First Rock Show? - Most Favorite?

[Nid Noy]

In the spirit of best rock guitar solo, I'd love to know which was your first rock concert experience. Then maybe kick down your favorite musical experience.

My first one was 1978 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco:

Kansas
Thin Lizzy
The Cars

My Fave Show? I'm gonna have to think about that one. Probably Nirvana at a small club called The Kennel Club. They played with The Boredoms from Japan. A pretty wild night. There was also this Butthole Surfers show where Gibby....ah....dang. Fave show is a tough one.

What was yours?

[Dojoden]

Hmmm. My first rock show would have to be TOTO back in 1984. I know I know laugh all you want but it's my uncles band so I'm made to go almost every year.
My favorite would have to be Billy Idol and The Cult in 1986 or 1987.

DD

[IRISH JONNY]

AS A WEE NINE YEAR OLD I SAW RORY GALLAGHER AND THE BOOMTOWN RATS PLUS THIN LIZZY PLAY IN MY HOME TOWN MACROOM..IN THE 70s THEY USED TO RUN ROCK FESTIVALS EVERY YEAR AND WE WOULD SNEAK IN TO THE VENUE TO WATCH THEM........
SO THAT WOULD BE 1978.....
MACOOM IRELAND,MOUNTAIN DEW FESTIVAL..........1978..........

[Petter]

My first outdoor i think was Alex Harvey Band,Rory Galagher and Protocol Harum in Holmekollen Oslo in 78 or something.

My first indoor was Tina Turner backed up
by the E.Street band(Springsteen) wery early in the 80,s in my hometown

Afther that it was so many because i was working
with the representatives for the conserts as a volunteer through a athletic club who need to earn money.

[faultytowers]

AC DC - Back in Black Tour 1980 (as a cropped hair squaddie).

Status Quo - 1981 ,Only went to see support band ......Stiff Little Fingers

Pink Floyd - The Wall Live Tour , 1980 or 1981 , unbelievable special effects

All the concerts were at indoor arenas in Germany.

[Lucky7]

First Concert - Guns and Roses and Metallica in July 1992
Favorite Concert - Def Tones in a small venue in summer 2004 or Incubus in the same summer.

[Dojoden]

That reminds me I saw Motley Crue during the Doctor Feelgood tour. I cant quite remember the year. A pretty crazy concert though. Lots of ladies but none that were asian.

DD

[Tarzan]

Been at:

First "real" concert was Whitesnake at Johanneshov in Stockholm 1983.
Monsters of Rock 1984 at Råsunda Football stadium was a good show too. Motley Crue, Van Halen with David Lee Roth, and headlined by AC/DC.. Top show.
Gary moore 1985 was good.
Bon Jovi 7800F tour and Slippery When Wet on my top list.
Thin Lizzy 1983 i never forget... With a stoned, and i mean STONED John Sykes....
First reunion tour with KISS was more exiting to see them again, then a good show...

Worked:

One of my favourites that i worked on is Snowy White at Stockholm Jazz & Blues Festival.. The volume in his Fender 4x10"!!! Didnt need to mic it up..But what a player....
Jennifer Lopez at TV4, a tvstation was ok, but just because she was so fukcing beutiful...
Aerosmith at Sjöhistoriska.
Accept Russian Roulett tour
Eminem at Globe Arena. Dont like hip hop, but this was great.

But one of the most inspiring was Dalai Lama at Globe Arena. Him and an interviewer sitting in the middle, and 16000 people who was absolutely quiet and didnt say one word. An amazing evening that really got to me.. A fantastic man, this Dalai....

[Allybabba22]

My first real outdoor was U2 and Moby at Slane Castle in 2001.....

My first indoor was Puff Daddy (P.Diddy) at the point in 2000.....

PS: I did see a few bands play in the Phoniex Park in 94, At the Irish football teams homecoming party from US94, But they were only shit bands like Boyzone and stuff like that.....

PPS: My best by a country mile was Eminem in Punchestown about 2yrs ago,
It was ****ing brilliant, Never seen anything like him live

[seafox]

Bruce Springsteen at The Meadowlands in New Jersey
Fleetwood Mac with Stevie Nicks at the same venue
and a huge weekend concert in California called Coachella

Used to do Security work while in college and was front and center for lots of outdoor concerts, Phil Collins was one, good show.

Also had to work at a Village People concert, what a bunch of fruitcakes they were.

