The Alarm, 1985 at Irvine Meadows. To this day, I think they are one of the best "conscious rock" bands of all time. Too bad, U2 came out at the same time or else The Alarm would have enjoyed more commercial success. |
Led Zeppelin,summer 1969,Pirates World,Dania,Fl.I won a free ticket off the Ft. Lauderdale radio station,seems like the dj was called something like 'Johnny Dark' or similar.Hard to remember,another lifetime ago.I can't listen to that stuff anymore.Must be an old pfart now I guess. |
Yes warming up Grand Funk Railroad, July 24th 1971 at The Yale Bowl, New Haven, CT. |
I'm not embarassed to admit my first concert was...
Styx during the "Mr. Roboto" tour.
I was in 3rd grade. I bought a hat and a jersey shirt to prove it, too.
Too bad I couldn't go see Loverboy. I was jealous of my friends who did. "Get Lucky" was a totally awesome cassette. |
The Spinners. Rubberband Man tour. |
Had a ticket, but Be Bop Deluxe cancelled in Portland OR on that tour #$%^&*!#$%!!!!!... thanks for reminding me.
First concert- Stumbled into a Ventures cover band at a giant picnic near an American Air Force base in Spain... (maybe it was the Ventures, it was about the coolest thing i ever saw or heard as a 10 year old). If that doesn't count it was Yes on the Tales from Topographic Oceans tour. |
Be Bop Deluxe...anyone out there who've seen them in concert...especially the LIVE! IN THE AIR AGE tour [1977]? |
Cream. Madison Square Garden 1968. |
Gene Pitney. My sisters loved him before the Beatles hit! |
I had to dig deep on this one, it's embarassing .. my first real concert was the Supremes at Disneyland, September 1970. |
1970 (or '71?) - Olympia Stadium - Detroit, MI - 5th row - Alice Cooper and Steppenwolf. When Steppenwolf played "Pusher", with that awesome Hammond B3 and the searing, ear-splitting lead guitar my life changed. I went from being a stupid teenage boy, to a stupid teenage boy with an obsession: loud, raunchy, fuzzy, BLUESY, funky, rock-and-roll. My virgin ears rang for days. I still love that kind of music. |
KISS - Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. |
Dreadhead .. you have me beat...
My first Dead show 10/25/73 .. wall of sound show. Kinda muddy sounding, must have been all those McIntosh amps. ;) Just kidding!
I went with my girlfriend, who became my wife the next year. We left after the first set, I was too much into arena rock at the time to understand the Dead.
10/25/73 (Thu) Dane County Coliseum - Madison, WI
Set 1: Here Comes Sunshine, Black Throated Wind, Mexicali Blues, Tennessee Jed, Looks Like Rain, Deal, El Paso, Playing In The Band
Set 2: China Cat Sunflower > I Know You Rider, Me & My Uncle, Dark Star > Mind Left Body Jam > Dark Star > Eyes Of The World > Stella Blue, Weather Report Suite Prelude > Weather Report Suite Part 1 > Let It Grow > Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad > One More Saturday Night, E: Uncle John's Band |
Interesting thread .. I'd have to say my first real concert was a regional band in northern Wisconsin known as the American Tea Company. The location was either the Depot in Merrill or The Hole in Tomahawk. This was 1967 or 1968. Can't really remember. The lead singer looked and sounded a lot like Jim Morrison, and they had this weird keyboard called a Hammond B3. ;)
I am still going to shows today. In the summer I work in security for Live Nation at Alpine Valley Music Theater in East Troy WI.
Trying to stay focused ... |
Deep Purple - Machine Head tour, 1972.
I still remember the experience. I was only eleven years old and I wasn't really sure what to expect. Good Gawd! That one event was seminal in leading me down the slippery slope of life (Drugs, Sex & Rock -n- Roll).
Thank god I've recovered. One of the guys that attended that show with me is no longer here. He never changed his life-style. I think of him with a smile every time I hear Highway Star (he was a true highway star, but he never slowed down).
Good thread.
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Mcrheist, yeah, the Carpenters were "not cool" in 1971. However, I have come to really appreciate Karen's voice, and Richard's arrangements were simply brilliant.
Maturity adds to one's wisdom, I guess! Check out the Carpenters " CHRISTMAS PORTRAIT"...you'll see what I mean about his arrangements. |
Louis Armstrong in Kingston, NY in 1962 (see above post). |
Unamplified and LIVE. I'm guessing the year and if it is correct I was ten years old. Afterwards went backstage to meet Satchmo and got his autographed photo along with those of all the band members. |
Warrenh-
I have to agree with you, that is the first concert of all first concerts. I had a "partially obstructed view" ticket (behind a big pole), and as soon as the Beatles came out I ran down to a landing and stood there to be able to see them. But, as you say, there was little to be heard over the incessant, totally loud, consistent screaming that took place. It was possible to hear them between songs, and when Ringo spoke, and said something like "and now your old and out of tune Beatle will sing for you", and then went right into Boys, I was flattened. They played maybe 30 minutes total. Before they came out Bill Haley played, and I think Martha Reeves too (not sure now who it was), and everytime the beatles were mentioned there was screaming. The MC said a number of times no photos allowed, but in total honest, the entire time the Beatles were on stage it was like daylight, so many flashes, and in thos days cameras used individual little bulbs for the flash, had to be changed with each photo. My dad is now 88, I should ask hi8m if he recalls this concert. |
Black Sabbath-1972-2 years old. My mom was a metalhead! She still has pics somewhere taken right on the stage-side of Ozzy. He's wearing that ugly brown suede suite with the fringe. She also took me to see Jethro Tull and T.Rex before I was even 5. |
Repulso, I have to give it to you. That first concert is as close as it can get (for me) to the best first concert I could have had. Being a Beatle junkie, it may beat mine, but then again: were you able to hear anything? |
The Beatles, Baltimore, Sept 13 1964, my 12th b'day, my dad toook me. Saw them, barely heard them, constant screaming! |
I just realized that I lied with my post. Years before I saw Blue Oyster Cult, Black Oak Arkansas and Wet Willie, a friend of my parents took my brothers and me to see B J Thomas... forgot all about that, but confession is good for the soul!
