My first legit concert was Susan Anton. But I was just a kid, my parents took me. But after that I knew I was into girls. She was swivelly. I still remember her painted-on pants with wistful fondness.
I think my first concert-with-friends was Jackson Browne, or CSN. They were facing weekends and I can’t remember which one was first. After that I went to a TON of concerts in High School… as many as I could get to/afford.
@cinoclav Right? We have/had (rent it now) a shorehouse in Ventnor, NJ just outside of A.C. Every summer we’d see the shows, watch the Miss America pageant cars roll down the boardwalk, fireworks, etc. Good memories.
I was not really into it. We did a family event seeing the Chieftains (an Irish band/group) in the late '70s. It was pretty cool. Even though we’re not Irish we have inlaws and a grade school music teacher who are/were, and we had all listened to the ‘traiditional’ ballads growing up.
@duodec I have quite a lot of Chieftains, Clannad (which had Enya for their lead singer for a while), Pogues, Cranberries and Dubliners music. There’s a good album called The Long Black Veil which has the Chieftains playing with Mick Jagger (title track), Sting, Sinnead O’Conner, Van Morrison, Marianne Faithful, Tom Jones, Ry Cooder, and the Rolling Stones. The full album’s on YouTube.
@moondrake We have a fair number of the ‘Celtic’ and similar groups on CD, some trending into eclectic. Aine Minogue, Enya, Maev, Clannad, The Corrs, Capercaillie, Ceredwen, and Loreena McKennitt (who kinda defines eclectic and has branched out all over the place)
I’m sure there are more
We’ll take a look at the Long Black Veil album, thanks!
@duodec@moondrake I like a lot of those folks. But then I am also into people like Gordon Bok, Ed Trickkett, Anne Mayo Muir, Schooner Fare, Tom Paxton, Stan Rogers, etc. And classical. Andre Rieu. IIDivo. Carillon music. My list, actually, is pretty long.
Actually I guess I need to count going to Cleveland Orchestra concerts as my parents would take us, then I’d get free tickets as I babysat for someone who played cello for them. It was babysitting money that paid for the S&G concert.
@moondrake How can you go wrong when you start with Richie Blackmore on guitar? I liked Deep Purple & Rainbow better, but still make time for Blackmore’s Night. I do see that Mr. Blackmore is going to tour once again w/ Rainbow!
We dressed up for this. We thought we were supposed to. And the parents would have made us dress up anyway, for a concert.
The parents didn’t attend. They dropped us off, and went to a coffee shop nearby to wait, after checking the venue vibe out first.
(My parents did some really nice things along the way.)
The venue was the Will Rogers Arena (primarily a indoor rodeo and show horse venue) owned and managed by the city. Kinda a city crown jewel location, even then, when it badly needed an update. So I guess the parents thought it was safe.
Pop music in the early 1960’s Did Not Entirely Suck.
Someone I didn’t know then but got to know later wanted to go to that concert and couldn’t.
However, she and her friend met some really cute boys at the local 7-11 who had English accents. They introduced themselves as the members of Herman’s Hermits and talked bunches about life in the road, and the scene around London.
She and her friend believed. They would up taking the boys to her house, where her mom seemed enchanted (the guys were charming), and cooked dinner for all of them.
Finally the boys said they had to get back to their hotel and left.
Afterwards, she found out they were just some local high schools boys having some fun.
If must be hard for someone who grew up later to understand how insulated and insular and publicly “proper” and PG-rated culture was then. This was immersive.
Mass culture was tv, music, books, comics, sports, movies, magazines.
Many families and whole neighborhood lived without acknowledging anything else existed, at least in public and to they children. Mine tried to.
Sports, magazines, tv, were incredibly starched and “white bread”. Think Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver and Bonanza and Lassie. And the movies that kids saw were Disney-type. “Wholesome”.
Books that kids scored were mostly white bread, except for SF and fantasy. (Unless the kid read books most kids didn’t encounter until later.).
Comics were cool. But pretty “safe”, on a young kid level.
That left music. An underground language. We heard what was being said, even when we were too young and too insulated to articulate it.
And the parents didn’t get it either. They had grown up on crooners and the great American songbook. They didn’t quite get that what current music of the day held - even much of the purest pop - was pretty radical, even if not always explicitly stated. There was a message in those bass lines.
We kids - we knew. We just didn’t always know what we knew.
If memory serves: civil rights, Vietnam, the Pill, and music destroyed the “safe wholesome public veneer” left over from the 1950’s.
By the late 60’s many of us felt we barely shared the same cognitive universe as the previous generations.
That was a bit exaggerated.
But many things were more than a bit exaggerated then.
Pink Floyd was the 1st concert I paid for. My 1st major concert was Frank Sinatra stage-side seats in Las Vegas late 70’s. Too bad I was to young to appreciate it.
It was a really bad day for my dad at the blackjack tables.
They were probably comps.
well, was never really my thing
If by concert you mean large venue and not clubish setting then I was over 50 and went to see Celtic Woman. (Now is that really a concert or a program/event)
MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, as stated elsewhere. My dad thought he had to come with me. I’m sure he did not enjoy it very much (well, the music anyway), and we hung out with my friend and his brother whose parents dropped them off.
My friend wore MC Hammer pants and could do the MC Hammer dance and got to get up on stage and prove that during “you can’t touch this”. I got to hang out with my dad. I eventually got over the middle school stigma of this trauma.
Almost 30 years later, my friend is still cooler than me.
@djslack A friend of mine just switched from Sprint to T-Mobile and she has been very happy with the signal. However, we were at an event today at a Hilton Hotel and she couldn’t get a signal unless she went outside, but I had no problem inside with Verizon. I was thinking about switching to T-Mobile myself because I’m about to lose a nice corporate discount, but I really like getting a signal. Dilemma, dilemma.
@Fuzzalini I agree, the service in my area is the best. I also like that the customer service people are in the USA and have so far been very pleasant. I’m just not happy about losing my 20% corporate discount because the company I work for was sold. Verizon loyalty discount is only 8%, which is somewhat meh.
Aerosmith, with Run DMC, and Cheap Trick. Sept 2002. That was the first show on the tour since Cheap Trick replaced Kid Rock.
If we are just counting Music Concerts, I didn’t go to another until June 2015. Weird Al. Then August 2016, Weird Al again, then Sept 2016, Ben Folds.
Counting Comedy Concerts, add in George Carlin 2003, or 4, and Eddie Izzard…forget the year, but i remember him complaining about the AT&T service on his Iphone…(it was still an AT&T exclusive device…)
@cranky1950 Actually the first was Gene Autry and Champion the Wonder Horse at the Rhode Island Auditorium in 1952. Since I was brought there by my cousins I imagine Boogie Woogie was also involved.
@f00l That was a great concert, Good Vibrations just before Brian Wilson flamed out. Very few people in Rhode Island were into chemical meditation in 1967 though.
Yes, 1976, the “solo albums” tour. I think they played one song from each solo album, and maybe one or two from Relayer, because Moraz was still in the band.
Two years later i started college in the big city and concerts were no longer expeditions. Between going to clubs and ushering st the Fox i probably averaged two concerts a week.
