Styx, Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky. 1978. The Babys were the opening act.
Sugar Loaf in 1975. I was in the 6th grade and saw them in Tulsa at the International Petroleum Exposition building. Their big hit at the time was “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
I saw Herman’s Hermits in Chicago in the 60s too, and The Who opened for them. Did they open for them at your concert, too?
Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels, Kingsport, TN - mid 60s
Ah, maybe is was more than ten bucks. I do remember when concert tickets went from typically $6.50 to $9.50; the increase was for a Rod Stewart concert and we were outraged! McCartney, now that I think about it, was probably after the hike and likely 11-$12.
And yeah, three hours + sounds right.
mmm
My first proper concert was seeing Jars of Clay in Madison at the Barrymore.
Yuck. Nothing against them, but not my cup of tea. My girlfriend at the time was a fundie so this was my Valentine’s Day gift to her.
A couple years later I saw BT at the same venue. Fantastic. The crowd was smaller than it had been for JoC, but everyone ditched their seat about 30 seconds in and was just dancing like mad right up to the stage. Mr. Transeau had insane energy, he had a full band backing and just bounced around from the keyboards to a mixer to the mic. Great show. This was the first proper concert I enjoyed.
I suppose I was about eight or so, circa 1972. It was the local orchestra playing Beethoven.
Alanis Morissette at the Rave in Milwaukee, 1995.
1969, double bill Joni MItchell and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young at the Greek.
Foghat, Amphitheater, Chicago, 1978. Opening act was… Mountain Ash? Wishbone Ash? Not sure. Either way, as a 14 or 15 year-old, it was a major introduction to the world of weed and lighters and huge crowd cheers and beachballs and frisbees and concert t-shirts and loud rock and roll and really good slide playing and lights and…
I saw Def Leppard in 1987, on the Hysteria tour. I’m not sure who opened…maybe Tesla?
Me, my brother, and about four of our stoner friends crammed into a tiny car for the trip to Jacksonville. Someone pulled down the wooden letter V that identified our seating section from the wall of the arena and we all signed it and wrote stuff on it as if it was a yearbook. We had that bit of “memorabilia” kicking around for years.
Lollapalooza '94 at the Lakewood Amphitheater in Atlanta. Went with my older sister (who was too old to know most of the acts). Went to see Smashing Pumpkins. Also got a surprise show by The Black Crowes on the side stage, which was more up my sister’s alley.
Had a raging ear infection and unfortunately everything was a muffled mess for me. Billy Corgan did a rather confrontational show (as is his wont), which did not endear himself to the folks around me who were more into the Beastie Boys who were on before him.
I was 14 years old when I attended my first rock concert. I even remember the exact date, May 4, 1984. The venue was the Boise State University Pavilion (now called the Taco Bell Arena). It was Van Halen and they were touring for their 1984 album. It was a sellout show and we were way up in the nosebleed section, but I still had a great time.
The band Yes, in Amarillo, Texas. Sometime in the 1970s.
You didn’t miss much. 
I saw that same tour, though not the same show; Iron Maiden and the Scorps rocked. I still count the version they did of “Coast to Coast” that night as one of my favorite concert moments. Of course, I was a concert veteran by that time, at the ripe old age of 16. 
The first “real” concert I saw was Billy Joel in 1978, when I was 12. I’m pretty sure it was the tour for “52 Street”- great show, from what I remember. He actually had hair then.
Yes. Philadelphia Spectrum 1974 or 1975. Third row from the top about as far from the stage as you could get. I bought a bucket of beer (yes, that’s how they sold it) and climbed endless steps in the dark to return to my friends only to spill most (or all) of it on some girl sitting one row in front of us. Good thing we had plenty of weed.
Pink Floyd (sans Roger Waters), Chicago, Rosemont Horizon (now the Allstate Arena), 1987.
A long forgotten band called Modern English whose hit song was later made into a hamburger comercial. My mother would only let us go to one concert a year because we might go deaf. Later I went to a Ramones concert and started going deaf but the audiologist assured me this was due to heredity.
Can’t remember which came first, but it was 1992, the summer before my senior year of high school. I was 16.
(1) The Guns N’ Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour at RFK Stadium in Washington DC
and
(2) Lollapalooza in Fairfax VA, with Red Hot Chili Peppers, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, Tool
Also of note that summer, I saw U2’s Zoo TV Tour, also at RFK stadium, I believe
Was supposed to be:
Elton John at Schaefer (later Foxboro) Stadium on July 4, 1976. Had bought the tickets months and months in advance. But my girlfriend dumped me in the spring (I was a college freshman, she was two years younger). So I didn’t go. Instead, went with a college crew to see the Pops on the Esplanade, but it was too crowded for the girls in the party, so we walked across the Longfellow bridge and ended up in the basement of some coffeehouse/bar in Cambridge watching some anti-cheerleading documentary.
Ended up being:
Rick Derringer opening for Aerosmith at the Gahden on the “Rocks” tour in November 1976. Between the band being heavily messed up and the acoustics, you couldn’t even tell what song they were playing. Sent the (same aforementioned) girls into the bathroom at intermission to score some acid, which kicked in just as Aersomith finished their 60 minute set. Interesting ride home on the Green Line.