# For older Dopers: earliest live performances that you attended **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2010, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124 "2010-02-08T07:25:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/41 "2010-02-08T20:31:00Z")
I’m not sure it was my first concert, but it’s the first one I attended unsupervised and the first I remember well: Woody Herman and the Thundering Herd, in 1979 (I was 12). After the concert I went backstage and Woody signed my program. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/42 "2010-02-08T20:31:48Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > My first Broadway Play was \*\*Jesus Christ Superstar \*\*(this makes 3 of us so far) in 1973. Four. I remember seeing Odetta when I was pretty young. And I saw the Rochester Philharmonic a few times. When I was maybe ten I saw Sonny and Cher at the state fair. My first rock concert was a band called Black Oak Arkansas. First concert without adults was the Allman Brothers. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/43 "2010-02-08T20:44:03Z")
I love this thread. It has proven to me that I am not old … yet. My first was Alice Cooper, circa 1981 or 1982. Post 1980, baby! Ya buncha geezers. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/44 "2010-02-08T20:46:07Z")
First rock concert - **Kiss** in '78. I was in third grade, nine years old. Second rock concert was **U2** in '81 (I was twelve or thirteen I think), after that was **the Clash** when I was a hoary old 14. Non-musical performances - I saw Eddie Murphy do his stand-up routine in the early 80s. It was either very late in his run on **SNL** , or he’d left the show already. I can’t remember. I do remember that whenever somebody from the audience would shout out “Do Buckwheat!” He’d shout back “NO! Buckwheat is DEAD!” ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/45 "2010-02-08T21:25:08Z")
First live performance - Woody Herman playing at the Ann Arbor Briarwood Mall, sometime around 1974. We were there shopping and there he was playing. First concert that I went to - Leon Redbone & Leo Kottke at University of Michigan’s Hill Auditorium, around 1976. (It looks like they still tour together.) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/46 "2010-02-08T21:26:44Z")
Beatles, August '65, San Diego. Lot of screaming but I could hear the music just fine regardless. My first concert. I was 14. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/47 "2010-02-08T22:53:53Z")
Probably my first concert was at the [Singer Bowl](http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/25769) in August 1968, when I was 16. The Who, who were not well known in the US at the time, were the opening act for The Doors with Jim Morrison. The Who, in their trademark act, destroyed their instruments. Morrison was so drunk he provoked a riot. A few weeks later I saw my second concert at the same place, a triple bill with The Chambers Brothers, Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/48 "2010-02-08T23:27:44Z")
First show of any kind: Monty Python Live at the City Center, New York May 1975 (penultimate performance). First rock concert: Emerson, Lake & Palmer (with orchestra) at Madison Square Garden (NYC) on 7/7/77. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/49 "2010-02-08T23:33:22Z")
First live performance was Mickey Rooney in “Three Goats and a Blanket”, 1976. First concert was Yes, 1977. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/50 "2010-02-08T23:40:20Z")
The earliest acts I can remember were in the 60s. I grew up in Alaska, so live acts of any caliber were uncommon. While in high school, I saw **Sam the Sham & The Pharohs** at the National Guard Armory. Also saw **The New Christie Minstrels** and **Burl Ives**. What really awed me, though, was the day a hasty assembly was called in the gym and a lone man with an acoustic guitar sat on a stool at center court and played a concert while we sat enthralled: \*\*Carlos Montoya’s \*\*flight had been delayed and he decided to pass the time by entertaining us. It was absolutely mesmerizing. I saw Glenn Yarbrough at the U of Alaska in about 1966. My biggest regrets have been that I was in military training in California in the late 60s, when all the huge groups were playing just up the road in Ventura and Santa Barbara. I was so broke I couldn’t even pay attention, let alone buy a concert ticket, and so missed seeing Cream, The Doors, etc. The other regret has been not being turned onto jazz soon enough in my life (other than Brubeck and the Getz bossa nova period) and missed seeing Diz, Miles and the other greats who are now gone. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/51 "2010-02-08T23:49:56Z")
