First Concert Memories

[bubs_42]

I always tell everyone that my first concert was Rush/Mister Big on the Roll the Bones Tour. That was actually my second concert. The first being New Kids on the Block at Bush Stadium. We had to go by McDonalds first to get our free poster and Happy Meal all we had to do was show our tickets.

[Citrus]

Ladies and Gentlemen - The Rolling Stones!!

Saw them in 75 at Madison Square Garden - I was 14

I can't imagine how much I have spent on concert tix, t-shirts, programs, and vaious mind altering substances since then.

[ScottM]

Blue Oyster Cult at the Decatur, IL Armory. Opening band The Flock (who knew a violin could rock?). My 16th birthday in December of 1973. Bruce and I went to our brother's apartment next door to the armory. Certainly our first experience with the "purple haze" filling the room.

Eric Bloom came out, the band all dressed in black leather, said, "How are you Mother_uckers? We're the Blue Oyster Cult from New York City!" They hit a power chord and nothing has been the same since.....

Great memories!

Scott M.

[Rockola]

ZZTop - 1974 in Charlotte during the Fandango recording era. They did the whole medley like on the album, but when they hit that weird 9th (or what ever it is...) in Thunderbird, the whole building reverberated in Pearly. Part of the 'boom' could be attributed to shitty acoustics of the dome facility and the Tele bass, but there was no denying the sonic goodness of a certain LP.

One of my firsts'... suspicions confirmed, they rocked.

Steve

edit >

[m chops]

I think my first was Emerson Lake & Palmer at the Wildwood Convention Center. I was in Jr. High at the time. Concert was supposed to start at 8, they didn't take the stage until 9:30 and I had a 10pm curfew.

Consequently, I only got to stay for a couple of songs, then ran all the way back to the hotel.

Saw them maybe 6 months later in Cleveland, and was able to stay for the whole concert.

[mathman]

I think my first was Emerson Lake & Palmer at the Wildwood Convention Center. I was in Jr. High at the time. Concert was supposed to start at 8, they didn't take the stage until 9:30 and I had a 10pm curfew.

Consequently, I only got to stay for a couple of songs, then ran all the way back to the hotel.

Saw them maybe 6 months later in Cleveland, and was able to stay for the whole concert.

I can't remember for sure but it was either Emerson Lake and Palmer or Santana in Mobile Alabama, Probably in 1977. Maybe 76. Have to look and see if I still have that ticket stub.

[Rodan]

Blue Oyster Cult at the Decatur, IL Armory. Opening band The Flock (who knew a violin could rock?). My 16th birthday in December of 1973. Bruce and I went to our brother's apartment next door to the armory. Certainly our first experience with the "purple haze" filling the room.

Eric Bloom came out, the band all dressed in black leather, said, "How are you Mother_uckers? We're the Blue Oyster Cult from New York City!" They hit a power chord and nothing has been the same since.....

Great memories!

Scott M.

Bad ass!! And Jerry Goodman on violin, soon to be Mahavishnu Orchestra, ta boot!

My first full concert was Aerosmith, on their Night in the Ruts tour, right after Joe had bailed. I was all pissed, but gradually settled down and dug the show - even "Remember (Walking in the Sand)".

I think my 2nd show might've been the Black and Blue tour, with the Dio/Appice version of 'Sabbath and B.O.C.. That really blew my shoulder-length hair back!

[tomteriffic]

First concert: Leonard Bernstein conduction the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in a selection of children's favorites and then the complete "Young Person's Guide To the Orchestra", winter 1955.

Second concert: Cannonball and Nat Adderley in the quintet format with Ray Brown on bass. Powell Hall, 1958 or so. My mom was a stand-up bass player, loved Ray Brown.

First rock concert, Kiel Auditorium 1966-ish. The opener was The Who, headliner was Herman's Hermits.

[Caddie]

Bachman Turner Overdrive with Brownsville Station (aka the orig Smokin in the Boys Room) opening. At some converted hockey rink in Villa Park, IL. They probably jammed 3-4 thousand of us in there. I had never heard anything that loud!