O
o
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Foghat opening for REO Speedwagon, Summer of 1975 |
Mcrheist, you certainly have no reason what so ever to apologize, in fact I too would be proud to list that as my first concert. You got to see the first celebrity to starve herself to death. Same goes for you guys who saw the Mamas and the Poppa's. Cass Elliot ate herself to death. Now that's history man. |
Robin Trower, 1976, Long Beach Arena. Steve Marriott's All Stars opened. After playing a couple of tunes, I remember Steve asking the crowd, "Do you wanna hear some Humble Pie shit?". We responded enthusiastically (of course). Enjoyed seeing both bands. |
I am proud to state that it was The Carpenters in the spring of 1971. My brother and his girlfriend (now wife) drove my best friend and I to the concert in Fort Worth, Texas. It was amazing...and so was Karen. I will never forget nor will I ever apologize for my first concert experience. |
>>Led Zeppelin, 1971, at the Hampton Roads Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia<<
February 9, 1971 to be exact and boy did they rock the house that night. |
Led Zeppelin, 1971, at the Hampton Roads Coliseum in Hampton, Virginia. |
Who, Quadrophenia, 1973, LA Forum. Loud and sloppy. |
Dave Mason at the Aquarius Theatre (later the Orpheum) in the Fall of 1971 in Boston. That was shortly followed by Tull at the Garden and Ten Years After at the Music Hall.
What a long, strange trip it has been since then. |
It must have been too much blotter acid? Woodstock, (NOT Iron Butterfly), was my very first concert. I was 16, but I had to run away from home to go. My mother was worried about "those hippie people." Pretty good concert....lol... :) |
Those "large, immobile systems" are what allows us to hear actual music as opposed to mobile MP3s and earbuds creating constant meaningless white noise.
And by the way, concerts from Mozart's time (and long before) and through today are large, immobile systems for listening to music. I think I can say with confidence that 40 years from now no one will be releasing Maroon 5, 50 Cent, or Fiest compilations, let along ones that hit the top ten list. |
For rock, it was Genesis' "shapes" album tour in 1983. For orchestral it was Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite (at the Lincoln Center I think). |
Rush, 1982 Signals Tour at the Long Beach Areana. I was in 7th grade and my Dad took me and my best friend. Will slways be my favorite concert. |
First concert for me was The Young Rascals at Fairleigh Dickinson in NJ, 1966. Second concert was at the Fillmore East with The Kinks, Spirit and the Bonzo Dog Band.
Flo and Eddie! Great fun! Wish I could have caught their act.
The Animals in '66?. I'm green. |
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Fleetwood Mac opening for the Eagles, 1976. I was 14. I may never have loved anyone so desperately as I loved Stevie Nicks in those days. Sigh.... And what was that funny smell that wafted up in little mushroom clouds all around the coliseum when the lights went down?
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The Turtles, June 1969, at the Surf, Nantasket Beach [Mass]. Unfortunately, they would shortly break up [screwed by their record company and managers].
Later Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan [Flo & Eddie] played with the late & great Frank Zappa & the Mothers.
I also saw them again as Flo & Eddie, the opening act for Alice Cooper's "Billion Dollar Baby Tour" at Pirate's World in Miami, in April 1973. What great performers, impressionists, and satirists...they had the crowd in laughing hysterically with their ad-lib in "Nikki Hoy"
Both venues are long since gone! |
Kiss, Mountain, and Mott The Hoople..Chicago, round 1974 or so, minds not what it used to be ;-) |
Tears> I was 14 so my sister had to take me. Carter Baron in DC. After watching RTF who I went to see and were great, BS&T was anticlimactic to say the least. We left after they played a tune or two. I was a music snob at 14? I guess.......
ET |
And the winner is....Blind Faith in Goleta CA Wbs
There's a lot of great shows here, a hell of a lot, but seeing Blind Faith, let alone as your very first concert, well that's hard to beat. |
WOW! There are some awesome bands listed! Unfortunate that many were before my time. Not sure how representative this thread is but it definitely implies that audiophiles on this site are from a generation before mine. This is not meant as an insult. I find it sad that there are not more younger audiophiles but I guess in this fast paced age of ipods, napster, digital music, etc its hard to see the value of spending good money on a big, immobile system that you have to sit down and listen to. Too bad. |
I will never forget my first concert. It was in 1983, it was Black Sabbath at the forum in Los Angeles. What made it even more memorable was that the great southern rock band the "Outlaws" opened for them. |
'America' at the Mississippi River Festival in Edwardsville, IL in 1973 |
I saw Steppenwolf at The Grande Ballroom in 1968 and the drummer was so high he fell backwards off his stool. As he fell he was still swinging his sticks.
Saw Hendrix in '68 at, I'm pretty sure, Detroit's Masonic Auditorium. His amps kept picking up a talk show from a local AM station, WJR. I thought it was part of the show. |
I saw my first Dead show in 72. Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City NJ |
Grateful Dead, April 1972, Alfred University - Alfred, NY |
Dizzy Gillespie, Philadelphia, 1978. |
Van Halen ont he 1984 tour when DLR was still in the band at Madison Square Garden. We scored 11th row center on the floor. I think I was fifteen at the time and it still ranks as the most fun I ever had at a concert. |
