Your first concert, shit!

before that, i attended numerous choral and classical concerts, as my mother sang in a notable local choir and my father is a classical recording engineer (for the CBC!), but it was always a result of not having a babysitter, rather than any particular interest on my part.

First 'proper' paying rock/pop gig = Pink Floyd at Earls Court, the very first night they performed 'The Wall'.

Part of the wall came down too early.

Eat shit, turkeys!

If I'd met my mates in NYC just a bit earlier, it might have been the Jesus and Mary Chain at CBGB's. Waaaaahhhhh! (Coz my mum wouldn't let me go down to NYC by myself yet.)

Previously, I walked into the Box Tops on Steel Pier in Atlantic City but my parents left after a couple songs - all I really remember is lights and noise. But in a good way.

Because in that case, my first concert would be Philip Glass at SPAC and that's much cooler.

Hemmed Steely Dan concert T, classic!

my first pop music-type gig was, um paul weller's lazy sunday afternoon, in 1996, when I was all of twelve and everyone else seemed thirty. I used to be ashamed of it, but, you know, I saw the Bluetones! they were lovely!

My first college gig, 10 years later was The Higsons ... still one of the best concerts I've ever been to.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was my first show as well! A band called Trixster opened. Despite it being my first show, I was so disappointed (the cello wasn't the only thing faked) that it almost turned me off of music forever!

Rock: The Grateful Dead performing with the Buffalo Philharmonic in 1970. First a reasonably full Dead set -- essentially the Live/Dead set, plus a few songs -- then something where the orchestra played something Lukas Foss (the conductor) had written, with the Dead improvising around it, and a simultaneous laser show. Not actually very good. I don't know that they ever did anything similar, though.

And a couple months later an outdoor concert with Leon Russell, Argent, and some fairly generic "heavy" blues band (Climax Blues Band?).

This could be its own thread, "Post Your Unborn Concert Experiences". My son attended Le Tigre @ Fort Thunder in utero. Whether or not this constitutes a form of child abuse is up for debate.

otherwise, I think it was probably a Doc Watson concert my whole family went to

This was my first show as well! A band called Trixster opened. Despite it being my first show, I was so disappointed (the cello wasn't the only thing faked) that it almost turned me off of music forever!

-- peepee (citywideva...), June 22nd, 2006

peepee, I think I remember you!...(you were the guy with the D.R.E.A.D. shirt on, right?)...I dunno, my vision got pretty blurry that night (lasers) so I could well be mistaken...

speaking of ELO and Heart, anybody else remember the "Coffee Achievers" TV commercials, featuring the rock stars (Jeff Lynne, Ann Wilson, David Bowie, etc.) slurping java?

Without parents: Molly Hatchet at the University Of Virginia basketball arena. Rick Danko opened! Unfortunately I didn't know enough to appreciate that at the time. I was 13.

Non-punk show: Stereolab opening for Sonic Youth. I nearly crapped my pants it was so good and I was on so many great drugs for the first time.

Yes! They were holding on tight to their dreams.

My first: When I was in eighth grade -- I guess this was 1985? -- I went with my older brother and his friends to see Quiet Riot, with Keel opening, in Pittsburgh (at the Civic Arena?). They were having a mini-comeback with "The Wild and the Young" and I loved it.

A couple weeks later, I attended my first "concert" by myself: Three Dog Night at the Century III Mall. It was billed as the "Joy to the World Sidewalk Sale." So depressing. And only two of the three lead vocalists were there (I didn't know who was who at the time, so I don't know who was missing, Chuck or Danny). My brother made fun of that for weeks: "So, Joe, are you going to the Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place Foreclosure Sale" concert?"

Tampa (an hour away from my hometown) was the closest place where bands played, so I couldn't go to my first show until someone's cool parents offerend to drive us.

I didn't even like the Offspring (still don't), I just wanted to go to a show. I had a pretty good time even though I got kicked in the stomach by a skinhead. Place was crawling with em! Someone threw a bottle at the Lunachicks chick and it exploded all over the mike stand 8 inches in front of her. All I remember about the Vandals is that Josh Freeese tuned his snare like he was gonna be in the marine drum corps.

First real concert (yes, I mean since the above is Christian "rock" and since I was there with a parent): U2, Joshua Tree tour, Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, fall of '87. Los Lobos opened, but only after (since their plane was late) U2 took the stage as a country band, incognito, and did a 5-song set. Good times, good times...

Without Parents: Lollapalooza 1991 (I was 15). God I had fun that day.

-- M. Agony Von Bontee (sbloomfiel...), June 22nd, 2006. (later)

Triumph played a part in one of the worst concerts I ever saw. Their first album was about to come out and they only knew enough songs to get them through that. They opened, played a horrible set to almost continuous boos, and came out unbidden for an encore and proceeded to play the first three songs again--apologizing for not knowing more material.

