My First Concert - Cypress Hill, Pharcyde, & 311 @ The Aragon 2/23/96

I've been meaning to get this up since everyone shared their firsts. So take a trip with me back to 1996.....
....I was a scrawny freshman in high school and I remember going to Blockbuster Music in DTE to get the tickets to this show. For a 14 year old kid in suburban chicago the lineup of Cypress Hill, Pharcyde, and 311 was about as good as it got. We got a good crew together, gathered requisite contraband, and got somebody's mom to boat us down to the show in her minivan. Yes, this had all the telltale signs of a first concert experience.

I don't remember much from the show except that people were going nuts and the stage was dominated by enormous marijuana plants. If you've ever been to the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago you know that it is composed of a pretty big GA floor with balconies surrounding above. Being the 'legend in my own mind' teenager that I was I beelined it for the mosh pit for 311's set. Keep in mind I was all of about 140 lbs of 14 year old fury. I thought I was holding my own when I caught a forearm to the chest and slipped on the beer covered floor. I was going down and the see of people was closing around me. No exaggeration, my life flashed before my eyes. I was destined to be trampled at my first ever concert. In a show of pit etiquette that silences all the critics and one that I'll never forget, somebody much larger than me reached down and scooped me up to rescue me from the crowd. I would live to see a few more shows and make it to the end of this one.
I don't remember much more from this show. We got our little high school buzz on and got picked up again for the trip back home, but it was an experience I'll never forget.
Take a trip back to that era with a couple classic tracks from that time.

Pharcyde - Runnin'

Cypress Hill - Insane In The Membrane