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Concert talk - who was your first? Favorite?
- Thread starter LabsOwnYou
- Start date
Ok, now I feel a little old. When I first saw that your 1st was YES.... I thought cool because they were mine also, then as I read the rest of the posts I realized I saw them a bit sooner than you in Cincinnati I think in 74' or 75'(things are ummm a lil fuzzy during that decade for me
) at the old Cincinnati Gardens. I'm a huge fan of Led Zep, Rush, Jethro Tull, The Who, Emerson, Lake & Palmer and more but those are the TOP 5 and always brought their uniqueness to every concert I saw them in whether in the US of A or when stationed in Germany in the late 70's/80's.For me (and I still think this) many of the "older" Rock-N-Roll bands provided a more intense and complex style of music than can be offered by many of the so-called rock bands of today, there are good ones but sadly not very many.
Long Live Rock-N-Roll !!!!
I'd gone to shows with my dad and brother - my actual "1st concert" was Sha Na Na at the Circle Star Theater in the SF Bay Area when I was 9 or 10. Went to a few shows at the Greek in Berkeley with pops too, including Elton John in 1979 (I was 9 yrs old - it was an awesome show) and Jefferson Starship in 1981 (at 11).
But for going to a show without adults, my buddy's mom drove us and picked us up from our 1st concert: KISS on the Lick It Up tour. 1983, and they just took off their makeup and lost Peter Criss from drums for Eric Carr and Ace Frehley was out and Vinnie Vincent replaced him. Decent show, but not the best. At 13 though the pyrotechnics were off the charts awesome. Accept (Balls to the Wall) opened for them.
2nd concert was Sammy Hagar on the "I Can't Drive 55" tour a few months later in early 1984, with Zebra opening. This was an awesome show - Sammy did about 5 Montrose songs, and Zebra remains one of the most underrated bands of the era in my opinion. I believe Dream Theater just did a cover of one of their songs (Take My Fingers From Your Hair) and did an excellent job of it. Zebra's 1st album (the one they were touring for) is pretty much an entire album of great songs. https://www.youtube....h?v=IceGhFW0r8w
3rd was about 3 weeks later, also in 1984. My older brother was dating a girl who's dad owned a tour bus company. For her birthday he gave her a tour bus, tickets and backstage passes for 30 people. I managed to sweet talk her into the last ticket, much to my older brother's chagrin, because now he had to watch after his 14 yr old brother. The bus was stocked with food and 2 kegs of beer, and I got completely housed. Iron Maiden was much more in my wheelhouse than my brother's, and so he tanked it at the last minute (think he caught a flu, but may have been faking) so his g/f and her 10 slutty 17-19 yr old friends basically adopted me as their little metal muppet - I was in headbanger heaven that night. To this day, while I've seen better shows and higher quality shows (Joey Defrancesco, Allman Brothers, Derek Trucks, Trucks/Tedeschi Band, early VH, Metallica with Cliff several times, Faith No More, Black Sabbath with both Dio & Ozzy, Ozzy solo on Bark at the Moon, Rush about a dozen times, PInk Floyd, etc, etc, etc) the whole experience of having a tour bus, beer, hot wimmenz fawning over me all night, and getting to meet Bruce Dickenson and the band was all just such an amazing thing to my 14 yr old pea brain. That was one of the best nights of my life, much less concert experiences.
I still get to about 5-8 concerts a year. Got into my punk roots and saw Dead Kennedys not too long ago (no Jello, but they still rocked) - last year I saw Silversun Pickups, Cake, Testament, Mastodon, Garbage, Jane's Addiction, System of a Down, and about another dozen club shows with local blues or bluegrass bands. The SF Bay Area has a great music scene.
Special Mention to Deep Purple on the Perfect Stranger's Tour.
That was one of the best shows I've seen - it was the year after Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath and it was DP's "reunion" tour, though it was only 2 years removed from their last tour. The album completely rocked and it was kind of special to me because it was the one band from the 70's that I loved that "still had it" - I'd seen several who were not as good as the albums, and thus not a great concert memory, but DP was pretty much still in their prime. Richie Blackmore is a tremendous guitar player, Gillan still had that remarkable voice and John Lord played the best Hammond/Leslie solo I've ever heard to this day. Just ripped that organ to shreds live on stage.
Here's a taste of that show (well, not that show, but from that tour)
https://www.youtube....h?v=gEVMU_waY9c
Keep in mind, when that organ played, you felt it. It shook the audience. It shook the amphatheater. There's nothing quite like it.
Here's a little better quality Jon Lord just to give you an idea of the kind of solos he was busting out:
God that man was ridiculous and I feel blessed to have seen him in his prime.
But for going to a show without adults, my buddy's mom drove us and picked us up from our 1st concert: KISS on the Lick It Up tour. 1983, and they just took off their makeup and lost Peter Criss from drums for Eric Carr and Ace Frehley was out and Vinnie Vincent replaced him. Decent show, but not the best. At 13 though the pyrotechnics were off the charts awesome. Accept (Balls to the Wall) opened for them.
