# Your first concert experience? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010 "2010-09-25T15:32:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Neeps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a183cd/32.png) [@Neeps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neeps)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/21 "2010-09-25T18:51:16Z")
Iron Maiden. Seventh Tour of a Seventh Tour, 1988. I was 12, and me and my brother somehow managed to get second row centre seats at the Edinburgh Playhouse. All I remember was the explosion when Maiden came on stage. Oh, and Bruce smiling at me. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/22 "2010-09-25T19:24:37Z")
I don’t recall. When I was a teen, my brother, mother and I made extra money working for this carny we knew named Timmy who had the concessions at Arrowhead Stadium and at Kemper Arena in Kansas City. We’d sell concert T-shirts and programs, and during summer months, we’d sell Sno-Cones. So through the late 1970s, we worked every big show, so I saw everyone from The Who and the Rolling Stones to a huge number of groups that played at the “Summerjam” concerts. But those I’d see wandering through the audience in a polyester vendor’s smock, sticky with sweat and sno-cone syrup. We made 10% on all sales, which was some serious money and helped pay the bills after my dad died. And we’d get there early to get our stock and count it all, so I got to see them setting up the stage and testing the sound and lighting. That probably got me into working as a sound engineer. For instance, ELO’s “Out Of The Blue” tour was the first time a tour had ever “flown” the sound system, or hearing Clair Brothers’ amazing system for the Yes In The Round tour. Most of my cherished early concert memories are actually from before the concert - like hearing the taped synth part of “Baba O’Reilly” being played at concert volume in a completely empty Kemper Arena. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/23 "2010-09-25T19:28:56Z")
Led Zeppelin. Day on the Gree, first show, July 1977. Judas Priest opened and the Rick Derringer.Awesome! IIRC,Plant’s son tragically died maybe a week later and the rest of the tour cancelled. I think it was their last major tour and maybe the last tour they did. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/24 "2010-09-25T19:34:44Z")
My first concert was Humble Pie at The Summit in Houston in 1973. I was 15, and I remember it being really loud! And the joints being passed around so freely. Ah, those were the days… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/25 "2010-09-25T19:55:48Z")
This pretty embarrassing… Not counting symphonies or outdoor concerts my parents took me to as a tyke, the first “real” concert was the Osmond family, circa 1971/72. It was Anaheim stadium and Donny Osmond flew into the open air stadium on a hang glider. He was wearing this blue and white body suit with bangles and sequins and there were red, white and blue smoke trailers attached to the hang glider. I was six or seven years old and apparently I peed my pants (I don’t remember that part, but was told it happened). ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/26 "2010-09-25T20:29:49Z")
> [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](#): > > It was waaaaay back in 1975. **Kiss** at Cobo Arena in Detroit. > > This was one of the shows they recorded for the [Kiss Alive!](http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:g9ftxql5ld6e) album. > > The photo on the back - the two guys holding the Kiss sign - was taken at Cobo. > > Very memorable. > mmm My first concert was **KISS** as well, at the Arena in St Louis in '76 on the “Destroyer” tour. The most memorable thing about that show was that it was during the winter, and a friend of my brother had sneaked some beers out of the house a couple days before the concert and hid them in a pile of snow so that we could easily retrieve them and drink them on the way to the show. When we got the beers out of the snow and opened them, they were all frozen slush and barely drinkable. I can remember a stupid detail like that, but I can’t remember who opened the show. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/27 "2010-09-25T20:34:18Z")
1978 - my Mom won tickets to a BeeGees concert in Greensboro, NC. She let my sister and me go (we were 14 and 12 at the time), so we thought it was pretty cool that we got to go to a concert without any parents around. It was their Saturday Night Fever tour, so even though it was a disco blowout, we enjoyed it. ---
**Author:** ![Enocavy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e480ec/32.png) [@Enocavy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enocavy)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/28 "2010-09-25T20:37:34Z")
August 18, 1966. The Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![phungi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phungi/32/395_2.png) [@phungi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phungi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/29 "2010-09-25T20:42:58Z")