Next group up was pop group Sailcat who had a minor hit that included the sounds of a motorcycle. (We'll see the world from my Harley" was one of the lines of the chorus refrain). They had one of the band ride a small Honda up onto the stage as the PA played the rumble of a Harley. This band almost got laughed off stage. They were not suffered to play a whole set. The chorus of boos was deafening.

The headliner on this Friday the 13th show was Captain Beefheart--and he and the Magic Band played a much abbreviated set with the Captain lecturing us on etiquette--apparently we weren't being nice to the other musicians--and claiming an injury for Rockette Morton. I think they played a half-hour tops.

I can't remember a more ill-paired billing.

So, first major:
Outkast opening for Lauryn Hill in DC.
My sister, huge fan. Another parental endeavor, but the dad would not let three 13 year old girls alone in DC at night ('why are you so over protective'). The crowd was mostly PG County, so three white girls and and an inexpressive father with nil rhythm made for some kind of sore thumb. Funny. If anything it was high energy & fun, Andre came out in these wild rainbow feather pants and Lauryn had a live band backing her. It's still strange, considering my taste at the time, that this was my first major live experience.

There were a lot of drunken fights going on for some reason.

As a fledgling punk at the time I recall hanging out in me flared jeans and Animals t-shirt telling myself I would not become just another uniform; that I was showing my true individuality by refusing to don the 'look'. After about two months of snide comments I bought a tight fitting pair of black jeans and a 'Gary Gilmour's Eyes' t'shirt. People stopped laughing at me in an instant. Pathetic really.
Peer pressure (sigh).

a treasured memory from age 8: spending the afternoon w/my bike parked in a neighbor's driveway listening to actual garage band.

age 12 attended a free afternoon concert downtown Cincinnati, saw a local hippie-era band. either EAST ORANGE EXPRESS or BALDERDASH?

age 14 first teen dance w/live band ULTRA BLUE featuring my liflong buddy Ricky on drums.

age 14 (a few months later) first big show ALICE COOPER "School's Out" tour 1972. I remember wishing it was the Stones.

my first unchaperoned rock show was twenty years ago tonight: SKYNYRD at the pittsburgh civic arena. old

Iron Maiden/Megadeth on the seventh son tour.

This is discounting being out on tour with my dad, in which case, I don't know, Sha na na, Dr. Hook, or Eubie Blake.

Pre-natally, Leo Kottke, Koerner Ray and Glover, or (oddly enough, and most likely) my mom.

L7! at the Astoria in about 1993 or something.

What mystifies me, even today, is the indifference of the Astoria's audience. It was like being at a chamber music recital - not quite what I had in mind when I bought my ticket. It was a bit embarrassing really, cos I'd dragged 2 mates along to this. There was no moshing what so ever...there may have been some clapping at between songs but I can't remember. Was this apathy some sort of protest against the group? Presumably everyone wanted to be there or they wouldn't have paid!

Anyone have any ideas (or care)?

some crap green day covers band at my local youth club. the only good song they did was the "saved by the bell" theme tune.

Aged 12, Talk Talk '83 in Lausanne: snuck in a tape recorder and clipped stereo mics onto my cap visor.

NKTOB with Tiffany. Merriweather Post Pavillion. Sometime between 89 and 91. I bought Hangin' Tough, mostly because me and all my friends wanted to impress the ladies with our Joe McIntyre impersonations. My mom took this to be genuine interest and bought tickets to the concert for me and her and my dad and my little sister. Just what every sixth grader wants.

I pretended to enjoy myself, because I think I knew even then that those tickets were hard to get, but that was a rough 3 hours.

Unchaperoned (I see mookieproof makes the distinction), it was Screaming Trees, Soul Asylum, and the Spin Doctors.

Therapy? on the Infernal Love tour, October 1995 at Plymouth Pavilions. Supported by Understand (no, me neither) and Miles Hunt's new outfit Vent. Vent and Understand were shit but Therapy? were great, even though I didn't know a lot of their back catalogue.

Was shoulder-barged by loads of people in Levellers t-shirts much taller that me (I was 16), so it was oddly satisfying to see the same people picked up after by greying relatives in mini metro's.

My first live experience was Joe Satriani, somewhere in 1993. This was on some sort of schooltrip organized by my music teacher, who was a big Satriani-fan.

Second show was a really big stadium gig: Metallica with Megadeth and Suicidal Tendencies supporting. ST were filling in for Alice In Chains, but they were great. I was a big Megadeth-fan at the time but they kinda sucked. Metallica was still in their prime and totally ruled that evening.

