What was your first concert? (And a great way to track it down!)

[imallie]

Hey all - don't know why we've been going down memory road a lot lately, but it's been a thing here.

We were talking about concerts this weekend, and for a long time I've known the first show I ever saw was:

Journey at the Hartford Civic Center, with Bryan Adams opening for them.  I knew it was in HS, so I thought it was 82 or 83, but wasn't sure.

Well now I'm certain it was Friday, May 13, 1983.  I don't know for certain the entire setlist, but I now also can piece together a pretty good guess at it, from a setlist they played two days later in the same venue.

If you've never been, check out www.setlist.fm

It's a great site! You can look up virtually any show, from any band, from any year. And if someone posted it... at least the date and location, it's there. Some have full playlists, others just dates and locations. But even so, it's great for ancient folk like myself!

Love,
Allie

P.S. as mentioned - what was everyone else's first show??

[LoriDee]

My birthday is usually around Labor Day. One year an old friend (former girlfriend of my late best friend), invited me to come spend the weekend at her parent's place in Arkansas. I knew her from Colorado and they had just moved there to start a huge chicken farm.

While there, she told me she got me a birthday present. We got in her truck and she drove out to the middle of a cow pasture where they had a stage set up. I got to see Black Oak Arkansas live in a cow pasture in Arkansas. It was awesome.

[imallie]

My birthday is usually around Labor Day. One year an old friend (former girlfriend of my late best friend), invited me to come spend the weekend at her parent's place in Arkansas. I knew her from Colorado and they had just moved there to start a huge chicken farm.

While there, she told me she got me a birthday present. We got in her truck and she drove out to the middle of a cow pasture where they had a stage set up. I got to see Black Oak Arkansas live in a cow pasture in Arkansas. It was awesome.

That's quite a story!

When I was reading it, at first I was thinking... I am not sure I know who that band is, but the more I thought about it them they sounded familiar and then "Jim Dandy to the rescue" popped into my head! That's them, yeah?

Ok, I just looked them up on setlist.fm. They played at a small venue in my hometown when I was like 12 years old... which confirms what I now think -- I believe one of my older sisters really liked them and THAT'S why I remember then.  You'll have to see if they have a listing for "cow pastures" under their venues for site dates. 

[Jessica_K]

Not really sure when I went to my fist concert. It would have been in the late 60's when around 15-16, before university when my social life began.

It could have been the Rolling Stones free concert in Hyde Park London that's around that time. A concert I remember well as i overheard a very old person (prob 40's) say "oh look at them burning jock straps", a quote forever remembered.

Getting there was a trip on a bus from my home in East London trips that I was allowed to make on my own. My parents never knew I had gone to the concert.

After starting Uni, I went to many concerts and festivals.

Hugs
Jessica xxx

[big kim]

The Pirates (without Johnny Kidd, even I'm not that old!). It was at a dump called Jenks with a sticky carpet & watered down beer in wobbly plastic glasses for when the fighting started in Blackpool October(ish) 1977 a few days after my 20th birthday.
They were excellent

[Jenn104]

My beloved Grateful Dead, of course.

My older brother had a spare ticket for a show on cape cod and I went with him and friends. I had a mad good time and have been 'on the bus' as the saying goes since.

I believe it was Oct 27 1979 - the show included in the Dead's "thirty trips around the sun" box. The band regularly releases shows, TTAS is a 30 show release. I'd like to own the show in a cleaned up way.. but couldn't affort the collection that became known as "Boxzilla" in some circles.

~Jenn

[KathyLauren]

The Beatles in Glasgow, Scotland.  Most likely October 1964.  I would have been 10.  I don't remember who the opening act(s) were/was.  The Beatles came on stage playing "She Loves You", the audience went nuts, and my ears were ringing for a day or two.  That's all I remember of it.