"Oh grasshopper you have so much to learn. So much tinnitus to come."

caddie.

[nervous]

Cheap Trick.

Louisville Gardens

April 1979

I was right down front getting smashed against the barricade. I took this photo with a 50mm lens. I did not own a zoom at the time.

That's awesome! They were my first as well, probably same tour. Pat Travers opened and because I had no idea what a concert actually was I still remember how blown away I was by the whole experience. We walked home, my ears were ringing and numb but I was flying. A great memory still to this day.

[pfxc]

Blue Oyster Cult with opener The Rings. Broome County Veterans Memorial Arena - December 1981.

[Uncle Thor's Hamer]

Must have been around 1973. We lived in NJ, and my sister was a huge Donny Osmond fan. So we saw the Osmond Brothers play Madison Square Garden. OK show as I remember, being about 13 yrs old at the time.

In around 1980 the Osmond Brothers thing had become the Donny and Marie Show. They came out to NYC to do their Little Bit Country, Little Bit Rock 'n Roll schtick. Though I did not go to that show, they really impressed me with a visit they made during that tour to a childrens' hospital in NJ for handicapped kids. Everything from infants to young 20's, everything from Polio to traumatic head/spinal injuries. Donny and Marie came out and spent the day there talking to all the kids and even going to the rooms of those who could not go to the communal areas. My mom said that they were so kind and cheerful with the kids, and never once looked for any kind of publicity from the event. She also said how normal they were in their interactions with the staff, in no way taken with their own celebrity.

Coincidentally we now live in Utah, home of the Osmond dynasty. I've had Marie on my flights from Vegas, and seen Donny in the airport. They both still seem like normal folks. Our flight attendants have a lot of celebrity stories, none bad about any Osmonds.

[Steve Haynie]

January 1979-- Boston with Sammy Hagar opening. At the time Sammy's band was the same line-up as Montrose with Gary Pihl added to the band. That was the connection that later got Gary into Boston.

[BTMN]

I was 10 it was the Spring of 1971. I went with a couple other kids and our high school aged mentors from the neighborhood church to see Sly and The Family Stone at St. Johns Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Great time was had and Rawk has owned me since. Zeroed in on guitars not long after that.

[bruce919]

Beach Boys & John Cafferty &The Beaver Brown Band opened for them.

Bob & Tom (radio) back in the 80's they were at many concerts in Indy announcing the acts.

[Gino]

The Rolling Stones in 1970 - their world tour that yielded the Get Yer Ya Yas Out album. I was 13 and driven to tears - not by the Stones but by the tear gas that some anti-Stones (forgot why) demonstrators ignited in the concert hall.

[Ranger]

Bob Seger with Brownsville Station opening, Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis about 1975. I was about 13 and I recall being spooked out by a nearby long-haired fan doing the Beevis and Butthead headbanging thing for every song for the whole concert. We were not hearing what he was hearing.

A show I recall well was Charlie Daniels at the Kiel Opera House, St. Louis, late 70's. No one opened and the show was over an hour late starting, the crowd was hooting and getting rowdy when Charlie came out to gently tell us that Lynyrd Skynyrd's plane had crashed a couple hours earlier and would we all please be patient while he and his band tried to find out what had happened to their friends.

George Thourogreat at a small church at Wash U. in St. Louis. Crazy drunk night; after the show my friends and I thought it was a good idea to steal the big tarp covering the infield of the school's baseball field. Took us hours trying to fold that tarp up enough to stash it in the front "trunk" of a VW bug.

Most dissapointing show was the All Bros at Kiel Autorium, early 80's. The whole band played like they had been smoking quaaludes all day. Dickey Betts once said "We're like the Dead. Even on a bad night we're a good band." But he was wrong about both bands.

