What was your first Rock Concert?

[Ken Morgan]

We were chatting about this the other day, what was the first rock concert you ever went to?

One of the guys I was talking to seen Zeppelin and the Beatles back in the day....that would have been so very cool.

For me:
1. ACDC, For those about to Rock, December 10, 1981, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto. (I swear I couldn't hear for three days after this one..)

2. Triumph, Allied Forces, December 31, 1981, Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

3. Rush, Signals, November 17, 1982 Maple Leaf Gardens, Toronto.

 

[Gordon Nore]

First big concert in a stadium for me was summer of 1978. I was 18. The headline act was ELO (Electric Light Orchestra). That was the tour where they had the giant flying saucer. It was OK.

One of the opening acts was ... Meatloaf. That was cool.

The venue was the former Exhibition Stadium on the grounds of the Canadian National Exhibition. It was one of their last general assignment seating events for the Ex, drawing 65,000 spectators, a record that was broken the following month by The Eagles, who drew 70,000. This was around the time of the stampede that killed spectators at The Who concert in Cincinnati, and GA seating was abandoned after that.

I recall being somewhat concerned about safety, as the event was 90 minutes late in starting. Restless audience members began whipping large glass pop bottles around.

 

[Omar B]

Slayer

 

[Bill Mattocks]

August 30, 1977 for me. McNichols Arena in Denver, Big Mac as they called it. Alice Cooper. The opening act was Styx. Alice canceled all his show dates after McNichols and checked into a detox center, seriously. He announced it at the end of the show, we fans all thought it was part of the act. They strapped him into a gurney and hoisted him in the air and sprayed him down with champagne from magnum-sized bottles. I found out later that it was for real, he did cancel all his remaining shows and checked into rehab. Helluva show.

Oh, and by the way, kiddies...you missed all the fun. Back then, your ears rang for three days after a show, even if you were in the nosebleed seats. And the cops only searched for bottles, people brought in all sorts of, er, other forms of entertainment. At the end of the show when the house lights came on, there were always hundreds of people left over who could not even move. Wild times.

 

[Jenny_in_Chico]

Texas Jam 1983, Dallas:
Styx (Kilroy Was Here tour)
Sammy Hagar
Triumph
Ted Nugent
Uriah Heep

People were firing up all around me and I got stoned without even taking a toke. I was 12. I still remember Ted Nugent's loincloth.

 

[Ken Morgan]

Maple Leaf Gardens was simply a haze when the lights came back up after the shows, between the pot and the cigarette smoke, you could hardly see the people across the arena.

I seen other acts at other venues years later, Supertramp, Queen, Meatloaf and others, and it was completly different. I didn't smell any pot at any of those shows. I guess we were all just that much older...

 

[terryl965]

SugarLoaf with the babys opening for them at the Ada theater downtown Bosie Idaho.

 

[Flea]

I have two answers to this ...

My first concert in chronological terms was Huey Lewis and the News. My dweeby boyfriend at the time asked me if I liked them. Uh ... I guess. So he surprised me with tickets, to go with his mother and grandmother. I was 14. It was very sparsely attended, and I found out later that his family was absolutely wrathful because I didn't tap my foot enough. (?!) They treated me like dogshit for the rest of our ill-fated relationship.

That experience was so lame I don't even consider it a concert at all, much less my first.

My first concert experience came a couple months later, as my best friend and I sneaked into an all-ages show for Concrete Blond. It was supposed to be 16 and up. As the bouncers cleared out all the kiddos for the adults-only set and sold beer, we hid in the bathroom and got two shows. That band only gets better over the years. I have no doubt I'll be blasting Bloodletting from my room at the nursing home, annoying the crap out of the orderlies.

 

[crushing]

Cheap Trick / John Waite in the mid-80s.

 

[Stac3y]

Alice Cooper in 1978 (might have been 1977). It was the one where he burst out of a garbage can at some point. We took the Yugoslavian foreign exchange student who was visiting with us. I was 10 or 11 years old. I couldn't hear for DAYS. Saw 2 different people go into convulsions and have to be taken out on stretchers. It was a GREAT show.

 

[bluekey88]

Journey (Frontiers tour) with the following opening acts, Sammy Hagar (pre-Van Halen), Rick Springfield, The Tubes, John Cougar, and some other act i cannot remember.

Since then Have sene Pink Floyd three times. Rush twice (most recently on their Snakes and Arrows tour), the recent Judas Priest, heaven and Hell, Motorhead tour. I've seem the Cure, depech mode, Johnny Lydon with Public Image Ltd, opening up for the Sugar Cubes (remember them??), REM (at the 40 watt club no less), also caught Nirvana at the 40 watt just before the broke big...got hang with them back stage for a time...very cool. Saw the Police during their reunion tour. Also caught Billy Joel back in '89.

I've seen diana Krall when she played a show at my music school...such a lovely voice, there is no sexier song than wyen she sings "Peel me a grape." Lots of other smalled local bands/acts. I'd go to Music fest in bethkehem as I lived right down the street. Just spend the day walking around town cathciung all the acts playing every corner. man, I miss that.

I love live music of all types and try to get out to shows whenever I can (hard to do given my family situation...but yiou just can't beat a good live music show for pure entertainment value).

Peace,
Erik

 

[CoryKS]

INXS / Public Image Ltd, Detroit 1988

As someone who had only recently discovered the Sex Pistols, it would have interested me greatly to know that the orange-haired freak in the opening band was none other than John Lydon aka Johnny Rotten. As it was, I just thought he was some twerpy kid in a local band (we came in late).

 

[Xue Sheng]

First Concert
Jethro Tull - I believe it was the Heavy Horses tour

 

[Gordon Nore]

First Concert
Jethro Tull - I believe it was the Heavy Horses tour

Uber cool. I loved Thick as a Brick and Aqualung.

 

[KELLYG]

Van Harlen late 70's early 80's pre Sammy Hagar. Quiet Riot and the Head Pins, Journey, Molly Hatchet, Prince etc. Yes you could smell the smoke in the air, so to speak. As long as people were not rioting or stampeding anything went. Wild times indeed!

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

For me it was ZZtop, Cheap Trick and White Snake. It was a good concert with a lively atmosphere. (some real people really partying) Cheap Trick was simply awesome!

 

[terryl965]

For me it was ZZtop, Cheap Trick and White Snake. It was a good concert with a lively atmosphere. (some real people really partying) Cheap Trick was simply awesome!

First time I saw ZZ Tops was New Year eve 1976 at the Ft Worth Coliseum.

 

[Bill Mattocks]

Cheap Trick

I started a riot at the Cheap Trick/Kansas/Pablo Cruise concert in Okinawa, Japan, in 1982 or 83. Bun E. Carlos thought I was hilarious. I got the snot kicked out of me by a body builder right next to the stage (I was an MP on duty trying to keep people from smoking in the all-wooden Field house at Camp Foster).

 

[Ken Morgan]

Rush twice (most recently on their Snakes and Arrows tour),
Erik

That was my last real concert, floors, 20 rows back. Assume!!
And my sons first real concert. (Sharon, Lois and Bram don't count!!)

 

[frank raud]

First concert I went to was Frank Zappa, with Tom Waits as one of the opening acts(the other was a Quebec band, Maniege) in Montreal, summer of 1974.

Notable concerts would take too long, but I did see Led Zeppelin, Genesis with Peter Gabriel, SRV and a couple hundred others.