I remember that they opened with “Soundchaser”. I was just thinking that “Gates of Delirium” may have been too long for the concert.
I was unfamiliar with the band when I saw this concert. By the time they came back the next year with Going for the One I knew them much better. I only know what song they opened with from bootlegs.
Queen. The Game tour 1980. I had to think about it a bit. Living in a small town until I graduated high school, I didn’t have an opportunity until I (or in this case, one of my friends) was not only old enough to drive, but old enough for my mom to trust me to travel hundreds of miles away. Once the floodgates were opened, I went to literally hundreds of concerts from the my late teens (moving away shortly before my 18th birthday) until I was in my late 20s (probably averaging two a month), and now I average less than two a year.
@droopus That was what I was thinking. As I was going through all these posts, I was thinking “Hey, I actually know all (most) of these bands”. (and I know next to nothing about 21st century music)
@droopus I think this subject (starting with a Seventies concert) is filtered for old people. And maybe concerts were a lot more important to us back in the day.
maybe concerts were a lot more important to us back in the day.
I have often wondered if that is true. Of course, “more important” is a subjective description, but based on observation of both my friends’ children and my own, is that none of them are avid concert goers even though they are still music lovers.
I would think musical artists would be more dependent on income from tours since it is so much easier these days for fans to avoid albums and cherry-pick songs or even consume their music from entirely free sources.
Who won’t thing about taking the time to go into terrible traffic, take forever to get there due to congestion, get squeezed into the expensive parking, go thru the concert with the overpriced everything,
Ok the concert might be great.
Then repeat the whole miserable traffic and congestion and waiting mess on the way out.
What made it easily more attractive then was youth and free time and your friends. And ones code of consumables and an after-performamce spirit when we have been rocked and moved.
If course, the fight-the-crowd hassles aren’t the same at a club. Nor the expenses. Butba night at a club is a night away from the console or laptop.
But - kinda since tablets and smartphones ate the universe, and prices of name acts went so high, and people started wanting to stay home all the time anyway …
I hear that now kids don’t wanna even go out to date much, or go out to hang with friends, because can do much of that from their houses. And many of the young have given up on dating for now. Something for when they are far older, perhaps.
So, live music? All that money and time? Not, perhaps, so attractive to someone who has the world on their console or laptop or phone.
And not so attractive to many of us who are older and hate the crowds, hate the traffic, hate the $, just don’t want to bother.
Going to concerts used to be a right of passage: a way to get out of the house, a really special thing with your friends. Live music for the intensity of the experience, a thing in itself.
@DrWorm I think cost is a big part of it. I saw the Eagles on the Hotel California tour for $6.25. I think that was around 2.5x minimum wage.
Once I got to Atlanta I was regularly seeing bands for under $5 in clubs (at the Agora I could see local bands for $0.75 cover and $0.75 well drinks, and I could always find coupons for the cover). I think my first Devo concert there was $5.
Even the big shows at the big venues were at most 5x minimum wage.
And, of course, we couldn’t see the bands perform on YouTube any time we wanted.
@craigthom Agreed, concerts changed drastically in the 80s. I saw prince in 1983 and he was talking to the audience, sitting on the edge of the stage, jamming. By 1994 in London it was a highly choreographed show.
I bet all of these “first concerts” us older folks remember were those loose, talk to the audience concerts, not the Janet Jackson video type show.
And I followed the Grateful Dead for two summers.
But in 1980 I discovered club music, and eventually became a club DJ and producer.Even though I left music for technology in 1994, I still do nights at NYC and London venues all the time. Here’s my Mixcloud:
The first Rock concert was also Pink Floyd in San Diego, at the Hall. That was before '72, probably 1971.
They played some of the older stuff & Meddle had just come out, I think…
After that was mostly concerts at the Sports Arena like Zeppelin & Ten Years After. Deep Purple was maybe the loudest concert I attended…
I was also at the Cal Jam in Ontario in '74. Almost got fired because I went to the concert instead of work. I don’t even remember all the bands there. It was a hot day & I didn’t bring water. All I had was a bota bag of cheap wine & ‘smoking material’.
Streetlight manifesto and gym class heroes. I was… I don’t know, less thsan 15, and I was wearing a fucking stupid shirt- black tshirt that said “GOT POT” on it in hwite letters. Several groups of adults smoked me up in a corner. I thought it was the coolest thing.
1974 Marshall Tucker. My mother let me go because my older sister was going and promised to keep an eye on me. Given my sister’s predilections, that was pretty laughable. Venue’s historical website says Joe Walsh (sans James Gang) opened. You’d think I’d remember that but l don’t.
I believe my first was “The Cure” sometime around 1992/93. It was that or TMBG (They might be giants… aka those guys that sing the Meh theme.)
My Dad worked for General Motors and they had seats at a local stadium - so I also went to Lalapalooza 1992-1996.
Other concerts I hit were Pet Shop Boys in 94 and Sting in the late 90s.
My husband and I went to Modest Mouse and I felt out of place being in our late 30s we appeared to be 2x the average age. Most recently I saw “Flight of the Conchords” with Demetri Martin opening for them. Good times.
First concert was the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Don’t remember the year, but early '60’s.
First real concerts were The 5th Dimension and Sam & Dave (separately) in 1969.
First rockshow was Ted Nugent in 1970.
We saw the Boston Pops at some point during my childhood. Also there were any number of school concerts and the like, but if we’re taking big time performing artist type concerts my first was Paul McCartney’s Out There concert at Fenway Park.
Bon Jovi in 87 for the ‘Slippery When Wet’ tour.
I’m not overly proud of that. Cinderella opened up.
Tonihjt I just got back seeing My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult, as they are on tour celebrating 30 years since their first album. I also saw them in concert for that first album
@haydesigner saw Bon Jovi at the Coliseum in Philly in the 80’s…fell asleep standing up, lol…They were paired with Skid Row that night…who, BTW, were WAY better and had the joint jumpin’
@cinoclav yep…I was living in Seaside heights at the time and my wife was a travel agent…so we would always get comp tickets for that and the Vet…plus, I had a friend at the time who worked for a supermarket and he was always getting comp tickets for those places as well from the food vendors…
@cinoclav you’re right, the Spectrum…what do i remember, it was the 80’s and i was living in the drinking/cocaine capitol of the Jersey shore, Seaside Heights, lol…
“Weird” Al Yankovic on the Running With Scissors tour. Almost ruined me for future concerts! It took me 16 years to see him again, but he was just as good the second time.
My first club show was Japanese noise-rock band Melt Banana at the old Knitting Factory in NYC.
BB King with Dr. John at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. I was terrified, 15 years old and had never been to a concert before, though I had been snubbed by “friends” who omitted me from their outing to see NKOTB in middle school. I’m glad I waited for my first concert experience now that I look back.
@f00l went on a bus trip sponsored by a local radio station, couldn’t hear anything but screaming. Shea was worse as they had no pa just played with their normal stage setup on a stage at about second base. Screaming also an issue. Fuck you.