Crazy night at some St. Louis show when a fan fell a long, long way down between the stairs and hit the marble ground floor a few feet away from my buddies and I. We were hanging out with Mr. Natural that night and I hope to forget seeing and hearing that poor guy hit that marble floor; he bounced twice and then he was still as a stone.

yikes, enough

[Armitage]

KiSS Varsity Stadium Toronto 1976 with Blue Oyster Cult and Artful Dodger opening... my buddy at school bought the ticket but he had no clue how to get to Toronto, or where in Toronto the show was. He spent a month going around telling everyone how cool he was because he had a ticket... and a couple days before the show he sold it to me. It was all beat up and worn, I worried they wouldn't take it.

I got there early in the day by train, maybe 10, and people had slept out over night. They were sleeping at two different doors so I asked the girl working there which door was going to open and she said "I don't know why they're all staying over there, they get in at the side door on Bloor St..." So I was one of the first 50 in.

It was general seating so you could sit anywhere and I got right up front, it was actually too close, I was always cranking my head back and forth. They let us in too early and it was hot, so they decided to put down a cover so the grass wouldn't get ruined... we all had to move to let it pass under us... people started throwing pop all over and they had to pull it back up because people were slipping on it.

Artful Dodger opened and I remember after the first song the singer said something like "Hey Toronto, what do you say?" And I yelled out, "Very nice thanks, you can go home now" and he looked right down at me... I felt terrible afterwords.

Blue Oyster Cult were great, and my later band stole the idea of swapping instruments... but we did it mid song...

KiSS rocked, they had the fire back then... it was the most amazing thing I had ever seen in my life! Their Frankenstein F/X didn't work though... it lowered down but didn't go off. We kept hearing there was supposed to be a car on a wire that was going to smash on stage at the end of Detroit Rock City but the Fire Marshall wouldn't allow it but they were going to do it anyway... there was no car... and I couldn't see a wire... it was probably just one of those teenaged rumors (like Gene had a cow's tongue).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jlacpo/sets/115479/detail/

ooOOooo someone has photos...

[ib2010]

First big one was MOUNTAIN, rite as missipii queen was coming out. His tone was So big and very physical, like he was poking you with a 20 foot vibrating spear. Not harsh or uncomfortable at all. Amazing concert !

[velorush]

1981 Rush - Moving Pictures

I wasn't really familiar with them, having only heard "Priests" and then Tom Sawyer on the radio, but someone suggested I go (since that's my last name). Once they got started I recognized more of their music than I thought I would. Been a huge fan ever since.

Incidentally, the opener was Max Webster ("Feel The Way I Feel"), who we heard (on the radio going home) had broken up right after their set.

[Bloozguy]

I've had Marie on my flights from Vegas...

I'm jealous

[tomteriffic]

Most dissapointing show was the All Bros at Kiel Autorium, early 80's. The whole band played like they had been smoking quaaludes all day. Dickey Betts once said "We're like the Dead. Even on a bad night we're a good band." But he was wrong about both bands.

Too bad. I saw them at Kiel right after Duane died. They still had his guitar and amp sitting out where he would have been. They played like their heads were on fire and their asses were catching.

[stobro]

Summer of '75, or was it '76? Terre Haute had some all-day outdoor festival show with UFO, Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, Head East, Bob Seger and REO Speedwagon. We all piled into my buddy's parent's car for the trip down from Champaign Urbana. We had to have the car back by a certain time, so we had to leave before REO came on. On the way out of town, the radio station was making an on-air plea for a piano tuner to come to the fairgrounds. I don't know if they ever found one or if Neil Doughty wound up playing the triangle all night instead.

[JGale]

Hendrix. Madison Square Garden. I was 16 and my Dad drove Greyhound so the trip was free. He let me and my friend go alone. Walking back 42nd street at 2AM was a trip...."hey Sonny, wanna go upstairs?"

Hendrix was off, drunk TGP informs me. It was not a good concert. Rotating stage was a bite. Didn't have any drugs, just teen spirit.

[landon w]

sesame street on ice