What was your first concert?

Jimi Hendrix, 1968

for photos and more go here.http://www.eye.net/torontorockhistory/jimihendrix/frameset.htm

It changed the way I viewed guitarists and authority

Yea, Saw him in Providence, R.I. in 68'.
Never forget it.

Boston Sept. 1979

Kiss, Hampton, Virginia - '79.

Rare Earth,Earth Wind and Fire; the Eagles,
Jackson Browne; Seals and Crofts; Black Oak Arkansas; Black
Sabbath; Deep Purple; and Emerson, Lake and Palmer.
Calif. Jam 1974

I was curious to hear what everyones first was but
Deep purple must have been cool.

One of the highlights of the show was Deep Purple guitarist
Ritchie Blackmore lighting his guitar and amplifier on fire.

That's the kind of stuff that sticks with you.
What year was that?

April of 1974, I was still a kid back then.

Thanks for the replies everyone.
They take me back.
Ken

Mine was Elvin Bishop, 1976 San Diego Calif.

- The Pretenders / Billy Idol (mid 80s probl 85)
- Saga [two weeks later]
- Rod Steward
- Toto

Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer. Skipped my high school graduation to go to the concert.

For clarity, this was the 1976 tour not the recent UK tour.

Metallica, December '95. The tour on the Cunning Stunts DVD.

Kiss also....but probably 1977.

I just ordered Kiss Alive the other day....just for the hell of it.

Opening? The Nuge....

The Allman Brothers Band, 1975.

Yes in Seattle, June 26,1971...still see them when they are in the bay area.

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June 26,1971.

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Yes, June 26, 1971...I remember that day. Funny thing, I was born a little more than 9 months later...

Great memory Michael !!

That just means you missed alot of good stuff.

Ya, like I paid a lot less for their tickets then than I do now.

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That just means you missed alot of good stuff.

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You're probably right about that. Sadly, I can't even name one song from the Kinks.. Ok, you can throw rocks at me now.

Iron Maiden, 1988 - Somewhere in Time tour
Metallica, 1993 - Black Album tour

Only two arena shows I've been to where I wasn't being paid in some way or another.

Bren R.

edit: Oh, and Cheap Trick, 1988 or 89... that was a stadium concert, though.

Alice Cooper oct 1988 i think.

That would have been Constrictor?

Bren R.

Mine was also Billy Idol in 1984, the Rebel Yell tour. I remember the concert like it was yesterday. I was packed in near the front of the stage, and at only 5'2", I thought I was going to die! I remember leaning my head on this guy's shoulder and he managed to squeeze me in to the very front. I was sooo thankful to him. So I got to watch most of the concert with only Billy in front of me!

I tried again in 1986, during Billy's Whiplash Smile tour, but that time I had to be pulled out of the crowd. From then on, I've preferred to be boring and sit at concerts. Even just the thought of standing in those crowds again about gives me an anxiety attack!

Sitting at a rock concert just feels weird to me. Like I'm breaking a rule or something.

My first real rock show was U2 in Calgary, 2001 (I'm a late-blooming concert-goer). On the floor about 10 feet from the stage. It was amazing.

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at only 5'2"

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Five foot two? Wow... and you're a grown woman? *laughs, ducks, runs like hell*

Bren R.

>>I remember leaning my head on this guy's shoulder and he managed to squeeze me in to the very front.<<

Ya know the first read of that sentence read like this for me.
"I remember leaning my head on this guy's shoulder and he managed to squeeze my front."

Sometimes I dont know why you hang out with us animals.
But I'm glad you do.

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That would have been Constrictor?

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I realize the question wasn't directed towards me, but I saw Alice on the Constrictor tour in March of '87 -- my friends got me a ticket for my birthday, so that's why I remember. I guess he might have still been supporting that album a year later.

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Sadly, I can't even name one song from the Kinks...

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Heretic. Consider rocks hurled in your general direction.

Stuff you might have heard on the radio at some point in your life:

• You Really Got Me
• All of the Day and All of the Night
• Come Dancing
• Lola
• Sunny Afternoon
• Don't Forget to Dance
• Set Me Free
• Do it Again
• Victoria
• State of Confusion
• Tired of Waiting for You
• Stop Your Sobbing
• Apeman
• Living on a Thin Line
• Father Christmas
• A Rock & Roll Fantasy
• Celluloid Heroes
  

...and if your local station was worth a darn, they probably played stuff like "Waterloo Sunset" or "Days" or "Well Respected Man". You know The Kinks -- you just don't realize you know 'em.

