Maybe they were better ealier.
Someone here was at my wife's first concert, Kiss at the Summit in Houston (which ironically is now a church). |
REO Speedwagon at the Omni in Atlanta |
Sonny and Cher, Miami, Fla., 60-something, when Sonny wore all the fur stuff.
The noted actor Anthony Quinn stomped out after the first song. No one cared. |
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Don Henley. Think it was late late 80s or '90/'91. Lawn seats with binoculars at Blossom Music Center in northeast Ohio. Then it was Marilyn Manson in October of '96 and everything went downhill from there. LOL!!! |
Rare Earth, about 1972. First time I smelled weed as well. |
I went to the C.S.N.&Y. concert at Varsity Stadium in Toronto in '74. I was at the top and watched as huge clouds of "smoke" broke away and drifted off. David Crosby knocked Neil Young on his ass on stage when he started ranting about being all bummed out. That's all I remember. |
During the "Battle Of the Band Days" I remember The Grass Roots was one of the bands . I was in the 4th grade and took my girlfriend. |
Jethro Tull at the forum (I think) sometime in the 70's
It's kind of a blur because I went to sooooo many concerts
growing up. ELP I think was my 2nd. Hey there was a lot of
toking goin on ya know. |
Gladys Night & the Pips at Westbury (NY) Music Fair. |
The Tubes, 1975
PNE Gardens, Vancouver, BC |
Archie Bell and the Drells,, 67' Junior Prom JFK HS Paterson NJ |
Rock; Janice Joplin circa 1967, Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum.
Went with my best friend Maria. Too young to drive, her dad said, now girls, don't smoke any of those "funny" cigarettes.
Ahem...there were a few of those passed around that night. Can't remember who was second on the bill.
Classical: I don't remember my first classical concert, although it was undoubtedly a chamber group of some stripe. I've been to far more of those than anything else in my life. The ISO used to come to our high school for an open rehearsal every year, if that counts. Although I'd heard a live orchestra before playing for the ballet, I remember the sound of the ISO in our auditorium as absolutely thrilling. I'd probably have been around 14. I'd been to ballet performances and chamber concerts before that, and played in recitals/chamber groups many times by then. |
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Led Zeppelin, March 31, 1970 at the Philadelphia Spectrum. |
My parents took me to hear Ferrante and Teicher when I was about 5. |
Lou Reed in the early 70's. he did a 30 minute version of heroin that blew my mind. think i was only 14 at the time but really into music already. sister and boyfriend took me. it was a small venue/big bar downtown chicago. $10 for a great show/time. |
KISS in the Summit, Houston, TX. I was in 5th grade. I can't remember the year exactly ( I think '77 or '76) but the opening act was an unknown band- STYX! |
Kansas, 1977 at the Allentown Fair. I got too high and passed out. |
April Wine, 1976 or 77, Niagara Falls Memorial Arena. The opening act........RUSH! Partway through the tour Rush's current LP 2112 took off and Rush split from the April Wine tour and headlined their own. |
New York Philharmonic peforming Prokofiev's: "Peter and the Wolf". |
Adam Ant and Gary Glitter (for real). |
The Who at the Fillmore West in June 1969. 3 bucks general admission. They performed two sets. Set 1 started included Heaven and Hell, Can't Explain, Tatoo, I'm a Boy, Substitute, Happy Jack, A Quick One, Summertime Blues,Shakin'All Over and My Generation. No instruments smashed. Set 2 was all of Tommy, a reprise of Summertime Blues and Shakin' All Over, and finished with Magic Bus. It was the first and best Who show I saw. Saw them again at SF Civic in 1971, the infamous 1973 Cow Palace show in which Moonie collapsed with a drug OD, and the Oakland Colloseum show in 1976. None of those subsequent shows matched the energy of the 1969 Fillmore show. The Who in their prime years were nuclear and I feel so lucky to have been there. |
Neil Diamond "Beautiful Noise" Tour 1978
St. Paul Civic Center. St. Paul, Minnesota ...... with my FATHER!
First concert without parental attendance. Chicago "Hot Streets" Tour 1979 at the same venue. |
Stone Temple Pilots, Purple tour. 1995 They were awesome and so was Cheap Trick who opened for them |
James Gang, World Theatre, Lane Ave. Col's Ohio |
AC/DC...Back in Black Tour...Fayetteville, NC 1980-1...? |