First “big” concert was KISS w/ Dokken as opener in Grand Forks, North Dakota somewhere around 1985. I recently found a DVD copy of the concert (w/ Portuguese subtitles that you can’t turn off) and it really was a great show!! This was a non-makeup, maximum rock show (Heaven’s On Fire)! Just a little while later I saw the band RATT w/ Bon Jovi as opener. Man, those were the days!! Best part, as I recall, was that I don’t think I paid more than $15 for either of those shows!
Pretty sure it was Garth Brooks at the Illinois State Fair. Looks like he was there in 1990 and 91, and I may have actually been both years. First rock concert was Smashing Pumpkins with Garbage in 1996.
Foghat “Fool for the City” 1976
Kiel Auditorium St. Louis, MO. A KSHE-95 (radio Station) concert. The warm-up band was"Off Broadway" I guess they never made it to the headliner stage but they were pretty good.
Side Note: Why can I remember stuff vividly from almost 42 years ago and can’t remember stuff I need to remember from this morning?
Santana - Full ensemble of musicians- 1977 St. Louis Kiel Opera House.
Mott the Hoople - St. Louis Kiel Opera House 1977
Steve Winwood - Dayton, OH 1998 Playing a lot of Traffic - Blind Faith
Dweezil Zappa plays Zappa - Albuquerque, NM 2009
Foreigner - Maui, HI Art and Cultural Center (the MAC)2012? featuring Jason Bonham on the drums. They launched into some most excellent Zeppelin covers.
The Clash. Several times. NYC. Late 70’s and early 80’s.
The Talking Heads. NYC. Once in Texas. Many many times. Late 70’s and early 80’s.
Nirvana. Dallas. Early 90’s.
Damn your addictions, Cobain.
Nine Inch Nails. Dallas. 1990’s several times.
Led Zeppelin. FW. (late 60’s or early 1970’s). I had very bad hearing for many days afterwards. They were insane on stage.
Stones. Various times early 70’s to a decade ago. Even when they are lame as shit, they rock.
Springsteen. The best was at the Cotton Bowl. Several times, 1980’s.
Ramones. CBGB’s. Late 70’s or early 80’s.
Blondie. Also at CBGB’s.
Some jazz stuff during a festival at Lincoln Center. I no longer remember exactly who played. (Was seriously under the influence). But great.
Ornette Coleman. As often as I could see him, wherever he played.
Listening live to the Cliburn finals a few times.
Gregorian chanting - a Cistercian order at University of Dallas.
Fripp. He used to do unannounced surprise performances around NYC, in odd places. Free. Schoolrooms, churches, meeting halls. Someone I knew got the word, and we’d all go.
A few pianists doing concert debuts at Carnegie. I’ve forgotten the names of all but two of them; those two are people I knew personally. One was not a concert careerist (tho he was awesome, did very very well at Cliburn). The other, perhaps could have gone places; he had a serious congenital heart defect that killed him when he was in his late 30’s.
The NYC Ballet Orchestra doing Tschaikovsky and Stravinsky at Lincoln Center.
Wilson Pickett. 1980’s. NYC. Yeah.
A performance of Beethoven’s 5th, and later his 9th, in London during the 1970’s. I can’t remember the orchestras. One of the performances was at Albert Hall.
Van Cliburn. 1980’s and 1990’s? By them he was “playing at playing”, but still matchless, in a way. He still practiced, passionately, hours and hours every day. He was utterly sure of himself as a performer.
Choir of the Chapel at King’s College, Cambridge. Dallas, sometime a decade or more ago.
John Cage, performing live during Merce Cunningham Company dance dress rehearsals or early, non-public performances. Also, once, by himself.
Whoever they were, playing, those various nights at Tipitina’s, when I was in NO.
A string quartet I used to see in NYC. Which one were they? I have forgotten.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten a ton of stuff. And there are a bunch of near misses.
@f00l Laurie is amazing. I saw her on the Homeland tour and was blown away. (The performance of her piece, Delusion… less compelling, but still glad to see it.)
Top 5, huh? Hm. I’m going to try to limit it to one by each band, since I’ve seen some of my favorites multiple times.
DEVO - Hardcore DEVO Live (2014) - My favorite band doing a set of entirely early material, including songs I thought I’d never, ever, ever hear live. Only thing that could have made it better is Bob Casale being alive and a part of it.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters (2017) - Holy shit, Elvis is amazing live. Nearly two and a half hours of performing, and he and the Imposters fucking bring it. Special shoutout to Steve Nieve, who is a beast of a performer.
Kraftwerk (2016) - I have to kick myself a bit, because back in 2005, I had to choose between seeing DEVO in Atlantic City or Kraftwerk in NYC. I choose DEVO, and while I don’t regret it, I didn’t think Florian would quit the band. Oh, well. Seeing Kraftwerk’s crazy 3-D show, even with Ralf’s Replacement Robots, was still an experience to behold.
The Long Winters (2013) - Not only was this finally a chance to see The Long Winters live performing their best album, and the amazing John Roderick doing the Rock Star Thing, it was also a chance to meet some awesome Internet Friends for the first time. Also, the same day as the show, I got fired from my shitty startup job, so it helped take some of the sting out.
Savages (2013) - Holy shit are Savages intense live. Dark, loud, heavy, moody, angry, jubilant, but what really sticks out to me was the moment during the song “Husbands” where the crowds in front of me parted, and a wave of people pushed me from about 1/3rd back in the auditorium, right up to the barrier for the last couple songs. Wow.
@f00l Dang! Now don’t get me started with all the shows I’ve been to. I missed Led Zeppelin due to a stupid decision involving a girl. I don’t even remember her name now. It haunts me to this day.
@sanspoint I have seen Devo several times, but my favorite show is easy to pick.
I was a freshman in college, and had just moved to the Big City where I could walk down the street and see bands in clubs for little money. It was an eye-opener, since before seeing concerts meant a two-hour drive each way, and I’d just seen big acts (Yes, Eagles, ELP. Santana, etc.).
I saw Devo on Saturday Night Live and thought that was some weird stuff. When they appeared at a local club in December I decided to go.
So there I was, eighteen, relatively naive, and ten feet from the stage when the sheet dropped and they showed a series of bizarre short films. MTV and “music videos” were still a few years in the future, so I had no idea what to make of this.
And then the band came out. Tyvek suits, like on TV, which they later ripped off to reveal shorts and knee pads. Squonking Mini Moogs. Mostly functional wireless guitar transmitters. Visqueen-covered stage which Mark tore holes in.
I was sitting at a table but I stood on the chair the whole time. I was close enough that I’d occasionally get hit with sweat flying from the stage.
It was not just a great concert: it was the moment when I realized the potential power of seeing an intense performance in an intimate venue.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing DEVO eight times over the years. All post-reunion shows, but they still put on a better show than most young bands I’ve seen.
(In fact, the first DEVO show I ever got to see was recorded for a TV broadcast, so I can relive it too!
Greta Van Fleet Haven’t seen them yet. They are selling out shows before I can get my hands on tickets. Went to Tucson two weeks ago and just missed tickets for that show.
Anyone seen them yet?