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I realize the question wasn't directed towards me, but I saw Alice on the Constrictor tour in March of '87 -- my friends got me a ticket for my birthday, so that's why I remember. I guess he might have still been supporting that album a year later.

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actually it was nov 1987
the opening act was (ace)freely's comet lol

Stuff like that makes me feel old -- it was almost twenty years ago and I can remember it like it was yesterday. Great show, too. I think that was probably the first concert I attended where the local religious fundamentalists were handing out flyers and protesting and encouraging audience memebers not to see Alice. Apparently we were all going to roast in Hell. And driving home that night sticks with me, too. Thick fog and Traffic's "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" in the cassette player. A very surreal evening all the around...

You guys got Frehley's Comet? Cool! Tesla was opening for Alice when I saw him. Now I feel like I was robbed!

i sort of remember tesla was there too but i could be wrong. speaking of going home after the concert that was an adventure for me. it was a blizard and we had no ride so we had to walk over a bridge that had no walkway down the highway like five miles cars slid off the road everywear to this diner. we called my mom she drove 20 miles to get us in one of the worst snow storms we ever had. it was super stressful. but we survived
Jake

1st - Sting, Dream of the Blue Turtles, fall 1985, Athens (UGA Coliseum)

2nd - Rush, Power Windows, spring 1986, Atlanta (Omni)

next: Coldplay, 3/2/06, Washington DC (MCI Center)
and: Queen plus Paul Rodgers, 3/9/06, (same)

Hey...I've got Asian blood and I'm tall compared to my Okinawan relatives! My mom is only 4'10"!

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I'm tall compared to my Okinawan relatives! My mom is only 4'10"!

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Maybe I've just always been freakishly tall.

Yes, she's standing. Yes, it was the mid-80s. Yes my glasses were huge. Yes, I'm wearing a shaker-knit sweater & collar. No, that's not dirt on my lip, my goatee chose to start growing when I was 13.

Bren R.

No need to tell us that pic was from the mid-80s. Her bangs give it away.

Pat Travers Band, 1979.

The shaker sweater and glasses say 80's as well! BTW, Bren...you look cute in that picture! So, how tall are you?!

I might as well mention what I wore to the Billy Idol concert...black shiny tight parachute pants! Talk about 80's fashion!

Rare Earth...circa 1973
Guy

Eric Clapton, New Haven Coliseum, June 29, 1975. And if I remember correctly, the Troglodytes (of "Bertha Butt" fame) opened. Pretty interesting concert.

Soon followed by Earth, Wind & Fire in the same venue. That was an amazing stage show. Waaaay too many after that!

Take care,
Rich

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The shaker sweater and glasses say 80's as well! BTW, Bren...you look cute in that picture! So, how tall are you?!

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I just stopped growing at 6' 3"... been this tall since junior high. The cigarettes and caffeine probably didn't help.

And... no, I've never been cute. Though I am fully prepared to laugh at myself as quickly as at others. This is also why I have no misremembered fondness for the 80s.

Bren R.

It's actually only an urban myth / old wive's tale that caffeine stunts your growth.

So it musta been the cigarrettes.

I had a feeling that this thread would bring out
the kid out in people. Rare Earth,Elvin bishop and
so many other good ones. I have to add that I saw
Cream shortly after Hendrix. Believe it or not, there
was hardly anyone there. We stood right at the stage
and watched Clapton drink beer all the way through 'Toad'.
These concert stories are great!
I wonder what everyones favorite concerts would be.
Ken

Ballroom Zombies / Forgotten Rebels
Winnipeg, MB
The Junkyard
April 15, 1994

Hung out with Mickey Desadest most of the night, laughed and joked, sometimes you meet someone with that purely disgustingly rancid sense of humour and wonder how much of it is real and how much is just stage presence? His sense of humour is all real. Surreal, actually - here's a guy that has been the face of Canadian punk over 3 decades sitting beside me at the VLTs, suddenly turns to me and tells one of my all time favorite dirty jokes and I finish the punchline for him. (PM me if you want to know the joke!)

I'm told later that night I was hitting on the BZs guitarist's girlfriend. I think I remember that. Funnier yet, 12 years later and I'm working with 3/4 of the band in their new permutation.

Bren R.