**Iron Butterfly** (with support acts It’s A Beautiful Day and Too People) at the San Diego Sports Arena, December 1969. The _Iron Butterfly Live_ album was recorded at this show. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/52 "2010-02-08T23:51:15Z")
Many Cleveland Orchestra concerts back in the 50s, George Szell conducting. Still the best Beethoven symphonies. Many rock concerts in the 60s . . . just about everyone but the Beatles. First Broadway musical: Streisand in “Funny Girl.” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/53 "2010-02-09T00:28:53Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Beatles, August '65, San Diego. Win. ---
**Author:** ![norinew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb9ed0/32.png) [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/54 "2010-02-09T00:44:23Z")
I was 14 (somewhere around 1975) when I saw John Denver live; Starland Vocal Band opened for him. I became (and still am) a life-long fan of SVB. IMHO, _Afternoon Delight_ was their _worst_ song. To my ear, they had (in their good stuff) a Mamas and Papas sound. . . ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/55 "2010-02-09T02:28:33Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > Four. > > I remember seeing Odetta when I was pretty young. And I saw the Rochester Philharmonic a few times. When I was maybe ten I saw Sonny and Cher at the state fair. > > My first rock concert was a band called Black Oak Arkansas. First concert without adults was the Allman Brothers. FIFTH, Jesus Christ Super Star in Wheeling WV at the Capitol Music Hall…also saw Doc Severenson there…1974 or so. First “rock” show Seals and Croft w/ Charlie Daniels at the Illinois State Fair. circa 1975 First GOOD rock show…The Grateful Dead at the Fox in St Louis, December 1979. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/56 "2010-02-09T02:32:29Z")
I saw Buffy St, Marie, Phil Ochs, Ian and Sylvia, The Clancy Brothers, Peter Paul and Mary, Dave Van Ronk and many other folkies when I wore a younger mans clothes. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/57 "2010-02-09T02:39:12Z")
I went to some orchestra concerts and Kabuki theater as a child by my parents or school, but the first concert I attended by my own choice was **Parliament/Funkadelic** in the late 70’s in Washington, D.C. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/58 "2010-02-09T03:07:09Z")
First concert ever was Seatrain, in Wildwood, NJ around 1973. I rode with several friends from our homes in Johnstown, PA, in an old International bread truck that had been converted to a sort of camper, and which had to be topped off with motor oil every 100 miles or so. Made a similar trip later on that year to see Mountain. Didn’t get too many name acts in J-town in the 70’s but did see Heart (great, and I was personally thanked by Ann Wilson for buying my ticket) and ZZ Top (bloody awful). Oh yeah, and Fleetwood Mac just after they became Buckingham-Nicks Mac, and I have to say they tore the roof off the suckah. Others I recall seeing, in Pittsburgh and elsewhere, include Todd Rundgren, the Eagles, Earth, Wind and Fire (another good’un), Muddy Waters (in Youngstown, OH), Big Joe Turner, and the Who (the night before the infamous Cincinnatti concert during which several people got crushed in the crowd). Also Tom Waits and a reading by Charles Bukowski, both at the University of Pitttsburgh student union. Ones I had a chance to see but missed for one reason or another were the famous mini-Woodstock event at Watkins Glen, NY; the Police playing in a little place on the local University campus about three weeks before ‘Roxanne’ broke big; and Queen (I spent the duration of the concert at the local police station due to the person several of us were riding with having forgotten to remove a week-old roach from the ashtray of his van). ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/59 "2010-02-09T03:12:40Z")
I have the vaguest memory of my Mom taking me to see the Everly Brothers at the Lakeside Pavilion in Roanoke, Va. in the late 50’s. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2010, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124/60 "2010-02-09T03:24:36Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > What were your earliest concert or theater-going experiences? I looking for anything before 1980 and can be rock, jazz, classical, opera, live theater, or comedy (the earlier, the better). Performances by famous people are preferred but not necessary if the experience was particularly memorable. Hmm. Probably the first memorable concert I went to was in about 1976, at the University of GA. It was the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (my boyfriend at the time was a fan), and IIRC, Steve Martin was the opening act. That was back when he was still playing banjo and sticking arrows through his head. That’s about all I remember about it though. I’ve never been much of a concert-goer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-older-dopers-earliest-live-performances-that-you-attended/528124.md?page=4)