My first ‘real’ concert - Olivia Newton John: The Physical Tour, August 1982. She was sooo hot (and she still is.)
My first ‘real real’ concert - Rush: Grace Under Pressure, November 1984. I had been a Rush fan for several years already. My sister’s boyfriend was a drummer, therefore required by law to be a Rush fan. The best thing she ever did for me (like ever in my life) was ask him to take me to that show. That was the first time I saw them and I had seen them at least once on every single tour since then. Saw them multiple times on each tour as I got older and could afford to go to more shows. Damnit Neil, you’re killing us Rush fans by not playing anymore.
Metallica as a teenager. I still love those riffs but I’m not really into metal/hard rock anymore. I’ve moved towards bands like the Black Keys and (very different) Chris Stapleton.
While I like to explore music and move around frequently between genres there will always be a place in my rotation for Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, or Johnny Cash.
Charlie Daniels, I was elementary school age and my parents went to see him and I guess they were stuck taking me. After that it was a series of country musicians, George Jones, Conway Twitty, etc, still with my parents. When I hit high school I saw a Huey Lewis & The News as my first non-country music show. After that I had a car and saw anything from The Black Crowes, Metallica, AC/DC, The Cult. Then I moved in to more classic rock, the Grateful Dead (they always had cool opening bands), Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd. I was even fortunate enough to see David Bowie. Too many to name or even remember. Lots of concerts over the years and now I can’t stand crowds but I still love live music. So I see local bands in small venues.
@tinkertime I was most definitely lucky enough to see Bowie three different times. Still consider him to be one of the very top performers I’ve seen live. Damnit Bowie, you left us way too young.
Grateful Dead - State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA 6/16/74
Setlist:
Bertha
Mexicali Blues
Row Jimmy
Beat it on Down the Line
Scarlet Begonias
Black-Throated Wind
Sugaree
El Paso
It Must Have Been the Roses
Jack Straw
Ship of Fools
Around and Around
U.S. Blues
The Race is On
Eyes of the World
Big River
Playin’ in the Band
Tennessee Jed
Me and My Uncle
Deal
Greatest Story Ever Told
Truckin’
Nobody’s Jam
Wharf Rat
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad
Chicago. 1981. Oakdale (“in the round”) theater in Wallingford, Connecticut. Peter Cetera was still in the band and it was a pretty good first concert.
Most interesting concert memory is seeing Billy Squier in 1984. It’s the only concert I’ve been to where the arena was 100% full for the warm-up band (Ratt.) Some people left before Billy Squier came on.
Doh, stupid keyboard skills!
@rtjhnstn Stop calling me tes.
Bachman Turner Overdrive, circa 1975
@therealjrn Cool! I saw them in San Diego at the Sports Arena around that time. Wishbone Ash was there also. BTO could really rock!
@daveinwarsh I saw Wishbone Ash a couple of years ago; they are a severely underrated band.
@Sabre99 Yes, they were a great band. I had a few of their albums too…
Wishbone Ash
Fleetwood Mac Tusk.
Righteous Bros and ZZ Top a week later.
@Thumperchick Wow… that’s a conflict of moods! lol
@Thumperchick That is one long set by the Righteous Brothers.
My first legit concert was Susan Anton. But I was just a kid, my parents took me. But after that I knew I was into girls. She was swivelly. I still remember her painted-on pants with wistful fondness.
I think my first concert-with-friends was Jackson Browne, or CSN. They were facing weekends and I can’t remember which one was first. After that I went to a TON of concerts in High School… as many as I could get to/afford.
@ACraigL Omg, I saw her too. I was also taken to see Linda Carter. Ah yes, good ole’ Atlantic City.
@cinoclav Right? We have/had (rent it now) a shorehouse in Ventnor, NJ just outside of A.C. Every summer we’d see the shows, watch the Miss America pageant cars roll down the boardwalk, fireworks, etc. Good memories.
@ACraigL Strange possibility that we were at the same Susan Anton concert as kids.
I was not really into it. We did a family event seeing the Chieftains (an Irish band/group) in the late '70s. It was pretty cool. Even though we’re not Irish we have inlaws and a grade school music teacher who are/were, and we had all listened to the ‘traiditional’ ballads growing up.
@duodec i have one of their CD’s
@duodec I have quite a lot of Chieftains, Clannad (which had Enya for their lead singer for a while), Pogues, Cranberries and Dubliners music. There’s a good album called The Long Black Veil which has the Chieftains playing with Mick Jagger (title track), Sting, Sinnead O’Conner, Van Morrison, Marianne Faithful, Tom Jones, Ry Cooder, and the Rolling Stones. The full album’s on YouTube.
@moondrake We have a fair number of the ‘Celtic’ and similar groups on CD, some trending into eclectic. Aine Minogue, Enya, Maev, Clannad, The Corrs, Capercaillie, Ceredwen, and Loreena McKennitt (who kinda defines eclectic and has branched out all over the place)
I’m sure there are more
We’ll take a look at the Long Black Veil album, thanks!
@duodec They are not as well known but I really like Blackmore’s Night for Celtic folk music.
@duodec @moondrake I like a lot of those folks. But then I am also into people like Gordon Bok, Ed Trickkett, Anne Mayo Muir, Schooner Fare, Tom Paxton, Stan Rogers, etc. And classical. Andre Rieu. IIDivo. Carillon music. My list, actually, is pretty long.
@duodec @moondrake Ran out of edit time. I like classical choral music as well. And classical guitar.
My first concert was Simon and Garfunkel.
Actually I guess I need to count going to Cleveland Orchestra concerts as my parents would take us, then I’d get free tickets as I babysat for someone who played cello for them. It was babysitting money that paid for the S&G concert.
@moondrake How can you go wrong when you start with Richie Blackmore on guitar? I liked Deep Purple & Rainbow better, but still make time for Blackmore’s Night. I do see that Mr. Blackmore is going to tour once again w/ Rainbow!
@duodec Love them.
First concert my parents didn’t choose for me, and first one I went to in my own dime:.
Herman’s Hermits.
Mid-elementary school.
@f00l
We dressed up for this. We thought we were supposed to. And the parents would have made us dress up anyway, for a concert.
The parents didn’t attend. They dropped us off, and went to a coffee shop nearby to wait, after checking the venue vibe out first.
(My parents did some really nice things along the way.)
The venue was the Will Rogers Arena (primarily a indoor rodeo and show horse venue) owned and managed by the city. Kinda a city crown jewel location, even then, when it badly needed an update. So I guess the parents thought it was safe.
Pop music in the early 1960’s Did Not Entirely Suck.
Someone I didn’t know then but got to know later wanted to go to that concert and couldn’t.
However, she and her friend met some really cute boys at the local 7-11 who had English accents. They introduced themselves as the members of Herman’s Hermits and talked bunches about life in the road, and the scene around London.
She and her friend believed. They would up taking the boys to her house, where her mom seemed enchanted (the guys were charming), and cooked dinner for all of them.
Finally the boys said they had to get back to their hotel and left.
Afterwards, she found out they were just some local high schools boys having some fun.
If must be hard for someone who grew up later to understand how insulated and insular and publicly “proper” and PG-rated culture was then. This was immersive.
