Kiss, with Judas Priest as the opening act. Sept 5, 1979. |
Velvet Underground
MC5
Buddy Miles Band
Summer of 1971 |
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Rutgers University Auditorium. Their first song had me covering my ears and I still felt like a knife was being pushed into my eardrum. It actually hurt. The SPL was probably around 140dB. I ran out of there, but I'm still paying for it with hearing loss at certain frequencies. C'est la vie!
I became an audiophile that same year... so it was a good thing after all.
Alón |
Ramones at Rutgers University (for some reason it doesn't show the 'subject' line in these postings... |
for some reason my parents let me go to the clash's rock the casbah tour... when i was 11. i was lucky to survive.
the thing i remember most vividly was that a guy climbed one of the speaker towers and, essentially, hugged it through the whole concert - with his left ear pressed right up to a cone, and it was LOUD. i doubt he heard too much out of that ear for months, if ever.
as my brother said: at least it wasn't altamont... |
Edgar Winter Group in Madison Square Garden circa 1973 . . . I remember being more wowed by the drugs being offered for sale in the Men's room. My buddy and I were 15 and took the train in from NJ. My how times have changed. |
1st concert I gave?...in 4th grade.
The school band did a Christmas Concert. I played Coronet that year... or as my first year in band, 3rd seat Trumpet.
First concert I saw? ... The Nutcracker. I think I was in 3rd grade. it was done on a weekend by a local High School's Senior class band, and drama dept.
First rock concert? .... Sorry... Not sure who I went to see... I think I had to many vitamins that day. Well, they looked like vitamins.... and that was over 30 years ago.
I'm on a strickly organic diet these days... thank Goodness too... Them vintage '70s vitamins nearly killed me. |
Santana. Fee concert in Isla Vista, at UC Santa Barbara. Before they went to Woodstock and became famous... |
The Who - St. Paul Civic Center, October 15th, 1980. I was 15. Keith Moon had died less than a year before this tour, so Kenny Jones drummed for the. Simply awesome. |
The Axiom...Houston, Texas...1989...the Pain Teens (so incredibly cool) with lead singer Bliss Blood (so undeniably hot) opening for Sleep Chamber (to this day I think one of the most intimidating bands to jump off a stage). Not for the faint of heart...even now I can almost feel I was there just last night/this morning. Couldn't hear for two days...so great and only five bucks...what a deal. |
Technically it was Canned Heat playing at my high school dance, SoCal 1968. First paid concert was Vanilla Fudge opening for the Bee Gees, same year. Interesting combination, to say the least. |
Jimi Hendrix, Dorton Arena Raleigh NC. |
Blood, Sweat and Tears and Vanilla Fudge at The Electric Factory in Philadelphia in May, 1968. Moved out to Seattle in July and spent the next three year's attending Rock Concerts at the "Filmore of the Northwest", Seattle's Eagles Auditorium. |
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Oops, my last post didn't work the way I thought it would.
First concert: The Association |
Van Halen at the Fabulous Forum in LA!!! It rocked. |
Hey Kurt Tank-
I was at the The Dead in Oakland on Chinese New Year too!!! I thought it was a very cool show-first time seeing the dead. I also saw Dylan back them up a few years later in Anaheim. |
My first concert was: Murray the K presents @ the Brooklyn Fox in '64.
I was 15 then & about 20 of us (The Innocents) went to see 20+ of our favorite groups.
It was the who's who of R&R.
Smookie Robinson & the Miracles, Frankie Valle & the Four Seasons, The Tymes, The Drifters, Ben E King, The Shirelles, The Angles, Jan & Dean, The Platters, Bill Baker & the 5 Satins, Len Barry & the Dovells, The Capris, The Earls, Jay & the Americans + some other great groups that I now can't remember anymore.
Needless to say - I had the time of my life & so did my kid brother (13) who had Francine sitting on his lap throughout the show.
I may not remember every group there, but will always treasure the 3+ hours that December.
I still will never forgive myself for not buying the LP on the way out of the theater. |
A triple-header featuring George McCrae, Samantha Sang and BT Express. |
Hawkwind 1974 at the Allen Theater in Cleveland OH |
KING CURTIS & THE KINGPINS february 1965 a barn dance venue ...no cover charge in East Middlebury, Vermont...audience of about 100 ...they opened with Memphis Soul Stew, fatback drums, Cornell Dupree on guitar, and a skinny left handed kid with his hair in a process, introduced as Jimi James...said he was on his way to England...he showed us how guitar should be played...to this day i contend he played on Otis Redding's Ole man trouble on Stax. the rest is history. |
The Carpenters-Saratoga Performing Arts Ctr., Saratoga Springs,NY 1971 "Close to You" tour.
They were tight as hell as I recall ! |
Nancy Wilson, At Constitution Hall, Washington D.C.
Back in the 70's I think. |
Moody Blues, Chicago Stadium, 1981. Patrick Moraz was behaving strangely, as if he was drunk or stoned. ;-) |
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! |
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 |
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. |
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. |
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. |
First concert. Cream 1968 at the L.A. Fourm... |
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. |
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. |
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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. |
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. |
Santana, in Isla Vista (UC Santa Barbara) free concert. Before they went to Woodstock and became famous. |
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! |
Rolling Stones -- Steel Wheels Tour at Carter Finley Stadium in Raleigh, NC. |
Stones, DC Coliseum, 1965. |
REO Speedwagon. Chrysler Arena, Ann Arbor MI, 1981. The 16 year old me was amazed! |
Front row, Kiss with Uriah Heep; Tulsa,OK, 1977. Destroyer tour. Yikes! |
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...! |
U2 ZooTV tour at Dodger Stadium |
Jethro Tull/Filmore East. |
The Doors here in Louisville 1968 front row maybe 1000 in attendance pre rope and smoke. Tom |
Pink Floyd, Monza (Italy), 1989 |
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) |
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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. |