[marc26]

ive only been 2 one concert!

it was good one though:

beastie boys and cypress hill

[Allybabba22]

Originally Posted by marc26

ive only been 2 one concert!

it was good one though:

beastie boys and cypress hill

Yeah seen Cypress hill at the Eminem concert, But they were pretty bad live to be honest.......

[Jaws]

ZZ Top at Memorial Drive ( that's a tennis stadium ) in Adelaide back when I could remember what I did the day before !

[Rex7777]

Hmm. I hate to date myself.

First rock concert: The Beatles. I think it waas 1965 or so.

Also saw a bunch of bands in the mid to late 60s, including the Yardbirds, MC5, T Rex, Greatful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish, Janis Joplin and a bunch of other bands I can't remember right now. I've also seen the Rolling Stones (that was good), and Jimi Hendrix. I also saw Talking Heads at CBGB in NYC.

It's been a while since I've been to a live rock concert, I guess.

Rex

[IRISH JONNY]

I Once Saw Phil Collins Live In The Boston Garden In 86.....a Brill Concert......man That Guy Is Talented..........ij

[Dojoden]

Originally Posted by marc26

ive only been 2 one concert!

it was good one though:

beastie boys and cypress hill

Shitte I forgot about that one. I saw Beastie boys and Run DMC in 1986 at the Greek theater in LA,CA. That was wasy cool. When hip hop was rap and not jaded.

DD

[Mustang]

First concert Supertramp,Breakfast in America tour.Favorite concert would have to be Van Halen 1984 at the Montreal Forum.I was always a big Van Halen fan but hadn't seen them until then(I still have my Krammer guitar and Marshall amp )That was David Lee Roth's last tour with the band

Best recent concert was Ozzy Osbourne with Zack Wilde on guitar.Ozzy's voice was in suprisingly good form,sang all my favorite Black Sabbath and solo stuff.Zack Wilde is an incredible guitarist and really did justice to Randy Rhodes origional solos.

[dawsey]

This shows my age as well

The Beatles 1963 in Bournemouth
Rolling Stones,Van Morrison,The Byrds, and Pretty Things,late 60's in Bmth
The Who, IOW 1970
David Bowie Young Americans tour Wembley1976?
Elton John,Beach Boys,Eagles,Quo Wembley Stadium 1975
Queen, Knebworth1986

The best? The Who at the IOW concert 1970 were superb.

Never got to see Led Zepp or Pink Floyd my two favourites

[nelsonone]

The Easybeats............Sydney 1967

with my band Pelmel Supporting Elvis Costello + the Attractions.............Australian tour 1981

I saw Bowies Yound Americans too Dawsey.........only in Sydney

Funniest moment of that concert.........watching this extremely drunk/out of it guy pass out in the queue to get in and get carried in coffin style by his mates......then seeing the same guys carrying him out the same way at the end.......now that's rock and roll

[wakeboycam]

First real big concert was in 1990 with Public Enemy, Silverbullet, Domino Theory and Ultra Magnetic MC's

The best one is hard because i have seen so many good concerts. But some of them where especially at that time memorable.

For example:
Monsters of Rock in 1990 with Metallica , AC/DC and Black Crows.
In 1992 Guns n Roses, Faith no More and Soundgarden in the biggest football stadium of Holland De Kuip.
Also in 1992 Suicidal Tendencies in Paradiso Amsterdam with an unknown rage Against the machine as opener. people where stage diving from the balkonies.
And Life of Agony in 1997 in the old 013 in Tilburg.
The closing act of the Lowlands festival in 2001 Manu Chao was also one not ever to be forgotten.

I am sure if i think about it longer more classic concerts will come to my mind.

[Nid Noy]

Originally Posted by Dojoden001

Shitte I forgot about that one. I saw Beastie boys and Run DMC in 1986 at the Greek theater in LA,CA. That was wasy cool. When hip hop was rap and not jaded.

DD

That was '86? Man, I saw that show. But it was up on No. Cali. Good stuff, when rap and hip hop was a whole lot more fun.

[dogfaceboy]

first gig... Gary Moore's G-Force opening up for Whitesnake in June 1980.
best live show...Quo, Milton Keynes Bowl 1984 Farewell tour!!!!!!! also the Pogues Xmas shows at the Barras in Glasgow were pretty good in the late 80's.
loudest....Motorhead, many times over the years.
band i wish i'd seen....Metallica's first appearance at Donington, didn't know who they were so i decided to sleep off a hangover during their set in the next field

[sandymellis]

First ever concert was the Sensational Alex Harvey Band way back in 1976, several decades and hundreds of concerts later the last 2 concerts that I attended were a couple of years ago which were Mick Jones's band Carbon/Silicon and Roger Chapman (ex family lead singer)...both quality gigs.

