First concert?

[FurryFury]

State fair concerts! Ooh! I saw Willie Nelson.

 

[DVS]

Country Joe and the Fish? Cool!

"And it's one, two, three,
what are we fighting for?"

Kind of figured you'd pick up on the word fish. In another place and time it could just as well have been Penguin Joe and the Herring, I guess.
http://www.ibiblio.org/404/tux.jpg
But yes, that song turned out to be their signature song, I think. Joe did it all by himself at Woodstock. The promoters needed someone to fill the time in-between a couple of bands and they pushed him out onto the stage. He said he had big time stage fright, being alone on stage, in front of all those people.

Then, he saw that most of them weren't paying much attention to him, and he got brave and started into the song. He told the crowd to join in but nobody was. So, he said, "Hey, there's over 300,000 of you fuckers out there and I want to hear you sing." Sounds like he got over his stage fright.

and its 1,2,3 what are we fightin for?
don't ask me i don't give a dam,
the next stop is Vietnam.
and its 5,6,7 open up the pearly gates.
Well there ain't no time to wonder why...
WHOOPEE, we're all gunna die.

I've still got a "Country Joe and the Fish" game that came in one LP. The Beatles always had pictures, but "...the Fish" are the only band I know that gave you a game. It might be a collector's item.

 

[Netzach]

I have just been reminded of the day I wished I'd been born in 1949 too (instead of in the late 1960s). I was talking to my friend who was born in '49 and he said ".... yes, I remember that day..... that was the day I was late for the Who concert because I'd been watching The Stones in Hyde Park".

If I had a time machine, it'd be set to NYC at the height of black flag, x, television, lydia lunch, the talking heads and all that. The punk and postpunk who just skipped ahead kind of stuff.

But I'd probably be dead in myriad ways, so it's for the best. The temptations of 1992 were much less tempting.

YC's basement show story reminded me of my own first midwest punk basement show. Dillinger 4 - substitute "man showing enormous sweating buttcrack" for "blood and lightbulb" and it's the same pretty much.

 

[00Syd]

If I had a time machine, it'd be set to NYC at the height of black flag, x, television, lydia lunch, the talking heads and all that. The punk and postpunk who just skipped ahead kind of stuff.

If I had a time machine I would be sent back to all the awesomeness that was happening in the 60s, and then I'd just stick around for all the fucking great shit that was going down in NYC during the 70s and 80s. It would be so bitchin' to have the chance to see Black Flag and The Dictators and The Angry Samoans (and other great punk bands) in their prime.

I saw The Dictators play when I was in high school, and while it was a great show, I'd have loved to see Handsome Dick at his asshole-teenage-snottiest.

 

[MisterSir]

Um. If I had one choice, I'd go for 1986 and catch Metallica while they were supporting Ozzy on his tour. Missing out on AJFA and the Black Album would be a pity, but the first three albums, plus whatever shit they feel like throwing in, plus Ozzy? I'll take that, thank you kindly.

Volkerball '06 (read: RAMMSTEIN) and Rush in Rio would be close seconds.

 

[LearningSub]

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[MisterSir]

Dave Matthews Band!

Addendum to previous post: I'd also consider stopping in when they played at Central Park, stay for Ants Marching and leave because it would all be downhill from there.

 

[LearningSub]

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[rosco rathbone]

If I had a time machine I would be sent back to all the awesomeness that was happening in the 60s, and then I'd just stick around for all the fucking great shit that was going down in NYC during the 70s and 80s. It would be so bitchin' to have the chance to see Black Flag and The Dictators and The Angry Samoans (and other great punk bands) in their prime.

I saw The Dictators play when I was in high school, and while it was a great show, I'd have loved to see Handsome Dick at his asshole-teenage-snottiest.

The Dead Boys...

 

[HabsFan33]

There is nothing better than seeing a band live...

first concert was Bon Jovi opening for Ratt! Late 80's...

 

[MisterSir]

Aww now.. be nice.

Oh, it's not a criticism, just that the only thing I particularly like is Ants Marching.

