Do the Freddie!
Suburban Plankton and I got the free tickets because I was working in radio at the time. I think it was 1994. He was probably coming down off the high point of his career, but was still pretty popular. Best part was, he had learned to make fun of himself. I don’t remember much of his singing, but the goofing off he did between songs. The opening act was a stand-up commedian. That was different.
Not counting groups that I saw at the Saskatoon Ex (Stampeders, Moxy Fruvous), my first real concerts was the Rolling Stones, Voodoo Lounge tour in Edmonton. It was outdoors in October and very, very chilly.
Ohhh my God. Talk about epic.
When I was a lil’ nugget my Mom and Pop went to see Conway Twitty and brought me along. My first real concert was Judas Priest in 1986, with Dokken opening up, followed by Blue Öyster Cult and Cheap Trick that same summer.
I saw the Bee Gees at the Omni in Atlanta with my parents and little sister when I was thirteen, in 1979. My dad told us on the way in “Don’t be alarmed, girls, but you may see someone smoking grass in the bathroom.” :rolleyes: 
I sat next to my dad, and my mom and sister were in the row in front of us. I was a huge Bee Gees fan, and was singing along to all the songs, even the old ones. The chick next to me asked me “Is that your husband?” I was like “BWAHAHAHA! No, it’s my dad!”
Her: “Wow, your dad? He looks really young!” 
Me: “No, he’s 35.” :dubious:
Her: “What!? 35? How old are you?”
Me: “13.” :rolleyes:
Her: :eek:
Yes, classical music counts.
My first concert was the Cleveland Orchestra, sometime in the 1950s. A little girl played the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto flawlessly . . . and right after the concert she quit; never played again.
Come to think of it, in 5th or 6th grade we went to some classical music concert for something like a field trip.
It was the last U.S. tour they did. Their last ever tour was Europe in 1980.
My first was Willie Nelson, with the parents around 1978, with Leon Russell opening at a theater-in-the-round in the north suburbs of Chicago. I was 8 or 9. I can’t remember the name of the place. Wasn’t far from Niles, where we lived.
First concert that I wanted to go to was KISS at the International Amphitheater in 1979 with Judas Priest opening. I was 10 and still with the parents. I had never heard of Judas Priest at the time, and all I remember about them was it was the first time I’d seen a drummer using a double-kick.*
First concert without parental supervision was Ozzy Osbourne at the San Diego Sports Arena in 1984, Bark At The Moon tour with Ratt opening, who kicked ass. Really.
*Any Priestophiles here who know who was their drummer on this tour? It was September of 1979, and I know they changed drummers around that time, but I can’t figure out if Les Binks or Dave Holland played that night.
Neal was cool once upon a time, and had a hell of a voice. By the time he entered the mid-70’s, he was heading into his lounge-singer phase, his cool was gone, and his voice would rapidly follow. But for like 20 minutes back in the 1960’s, he was cool. Deep Purple covered him, he had to have been cool 
I saw that tour, and this is when I got his autograph as mentioned in this thread(though I called the tour by the wrong name). The Cheetah Wheelies were surprisingly good, and Meat Loaf delivered on everything a fan would’ve wanted.
Alice Cooper, the Billion Dollar Babies tour. It was in Lawrence, Kansas, but I don’t remember the venue. I don’t remember much of anything, because it was also the first time I took LSD. I just have these flashes of a giant toothbrush chasing around a giant tooth, then the toothbrush fucking the tooth. Blew my innocent little mind. I bought the album the next day and played it To. Death.
It would have been David Cassidy years earlier, but he canceled for some reason, I never found out why. I’m sure I had more fun at Alice Cooper.
1972 , I was 15 and went to a gigantic all-day lineup with then freshman bands: Electric Light Orchestra, War, Blue Oyster Cult, Aerosmith, and ZZ Top. James Cotton and Hans Olson opened up.
Not being a big Zep fan, for some reason I was under the vague impression that John Bonham died in 1979, shortly after In Through the Out Door was released. So I looked it up, and found that yesterday was the 30th anniversary of his death.
My parents used to take me to various country and bluegrass concerts when I was a little kid, and of these, the one that sticks out the most was seeing Dolly Parton, fresh after parting ways with Porter Wagoner, play the little Studio movie theatre in my hometown of Middletown, Ohio. This occurred in the early 1970s.
My first rock concert (that I saw with my parents; hey, I wasn’t old enough to drive yet!) was the J. Geils Band at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum on their tour in support of Freeze Frame, with the Motels opening up for them. This was, I believe, in 1983.
My first concert that I saw sans parents was in 1986 at the Cincinnati Gardens, and it was Van Halen (Van Hagar) on their 5150 tour, with Bachman-Turner Overdrive as the support act.
Roger Water’s Radio KAOS tour at the Capital Center in Washington DC in 1987, followed quickly by Pink Floyd’s Momentary Laps Of Reason tour at the same venue.
Lets just say there was a reason other than the name of the band as to why Floyd sold out three shows in a row there and Roger didn’t even sell out one.
I saw this same tour in Cincinnati, and I had the opposite reaction: Bon Jovi so totally sucked, and Cinderella put on a helluva show (by hair band standards).
Has it ever been? 
Late July 1982. Queen with Billy Squier as an opener. I was fifteen. It was the very end of their last tour of the States. Five shows later (including the Saturday Night Live appearance) and they were gone for good.
Unless you count Beatlemania in 1980 or so.
When I was 12 or 13 I went with my Mom to see Anne Murray in Niagara Falls. That was my first “pop” concert. She had taken us to free classical concerts in Delaware Park before that.
My first “rock” concert was a “Super Fest” at Rich Stadium in 1977: J Geils, Donovan, Yes, and Bob Seger. I had bought a ticket to see Led Zepellin earlier that summer, but the show was cancelled due to the death of Robert Plant’s son.
Wow, I used to really like Love/Hate, and they were in no way a Metallica clone, more a kind of LA cock rock band. Think GnR crossed with Whitesnake. They should have gone down well with the AC/DC crowd.
My first gig was in 1986, Iron Maiden on the “Somewhere in Time” Tour, at the De Montfort Hall in Leicester (UK).
It was so loud you could feel it and I got to stand almost at the very front. The drum kit rose into the air on a massive Eddie Head and there was an eight foot tall Cyborg version stalking the stage. Can’t remember who the support band were, but IM were on fien form. My only complaint was that it was so loud you almost couldn’t make out the songs to start with.
My first major concert was a notorious one: August 2, 1968, at the Singer Bowl in New York.
The Who, who were still something of a novelty in the US, were the opening act. As had become traditional for them, they closed their set by demolishing their instruments and equipment on stage.
Jim Morrison and the Doors were the headliners. Morrison caused a near riot when he walked into the crowd and then later left the stage abruptly.
A few weeks later I saw an even more spectacular concert in the same place, with the Chambers Brothers, Janice Joplin fronting Big Brother and the Holding Company, and Jimi Hendrix.
I got a very “Metalica” feel off them but it’s probably best not to trust my perceptions too much regarding this. It’s the only exposure I ever had to them. They were playing for an acutely hostile crowd that started rhythmically chanting “Fuck You!” midway through the third song and didn’t stop until they left the stage. Additionally, my overwhelmed senses were already being chemically modified.