Sunday, February 8, 2009

Your First Concert

Start thinking about the first show you went to see. I want to start sharing some of the gems that I've heard about from others and I'll be sharing my first foray into the mosh pit (disaster). I've already heard of first gig experiences from New Kids on the Block to Boy George.

Who was your first?

11 comments:

  1. My first Show
    Phish Alpine Valley - 1996
    age - 12
    I said Id buy tickets for my brother and friends if his friend would drive and I could go. Long story short, Dank got his Ma's van, sandwiches, Red Dogs...
    My first cigar, first beer, and the long way home...it changed my life. I remember being a little out of my element but not in a bad way just a lot take in for a young lad, I sat most of the show in my crazy creek... brother and friends were going nuts and getting involved.
    It was so jammed getting out of the one exit we climbed a top of the port-o-potties and over the fence....all I have to say is this:
    that day, a rebel was born.
    set list - http://www.phish.net/reviews/shows/08-10-96.html

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  2. I think my first concert was in 1966 to see the Turtles at Hinsdale Central High School with Lynn Pavlinek-but my first downtown concert was with Liz (Mary at the time)Slowik to see James Taylor at the Syndrome in Chicago-I think it was 1970-I was a sophomore and she was a freshman in hs. We walked from Union Station to save money on cab fare and shortly after that concert the Syndrome closed down due to the precarious balcony.

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  3. The Turtles are pretty legit for Hinsdale Central. What's Lynn Pavlinek up to these days?

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  4. Page and Plant - United Center, Chicago, May 1995

    The first unaccompanied by adult supervision show I went to was in 1995. Some of us were 16, and hence had access to wheels (a maroon Toyota Previa). Others, like myself, were 15 and a little wet behind the ears. It was a grand night. In classic white kid from the burbs style one of us was able to score 8 seats in a skybox. We hit the Willard school parking lot for about thirty minutes to pound Bud Ice before we loaded up the minivan and cranked the Zep. The drinking continued all the way down to the city, and by the time we were around Peterson we all had to piss pretty bad. Pulled over and scaled an embankment along one of the busiest highways in the country to ammoniate some plants. Got to the UC jubilant, swervy, and feeling like a gangster as the staff at gate 2.5 escorted us to the suite. I had been into Zep from the moment I heard Stairway at the end of side b on a tape borrowed from my sister when I was about 10. Granted, seeing Page and Plant in their forty-something year old glory from a corporate box is not quite the same as being in the thick of it at MSG in 1974...but this was as close as I was ever going to come. Dazed and Confused, Gallows Pole, Trampled Underfoot, they played the classics and we loved every minute of it, jumping on our seats and furiously shaking the railing of the box. I had been into music before this point, but I definitely came to a fuller understanding of what music means that night. It wasn't just musicians on stage playing music that I recognized, it was the experience of sharing my enthusiasm with thousands of other people that I found so intoxicating. (and the Bud Ice helped)

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  5. Imagine, if you will, that the 'rents denied then-11 year old me access to my first concert opportunity, the Rolling Stones. Shortly thereafter, however, permission was granted (...must have been the folkie-sounding name...) for Alice Cooper, ("Killer" just released)at the Chgo Amphitheatre (stockyards with a roof). Acoustics horrid, but great show, dynamic band, with the infamous theatrics including Coop's public hanging very entertaining and downright convincing. I think Alvin Lee & Co. (Ten Years After) was my next big show. Later years found me in the 11th row for the amazing Zappa/Mothers at the Chgo Auditorium ('75?). I'm still not sure dad ever did know that I bought those tix with his Sears credit card. Finally, I agree that Alpine Valley is a near perfect venue from the 80's era Dead ("Feel Like a Stranger", "Crazy Fingers") to EZ Steve Winwood.

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  6. 12:40, nothing like Bud Ice at the Willard School parking lot to get you ready for your first show. Sounds like a good one. Thanks for sharing.

    Bemisbuzz, I'd still be pissed about missing that Stones show, but Alice Cooper is very solid for your first. Love that you got some Zappa tickets on your dad's Sears card. Good stuff.

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  7. The very first was when my dad took us to see Joni Mitchell at Arie Crown. Don't remember the year, but Jackson Browne opened for her; I was probably about 11.
    The Auditorium was the best venue in Chicago (good acoustics, sight lines, ambiance) but they stopped booking contemporary music there at some point because of fire danger. The third Springsteen concert I went to -- around 1976 or 77 -- was at the Auditorium.

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  8. Joni Mitchell at the Auditorium sounds like a good time. Thanks for sharing. I think they're back to booking contemporary music at the Auditorium. I saw Trey there a few years back and think that's where I saw Bob Dylan in 2005. Good venue for sure. Good acoustics and not a bad seat in the place.

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  9. NKOTB, Lake Placid, NY, 1980 Arena
    Year: Unknown
    Age:Unknown
    The 80's were a blur to me and this, my first live show was no different. Set list included Hangin' Tough, Right Stuff and many other of my favs. Xmas themed show featured a plethora of inflatable reindeers, fake snow and HOT teenage ladies from upstate NY. Watch out for the reunion tour coming to an arena near you.

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  10. Dad took me to see B.B. King at the Palace theater in Stamford, Ct., when I was about 8 years old. I don't remember a ton of the show but I know I saw B.B. King before he started hawking ribs to tourists in Times Square.

    I also went D.M.B show once with dude who opened the van door a chuked a full beer can into the side of car we were stopped next to.

    As they used to say back in the day D.Y.P.C.L.N.?

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  11. ArchDuke, I think I know that guy throwing beers. B.B. King sounds like a good place to start your concert going career. Thanks for posting.

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