[edit]
When I looked up the set list for the Oct 21st concerts (they played two that day), "She Loves You" wasn't on either set list.  Nor was it on the set list for the concert they played in April of that year.  I distinctly remember hearing it, though.  My memory is that they were already playing as they came on stage.  But wireless guitar pickups weren't a thing back then, so it must have been a recording played over the PA system while they entered and got plugged in.  The first song they actually played live for both concerts was "Twist and Shout".
https://www.the-paulmccartney-project.com/concert/1964-10-21/

[Jenn104]

The Beatles in Glasgow, Scotland.  Most likely October 1964.  I would have been 10.  I don't remember who the opening act(s) were/was.  The Beatles came on stage playing "She Loves You", the audience went nuts, and my ears were ringing for a day or two.  That's all I remember of it.

First concert.. Beatles?!!

pardon while I pick my jaw up of the ground. That is amazing!!

[imallie]

The Beatles in Glasgow, Scotland.  Most likely October 1964.  I would have been 10.  I don't remember who the opening act(s) were/was.  The Beatles came on stage playing "She Loves You", the audience went nuts, and my ears were ringing for a day or two.  That's all I remember of it.

Mic drop. Literally. You win all the prizes. Wow.

Of course, you say you don't recall the opening act. If it was someone awful... points off. LOL

[tgirlamg]

Ha! What a fun topic Allie!... well done! 🤗

Found mine on the site... Alice Cooper in June of '77 😅 I had just got my drivers license about 6 weeks before...

@Jenn104 my husband grew up in the Bay Area and is a lifelong Deadhead... He always says the late 70s were their most golden era!

Kathy... Beatles... 😮!!!!

Onward!

Ashley 😀💕🌻

[Jenn104]

@Jenn104 my husband grew up in the Bay Area and is a lifelong Deadhead... He always says the late 70s were their most golden era!

I saw shows on both coasts in the 80s... maybe I met your husband? its a dead head game.

[Miharu Barbie]

Wow! I haven't thought about the first concert I went to in years!

I was 14 years old. It was a 2 day festival concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which long ago fell down in an earthquake. April 7th and 8th, 1979. My friends Chris, Keith and I (all of us 14 years old) were allowed to go to both days alone.

The lineup was (deep breath!):
Aerosmith
Cheap Trick
Ted Nugent
Van Halen
Cheech and Chong
April Wine
Boomtown Rats
Eddie Money
Toto
Fabulous Poodles
UFO
REO Speedwagon
The Outlaws
Mahogany Rush

There were a few other bands, but these are the memorable ones. 

What a great show!  Thanks, Allie, for calling up fun memories.

Mucho Love ❤️
Miharu

[Karen_A]

Simon and Garfunkel
I have only been to 3 concerts in my life... That one, Carly Simon and John Denver (dragged to that one by my spouse! )

I saw Todd Rundgren live - but that was part of a ballon festival.
And I saw Credence ClearWater Revisited when they performed at a fair I was at.

That is extent of my concert experience!

-Karen

[Jessica_Rose]

Summer of 1982, while I was in college. Tickets were $7. I don't remember which came first, but they were on back-to back weekends. One weekend was Joan Jett and the Blackhearts and the other was Styx.

Love always -- Jessica Rose

[Karen_A]

BTW talking about concerts, back in the 80's I worked with someone who was at the original Woodstock... He really did not enjoy all the rain, mud, and the huge crowd!

- Karen

[imallie]

By the way, speaking of the Beatles... our son's first concert will be one of those things that when he gets older, will seem quite cool.

Of course like most kids his age he is a connoisseur of Rap (although he did grow up a fan of the Rat Pack - since my folks loved it so he was indoctrinated at an early age. 😂)

Anyway, we were on one of our summer baseball pilgrimages about 10 years ago (so he was 14)... we drove from MA, and saw games in Baltimore, Detroit, Cleveland and Toronto on that trip (with a stop to see our beloved Mets in NYC on the way home). Fun times.

We always leave time for improvising on our schedules when we travel and this was a biggie.

When we checked into the hotel in Cleveland, right near the ballpark, the receptionist said "Are you here for the concert?" And we, of course, said "What concert?" To which she said "Paul McCartney is here tonight."
To which I replied "We are now!"

There was no game we were seeing that night, so I got online, got us three tickets... and so our son's first concert was Paul McCartney. He was MUCH more excited after the fact than he was going in. We kept saying "trust us." 😉