[mjochim]

My first concert was Van Halen in 1982 at Kansas City's Kemper Arena.

Since then, I've gone on to see almost 400 additional shows -- many of them memorable. (My full list of concerts attended can be seen at http://www.mjochim.com/concerts/home.html -- I want to eventually scan all my concert tickets and photos, etc. to have a visual record of this part of my life; I also used to bootleg record concerts so I have audio/video records of many of the shows as well... .)

While I enjoyed many of the shows, two stick out in my mind as favorites:

1) In December 2003, I scored tickets for one of Bruce Springsteen's famous Holiday Shows in Asbury Park, New Jersey. This was held as a very small venue holding about 1500 lucky fans. Tickets were $100 each and 100% went to local charities. I took my cousin, Doug [he had been a Springsteen fan since the early 1970's, seeing him play in the tiny clubs on the Jersey Shore even before he recorded his first album; Doug later became a New Jersey State Trooper (so he was thrilled when Bruce released the songs "State Trooper" and "Highway Patrolman" on the Nebraska album) and helped in rescue operations at the World Trade Center in the weeks following 9/11; sadly, Doug died this past December almost 2 years to the day after this concert].

The tickets were general admission and we scored spots at center stage, approximately 5 feet in front of Bruce's microphone (by contrast, the previous several times I'd seen Springsteen were in huge stadiums so far from the stage that even the images on the big projection screens seemed tiny). It was a very high-energy show with many surprise special guests, the best being Sam Moore of Sam & Dave fame (their duet on "Soul Man" being a definite hightlight) and also including Jon Bon Jovi and Southside Johnny Lyon (plus Santa himself at the end). Although the venue didn't have heating and the Northeast had been hit by a major blizzard the day before with huge snowdrifts outside, it was sweltering inside and everyone -- fans and performers alike -- emerged completely soaked by sweat. A wonderful 3-hour show.

2) Since the mid-1980's, my favorite band has been Marillion of England. I purchased all of their albums and singles (most available only as imports). Unfortunately, they toured the U.S. rarely and when they did I always seemed to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. In September 2004, they made a brief tour through the States (for the first time since 1997) and I was lucky enough to see them in Boulder, Colorado.

A year later, three-fifths of the band came to this side of the Atlantic for a series of semi-acoustic shows; I flew to see them in Portland, Oregon, and Seattle, Washington. After all of these shows, I was able to hang out with the band and became good friends with the singer and guitar player. In Portland, I mentioned how I was turning 40 years old on the night of they were scheduled to play the last show of their Christmas tour. The singer (Steve Hogarth) said wouldn't it be a great birthday present for me to attend that show and the bass player and guitarist both agreed. Suddenly, I had an invitation to go to London for the show (and a promise they would put me on the guest list); as I boarded the plane in Seattle a couple of days later, I was wondering how I would manage the trip as I was already planning to go to Phuket for Christmas and New Year's.

Well, much to my surprise when I returned home I had an e-mail awaiting me from the band's marketing director with details of my birthday trip: they were paying my airfare and hotel for three days in London, plus I would have a pass for the soundcheck, ticket to the show, and pass for the after-tour party as well! What a birthday present, indeed!! It would make for a memorable concert even if nothing but bum notes were played on the night...

December 5, 2005, came all too quick. My arrival in London was a bit bittersweet, however, as I received a message that my cousin Doug had passed away in New Jersey. Before I did anything else, I arranged to fly to the funeral two days after my return from the U.K. (and a week before my departure to Portland for a U2 concert and then on to Bangkok).

The soundcheck experience was excellent -- here I was watching a band I'd loved for 20 years setting up their equipment and rehearsing for the show while hanging out with a half-dozen other fans (mainly leaders of their various official fan clubs). I made some great friends that night. The concert was superb. it was the last show of a period of near-constant touring since May 2004 in various forms (including the U.S. semi-acoustic shows, summer festival dates, and many headlining shows all over Europe,the U.K., and North America). As a result, the band pulled out all the stops and were in great form -- even doing a bit of jamming which they aren't really known to do. I had a front-row spot (no sitting down at this show). They really didn't want to lea