2nd concert was Sammy Hagar on the "I Can't Drive 55" tour a few months later in early 1984, with Zebra opening. This was an awesome show - Sammy did about 5 Montrose songs, and Zebra remains one of the most underrated bands of the era in my opinion. I believe Dream Theater just did a cover of one of their songs (Take My Fingers From Your Hair) and did an excellent job of it. Zebra's 1st album (the one they were touring for) is pretty much an entire album of great songs. https://www.youtube....h?v=IceGhFW0r8w
3rd was about 3 weeks later, also in 1984. My older brother was dating a girl who's dad owned a tour bus company. For her birthday he gave her a tour bus, tickets and backstage passes for 30 people. I managed to sweet talk her into the last ticket, much to my older brother's chagrin, because now he had to watch after his 14 yr old brother. The bus was stocked with food and 2 kegs of beer, and I got completely housed. Iron Maiden was much more in my wheelhouse than my brother's, and so he tanked it at the last minute (think he caught a flu, but may have been faking) so his g/f and her 10 slutty 17-19 yr old friends basically adopted me as their little metal muppet - I was in headbanger heaven that night. To this day, while I've seen better shows and higher quality shows (Joey Defrancesco, Allman Brothers, Derek Trucks, Trucks/Tedeschi Band, early VH, Metallica with Cliff several times, Faith No More, Black Sabbath with both Dio & Ozzy, Ozzy solo on Bark at the Moon, Rush about a dozen times, PInk Floyd, etc, etc, etc) the whole experience of having a tour bus, beer, hot wimmenz fawning over me all night, and getting to meet Bruce Dickenson and the band was all just such an amazing thing to my 14 yr old pea brain. That was one of the best nights of my life, much less concert experiences.
I still get to about 5-8 concerts a year. Got into my punk roots and saw Dead Kennedys not too long ago (no Jello, but they still rocked) - last year I saw Silversun Pickups, Cake, Testament, Mastodon, Garbage, Jane's Addiction, System of a Down, and about another dozen club shows with local blues or bluegrass bands. The SF Bay Area has a great music scene.
Special Mention to Deep Purple on the Perfect Stranger's Tour.
That was one of the best shows I've seen - it was the year after Ian Gillan left Black Sabbath and it was DP's "reunion" tour, though it was only 2 years removed from their last tour. The album completely rocked and it was kind of special to me because it was the one band from the 70's that I loved that "still had it" - I'd seen several who were not as good as the albums, and thus not a great concert memory, but DP was pretty much still in their prime. Richie Blackmore is a tremendous guitar player, Gillan still had that remarkable voice and John Lord played the best Hammond/Leslie solo I've ever heard to this day. Just ripped that organ to shreds live on stage.
Here's a taste of that show (well, not that show, but from that tour)
https://www.youtube....h?v=gEVMU_waY9c
Keep in mind, when that organ played, you felt it. It shook the audience. It shook the amphatheater. There's nothing quite like it.
Here's a little better quality Jon Lord just to give you an idea of the kind of solos he was busting out:
God that man was ridiculous and I feel blessed to have seen him in his prime.
DEAD KENNEDYS ROCK!!
no worries bro. i willingly saw vanilla ice!I was 9 - not like I had a choice.
Also they rocked.
Remids me of another couple great shows - saw Public Enemy open for Anthrax on Bring the Noise. They did the 1st actual crossover (most think it was Run DMC/Aerosmith - most would be wrong)
I'd never really heard much hip hop so that was a pretty epic introduction. PE rocked the house.
I'd never really heard much hip hop so that was a pretty epic introduction. PE rocked the house.
Bring the Noise (Anthrax/PE) was released before Walk This Way (Run DMC/Aerosmith)? I thought it was the other way around
Ill have to google it. I thought it was. It was a great show - I can say that part with confidence!
You are correct - DMC was '86, PE was '87
D'oh - that's why getting old does for ya.
You are correct - DMC was '86, PE was '87
D'oh - that's why getting old does for ya.
Ha I hear the gettin old part .
I'm sure that was a great show a would have loved to seen it my dang self.
Anthrax is freakin awesome live with Joey signin' , Charlie bangin the skins and Scott doin the Milano mosh with the six string.
Had to be great with Chuck D, Griff and Flava sportin his $3 wall clock necklace.
. I'm sure that was a great show a would have loved to seen it my dang self.
Anthrax is freakin awesome live with Joey signin' , Charlie bangin the skins and Scott doin the Milano mosh with the six string.
Had to be great with Chuck D, Griff and Flava sportin his $3 wall clock necklace.
Not to mention a crew of like 20 dudes dressed like terrorists marching around the stage.
My first Concert was RUSH : Moving Pictures Tour: Hollywood Sportatorium. 1980
Lucky! I would love to have seen Rush. I knew I should purchased tickets for their clockwork angels tour.
I wanted to go to that show so bad (not Hollywood, but the NCAL venue) but was told I was too young. And at 10, I was.
I finally managed to see them on the Power Windows tour - not my favorite album, but close enough to the old school that they played a ton of their older catalog. Geddy's voice wasn't quite as shot yet either.
I wasn't able to go as it was a Thurs night and I had an early Fri meeting, but I did catch 2 legs of the Snakes & Arrows tour - incredible. On the 2nd leg they did the "Moving Pictures Anniversary show" - first time I've ever seen them do "The Camera Eye" live - very cool.
They've really managed to find themselves again. Not that they were lost, but they definitely lost their rockin roots for a while. Both of these albums were amazing.
Ps - your username is hilarious, and so true. lol
Yeah Rush was the absolute perfect first concert. There were stoners, drunks, fistfights, and all other kinds of debauchery around even before we made it inside, where we were teargassed because some fools started rioting when Rush was an hour late starting. It was like a scene out of Almost Famous.
i believe you talking about S1W. i love P.E.
Yep! Dude - I was a 16 yr old rocker. I didn't know what the f was goin on. Then they started playing & I was hearing James Brown samples and I was like "ok, this is pretty cool" and then Flav comes out with a big ass clock on and it was just over the top awesome.
I owe a lot to Chuck D - I would never have gotten into any of the "golden era" of hip hop had it not been for that show.
And actually they were dressed like black panthers, to be more specific.
fight the power!