I’m interested to know because ever since I was a kid, I promised myself that when I became a teen, I would go to a concert of a favourite musician/band. Music’s always been a big part of who I am (even though I don’t write music or am a musical prodigy at any sort of instrument or sing) because it helps me cope with things sometimes. And being a teenager means fun and I think every teenager should be allowed to go to a concert of their favourite musician/band. Everyone knows that music’s a big part of teen culture.
Anyways, I’m just wondering if any of you have gone to a concert in a different city as a teen. It doesn’t matter whether or not you had parental consent and other friends/adult supervisors with you. I just want to know your concert experience(s) as a teen. Where was it? Who performed?
The concert I want to go to is in Chicago. My parents would never ever let me go, especially since school just started. Just in case you wanted to know.
I went to many many concerts in Chicago as a teen,(lived about 2 hours away in Michigan). Every time I went it was a blast. I often let my parents know where I was going but there were times when it was a “jump in the car and go” situations when I would just go without telling anyone.
I never went to a concert with parental chaperones. It’s much more fun that way.
Who and where in Chicago are they playing?
Well, since no concerts that I ever went to were in the town I lived in, technically every concert I went to as a teen was in a different city, although most of the cities were within a 50 mile radius from home.
Most were punk shows - Ramones, Bad Religion, All, etc. But I did go to a couple of bigger concerts in NYC - Duran Duran, Culture Club, and a couple more.
Most of the punk shows were in Trenton, some were at CBGB’s in NYC, most I did not have permission to attend. The bigger concerts I did have permission and a couple of my cousins that are just a few years older than I am would act as ‘chaperones.’
I took my sister to a bunch of concerts (Bad Religion, Mighty, Mighty Bosstones, Lollapaloozas, Woodstock '94) all over the place (MA, NY, CT, DE, PA and NJ) when she was a teen and my mother didn’t seem to have a problem with it.
In 1989, when I was a 17-year-old high school graduate, I and my girlfriend took a Greyhound bus from Kansas City to Milwaukee to see the Grateful Dead for three days at Alpine Valley. I’d known for weeks that several of my friends were going, but I just assumed my parents would say no, so I didn’t even ask. When I finally got up the nerve to ask my mom, she very casually and coolly said I could go. I was shocked.
Moral of the story: Go ahead and ask your parents, dare_devil007_; they might surprise you.
When I was 15, I lived in Godfrey, Illinois. On two occasions I took a bus to St. Louis to concerts: one by Peter, Paul, and Mary and one by Ray Charles. The concerts were superb, and I remember them vividly more than forty years later. Just as vivid is the memory of having felt very grown-up. That, of course, was back in the days of youth, when I was immensely eager to be older, and before I began to drag my feet to slow the passage of time.
I live in LIttle Rock, AR and briefly dated a girl in Dyersburg, TN.
Our Mother’s were friends.
Her parents dorve her to Memphis, I drove myself to Memphis. We went to the concert (I don’t remember who it was) and her parents partied on Beale Street or did something. I don’t remember how I got her back to her parents.
She’s probably fat now with lots of children. Damnnit.
I went to some, but most were with my father - Allman Brothers concerts in Boston, Virginia Beach, Raleigh, Charlotte and Atlanta - plus a couple after I went to college. Those were all on or around campus, and they included Dr. John, Bob Dylan, Medeski, Martin and Wood, and probably a handful of others.
The main problem is that school started and my parents are really worried because I’m a junior now and they think universities will make a big deal out of it, so they don’t want me to miss a thing. It all sounds so cool. I’m jealous, actually.
Al Transom: it’s a My Chemical Romance show at the UIC Pavilion on September 18, I believe.
I grew up in rural Delaware, so a “different” city would be pushing it. However, all the decent concert venues (with the exception of the Bottle & Cork in Dewey – summer only) are in cities that are at least 2 hours away. I saw Phish in Philly twice, and a production of Tommy at the Kennedy Center in D.C.; both were several hours’ drive away. I was a junior for both, and still got into Johns Hopkins (but Duke and Princeton rejected me - not for going to these shows). The concerts were awesome, I don’t regret them for a moment, and I met my wife and several amazing friends at JHU.
