What are the first 3 memorable rock concerts you attended?

SomeBadDrummer

SomeBadDrummer

Platinum Member
Mine are all ages ago when I used to actually go to concerts, when the tickets were about $10 (no kidding) at the Omni or other since-redeveloped venues in Atlanta:

1. AC/DC - For Those About To Rock tour
2. Ozzy- Diary of a Madman tour
3. Atlanta Rythym Section 1984

I had just turned 16 at the AC/DC concert and it was my first “real” concert. Between 3 of us kids we somehow snuck in 5 or 6 bottles of beer but didn’t have a bottle opener! I just remember being blown away by the sheer volume and stage show/presence that was so prevalent in the early 80’s. I managed to get behind the stage for a few minutes before being escorted back to the plebeians but was hooked ever since as they are still my all time favorite.

Ozzy was a smoke fest the moment the lights went down, he could barely stand up and had trouble singing anything...but the band (or haze) made up for it. To this day I think he is very talented and listen often. I think he bit a fake bat in half on stage, but it could have been real.

ARS is old school southern rock at its finest (second or third to Skynyrd and maybe Molly Hatchet), the venue was intimate with table seating and bar service about 20’ from the stage. My GF at the time couldn’t believe she knew every song but it was a champagne jam.

When I was a kid my parents took my sister and me to see Glen Campbell at the long-gone Atlanta civic center and I also remember seeing the Osmands lol. I also remember falling asleep many times with my parents’ band rehearsing the latest 70’s rock hits late into the night...long train running....

what have you got?
 
first Rush concert: Signals Tour. i saw them at least once on every tour since then, as their concerts were religious pilgrimages for me

The Jackson 5 - my first concert ever...I was possibly 4 or 5...my b-day present. These guys were one of the first group I would play drums along to, at about the same age...

Iron Maiden on Piece of Mind tour with Quiet Riot - first concert w/o parents. As Superstarman mentioned, the volume just killed me...and set me on my unabashed course to tinitus...

there are sooo many other ones, but these were seminal in me deciding to pursue music as a career...

I got to see Metallica with Cliff; got to see Def Leppard when Rick Allen had both arms;

saw Pantera at the beginning of the CFH tour at The Alrosa Villa in Columbus with 75-100 people in attendance, and then roughly 20 years later, almost opened up for Damage Plan the night Dimebag got shot at the same venue. I was still there, but our band could not play the gig...

was at a show here in town where Nirvana got booed and chased out of one of the local punk/metal clubs...awesome (I still can't stand them)

ok, I will stop
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
first Rush concert: Signals Tour. i saw them at least once on every tour since then, as their concerts were religious pilgrimages for me

The Jackson 5 - my first concert ever...I was possibly 4 or 5...my b-day present. These guys were one of the first group I would play drums along to, at about the same age...

Iron Maiden on Piece of Mind tour with Quiet Riot - first concert w/o parents. As Superstarman mentioned, the volume just killed me...and set me on my unabashed course to tinitus...

there are sooo many other ones, but these were seminal in me deciding to pursue music as a career...

I got to see Metallica with Cliff; got to see Def Leppard when Rick Allen had both arms;

saw Pantera at the beginning of the CFH tour at The Alrosa Villa in Columbus with 75-100 people in attendance, and then roughly 20 years later, almost opened up for Damage Plan the night Dimebag got shot at the same venue. I was still there, but our band could not play the gig...

was at a show here in town where Nirvana got booed and chased out of one of the local punk/metal clubs...awesome (I still can't stand them)

ok, I will stop
Click to expand...
Awesome that you saw Rush so many times, I’m seriously jealous. My sister got to go 1980 and complained how boring the drum solos were!

Iron Maiden- I saw them same tour (1983?) and actually had a picture disc of brain salad soup which I regretfully sold years ago. Eddie
 
MKJr said:
mountain at the old fillmore east, and corky lang was on fire

yes with bruford

warn up band was savoy brown then rod stewart with the original small faces at the capital theatre portchester
Click to expand...
I saw rod Stewart in 1988 he put on a great show
 
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
first Rush concert: Signals Tour. i saw them at least once on every tour since then, as their concerts were religious pilgrimages for me

The Jackson 5 - my first concert ever...I was possibly 4 or 5...my b-day present. These guys were one of the first group I would play drums along to, at about the same age...

