Austin, fall 1983.

leadoff group no one had ever heard of was Jefferson Airplane. $8.00 for the third row.

The Beach Boys on the Atlantic City Beach. I was 17.

I remember thinking: "Okay, they won't be able to keep going much longer because they are older than the hills."

My first concert was also the Beach Boys in the erly 80s although I thought it might be 81 or 82. Delbert Mclinton was the opener.

The first time was indoors in Eugene, OR they played in the old basketball arena on the U of O campus and the concert was pretty awful--they seemed to just be trying to get through the sets and out of town. I was very disappointed. A few months later I was in Berkeley, CA and they were playing outdoors on Campus. It was a totally different experience--I went into the concert expecting to see the same burnt-out band and was shocked at how full of energy they were.

The Beach Boys can be awesome when they are into it, but boy does their music suffer when they aren't!

My taste in music has improved somewhat over the years

did see the Temptations and the Four Tops.

1960 something and it was fucking awesome the M.J.Q. --- Dizzy and all the greats.

Then there was the year at the Folk Festival when Dylan got crap for playing a Strat ..... nobody agrees on the reason people booed to this day but it was very interesting seeing all the peace freaks being freaked out and it started a trend.

I was in the Zürich airport one time a few decades ago, and I heard a "Mr. Gillespie" being paged to get to my gate because our flight was closing soon. I was thinking, "ha ha, Dizzy Gillespie is late for my flight."

Ha ha indeed. Well, when this older (to me) guy in a cap with an obviously custom-made case that would only fit a trumpet with the horn bent upwards showed up and took a seat across the aisle from me, you better believe I was gawking!

Steel Pier, Atlantic City, NJ. Lots of stars from American Bandstand. My cousin and I stayed through two shows and weren't charged for the second show! LOL

British Invasion until they hit Ed Sullivan which was in 1964, I do believe.

Chubby Checker, Freddy Cannon, Del Shannon.... Can't remember the others. I was in junior high school and used to go to AC every summer with my cousins. Great times!

If you meant rock concerts.

I started going to classical concerts fairly early so I don't remember at all.

EDIT to take off the n/t

in the Civic Arena in Pittsburgh. One of my favorite Three Dog Night songs:

It would have been for my 14th birthday.
I got a tee shirt as a gift with this decal:



Mom wouldn't let me wear it to the show.
(she thought it was cheesy, and in hindsight she was right)
We had about 6th row seats on the aisle.

At one point during the show, people started yelling out "Alice's Restaurant!!"
Arlo was a little miffed, probably sick of that, and asked, "what do ya got, a union or something?"

I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to jump up and yell back, "yeah, wanna see my union tee shirt?" but realized I wasn't wearing it.

Arlo didn't play Alice's Restaurant that night.

I talked to my favorite, Karen Lafferty, in the parking lot afterwards, while waiting for my deadbeat asshole stepfather to pick me up. It was past midnight when he got there. I was thirteen. Lafferty waited almost two hours with me.

It was a really great concert.

Oct. 4, 1968. Cleveland Public Hall.

The place seated 13,000 and was maybe one third full. This was pre-Woodstock, before rock became really big business.



and later in life Carl Anderson would sing occasionally with the church choir I belonged to. The best live singer I have ever heard, and you heard him as an original cast member of Jesus Christ Superstar, playing Lazarus.

I saw a lot of concerts. Mrs WCGreen saw The Who there around 1968 or so...

A lot of great concerts. One of my favorite was Earth Wind and Fire, ZZ Top and Uriah Heep. That's also where I saw Bowie, Hall and Oats, Lou Reed, Al Stewart.

Their first year of touring, and the week their second album was released. They did not give great concert that night. The opening act, Grand Funk Railroad, was better.

I saw many concerts there, too. I remember Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young in the early '70s. I saw the Who do Tommy there. I saw Joplin there later with her next band; one of the loudest concerts I ever heard. Of course, we were in the fourth row. Saw Springsteen there about '77 or so.

I saw my first Dead show there, too. Not to mention Nighthawks AHL hockey, etc. Now one of the finest small cities in the land has no arena (besides Yale's, which are poorly located and not generally made available to the public anyway). Meanwhile, Bridgeport -- Bridgeport!! -- has built one and has even joined the AHL.

How many great winter nights did I spend watching them??? 1000 ? I remember whenever the Hershey Bears came to town, they would pass out Hershey bars before the game. I still have a Nighthawks t-shirt - must be 30 years old...black and silver and fading slowly every day. Sometimes I think the Devil himself decides what to take away from us.

as soon as they got the affiliation, they changed the team name to "Senators" , and doubled the ticket prices. The result is the black hole you see on George St.

As a dilettante city planner and ex-New Havener, I've often thought that the Sports Haven site on Long Wharf would be a swell place for an arena.

Early 60's. I was a pre teen and thought I was being punished! Who knew 50+ years later I would pay to see the stage production of "Patsy!" on the exact stage. Not once, but twice, because it was so good.

And before OSHA got on their case about their use of lasers pointed at the audience.

Oh, Rush opened for them, too. They were so horrible, they got booed off the stage

Also Slade.