First clubshow would have to be The Gathering at a local venue. This was in their Almost A Dance-days, when they still had a male singer (Anneke would enter the band a year later). They were quite terrible I remember.

Next up was the first punkshow I went to with a friend, a quadruple club-gig: Rain Like The Sound Of Trains (featuring guys from Soulside and Beefeater), followed by The Offspring (who had just released their Smash-record but hadn't scored a hit yet), followed by Ignite (one of their first shows with Zoli Teglas on vocals) followed by headliner Slapshot. This was quite a strange bill, The Offspring would explode a few months later with their big hits. Slapshot was extremely fun, even though I didn't really like Old School Hardcore that much at that moment. Their singer Choke would lift people from the audience and throw them back, take peoples shoes and share his chocomel with the audience. The next couple of years I would see Slapshot about three times more and Ignite were to become one of my favorite ever hardcore bands, seeing them about seven times.

Jesus & Mary Chain, Bristol 1987

I've got three, mainly because I can't work out in which order I saw them. I think it went like this:

1. Gipsy Kings open-air show, St Tropez, July 1991, with my older sister - so loud we had to leave!

2. Rush supported by Primus, Wembley Arena, early 1992 (I think), with my friend Simon whose Mum had kindly bought the tickets - he was a huge fan, I was unmoved.

3. The Cure at the Kilburn National Ballroom (RIP), May 1992 on the Wish mini-tour - best damn gig of my life, three-hour set, 20 minutes of which was 'A Forest', nearly got crushed to death, held cute girl stranger's hand throughout. Life-changing.

Jesus & Mary Chain, Brixton Academy, 5th December 1992

The Cult @ The fabulous Forum 1989

Jethro Tull with Yes opening, sometime during my junior year, 1970. We were in Miami at the--wait for it--High School Yearbook convention. God, we were all such losers but someone saw the ad in the paper so what the hell? We were conventioneers! Tull was playing "Teacher" during the soundcheck when we went and bought our tickets.

A Beatles tribute band called The Mahoney Brothers. They played the local high school when I was in 8th grade.

First real concert: Devo on the New Traditionalists tour, 1981.

Dizzy Gillespie, 1980

rawk (non-local acts): The Jim Carroll Band

Kiss, 1976, Savannah Civic Center -- my mom took my brother and me. As I recall we enjoyed the show more than she did.

DEVO at Radio City Music Hall on Halloween, 1981 (the New Traditionalists tour). Absolutely life-changing.

Very jealous that Dr.Mobius saw the Jim Carroll Band! I've seen him read, but never heard the band play live.

New Order / Public Image Ltd. / The Sugarcubes outdoors @ The Mann Music Center in Philadelphia, Summer 1989.

Yeah, Alex in NYC, that was the day before the show I saw! Amazing, huh?

Truly amazing. Actully, here is a shot of that very show.

Bought a shirt and an energy dome. Sadly, did not buy the "New Traditionalist Pomp".

http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZTTP16J9L._AA240_.jpg

Metallica, at Gund Arena in Cleveland. I was in 7th grade, putting me at, let's see, 14? It was a blast. Metallica had long, long been in their decline (it was their Load tour), but at age 14 it was the coolest thing in the world.

Me too. It was 1987, Metallica's And Justice for All tour...I was a nerdy junior in high school and was rather frightened by all the burnouts in denim jackets. I was sober. Ears ringing for days. The big lady justice broke apart at the end. Queensryche opened and they tried pushing all that Operation Mindcrime material on the crowd and got booed. Too much singing, I guess. Plus the mindcrime concept may have been over many heads.

The Carpenters... Johnstown, Pennsylvania War Memorial... with my parents... 1970. I was 9. I'll never forget Karen behind those Vistalite Ludwigs!

The Prodigy in Cambridge, 1996. It was pretty good and I got off with two girls.

I was at that too! Although I got off with 0 girls.

There's another thread on this. I think it was one of the first times I posted on ilm, but I can't find it. Anyway it was the Beatnigs, as support for Billy Bragg along with Michelle Shocked in Portsmouth. They had an amplified circular saw and sheet metal and stuff. It was fairly mind-blowing, aged 15.

My first concert shit was during Iggy Pop at Reading one year. When you've got to go ...

I saw some local Worcester indie/punk bands in pubs (Another Fine Mess! The Berts!) around 92/93 or so. First proper gig was Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine at Reading Uni in 1994. I'm so cool.

Albert King, MSU Drill Field, summer '81 or '82.

First proper gig: Marillion, Birmingham Odeon, 1985.

"Metallica had long, long been in their decline (it was their Load tour)"

They hadn't gone into any decline as a live act at that point.