Mass culture was tv, music, books, comics, sports, movies, magazines.
Many families and whole neighborhood lived without acknowledging anything else existed, at least in public and to they children. Mine tried to.
Sports, magazines, tv, were incredibly starched and “white bread”. Think Father Knows Best and Leave It To Beaver and Bonanza and Lassie. And the movies that kids saw were Disney-type. “Wholesome”.
Books that kids scored were mostly white bread, except for SF and fantasy. (Unless the kid read books most kids didn’t encounter until later.).
Comics were cool. But pretty “safe”, on a young kid level.
That left music. An underground language. We heard what was being said, even when we were too young and too insulated to articulate it.
And the parents didn’t get it either. They had grown up on crooners and the great American songbook. They didn’t quite get that what current music of the day held - even much of the purest pop - was pretty radical, even if not always explicitly stated. There was a message in those bass lines.
We kids - we knew. We just didn’t always know what we knew.
If memory serves: civil rights, Vietnam, the Pill, and music destroyed the “safe wholesome public veneer” left over from the 1950’s.
By the late 60’s many of us felt we barely shared the same cognitive universe as the previous generations.
That was a bit exaggerated.
But many things were more than a bit exaggerated then.
@f00l
Pink Floyd was the 1st concert I paid for. My 1st major concert was Frank Sinatra stage-side seats in Las Vegas late 70’s. Too bad I was to young to appreciate it.
It was a really bad day for my dad at the blackjack tables.
They were probably comps.
J. Geils Band - Love Stinks Tour (how appropriate)
The Boston Garden
@mfladd I saw then in 1979, so I guess it was one tour earlier.
@craigthom Saw them in '75 so I guess I was one or two tours earlier, lol.
Black Sabbath '72 @ Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Pre-bat-chomping days.
michael stanley band, outside cleveland, OH in the 70’s
Mushroomhead, Erie PA, late '90s or so. My first CD was Pink Floyd’s “Animals” though, back when CDs had those big cardboard boxes.
Peter Gabriel early '80s
Concert? Hmmmmm
well, was never really my thing
If by concert you mean large venue and not clubish setting then I was over 50 and went to see Celtic Woman. (Now is that really a concert or a program/event)
/
@Cerridwyn Sort of like a musical play with no plot.
MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice, as stated elsewhere. My dad thought he had to come with me. I’m sure he did not enjoy it very much (well, the music anyway), and we hung out with my friend and his brother whose parents dropped them off.
My friend wore MC Hammer pants and could do the MC Hammer dance and got to get up on stage and prove that during “you can’t touch this”. I got to hang out with my dad. I eventually got over the middle school stigma of this trauma.
Almost 30 years later, my friend is still cooler than me.
@djslack But now you might be cooler than MC Hammer; you’re “The Goat” but he only sells 3M command hooks…
I blame you for the Hammer’s fall…
@duodec
/giphy please hammer don’t hurt 'em
I cannot reveal the answer. That is a security question on my Verizon account login page
@heartny oh shit, it is. That’s ok, I think I’m going to ditch them for TMobile if they are not lying about network improvements in my area.
@djslack A friend of mine just switched from Sprint to T-Mobile and she has been very happy with the signal. However, we were at an event today at a Hilton Hotel and she couldn’t get a signal unless she went outside, but I had no problem inside with Verizon. I was thinking about switching to T-Mobile myself because I’m about to lose a nice corporate discount, but I really like getting a signal. Dilemma, dilemma.
@heartny Stay with Verizon. Yes, it costs money, but they are without a doubt, the very best.
@Fuzzalini
/giphy it costs money because it SAVES money
@Pantheist fuck you giphy. streak over.
@Fuzzalini I agree, the service in my area is the best. I also like that the customer service people are in the USA and have so far been very pleasant. I’m just not happy about losing my 20% corporate discount because the company I work for was sold. Verizon loyalty discount is only 8%, which is somewhat meh.
Aerosmith, with Run DMC, and Cheap Trick. Sept 2002. That was the first show on the tour since Cheap Trick replaced Kid Rock.
If we are just counting Music Concerts, I didn’t go to another until June 2015. Weird Al. Then August 2016, Weird Al again, then Sept 2016, Ben Folds.
Counting Comedy Concerts, add in George Carlin 2003, or 4, and Eddie Izzard…forget the year, but i remember him complaining about the AT&T service on his Iphone…(it was still an AT&T exclusive device…)
Metallica w/ Danzig and Suicidal Tendencies. - June '94
Tickets were just $25
If I could find a high-school yearbook, I might remember others, but I do remember seeing The Doors in 1967. Tickets were $3.
A Perfect Circle - Mer De Noms tour. I think it was 2001
Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, Strawberry Alarm Clock and Vanilla Fudge at the Rhode Island Auditorium.
@cranky1950 Actually the first was Gene Autry and Champion the Wonder Horse at the Rhode Island Auditorium in 1952. Since I was brought there by my cousins I imagine Boogie Woogie was also involved.
@cranky1950
Wish I’d seen the Buffalo Springfield one.
@f00l That was a great concert, Good Vibrations just before Brian Wilson flamed out. Very few people in Rhode Island were into chemical meditation in 1967 though.
@cranky1950
Re chemical meditation:
Really? And I thought Texas was sleepy and out if it.
Ok, a lot of Texas was pretty sleepy in 1967.
@f00l When I got to Miami in 1968 it was most amazing.
@cranky1950
I believe.
Weird Al
@luvche21 hmm maybe we were at the same concert
@connorbush Was it really stormy and part of his show didn’t work because of the wind? And did it start late?
@connorbush And was it at a state fair thing?
Yes, 1976, the “solo albums” tour. I think they played one song from each solo album, and maybe one or two from Relayer, because Moraz was still in the band.
Two years later i started college in the big city and concerts were no longer expeditions. Between going to clubs and ushering st the Fox i probably averaged two concerts a week.
@craigthom > maybe one or two from Relayer
Wouldn’t that be, like, the whole album?
(only slightly exaggerating, IIRC)
@DrWorm Just about.
I remember that they opened with “Soundchaser”. I was just thinking that “Gates of Delirium” may have been too long for the concert.
I was unfamiliar with the band when I saw this concert. By the time they came back the next year with Going for the One I knew them much better. I only know what song they opened with from bootlegs.
Kansas…1979 at the New Haven Colosseum
Led Zeppelin. ASU Activity Center. July, 1977. I was a wee nipper, but it made a lasting impression on me.
Queen. The Game tour 1980. I had to think about it a bit. Living in a small town until I graduated high school, I didn’t have an opportunity until I (or in this case, one of my friends) was not only old enough to drive, but old enough for my mom to trust me to travel hundreds of miles away. Once the floodgates were opened, I went to literally hundreds of concerts from the my late teens (moving away shortly before my 18th birthday) until I was in my late 20s (probably averaging two a month), and now I average less than two a year.
Johnny Winter, Allman Brothers, Fillmore East. March 12, 1971.
Wow looking at these first concerts, maybe we should all be getting AARP discounts on Meh purchases.
