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...

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... :)