Concerts from back in the day....

[gaspode]

My first gig was in 1980(OMG I'm showing my age) Motorhead "Ace of Spades" tour, three rows back in front of the speaker stack, my ears rang for three bloody days.

[LibraryLady]

They weren't concerts exactly but they were wonderful. When I was a young teenager in the early 1960s a local radio station sponsored shows at the New York Paramount just off Times Square. These shows were scheduled to run during Easter week, the week between Christmas and New Year's and Labor Day (right before Fall school term started).

At the age of about 15, another friend and I were allowed to take the commuter bus my Aunt rode into the city and go to the shows. It was a great deal because we could get there early.

If you got in before a certain time, the price was very affordable. We're talking about an admission price of 1.50 USD. You also got a free record album (sometimes good, sometimes awful) and you could stay all day.

The show was a continuous performance interspersed with an awful movie that always seemed to be "The Wackiest Ship in the Army". It didn't matter because the acts were good. In these shows we saw the Four Seasons. We saw the Shondelles, we saw any number of one-hit wonders. Most important, every Paramount show had the James Brown Blues Band.

Over about three years, sitting through 4 shows a day, three times a year my friends and I began to appreciate the artistry of James Brown. I've been an R & B fan ever since.

After this apprenticeship, my first real rock concert experience was the Stones at the Academy of Music on 14th Street. This was just before 'Satisfaction' was released. It was amazing!. We were standing with one foot on our seats and the other on the back of the seats in front of us!

I was also there for the Beatles' concert at Shea Stadium. That was also something very unusual. I taped it on an old reel-to-reel machine but not much resulted except screams.

Hubby may have the more interesting story. He remembers being an habitue at Max's Kansas City in the Village when Billy Joel was the piano man.

We all have our stories and our memories. Let's treasure them.

[telecom_goddess]

Oh, man, I bet that WAS an amazing concert, I love the Newsboys.

I saw some great ones. I saw Ratt open for Bon Jovi. Saw The Hooters open for 38 Special. Saw Heart ( I can't remember who opened for them, but they weren't memorable.) Saw a Cinderella/ Bon Jovi ticket. Triple ticket with Kix, I wanna say Great White, and Ratt. Saw Journey live.

I just saw Bon Jovi a couple of years ago for the first time....and my god they are amazing live. IT made me a fan on the spot...and I had paid NO attention to them previously.

First concert for me was Crosby Stills and Nash back in 1982 or so.

[telecom_goddess]

Haven't been to very many concerts. But, I have seen Billy Joel (1993), Don McLean, Mamas & the Papas, The Clarks ('94). Most of those were free shows, during the Regatta or at South Park. I'd never heard of The Clarks before I saw them perform in my dorm at college

Now when you say Mamas and the Papas are you talking the original four from the sixties or what? I knew they reformed for a bit but it wasn't the same thing.

[protege]

Now when you say Mamas and the Papas are you talking the original four from the sixties or what? I knew they reformed for a bit but it wasn't the same thing.

Hehe I wasn't even thought of in the 60s No, it during the '80s, and wasn't the original four--Mama Cass was dead, and a few "guest musicians" were there.

[Jester]

My very first concert was in 8th grade, so 1983 or 1984. It was Duran Duran, and through my friend's father's company, we were in a luxury box in Madison Square Garden for it. (Sadly, though, with his parents.) This was when "Rio" and "Hungry Like The Wolf" were huge hits. Everyone at school hated us the next day! And when I say "hate," I mean it like them saying "you lucky bastards, we hate you!"

Some of my other early concerts (before I graduated high school) included Pat Benatar with The Alarm opening (my first concert without adults), the Kinks in a small, 2,000 person venue, the Moody Blues with The Fixx opening, Heart (still my all-time favorite band), and Pink Floyd (twice, to days in a row senior year of high school).

