First Concert

[PANK!]

The Shitty Music thread got me to wondering how far back the live musical experience has been for people here. I've never been a *huge* concert-goer myself but I've been to a few, and I'll go first.

R.E.M., March, 1989 @ Rosemont Horizon.  

Robyn Hitchcock opened for them.  I only wish I was cool enough at the time to appreciate that fact then.

[Tonker]

I'm pretty sure REM were still cool in 1989.  Nowadays, if they played in my back garden, I'd close the curtains.  My first gig is something that I'm very proud of - indeed, each of my first three were, even with the benefit of hindsight, pretty fucking cool:

First: Jellyfish, supported by Katydids (who?) at the Town and Country, Kentish Town, London, 1991.

Second:  Blur, supported by Family Cat (who?) at the Kilburn National, Kilburn, London, 1991.

Third:  Carter USM, supported by The Inspiral Carpets at the Brixton Academy, Brixton, London, 1991.

Jellyfish is still one of my top three gigs ever - up there with Weller (in Munich) and Damien Rice (also in Munich).  Those boys had more fucking talent than a hundred Biebers or Rihannas, and it was a crying shame when they split up after just two albums: albums which I have absolutely worn out, and yet still sound as fresh and interesting as they did the day they were released.

Best band I've seen recently was "Buster Shuffle", at the Bitterzoet in Amsterdam.  Top ska band and destined for (relatively) great things, I think.  Check them out on Spotify.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

[Tonker]

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

[PANK!]

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Maybe not, but wait until Oleg checks in with his first concert.

[Tonker]

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Maybe not, but wait until Oleg checks in with his first concert.

Little Richard?  Stiff Little Fingers?  Phats and Small?

[Fork]

1st - Beach Boys/Chicago, Chicago Stadium - ca. 1974

2nd - Wings, Chicago Stadium, 1976

3rd - Led Zeppelin, Chicago Stadium, 1977

[PANK!]

1st - Beach Boys/Chicago, Chicago Stadium - ca. 1974

2nd - Wings, Chicago Stadium, 1976

3rd - Led Zeppelin, Chicago Stadium, 1977

*points and laughs*

Also, didn't Jimmy Page bow out of that Chicago show a few minutes in?

[Yeti]

Ted Nugent, Illinois State Fair Grandstand. Don't recall the year, probably 1999 or so. My parents took me with them.

First concert I went without parents: Trace Adkins, Sangamon County Fair, 2006. It was a blast and I will accept all harassment for that.

I've only in the last year or so taken a big liking to live music, so I wasn't picky about it

[Fork]

1st - Beach Boys/Chicago, Chicago Stadium - ca. 1974

2nd - Wings, Chicago Stadium, 1976

3rd - Led Zeppelin, Chicago Stadium, 1977

*points and laughs*

Also, didn't Jimmy Page bow out of that Chicago show a few minutes in?

It was a steaming hot mess. And my freshly-graduated-from-8th-grade self makes no apologies for seeing Wings. Hell, for that matter, I still don't think it makes the list of 10 worst concerts I've ever been to.

I've seen the Eagles live, man.

The fucking Eagles.

[PANK!]

1st - Beach Boys/Chicago, Chicago Stadium - ca. 1974

2nd - Wings, Chicago Stadium, 1976

3rd - Led Zeppelin, Chicago Stadium, 1977

*points and laughs*

Also, didn't Jimmy Page bow out of that Chicago show a few minutes in?

It was a steaming hot mess. And my freshly-graduated-from-8th-grade self makes no apologies for seeing Wings. Hell, for that matter, I still don't think it makes the list of 10 worst concerts I've ever been to.

I've seen the Eagles live, man.

The fucking Eagles.

Ha.  

Also, I'm surprised you haven't got lung cancer from all that secondhand smoke which was trapped in the Stadium.

[Richard Chuggar]

Dave Matthews Band
Soldier Field. 

Epic.

[Oleg]

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Maybe not, but wait until Oleg checks in with his first concert.

OK...fine.

My first 10 or so concerts were all of this ilk...

My first concert:

A 16-year old Oleg, with a couple of friends in jean jackets and mullets, made a drive from the beautiful rolling hills of Des Plaines to The Rosemont Horizon.  We were pretty damn excited for one of our favorite bands at the time.  This was the band's first tour of the United States in about 4 years, after a mega-hit, multi-platinum album released in 1984 or so.  This band was at the forefront of a new music movement, one that would elevate all sorts of peripheral industries, including uplifting the hair spray industry and gave rise to the male make-up industry, the likes of which haven't been known since Bowie and Mott the Hoople and New York Dolls in the 70s.