Best ever was the Sex Pistols in Memphis during their only tour (1976?)

I was 16 and the ticket was $19.50

16 years later I will be seeing my 100th Phish concert at Saratoga over the 4th of July weekend...

at the santa barbara city college stadium. i was 16 and my younger sister was with me. jim morrison unzipped his pants and whipped out his penis and pissed into a coke bottle.
otherwise, the music and the view of the islands across the channel on a sunny saturday afternoon were awesome, just awesome.

no idea what year, but bloodrock recorded and released the show.

City Island - Harrisburg PA

Probably 1981

I was very sheltered and I was horrified by all the bikers and people smoking pot and thought they were all evil satanic devil worshipers (and I was atherit even then)



Or the Philadelphia Orchestra the same year (not sure which came first)

Technically my first concerts were my own gigs but I do not think that counts

Saw the Beatles live in Seattle. I SAW them, but I certainly didn't HEAR them. The crowd in the Coliseum at the Seattle Center screamed all through the concert and I never heard a note. But it was my first concert experience.

My date for the event was a guy I went to school with -- we had just graduated in June of that year. His parents insisted he take his little brother along with us. I don't remember anymore who the guy was nor do I remember his brother.

I think I would have freaked our with all the noise.

One of the times I went to see Yes, I was so freakin' high I got paranoid about all the matches and lighters held up for the encore and made my friends leave...

I think it was '85. I'm sure I was 12 when I saw that concert.

I was a freshman in college and away from home for the first time.

Probably has something to do with that fact that I'm not much of a music listener and or the fact that the music I like is so eclectic and mixed that I can't point to a single band that I like to much that I'd end up going to a concert. Then there's the whole no friends thing.

had an absolute blast.

concerts are brief little respites from reality

In the last month I went to both the KROQ Weenie Roast and saw Steven Wilson by myself. Most of my friends don't share the same taste in music as I do.

I was 15. I went with my friend, her older brother, and his friend in a VW bug, out of convenience (not a date).
We mostly heard girls screaming, interspersed with waves of Beatles' songs, as if emanating from a slowly rotating speaker.

I was 9 and Cher was 19. A LONG time ago when you would stand in line outside of the gates, then run to a truck to get your folding chair and watch people beat each other over the head. Ah, those were the days.

it was probably Linda Rostadt and the Stone Poneys in 68 or '69.

I bought tickets because my Japanese penpal was visiting and we both loved their music. I was 20.

I was like 5 years old and went with mom and dad! I was the only person there who knew all the words to "there was an old woman...."...Ives even congratulated me from the stage(both parents sang that to me as a child).....

Rock concert....Aerosmith and Blackfoot in Houston....went with my brothers at the tender age of 11...was also the first time I smoked herb strangely enough...2nd Aerosmith line up and Tyler was f@cked up like a soup sandwich...one of the replacement guitarists came out and played "train train" with Blackfoot....

I really don't remember much except the guy was crazy good banging on them drums.

It's probably because I didn't know the music.

NIN, Marilyn Manson, & Jim Rose Freak Show. Miami.

saw them with a perfect circle in 2000 or 2001

It was truly a kick ass performance and ranks as the single best concert I've ever seen. A few videos:

I think 2008 or 2009 in the 9:30 club.

Spoiled me. I assumed all bands were that good.

Probably early '76 or late '75, Pittsburgh Civic Arena. Drove down I-79 from college, six girls in a Ford Pinto in an unusually south-reaching lake effect snow storm. Sane people would have stayed home, as lake effect storms accumulate FAST. I think it took us 4 hours to go 50 miles and then when we got to the city it was a slight drizzle and no one could figure out why it took us so long. Then it turned freezing, so we stayed in someone's room at Duquesne for the night.

Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end...

went to a few other festivals with my folks, too. first show i picked was toad the wet sprocket in 93 (i think).

first show i went to without my parents was the offspring in 97

We were still in high-school, my girlfriend and I. We went to the concert in Kalamazoo MI, and here's the magical part. We were meandering around near the side of the stage and ended up walking back a few yards down a corridor with steel doors on either side. For some reason, security was really lax and we got into the venue long before the show was supposed to start. Suddenly these doors open and out walks Paul Rodgers and Jimmy Page. We practically bumped into them! We were speechless, my jaw hit the floor. Apparently Page thought this was funny, and they both grinned at us. I think Paul said something to the effect of ,"Hi there kids..." They went on to play one the best shows I've ever seen, with my girlfriend and I right up at the front of the stage, completely blown away. During the show Jimmy reached down and shook our hands...! Never will forget that one!

At Constitution Hall, Washington, DC.

I never saw him in concert though.

The Commodores (Lionel Richie) were the opening act.

Yes, I am old.

Outdoors, somewhere in the Los Angeles area I think.

Hey, it was the '60s . . .

I was a little kid and I fell asleep. Opera has affected me the same way ever since.

Nowadays the love duets just about turn into the horizontal bop. Like Samson and Delilah. Porgy and Bess had simulated sex.

I say, why go to the opera if all the sex, nudity and violence is offstage?

Took my kid to Hansel & Gretel when she was three. Delightful production with teddy bears on skates.