 

[LearningSub]

deleted

 

[pierced_boy]

Status Quo

Perth 1974 Loud and loud and louder my ears are still ringing. It was ok but my last concert was Leonard Cohen Feb 09 and am still singing

H

PS LearningSub your signature line comes from the first 45 I bought, it was cool then as now

h

 

[Homburg]

I think the first "big" show I went to was Jan and Dean somewhere about 1984 or so. My parents took me. I was sick as a dog, but volunteered to go with my folks and sleep in the car, as my mom was a huge J&D fan. Given that the venue was this cool sunken football stadium, and it was a fee show (Army brought them into Ft Bragg), my dad just sorta got the car up close enough tot he rim that I could've looked down if I wanted to. I sort of stared
up at the North Carolina stars and listened.

The first stadium show that I went to that I actually wanted to go to was Iron Maiden, on the "Can I play With Madness" tour. My folks went to that too, as, for no discernible reason, my mom really dug Iron Maiden. She used to play my "Somewhere in Time" album while cleaning the house.

Since then, I've seen plenty. I was looking forward to seeing the Slackers this weekend, but funding is not where I want it to be. I am, however, going to see Flogging Molly next month. Hell. Yeah.

--

Pathetic?! I'm jealous!

I really wanted to go see Trans-Siberian Orchestra this year in Denver, but it didn't work out. Oh well, there's always next year.

TSO put on a good show. The pyro was intense.

 

[SaRawr]

the first concert I ever went to was The Living End on their State Of Emergency tour, when I was about 15.

Support acts were The End of Fashion and the Red Riders.

Everyone went crazy when The Living End played Prisoner of Society. so good.

 

[ketalia]

Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger at the Greek Theater in LA. I was about two months old and my aunt took me. She was a techie and worked in the booth. To this day, I swear City of New Orleans makes me sleepy. I have a very old and beloved vinyl copy of their (Guthrie's and Seeger's) Precious Friends album that she later got autographed for me. Parts of the album were recorded at this concert. I later realized she was kind of a hippie/nerd/groupie person, which is how she got it autographed later.

 

[DVS]

I saw America at Loyola University in New Orleans. Three of us drove down there for the Mardi Gras in 1973. That was one of my most memorable concerts.

I saw Emerson Lake and Palmer twice in 1977. First, I saw them in Kansas City at Municipal Auditorium. Then I moved to Atlanta and saw them again at the Omni. It was during the same tour, so I saw Keith Emerson tear up what looked like the same old organ, twice. He was kicking it around and it was making all kinds of strange sounds. That made me wonder just how many of those old organs he had or if a tech was always back stage worrying how he'd get the thing back up and running for the next show.

I saw the Dixie Dregs in their very first concert ever. That was in 1977. It was a free concert at Piedmont Golf course, in Atlanta. It was a great outdoor setting. Everybody just brought a blanket and sat on the manicured fairway lawn. They had just signed a recording contract and the concert was to celebrate that. The stage they used had recently been used by then President Carter when he spoke there. Supposedly, all they did was remove the presidential seal.

I think the only member of that band to still be active is Steve Morse. He's very much a guitar virtuoso, if you aren't familiar with him. I also saw him at a very small venue here in town, in 1990. He played with Kansas for a short time and their album that he plays on is one of my Kansas favorites.

Also in the '70s I remember seeing Kansas many times. The first was in 1974, before they were big. 8-track tapes were the music recording media of the times. Kansas was the very first band in a day long event at our local baseball stadium. I think Black Oak Arkansas was the main act, later that evening, but I went to see Kansas.

I saw another stadium show at our football stadium. Peter Frampton was touring in 1976 I think, for the Frampton Comes Alive album. I remember that show not just for the music, but because the whole band was dressed in white, and all of the equipment on stage was painted white.

I saw Arlo Guthrie in 1974. My girlfriend and I were front row center for that show. That was a special show. He played "Alice's Restaurant Massacree". If any show was perfection, it was that one.

In the mid 1980s, I got to go back stage and meet Frank Zappa. He was a lot shorter than he looked on stage. He seemed to be only about 5 foot. But, the two hefty Samoan body guards standing beside him made him look even shorter.