Other acts that I have seen that rocked include (deep breath): Heart (three more times), Pink Floyd (again), Living Colour/Guns n' Roses/the Rolling Stones in the L.A. Coliseum (best concert ever), Sheryl Crow (3 times, once in a small venue and once at her Central Park concert), Europe/Def Leppard, Jewel, Don Henley (twice), the Eagles, Guns n' Roses/Aerosmith, Pat Benatar again, the Rolling Stones again, AC/DC (twice), Mojo Nixon (small club), Cinderella (in a club), Jethro Tull (twice, but only once counted), Styx, Kiss/Winger/Slaughter, Ozzy Osbourne, Rush, Wings, Eric Clapton, Steppenwolf, Stevie Nicks (twice), Fleetwood Mac (when Stevie and Lindsey rejoined the band for the first time in years), the Scorpions, Bob Seger, Alanis Morissette, the Offspring (I felt OLD at that concert, and I was only 28!), and several others.

I have also seen Jerry Seinfeld and Ron White at live gigs in town, but I'm not sure those really count as concerts.

They ARE concerts, even if they are not musical concerts. I myself have seen Steven Wright (once) and George Carlin (four times, most recently in Santa Barbara in '03--thanks for the ticket, Mom!)

Buffalo Springfield
Jimi Hendrix Experience - The Soft Machine
The Mothers Of Invention
Spirit
Steve Miller Band
Eric Burdon & the Animals
Led Zeppelin
Poco
Santana
Simon & Garfunkel
Steppenwolf
Joni Mitchell

A lot of people are jealous of me due to some of the shows I've been to, but I have to say I am super jealous of you. Yeah, I saw Steppenwolf, but it was a later incarnation, and while good, was not in their heyday. And you saw all of these bands? Good lord! Closest I can come to any of them (other than my one Steppenwolf show) would be the fact that a former member of Spirit (and the guy who wrote "Nature's Way") performs regularly (5-6 days a week) at one of my favorite bars down here, and he absolutely rocks. (He often introduces that song by saying, in his very laidback way, "I used to be in this band called Spirit. They kicked me out for being a drunk. 35 years later, three of them are dead from drugs....and I'm still a drunk.")

Sportsmom... Cinderella and Judas Priest... in combination....wtf???

I have seen weirder combos at shows I have actually been too.

The two that stand out for me are Lenny Kravitz opening for Rush, and Candlebox opening for Eddie Money. Yeah, that second one was a real head-turner, and the crowd was definitely a mixed lot!

Best line of the night: Two songs in, Pete Townshend, "Why did you get front row seats if you're going to fucking sit in them all night?"

No. Fucking. Shit.

At one of my first two Pink Floyd concerts, we were going nuts during "Run Like Hell." And the people behind us (we had floor seats in a stadium) were not only sitting down, but were getting pissy with us because we were jumping up and down, dancing, and, you know, having fun. They tried to get us to sit down, but we wouldn't, because we were rocking out, and because the people in front of us were on their feet too, so we would have seen squat. I just gave the idjits behind us my at-the-time-not-quite-perfected-yet trademark withering glare, and they pretty much shut up after that.

[SorryIsGoodEnough]

I was born in 1988.

I saw Oingo Boingo twice in concert before they disbanded, including their farewell concert in, what was it, '95?

I've been to a whole bunch of concerts, but those two were my first.

Amaaaaaaaaaaazing.

[dalesys]

... I have seen weirder combos at shows I have actually been too...

Imagine The Youngbloods opening for The Mothers Of Invention

The third time I saw The Youngbloods you could tell as they came on stage they were thinking "Salt Lake? We're killing our agent ASAP!' but they were opening for It's A Beautiful Day - the best pairing I've experienced.

Recent bands:

Cold Blood
GrooveLily
Eddie From Ohio
Laura Love Band
Sister Wives
Kasey Chambers
Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez (w/ John Platania)
Cowboy Junkies
Indigo Girls
Fred Eaglesmith
Four Bitchin' Babes


Solo performers:
Patty Larkin
Jonatha Brooke
Jill Cohn
Cliff Eberhardt

About 75% of the songs I've posted in the Fun Songs thread are artists I've seen...

[1756GR2]

I forget which was first - Aretha Franklin or The Doors. 1971. Unless you consider The Elves/Elf (name was transitioning) playing our high school prom after-party in 1970 at the local YMCA as a concert. Hung out afterward with Ron Padavona (before he became Ronnie Dio).