As a teen (of driving age) I lived in suburban Fort Lauderdale. I went to concerts in Miami. Although only about 30 miles away, Miami was strictly off the list of places I was allowed to drive to.
FWIW, I lived in the Quad Cities area when I grew up and the first show I was able to drive to all by my lonesome (with a friend, of course) was a Depeche Mode show in Chicago when I was still 16. I made it through, my friend made it through, and most importantly, my dad’s car made it through.
As far as I’m concerned, missing one or two days won’t hurt anybody. UIC is a fun venue and easy to get to.
I drove to Barton Colisseum in Little Rock to concerts a few times as a teen. (I grew up in Dardanelle, about 75 miles away) I was a pretty good kid mostly and my parents weren’t all that strict. Lessee, I saw Blue Oyster Cult, Ted Nugent, Styx, REO Speedwagon, Boston, Rush, and a few others.
Heck, when I was 13, one of my friend’s mom drove us down to Barton and just dropped us off to go see KISS on their Destroyer tour. Yeah, baby!
I also drove my mom’s Pacer to the Cotton Bowl (when she lived in Dallas) in the summer of '78, when I was fifteen. I saw the first Texas Jam. Great show. Here’s who was there:
[ul]
[li]Aerosmith[/li][li]Ted Nugent[/li][li]Mahogany Rush[/li][li]Heart[/li][li]Head East[/li][li]Atlanta Rhythm Section[/li][li]Journey[/li][li]Eddie Money[/li][li]Van Halen (when they first came out!)[/li][li]Walter Egan[/li][/ul]
When I was 17, I took the high school hottie to see Cheap Trick at the Pine Bluff Convention Center, a good 120 miles away!
17, I was a high school senior. We drove from Pittsburgh to the outskirts of Cleveland to see The Police and The Go-Gos. It was a four hour drive, but I wass pretty much on my own once I started driving at 16, so it really wasn’t a big deal with my mom. I went with three other guys.
My mom was super strict, so we struck a deal: I could go with my friend April and her father. April’s father wasn’t so strict. I don’t think we really let my mom know that.
The first concert we ever went to was at Alpine Valley. Septemeber 3, 1988. INXS and Cheap Trick double header with Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers opening. I was a freshman in high school. We had two pavilion tickets and two lawn tickets - April, her little brother, her dad and I. April and I were given the pavilion tickets under the strict condition that we come out halfway through and switch seats with Dad and brother. Of course we didn’t! (I set a lady’s hair on fire with a lighter during “The Flame” by Cheap Trick. Only a couple of highly hair-sprayed strands went up, but I was terrified. She didn’t even notice.)
A few months later, it was The Mighty Lemondrops and Ocean Blue at Cabaret Metro (now just “Metro”) in Chicago. This time, April’s dad didn’t even buy a ticket, but he drove us, dropped us off and picked us up again when it was over. (I think he went to a strip-club while we were at the concert.) Mom was none the wiser. (That was where I had my first cigarette: unliftered Camel.)
Saw John Wesley Harding, also at Metro, I think.
Then April moved away, and no more concerts without Mom for me.
Ironically enough, I lived about 3 minutes away from The World Music Theater (now the Tweeter Center) growing up, and have never been there.
And to answer to OP, I also went to tons of concerts in NY, which I had permission to go to from my mother, but it some cases not from the city of NY (in the case of clubs…like CBGB’s…that I recall were drinking age or older only).
Lotsa RushFans popping up here. I did it for a few bands in high school, Rush, most notably but a few others up in Baltimore (I was living in DC) as well.
DO ask. If you don’t play you can’t win. Educational story:
Live Aid, July 13, 1985. I’d know about it for a long time but never brought it up with my mom (whom I was living with). When it happened she popped out with something like “That sounds like a hell of a show. We should have gone.”
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