@droopus That was what I was thinking. As I was going through all these posts, I was thinking “Hey, I actually know all (most) of these bands”. (and I know next to nothing about 21st century music)
@droopus I think this subject (starting with a Seventies concert) is filtered for old people. And maybe concerts were a lot more important to us back in the day.
@droopus I do
Fuck you! I am not old @mflassy and @KittySprinkles. Hmpf!
@mfladd
/image old @mfladd
@craigthom
I have often wondered if that is true. Of course, “more important” is a subjective description, but based on observation of both my friends’ children and my own, is that none of them are avid concert goers even though they are still music lovers.
I would think musical artists would be more dependent on income from tours since it is so much easier these days for fans to avoid albums and cherry-pick songs or even consume their music from entirely free sources.
@DrWorm
Aside from cost, time.
Who won’t thing about taking the time to go into terrible traffic, take forever to get there due to congestion, get squeezed into the expensive parking, go thru the concert with the overpriced everything,
Ok the concert might be great.
Then repeat the whole miserable traffic and congestion and waiting mess on the way out.
What made it easily more attractive then was youth and free time and your friends. And ones code of consumables and an after-performamce spirit when we have been rocked and moved.
If course, the fight-the-crowd hassles aren’t the same at a club. Nor the expenses. Butba night at a club is a night away from the console or laptop.
But - kinda since tablets and smartphones ate the universe, and prices of name acts went so high, and people started wanting to stay home all the time anyway …
I hear that now kids don’t wanna even go out to date much, or go out to hang with friends, because can do much of that from their houses. And many of the young have given up on dating for now. Something for when they are far older, perhaps.
So, live music? All that money and time? Not, perhaps, so attractive to someone who has the world on their console or laptop or phone.
And not so attractive to many of us who are older and hate the crowds, hate the traffic, hate the $, just don’t want to bother.
Going to concerts used to be a right of passage: a way to get out of the house, a really special thing with your friends. Live music for the intensity of the experience, a thing in itself.
Not so much, now, I would guess?
@DrWorm I think cost is a big part of it. I saw the Eagles on the Hotel California tour for $6.25. I think that was around 2.5x minimum wage.
Once I got to Atlanta I was regularly seeing bands for under $5 in clubs (at the Agora I could see local bands for $0.75 cover and $0.75 well drinks, and I could always find coupons for the cover). I think my first Devo concert there was $5.
Even the big shows at the big venues were at most 5x minimum wage.
And, of course, we couldn’t see the bands perform on YouTube any time we wanted.
@craigthom Agreed, concerts changed drastically in the 80s. I saw prince in 1983 and he was talking to the audience, sitting on the edge of the stage, jamming. By 1994 in London it was a highly choreographed show.
I bet all of these “first concerts” us older folks remember were those loose, talk to the audience concerts, not the Janet Jackson video type show.
And I followed the Grateful Dead for two summers.
But in 1980 I discovered club music, and eventually became a club DJ and producer.Even though I left music for technology in 1994, I still do nights at NYC and London venues all the time. Here’s my Mixcloud:
https://www.mixcloud.com/bruceforest1/
Sometimes I slip a little Boz Scaggs and Steely Dan in, and no one is the wiser.
Tom Petty at the Irvine Meadows. Neither of those is with us any more.
The first Rock concert was also Pink Floyd in San Diego, at the Hall. That was before '72, probably 1971.
They played some of the older stuff & Meddle had just come out, I think…
After that was mostly concerts at the Sports Arena like Zeppelin & Ten Years After. Deep Purple was maybe the loudest concert I attended…
I was also at the Cal Jam in Ontario in '74. Almost got fired because I went to the concert instead of work. I don’t even remember all the bands there. It was a hot day & I didn’t bring water. All I had was a bota bag of cheap wine & ‘smoking material’.
I saw the Supremes perform at the Portland Auto Show with my dad in 1967. Does that count as a concert?
@macromeh your dad performed with the Supremes?
@djslack Nah, couldn’t find a sequined gown to fit. Diana Ross stepped in to cover and the rest is history.
Streetlight manifesto and gym class heroes. I was… I don’t know, less thsan 15, and I was wearing a fucking stupid shirt- black tshirt that said “GOT POT” on it in hwite letters. Several groups of adults smoked me up in a corner. I thought it was the coolest thing.
@Pantheist Streetlight Manifesto is probably the last good 3rd wave ska band to have formed. Many bands before and after have not aged well at all.
Alice Cooper. School’s out for Summer. Reserved floor seats, imagine that!
1974 Marshall Tucker. My mother let me go because my older sister was going and promised to keep an eye on me. Given my sister’s predilections, that was pretty laughable. Venue’s historical website says Joe Walsh (sans James Gang) opened. You’d think I’d remember that but l don’t.
Day on the Green 4, June 6, 1976, at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: Jeff Beck, J. Geils Band, Blue Öyster Cult, Mahogany Rush, and Sammy Hagar.
I believe my first was “The Cure” sometime around 1992/93. It was that or TMBG (They might be giants… aka those guys that sing the Meh theme.)
My Dad worked for General Motors and they had seats at a local stadium - so I also went to Lalapalooza 1992-1996.
Other concerts I hit were Pet Shop Boys in 94 and Sting in the late 90s.
My husband and I went to Modest Mouse and I felt out of place being in our late 30s we appeared to be 2x the average age. Most recently I saw “Flight of the Conchords” with Demetri Martin opening for them. Good times.
@Serafyna I’m pretty sure I caught all the same acts on the same tours. It’s like you’re replaying the soundtrack of my college years.
First concert was the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra. Don’t remember the year, but early '60’s.
First real concerts were The 5th Dimension and Sam & Dave (separately) in 1969.
First rockshow was Ted Nugent in 1970.
We saw the Boston Pops at some point during my childhood. Also there were any number of school concerts and the like, but if we’re taking big time performing artist type concerts my first was Paul McCartney’s Out There concert at Fenway Park.
Bon Jovi in 87 for the ‘Slippery When Wet’ tour.
I’m not overly proud of that. Cinderella opened up.
Tonihjt I just got back seeing My Life with the Thrill Kill Cult, as they are on tour celebrating 30 years since their first album. I also saw them in concert for that first album
@haydesigner saw Bon Jovi at the Coliseum in Philly in the 80’s…fell asleep standing up, lol…They were paired with Skid Row that night…who, BTW, were WAY better and had the joint jumpin’
@fastharry The Colosseum? In Philly?
@cinoclav yep…I was living in Seaside heights at the time and my wife was a travel agent…so we would always get comp tickets for that and the Vet…plus, I had a friend at the time who worked for a supermarket and he was always getting comp tickets for those places as well from the food vendors…
@fastharry My point was more of - what the hell is The Colosseum? Do you mean The Spectrum?
@cinoclav you’re right, the Spectrum…what do i remember, it was the 80’s and i was living in the drinking/cocaine capitol of the Jersey shore, Seaside Heights, lol…
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Great concert.
“Weird” Al Yankovic on the Running With Scissors tour. Almost ruined me for future concerts! It took me 16 years to see him again, but he was just as good the second time.