In October, 1988, I went to my first ever concert.  It was Def Leppard, in the round, with LA Guns opening.  The fucking drummer only had one arm!  What the fuck, young Oleg?  What the fuck?!?

[Oleg]

I'm pretty sure REM were still cool in 1989.  Nowadays, if they played in my back garden, I'd close the curtains.  My first gig is something that I'm very proud of - indeed, each of my first three were, even with the benefit of hindsight, pretty fucking cool:

First: Jellyfish, supported by Katydids (who?) at the Town and Country, Kentish Town, London, 1991.

Second:  Blur, supported by Family Cat (who?) at the Kilburn National, Kilburn, London, 1991.

Third:  Carter USM, supported by The Inspiral Carpets at the Brixton Academy, Brixton, London, 1991.

Jellyfish is still one of my top three gigs ever - up there with Weller (in Munich) and Damien Rice (also in Munich).  Those boys had more fucking talent than a hundred Biebers or Rihannas, and it was a crying shame when they split up after just two albums: albums which I have absolutely worn out, and yet still sound as fresh and interesting as they did the day they were released.

Best band I've seen recently was "Buster Shuffle", at the Bitterzoet in Amsterdam.  Top ska band and destined for (relatively) great things, I think.  Check them out on Spotify.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Nothing wrong with any of this.  Just goes to prove, Tonker is way fucking cooler than I will ever hope to be.

My saving grace of my wasted youth in the late 80s (musically speaking) was my discovery of Jellyfish.  I have no idea how i found them among the garbage to which I was listening.  I remember liking them a lot, along with a band called Gene & Jezebel.

I then discovered Music for the Masses and Grateful Dead and the skies cleared...the 90s were all full of Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails and REM and good shit.  Thank athiesmo.

[Fork]

1st - Beach Boys/Chicago, Chicago Stadium - ca. 1974

2nd - Wings, Chicago Stadium, 1976

3rd - Led Zeppelin, Chicago Stadium, 1977

*points and laughs*

Also, didn't Jimmy Page bow out of that Chicago show a few minutes in?

It was a steaming hot mess. And my freshly-graduated-from-8th-grade self makes no apologies for seeing Wings. Hell, for that matter, I still don't think it makes the list of 10 worst concerts I've ever been to.

I've seen the Eagles live, man.

The fucking Eagles.

Ha.  

Also, I'm surprised you haven't got lung cancer from all that secondhand smoke which was trapped in the Stadium.

Hawks games had more smoke than any concert.

[Tonker]

I'm pretty sure REM were still cool in 1989.  Nowadays, if they played in my back garden, I'd close the curtains.  My first gig is something that I'm very proud of - indeed, each of my first three were, even with the benefit of hindsight, pretty fucking cool:

First: Jellyfish, supported by Katydids (who?) at the Town and Country, Kentish Town, London, 1991.

Second:  Blur, supported by Family Cat (who?) at the Kilburn National, Kilburn, London, 1991.

Third:  Carter USM, supported by The Inspiral Carpets at the Brixton Academy, Brixton, London, 1991.

Jellyfish is still one of my top three gigs ever - up there with Weller (in Munich) and Damien Rice (also in Munich).  Those boys had more fucking talent than a hundred Biebers or Rihannas, and it was a crying shame when they split up after just two albums: albums which I have absolutely worn out, and yet still sound as fresh and interesting as they did the day they were released.

Best band I've seen recently was "Buster Shuffle", at the Bitterzoet in Amsterdam.  Top ska band and destined for (relatively) great things, I think.  Check them out on Spotify.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Nothing wrong with any of this.  Just goes to prove, Tonker is way fucking cooler than I will ever hope to be.

My saving grace of my wasted youth in the late 80s (musically speaking) was my discovery of Jellyfish.  I have no idea how i found them among the garbage to which I was listening.  I remember liking them a lot, along with a band called Gene & Jezebel.

I then discovered Music for the Masses and Grateful Dead and the skies cleared...the 90s were all full of Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails and REM and good shit.  Thank athiesmo.

Mate, you're the coolest dude I know.  Apart from Slak, clearly.  Slak is the coolest dude any of us knows.