I’ve never been to a big concert. It’s pretty sad, but karma seems to go against me here. For example, last year I missed the Allmans because my grandfather had just slipped into a coma (he’s better now, and I’m glad I have my priorities in order) and DMB because I was on Martha’s Vineyard. Luckily, I secured an 18th birthday present I won’t soon forget–The Who. My parents are paying for me and my 3 best friends to go to MSG in New York (we’re driving down to New Haven and taking the train from there) to go see them August 3. I’m pumped. What was your first concert and how did it go?
I saw Black Sabbath with Godsmack and Drain-STH opening at the Blossom Music Center in the summer of ‘99. The Sabb 4 are a little aged now, and Oz was sick, but I’m still glad I got a chance to see them. Geezer was why I originally wanted to take up the bass guitar.
Because I can, I’ll ramble about some others. I saw the Smashing Pumpkins at Kent State on Easter Sunday in 2000. All right. I saw Colonel Claypool’s Fearless Flying Frog Brigade and Galactic with Drums & Tuba opening in Cleveland in ‘01- that was damned sweet. My first introduction to Les. Galactic can groove like fiends. I love Drums & Tuba now.
I saw Oysterhead with good ol’ Drums & Tuba opening at here at Purdue last November.
I hope to see Dick Dale in a couple of weeks. And guess what? I get to see the freakin’ Who with Robert Plant’s band opening in August! Not the same show as you, though. I’m excited and it’s months away. They rock, and as a bassist, I wanna see John Entwhistle. Couldn’t afford $80 pavillion seats, so I settled for $30 lawn seats. Maybe I should have sprung extra since it’s the Who, but at least I’ll save some hearing.
I’ve been to dozens.
My first was The Beach Boys in Denver, June 1984. Cost was $8. (!)
A bunch of friend and some of our parents went. My friend Troy’s mom was in a section where she said she could’ve gotten high just by breathing a little deeper. A friend Bob who was on the field said there was quite a bit of casual groping going on, just short of all-out sex.
Funny thing: two weeks later, I saw them for free in Washington DC after James Watt got his head out of his butt and allowed The BB’s to play on the SW corner of the Washington Monument. Just me an 500,000 of my closest friends. 
The first real rock concert (with a mosh pit) I went to was a Greenday concert last summer. It was awesome, but incredibly hot there. It was a comparatively small venue, and it was nasty even up in the higher seats. It must have been horrible in the pit… humid, too. The concert was good, though, as I said, aside from the constant sweat dripping down my face.
Unfortunately, where I live there’s not a whole lot of concert action going on, especially during the non-summer parts of the year. The Pop Disaster tour (Greenday and Blink-182) didn’t come anywhere near Oregon – I was majorly bummed. Especially since my 'net friend from LA did attend and gloated about it for days afterward.
Tanaqui
(who only occasionally wishes she lived in a more populated area; like LA, for example! The Warped tour never comes here, either…)
Queen in '77 or so. Aerosmith soon after. I think both were in the Fabulous Forum (SoCal).
My first BIG concert was Metallica back in Seattle in 1986. The good ole days 
Grateful Dead-
age 6 or 7.
about 60 or so the years following (87-95)
The one and only concert I’ve been to is Beatlemania.
I saw the Smashing Punpkins in Grand Rapids, MI in the summer of 1996, and then the next year I went to Lollapalooza in Val-Du Lakes, MI - Snoop Dogg, Tool, Devo, the Marley Brothers (Damian and Julian), and a bunch of others. It was great - Tool rocked. Sadly, I didn’t get to see them the last time they came to my area, as I was broke when tickets went on sale and they were sold out by the time I got any money. In the summer of '98 I saw Soulfly at the State Theater here in Kalamazoo, with opening acts Incubus and Snot. (Incubus used to rock…) Other than that, just small shows from local bands. Always had a great time, though.
-Dirty
My first concert was… The Steve Miller Band’s summer tour… must have been '95 or '96. Many shows since then, not too many big rock concerts. Steve Miller, Neil Young, Weezer. That might be it.
New Kids on the Block at the Joe Louis Arena, 1991. Whhhooo, what a night that was.
My first BIG concert would have been ** The Black Crowes** in ,I’m guessing here, 1992. Whatever year Lalapalooza II was. I was going to the crowes with my sister on kind of a double date. Me and her went to get the tickets. I was going to get me 2 Lalapalooza tickets (soundgarden, ministry, chilli peppers, several other bands I really liked that I cant recall right now) at the same time. My sister then informs me that she doesnt have any money and that I have to buy her(and boyfriends) crowe tickets too. O’ well I thought, I will just go back tomorrow to get my Lalapalooza tickets. They were sold out by the time I got back. Son of a… Any way, the Crowes kicked ass and even though I’ve been to dozens of “big” concerts since, I still say that is one of the best show’s I’ve seen.
dead0man
The first big concert I attended was Janet Jackson last summer in Minneapolis. A splendid time was had by all.
Imagine 20 billion young women chanting in unison:
*What’s up girl?
He stood me up again.
Again?
Mmm-hmm.
Well what’s up with this guy? Do you really like him that much?
Yes honey, I LOVE him. He is FINE. He does a lot of nice things for me.
I know he USED to do nice stuff for you, but what has he done for you LATE-LY?"*
Hee, hee, hee…
Def Leppard on the Hysteria Tour in 1987 or '88. Went with a buddy from school. Opening act was Tesla, who I’d only heard of but never heard their music. All I remember about them was the lead singer saying, “Hello, Huntsville, we are Tesla!” and my shirt vibrating for 45 minutes because they were so loud. I only remember a few songs that Def Leppard played because the pothead sitting beside me fired up a joint the instant the lights went out. By the time Leppard came on the whole place smelt of pot. Apparently that guy beside me had something else laced in his weed. About half through their set, I started having nervous sweats and thought I was tasting blood in my mouth. When I told the kid I was with about it he told me to stop freaking out. Years later, a druggie friend told me it was probably PCP.
The next day, I couldn’t remember 5 songs Def Leppard played even though I was a big fan at the time (I’m better now) and knew most of their songs by heart. 
If you don’t count Peter, Paul, and Mary or Gordon Lightfoot from before I was 5, my first big concert was one of those all day fests in Omaha/Council Bluffs in 1997. Headliners were Foo Fighters and Creed. I think Gravity Kills made an appearance, also.
Bob Weir at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC. Happy 18th Birthday to me! 6/9/82
I can’t remember the year, certainly it was the late 70’s or very early 80’s and I saw the Jam at the JFK in Philadelphia.
Here were the bands:
The Hooters (before they were national)
Joan Jett and the Blackhearts
Foreigner
The Kinks
It was incredible. I went with my best friend, Amber, and my parents waited out in the car. As I recall, the tickets were $7.50.
We saw all sorts of interesting things, people drinking, smoking, doing drugs, and for some reason, this didn’t even phase us that much.
Chris de Burgh at the RDS
If I could only go back in time and erase that (and a few other things)
[sub]Corey Hart’s “Box in the Box” tour[/sub]… Aw, I know it’s weenie now, but I was in middle school and it was a big deal that our parents even let us go! (Corey Hart was a clean-cut, all-Canadian guy, so the parents correctly assumed it wouldn’t get out of hand.)
Stone Temple Pilots, Fourth of July, New Orleans, 1994. It was just after Purple had come out, and even though my friends and I started off in the nose bleeds, we managed to find our way to the front by the time the band got on. It was a great show, and my neck hurt for two days afterwards. I have a lot of good memories from Fourth of Julys.