Genesis, _And Then There Were Three_ tour, March 1978, Philadelphia Spectrum… It was bittersweet to attend the Pearl Jam concert closing the Spectrum last Halloween and think of all the shows I had seen in the 32 years between… ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/30 "2010-09-25T21:20:02Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > Mine was Neal Diamond with my mom. I’m so ashamed. I can top this. Mine was The Carpenters (opening act was Paul Revere & The Raiders) in 1970 at Carnegie Hall. I was 5. Went with Mom and a sister, but I was the one who liked them. Once again, I was 5. Too young to know better. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/31 "2010-09-25T21:26:43Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > > [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > > > Mine was Neal Diamond with my mom. I’m so ashamed. > > I can top this. Mine was The Carpenters (opening act was Paul Revere & The Raiders) in 1970 at Carnegie Hall. I was 5. Went with Mom and a sister, but I was the one who liked them. > > Once again, I was 5. Too young to know better. :mad: Hey, the Carpenters were good. Nobody had a voice like Karen, and their recording quality set the gold standard during the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/32 "2010-09-25T22:31:41Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > This pretty embarrassing… Not counting symphonies or outdoor concerts my parents took me to as a tyke, the first “real” concert was the Osmond family, circa 1971/72. > > It was Anaheim stadium and Donny Osmond flew into the open air stadium on a hang glider. He was wearing this blue and white body suit with bangles and sequins and there were red, white and blue smoke trailers attached to the hang glider. I was six or seven years old and apparently I peed my pants (I don’t remember that part, but was told it happened). Holy Donnie Osmond on a hang glider! Just reading that is enough to make me pee my pants. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/33 "2010-09-25T22:47:21Z")
Sha Na Na in 1972. They were pretty good and I’m not much of a fan of 1950s oldies. At the end the drummer threw his sticks in the audience and my roommate, standing in a different section, got them. He was more of a fan memorized their arm movements to “Chantilly Lace” by The Big Bopper., ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/34 "2010-09-25T22:48:13Z")
> [@Tethered\_Kite](#): > > Holy Donnie Osmond on a hang glider! Just reading that is enough to make me pee my pants. 😃 The loudest single burst of noise I have ever heard was NOT at a Ted Nugent concert at the height of his fame and assholery, but when Shaun Cassidy came on stage at Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium (see above for why I was there). ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/35 "2010-09-25T22:57:29Z")
It was 1985, and it was either Huey Lewis and the News, or Phil Collins. I saw both within a couple weeks of each other, and I can’t remember which one was first. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/36 "2010-09-25T23:03:07Z")
My first concert was Lollapalooza 1992 in Tinley Park, IL. Lush, Pearl Jam, Jesus and Mary Chain, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Ministry, and Red Hot Chilipeppers. I was a little more than 3 weeks away from turning 15 years old and thought it was about the coolest thing in the world. Unfortunately, we were driven there by a friend’s parents (a roughly 2+ hour drive) so we had to leave only about 20 minutes into RHCP’s set. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/37 "2010-09-25T23:05:07Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > It was 1985, and it was either Huey Lewis and the News, or Phil Collins. Huey has more hair. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/38 "2010-09-25T23:06:27Z")
My first pop concert was the Go-Gos at the Hollywood Bowl, around 1982 or 1983. But I was at many classical concerts before that. I don’t know when the first one was, probably around 1973. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/39 "2010-09-25T23:19:22Z")
> [@Surly\_Chick](#): > > Mine was Neal Diamond with my mom. I’m so ashamed. What’s wrong with **Neal Diamond**? Anyway, not my first concert, but going to a concert by someone considered uncool, my senior year in high school, 1992, a class I was in was handing out **Michael Bolton** tickets. At first I didn’t go for any because it was **Michael Bolto** n, but after giving it some though I figured, screw it, it’s a free ticket. If I’m remembering correctly, my first concert was also by a group not considered cool. Sometime in the late 80’s I went with my mom and her sister to a **Herman’s Hermits** concert. Let me tell you something though, they rocked. And mean with a modern sound. It surprised me that a 60’s pop group could sound so cool. ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010/40 "2010-09-25T23:34:05Z")
I got a free ticket to see Michael Bolton. He put on a hell of a show. I was very impressed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-concert-experience/555010.md?page=3)