My first club show was Japanese noise-rock band Melt Banana at the old Knitting Factory in NYC.
@sanspoint Holy shit, MELT BANANA!!! I’ve allllllllllwaaaaaay wanted to see them live, but just haven’t.
@hems79 They’re worth it. Very fun, but very loud.
I still have hearing damage from that Melt Banana show back in 2003… ended up standing under the PA during their set.
I wear earplugs to every show now.
@sanspoint me too!!
Steppenwolf, late 60s.
@lordbowen
Never saw them. Envious.
@f00l They even smashed a guitar during the show. My mind was totally blown that night. Good times.
BB King with Dr. John at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. I was terrified, 15 years old and had never been to a concert before, though I had been snubbed by “friends” who omitted me from their outing to see NKOTB in middle school. I’m glad I waited for my first concert experience now that I look back.
Aerosmith - Nassau Coliseum in Long Island. 1977. Golden Earring was the warm up band.
KISS,early 70’s before they got really hot…Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ…(where i also saw Deep Throat, btw…just not on the same night)
Queen. 1976 at the University of Maryland. I was living in a dorm, it was a free concert for students, so I went. It was an incredible experience.
Beatles at Olympia in Detroit. Saw them again at Shea.
@hondadoug
Ok, fuck you.
Give me your memories.
@f00l went on a bus trip sponsored by a local radio station, couldn’t hear anything but screaming. Shea was worse as they had no pa just played with their normal stage setup on a stage at about second base. Screaming also an issue. Fuck you.
@hondadoug
Still. You were there. With the Beatles, even that’s worth something.
So I’m being horrible about it because I’m totally envious
I hope it was cool getting to go, even if all you hear was the screaming. Hope you got some snapshots too.
@hondadoug
Was meant humorously in my original response. But I didn’t exactly cue that is a clear way.
Apologies. .
@hondadoug I saw them in '66 in D.C.
Bruce Springsteen. Every concert seemed short after that.
@pitamuffin
You never saw a Dead concert, then?
Weird Al” Yankovic
Tour: Touring with Scissors
First “big” concert was KISS w/ Dokken as opener in Grand Forks, North Dakota somewhere around 1985. I recently found a DVD copy of the concert (w/ Portuguese subtitles that you can’t turn off) and it really was a great show!! This was a non-makeup, maximum rock show (Heaven’s On Fire)! Just a little while later I saw the band RATT w/ Bon Jovi as opener. Man, those were the days!! Best part, as I recall, was that I don’t think I paid more than $15 for either of those shows!
Pretty sure it was Garth Brooks at the Illinois State Fair. Looks like he was there in 1990 and 91, and I may have actually been both years. First rock concert was Smashing Pumpkins with Garbage in 1996.
Foghat “Fool for the City” 1976
Kiel Auditorium St. Louis, MO. A KSHE-95 (radio Station) concert. The warm-up band was"Off Broadway" I guess they never made it to the headliner stage but they were pretty good.
Side Note: Why can I remember stuff vividly from almost 42 years ago and can’t remember stuff I need to remember from this morning?
@accelerator Off Broadway were superstars in Chicago. They just never took off nationally.
@craigthom Interesting. I wonder where they are now.
Another topic: Top 5 concerts:
Santana - Full ensemble of musicians- 1977 St. Louis Kiel Opera House.
Mott the Hoople - St. Louis Kiel Opera House 1977
Steve Winwood - Dayton, OH 1998 Playing a lot of Traffic - Blind Faith
Dweezil Zappa plays Zappa - Albuquerque, NM 2009
Foreigner - Maui, HI Art and Cultural Center (the MAC)2012? featuring Jason Bonham on the drums. They launched into some most excellent Zeppelin covers.
@accelerator
In no particular order:
The Clash. Several times. NYC. Late 70’s and early 80’s.
The Talking Heads. NYC. Once in Texas. Many many times. Late 70’s and early 80’s.
Nirvana. Dallas. Early 90’s.
Damn your addictions, Cobain.
Nine Inch Nails. Dallas. 1990’s several times.
Led Zeppelin. FW. (late 60’s or early 1970’s). I had very bad hearing for many days afterwards. They were insane on stage.
Stones. Various times early 70’s to a decade ago. Even when they are lame as shit, they rock.
Springsteen. The best was at the Cotton Bowl. Several times, 1980’s.
Ramones. CBGB’s. Late 70’s or early 80’s.
Blondie. Also at CBGB’s.
Some jazz stuff during a festival at Lincoln Center. I no longer remember exactly who played. (Was seriously under the influence). But great.
Ornette Coleman. As often as I could see him, wherever he played.
Listening live to the Cliburn finals a few times.
Gregorian chanting - a Cistercian order at University of Dallas.
Fripp. He used to do unannounced surprise performances around NYC, in odd places. Free. Schoolrooms, churches, meeting halls. Someone I knew got the word, and we’d all go.
A few pianists doing concert debuts at Carnegie. I’ve forgotten the names of all but two of them; those two are people I knew personally. One was not a concert careerist (tho he was awesome, did very very well at Cliburn). The other, perhaps could have gone places; he had a serious congenital heart defect that killed him when he was in his late 30’s.
The NYC Ballet Orchestra doing Tschaikovsky and Stravinsky at Lincoln Center.
Wilson Pickett. 1980’s. NYC. Yeah.
A performance of Beethoven’s 5th, and later his 9th, in London during the 1970’s. I can’t remember the orchestras. One of the performances was at Albert Hall.
Van Cliburn. 1980’s and 1990’s? By them he was “playing at playing”, but still matchless, in a way. He still practiced, passionately, hours and hours every day. He was utterly sure of himself as a performer.
Choir of the Chapel at King’s College, Cambridge. Dallas, sometime a decade or more ago.
John Cage, performing live during Merce Cunningham Company dance dress rehearsals or early, non-public performances. Also, once, by himself.
Whoever they were, playing, those various nights at Tipitina’s, when I was in NO.
A string quartet I used to see in NYC. Which one were they? I have forgotten.
I’m sure I’ve forgotten a ton of stuff. And there are a bunch of near misses.
@f00l
Shit. Knew I’d forget stuff.
Laurie Anderson. Several times.
@f00l Laurie is amazing. I saw her on the Homeland tour and was blown away. (The performance of her piece, Delusion… less compelling, but still glad to see it.)
@accelerator
Top 5, huh? Hm. I’m going to try to limit it to one by each band, since I’ve seen some of my favorites multiple times.
DEVO - Hardcore DEVO Live (2014) - My favorite band doing a set of entirely early material, including songs I thought I’d never, ever, ever hear live. Only thing that could have made it better is Bob Casale being alive and a part of it.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters (2017) - Holy shit, Elvis is amazing live. Nearly two and a half hours of performing, and he and the Imposters fucking bring it. Special shoutout to Steve Nieve, who is a beast of a performer.
Kraftwerk (2016) - I have to kick myself a bit, because back in 2005, I had to choose between seeing DEVO in Atlantic City or Kraftwerk in NYC. I choose DEVO, and while I don’t regret it, I didn’t think Florian would quit the band. Oh, well. Seeing Kraftwerk’s crazy 3-D show, even with Ralf’s Replacement Robots, was still an experience to behold.