Otherwise Bess would never have run off with the other guy.

It was I believe around 1965.

I love the Big Band sound.

that's pre Stevie Nicks and Lesley Buckingham Fleetwood Mac BTW, yep I'm old

Greensboro, N.C. Coliseum...I was almost 12. My brother and his girlfriend took me. The tickets were $2.50. They wore those pink and white striped short sleeved shirts.

2nd was the Doors in Philly in '69 or so. 3rd was Van Cliburn during my "classical" period.

It might have been '77. It was their first concert in support of Little Queen, their 2nd album which may not have even been out at the time. The band was really rusty from being in the studio and broke down twice doing their two biggest hits off Dreamboat Annie--Crazy on you and Magic man. All in all, it wasn't a very good concert even though I really liked the band. I've seen them numerous times since and they've always delivered.
I do recall it was a double-date road trip (about 40 miles from Eugene) and we got very stoned (I was about 18 at the time) on the way there. My ex-wife-to-be wasn't amused when I dropped all four tickets somewhere between the station wagon and the entrance. Luckily we found them after a vigorous freak out.

It was one of the best times i ever had.

I saw Heart in a bar here in Cleveland just before they broke big. I think it was summer of '75 or '76.

Can't remember what year, and the 'net states they were there both years. The Nylons opened for them.

I was about 13. We actually had drinks either before or after the show. Back then they didn't card, or perhaps someone had a fake ID. I ordered a Singapore Sling. That alone should have given away my age.

July 1973 Jethro Tull "A Passion Play" tour...with opening act Robin Trower performing most of his debut album "Twice Removed From Yesterday"...how cool was that for a 17 year old? I still have the ticket stubs and two reviews that appeared in the (then) two local newspapers back in the day...

smoked weed as there were none stop joints being passed down the isles.... lol

Those were the good ol days.

YM

. . . when I was fourteen and she was twelve, so my mother took us one hundred miles to Ann Arbor Michigan for the concert, in 1974.

In 1978 it was Jim Croce in Memphis, though I didn't pay for it.

The first concert I paid for myself was Juice Newton and Alabama at the Scope in Norfolk, VA . . . the second was Yes (which I have since seen in concert five times since). I like Progressive music as well as Progressive politics. . . .

Houston, Music Hall.

Awesome. The grand units were completely shell shocked!!!

September, 1964, at the Chicago Amphitheatre. It was their first Chicago appearance.

I was so excited. I called into WIXY-1260 one night and won a set of Ringo's Rings.

I was pretty popular with the ladies in Miss Barbers' second grade class.

KC early eighties. Damn good show.

December 1966

Second concert was better: Blues Traveler opening for the Allman Brothers.

Then came Chicago on their first tour ( I think) I know that the horns blew everyone away and finally..the Jimi Hendrix Experience! oh yeah

This was a long, long time ago...and these days it seems as if it occurred in a galaxy far far away.

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It was pretty cool, and walking distance from my home.

Never even heard of the band before, let alone heard them. Totally impressed me and began my insatiable appetite for the "new wave of heavy metal" sound. Before thatm, I thought Led Zeppelin, KISS, Aerosmith were hard rockers. Priest was like getting hit in the face with a cement pie they were so hard, yet with the collest sounding riffs and song structure I've ever heard.

I say "real" because I did see 'Chicago' a year before (free) playing at a college concert hall. Just didn't do it for me.

Kick-ass band

Division Bell concert at Georgia Tech in '94.

2nd concert was the Eagles Hell Freezes Over tour.

My grandmothers name was Calista...

Must have been around 1970.

at UCLA early '60s

Saw Manhole, Life of Agony and Type O Negative

Idora Park Ballroom, Ohio

Maynard Ferguson and Stan Kenton trading sets all evening.

Closely followed by Chicago (when they were still good) at Cole Field House, University of Maryland, 1975

At San Diego Sports Arena in '95.

at the University of Washington. I was stationed at Ft. Lewis at the time.

I have seen them another five times since then and they get better everytime, great live band.

My dad took me to see Mason Proffitt in 1971 or 2 at a local college. See, he liked, and still likes, Bluegrass music and he heard that they played some of that American art form. They did, but at that time, I wasn't real sure about the smell which was coming from various spots in the concert hall. When I asked my dad about it, he said, "Never Mind. Just make sure you stay away from that stuff." Anyway, it was a good show and we had some quality father-son time together.

1969 at the Santa Clara County, California fairgrounds, indoors. Opening bands were Country Weather and James Cotton. CTA had just released thert first album, I believe.

Ticket cost $3.50.

buddy of mine and myself went and saw metallica and I think the cure. Was a pretty awesome experience.

because my best friend won them on a radio station.

Poison. Opening act was Tesla.

4th row. Then the older people in front of us (likely in their 60's) left after Tesla (I'm guessing they won tickets too, lol) and we took their seats.

Ah, hair bands.

Thanks!

Most recent: Steven Wilson

on the campus of the University of Utah. I went with friends.

When I was 15 years old, I had a choice between seeing Thorogood and Frank Zappa, and I choose Thorogood.