Reminded of this by the Bowie poll - I saw Davido Bowie with my parents at the tender age of seven and a half - my Mom was in love with him. All I can remember are the fireworks that were set off at Ontario Place :(

July 4 1990 : CNE Stadium, Toronto, Canada

Yes, you read that right: David Bowie's spanish half brother Davido is who I saw..

Average White Band. I was 4.

You sure it wasn't his irish other half brother, David O'Bowie?

You know, it may very well have been - as I said, I was pretty young. I still confuse the two sometimes!

guns and roses : spaghetti incident tour

Queen, Alexandra Palace 1979, age 11. I fainted and had to be carried out by my brothers friend.

I'm not sure which was first, but it was either Sky or the Barron Knights, both in 1982, when I was 12.

(Hangs head in shame)

santana

Peter Paul and Mary when I was very tiny. Then James Taylor. Both my parent's idea. For my first concert of my choosing was probably The Urge in 6th grade.

The Bangles in 1987. I was 9. Some hard rock group called the Hoodoo Gurus opened and my parents still make fun of them to this day.

Forgot to mention mind-blowing Raffi performance in 1983.

In utero: my mother was sleeping in a tent at a bluegrass festival on my due date. I was born two weeks late to accommodate.

1976 (age 3): Saw my aunt's band The Hot Ice Band, a regional success story from Indianapolis. All I remember is hating out loud it was.

1985 (age 12): Saw Huey Lewis and the News on the Sports tour. I was excited til I got there and realized that it was a bunch of ladies screaming about Huey's tight, ripped jeans. Still, I got to go back stage and meet Mario the bassist and Mark the drummer, which was kinda cool since I was only 12.

1988 (age 16): Neurosis on the Pain of Mind tour. My first punk show, and someone got stabbed at the gig.

The Monkees, 1978, with Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart pinch-hitting for then-reunion-averse Nesmith and Tork, Pine Knob (I think?), Detroit area. Nobody got stabbed.

tsunami bomb, tiger army, and the damned when i was ~15.

pretty sad.

literally

yuck.

almost as gross as my first concert experience (aside from seeing the CSO and that sort of thing with my family) - pitchshifter, junkie xl, and gravity kills @ the metro, chicago. one of many skeletons in the closet.

Randy Newman, either '74 or '75, San Jose, CA

I had probably seen some jazz before that, my dad played jazz piano, but that's the first concert I remember

Shelter and Jihad at the Grounds in Detroit, early 90's. We talked to Ray and Porcelly after the show about the Bhagavad, I think Ray actually gave me a free copy.

omg Chelvis I think that story is awesome

The Rolling Stones, on the "Tattoo You" tour, in some huge ass Arena where the Kentucky State fair is held.

I took a big dump at the outdoor free fest that featured America and some 1987 Beach Boys lineup.

-- PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Thursday, June 22, 2006 1:27 PM (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

Goddamn I drank so much in the past two years I don't even remember taking the said dump now :-(

Motley Crue, the "Theater of Pain" tour.

Before that, a Sly & The Family Stone concert in my mom's tummy, according to my dad. Apparently, I wasn't the ONLY one who didn't see Sly that night. My parents scrambled back to their car before the scene got too ugly.

no shit, no credibility

the cure 1992, göteborg, sweden. 14 and very innocent at the time, i remember being very upset about people being drunk. still not a clever thing to be drunk at concerts though, if it is something worth remebering....

1st I SAW? Or 1st gig I PLAYED?

1st gig I saw was either Newport Jazz festival @ MSQ (Dizzy Gillespie / Cecil Taylor / Roland Kirk. I made my cousin take me. He was appalled, I was enthralled, and about 13) or BB & Albert King @ Fillmore West, shortly before it closed (my folks took me, some hippie tried to pass me a joint and I told him, "those are my folks").

I think the 1st one w/out fam was Miles Davis (On the Corner era) supporting The New Riders of the Purple Sage outdoors @ Stanford U.

1st gig I played was in a group called "Broken Branch" @ the Perkins Motel Starlight Lounge in Littleton New Hampshire (I was 18, and so was the legal age @ the time). 3 sets a night doing covers of the Stones, Eagles, Chuck Berry. I made enough to buy real Zildjian cymbals (before they sacked me) and learned to not drink too much during a gig (unless you're in a Flipper cover band, but that''s another story).

I think my first concert was DC Talk when I was about 12 years old.

Wait, Newsboys. I was 11 for that one.

Speaking for someone else: I took my daughter to see Eisley (for an acoustic in-store, about 20 minutes) when she was 2 years old, and she loved them and got to meet and take pictures with the band... :)