The Long Winters (2013) - Not only was this finally a chance to see The Long Winters live performing their best album, and the amazing John Roderick doing the Rock Star Thing, it was also a chance to meet some awesome Internet Friends for the first time. Also, the same day as the show, I got fired from my shitty startup job, so it helped take some of the sting out.
Savages (2013) - Holy shit are Savages intense live. Dark, loud, heavy, moody, angry, jubilant, but what really sticks out to me was the moment during the song “Husbands” where the crowds in front of me parted, and a wave of people pushed me from about 1/3rd back in the auditorium, right up to the barrier for the last couple songs. Wow.
@sanspoint
Saw DEVO in the big city Way Back When.
Yeah. Damn.
@f00l Dang! Now don’t get me started with all the shows I’ve been to. I missed Led Zeppelin due to a stupid decision involving a girl. I don’t even remember her name now. It haunts me to this day.
@accelerator
I didn’t listen them all. Only a very small percentage.
And many also-rans were great in their own way. But I wouldn’t trade any of the others for one of the ones on that list, if I had it to do again.
I forgot eaflier:
Marianne Faithfull.
Late 80’s? Dallas. Some club in Deep Ellum I think.
Robert Ealey doing blues at the BlueBird in FW. Many times; but never often enough.
@f00l
Damn kb again.
Is is supposed to read
I didn’t list them all.
@sanspoint I have seen Devo several times, but my favorite show is easy to pick.
I was a freshman in college, and had just moved to the Big City where I could walk down the street and see bands in clubs for little money. It was an eye-opener, since before seeing concerts meant a two-hour drive each way, and I’d just seen big acts (Yes, Eagles, ELP. Santana, etc.).
I saw Devo on Saturday Night Live and thought that was some weird stuff. When they appeared at a local club in December I decided to go.
So there I was, eighteen, relatively naive, and ten feet from the stage when the sheet dropped and they showed a series of bizarre short films. MTV and “music videos” were still a few years in the future, so I had no idea what to make of this.
And then the band came out. Tyvek suits, like on TV, which they later ripped off to reveal shorts and knee pads. Squonking Mini Moogs. Mostly functional wireless guitar transmitters. Visqueen-covered stage which Mark tore holes in.
I was sitting at a table but I stood on the chair the whole time. I was close enough that I’d occasionally get hit with sweat flying from the stage.
It was not just a great concert: it was the moment when I realized the potential power of seeing an intense performance in an intimate venue.
@craigthom @f00l
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing DEVO eight times over the years. All post-reunion shows, but they still put on a better show than most young bands I’ve seen.
(In fact, the first DEVO show I ever got to see was recorded for a TV broadcast, so I can relive it too!
)
Greta Van Fleet Haven’t seen them yet. They are selling out shows before I can get my hands on tickets. Went to Tucson two weeks ago and just missed tickets for that show.
Anyone seen them yet?
@accelerator
I suppose current security is too good now, and you can’t just bribe them to to let you in anymore?
My first ‘real’ concert - Olivia Newton John: The Physical Tour, August 1982. She was sooo hot (and she still is.)
My first ‘real real’ concert - Rush: Grace Under Pressure, November 1984. I had been a Rush fan for several years already. My sister’s boyfriend was a drummer, therefore required by law to be a Rush fan. The best thing she ever did for me (like ever in my life) was ask him to take me to that show. That was the first time I saw them and I had seen them at least once on every single tour since then. Saw them multiple times on each tour as I got older and could afford to go to more shows. Damnit Neil, you’re killing us Rush fans by not playing anymore.
Metallica as a teenager. I still love those riffs but I’m not really into metal/hard rock anymore. I’ve moved towards bands like the Black Keys and (very different) Chris Stapleton.
While I like to explore music and move around frequently between genres there will always be a place in my rotation for Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, or Johnny Cash.
Charlie Daniels, I was elementary school age and my parents went to see him and I guess they were stuck taking me. After that it was a series of country musicians, George Jones, Conway Twitty, etc, still with my parents. When I hit high school I saw a Huey Lewis & The News as my first non-country music show. After that I had a car and saw anything from The Black Crowes, Metallica, AC/DC, The Cult. Then I moved in to more classic rock, the Grateful Dead (they always had cool opening bands), Fleetwood Mac, Paul McCartney, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd. I was even fortunate enough to see David Bowie. Too many to name or even remember. Lots of concerts over the years and now I can’t stand crowds but I still love live music. So I see local bands in small venues.
@tinkertime I was most definitely lucky enough to see Bowie three different times. Still consider him to be one of the very top performers I’ve seen live. Damnit Bowie, you left us way too young.
Grateful Dead - State Fairgrounds, Des Moines, IA 6/16/74
Setlist:
Bertha
Mexicali Blues
Row Jimmy
Beat it on Down the Line
Scarlet Begonias
Black-Throated Wind
Sugaree
El Paso
It Must Have Been the Roses
Jack Straw
Ship of Fools
Around and Around
U.S. Blues
The Race is On
Eyes of the World
Big River
Playin’ in the Band
Tennessee Jed
Me and My Uncle
Deal
Greatest Story Ever Told
Truckin’
Nobody’s Jam
Wharf Rat
Goin’ Down the Road Feelin’ Bad
Casey Jones
Roy Orbison @ Costa Mesa Fairgrounds in 1984.
Chicago. 1981. Oakdale (“in the round”) theater in Wallingford, Connecticut. Peter Cetera was still in the band and it was a pretty good first concert.
Most interesting concert memory is seeing Billy Squier in 1984. It’s the only concert I’ve been to where the arena was 100% full for the warm-up band (Ratt.) Some people left before Billy Squier came on.
The Stones when they came through Houston in the 70s. Firest time I was really drunk on cheap wine. Great concert though.
The James Gang and Buffalo Springfield at Thiel College, Greenville Pa 1970.
@herb3000 Oh man… forgot about them. I’ve seen them also but a little later methinks. I really liked Joe Walsh.
1st was a triple header. Santana , Leslie West & Mountain and Deep Purple… Hot on the heels of that was the Allman Bros.
@lseeber Leslie West is firkin awesome. Saw him a few years ago on the casinos tour in Albuquerque. Amazing voice.
@accelerator Wow… is he still performing?? I saw him in '73. And his flying V!
@accelerator
Leslie West is truly all that.
Molly Hatchet at six flags in Dallas in the early 80s. I was 12 or 13. Since then I’ve seen tons of concerts after that one tho.
Beach Boys, '64 or '65 in Buffalo.
@pooflady Shout out to Buffalo! I lived there until December 1962!
@therealjrn I just went to Bryant & Stratton '64-65. But was in the Anchor Bar when they invented buffalo wings!
@pooflady Now that I’m in Oklahoma, I can verify that buffalo’s do not have wings.
Lots and lots of buffalo dookie, but no wings are apparent.
Cue Nugent’s Great White Buffalo.
Foo Fighters
@ThomasF
You started out right then.
Elton John 1974