I would have loved to have seen the Beatles. I know someone who saw them when they came to Kansas City in 1965. She said you couldn't hear anything but screaming girls the whole concert. That was before big P.A. systems were possible. And I know someone who has seen Paul McCartney with Wings. Anything to do with any of the Beatles...wow.

I also would love to see Crosby, Stills and Nash...with Neil Young would be cool, too. Jefferson Airplane (before Starship), The Who in their prime or Jimi Hendrix would have been cool to see. And, I'd like to some day see Steve Winwood as well as Eric Clapton, if I ever get the chance.

I saw what was suppose to be a "get back together" concert with members of The Band sometime in the 80s, but it turned out to be a farce. Some half baked former side member and a few of his friends were going around the country ripping off fans, saying they were "The Band". I think the real band members had to sue, to get them to stop using the name.

When living in Atlanta, I saw a free concert of the Atlanta Philharmonic playing the music from "The Nutcracker" at Stone Mountain Park. I particularly like "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy". That was strange because it was in the middle of July and to me that music is mostly connected with Christmas time. It was still pretty damn good, though.

My tastes changed over the years. Today, I wish I'd gone to see a lot of bands that I thought weren't worth my time, back then. I was young and thought I knew more than I did about good music. Age has a way of making you smarter, but it's usually too little, too late.

 

[Aquila1]

U2. I was in my teens. Drove for 5 hours, then had to catch a ferry which took 3 hours (it takes 3 hours by boat to go between the North and South Islands in NZ). Then another 7 hours of driving. It was completely and utterly worth it - I had never been to a large concert before and I was beside myself with excitement. I was so in love with Bono at the time, but then I wised up and realised that not only was The Edge a way better musician, he was also far far hotter.

 

[Cattypuss]

My older brother saw The Police in a little pub-club in our provincial town about a month before they released their first single.

I remember him coming home raving about how good they were.

 

[Homburg]

I would have loved to have seen the Beatles. I know someone who saw them when they came to Kansas City in 1965. She said you couldn't hear anything but screaming girls the whole concert. That was before big P.A. systems were possible. And I know someone who has seen Paul McCartney with Wings. Anything to do with any of the Beatles...wow.

You know the famous Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964? If you know what to look for, and right where to stop the tape, you can see my mother-in-law in the audience. She says it was the single most incredible thing she ever saw.

I found a clip on the net somewhere and went through it frame by frame, and, sure enough, there she is. She was a teenager, so it took me a coupla times to find her, but, wow, what an experience, eh?

 

[Keroin]

You know the famous Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964? If you know what to look for, and right where to stop the tape, you can see my mother-in-law in the audience. She says it was the single most incredible thing she ever saw.

I found a clip on the net somewhere and went through it frame by frame, and, sure enough, there she is. She was a teenager, so it took me a coupla times to find her, but, wow, what an experience, eh?

That is way cool!

My mom went to see the Beatles when they came to Vancouver but the crowd was so loud and unruly no one could hear them. They shut down the concert after only 20 minutes. What a rip!

Bloody rowdy Canucks!

 

[Keroin]

Page and Plant was an incredible concert. They had the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra back them up. It was really fun to see some of the VSO members rocking out to Led Zepplin tunes

"Kashmir" gave me shivers!

 

[DVS]

You know the famous Ed Sullivan Show appearance in 1964? If you know what to look for, and right where to stop the tape, you can see my mother-in-law in the audience. She says it was the single most incredible thing she ever saw.

I found a clip on the net somewhere and went through it frame by frame, and, sure enough, there she is. She was a teenager, so it took me a coupla times to find her, but, wow, what an experience, eh?

I remember watching that night on TV. I can't even imagine being there...talk about living history!

I was just beginning to really appreciate music and then they entered the scene. My favorite singers were Judy Garland and Nat King Cole. I still love them both to this day, but once I heard the Beatles, they were at the top of my favorites list.


OK, I officially feel old now.

 

[Melodiosa]

Popped my concert cherry with Weird Al Yankovic. Good time all around. I think my second favorite since then was seeing Voltaire at a local goth club and getting him to sign my tits.

 

[abjectsurrender]

My first concert was 38 Special with Cheap Trick opening, on New Year's Eve. I think I was 15.