Iron Maiden on Piece of Mind tour with Quiet Riot - first concert w/o parents. As Superstarman mentioned, the volume just killed me...and set me on my unabashed course to tinitus...

there are sooo many other ones, but these were seminal in me deciding to pursue music as a career...

I got to see Metallica with Cliff; got to see Def Leppard when Rick Allen had both arms;

saw Pantera at the beginning of the CFH tour at The Alrosa Villa in Columbus with 75-100 people in attendance, and then roughly 20 years later, almost opened up for Damage Plan the night Dimebag got shot at the same venue. I was still there, but our band could not play the gig...

was at a show here in town where Nirvana got booed and chased out of one of the local punk/metal clubs...awesome (I still can't stand them)

ok, I will stop
Click to expand...
Nirvana who?
 
Superstarman said:
Awesome that you saw Rush so many times, I’m seriously jealous. My sister got to go 1980 and complained how boring the drum solos were!

Iron Maiden- I saw them same tour (1983?) and actually had a picture disc of brain salad soup which I regretfully sold years ago. Eddie
Click to expand...

I have that picture disc, as well as most of the other ones released up until Somewhere In Time. I also saw Maiden religiously from POM to Fear of the Dark. Saw them last summer over in Indiana on the Legacy tour...still got chills, and whiplash at 51. We had 8th row!!
 
Off the top of my head:

c.1972: triple bill: Rory Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple. Blackmore was on fire, Ian Paice floored me.

1974: Robin Trower at the UCSB gymnasium. (Many great acts came through UCSB cuz it was the stop before/after Los Angeles).

1976: Weather Report with Alex Acuña & Jaco Pastorius.

1979: Jeff Beck with Simon Phillips.
 
Superstarman said:
Mine are all ages ago when I used to actually go to concerts, when the tickets were about $10 (no kidding) at the Omni or other since-redeveloped venues in Atlanta:

1. AC/DC - For Those About To Rock tour
2. Ozzy- Diary of a Madman tour
3. Atlanta Rythym Section 1984

I had just turned 16 at the AC/DC concert and it was my first “real” concert. Between 3 of us kids we somehow snuck in 5 or 6 bottles of beer but didn’t have a bottle opener! I just remember being blown away by the sheer volume and stage show/presence that was so prevalent in the early 80’s. I managed to get behind the stage for a few minutes before being escorted back to the plebeians but was hooked ever since as they are still my all time favorite.

Ozzy was a smoke fest the moment the lights went down, he could barely stand up and had trouble singing anything...but the band (or haze) made up for it. To this day I think he is very talented and listen often. I think he bit a fake bat in half on stage, but it could have been real.

ARS is old school southern rock at its finest (second or third to Skynyrd and maybe Molly Hatchet), the venue was intimate with table seating and bar service about 20’ from the stage. My GF at the time couldn’t believe she knew every song but it was a champagne jam.

When I was a kid my parents took my sister and me to see Glen Campbell at the long-gone Atlanta civic center and I also remember seeing the Osmands lol. I also remember falling asleep many times with my parents’ band rehearsing the latest 70’s rock hits late into the night...long train running....

what have you got?
Click to expand...
Did I actually say Molly Hatchet? I meant Allman Brothers. What WAS I thinking?
 
cbphoto said:
Off the top of my head:

c.1972: triple bill: Rory Gallagher, Fleetwood Mac, Deep Purple. Blackmore was on fire, Ian Paice floored me.

1974: Robin Trower at the UCSB gymnasium. (Many great acts came through UCSB cuz it was the stop before/after Los Angeles).

1976: Weather Report with Alex Acuña & Jaco Pastorius.

1979: Jeff Beck with Simon Phillips.
Click to expand...
Would’ve loved to see Jeff Beck especially, but they are all awesome
 
Superstarman said:
Nirvana who?
Click to expand...
Xstr8edgtnrdrmrX said:
I have that picture disc, as well as most of the other ones released up until Somewhere In Time. I also saw Maiden religiously from POM to Fear of the Dark. Saw them last summer over in Indiana on the Legacy tour...still got chills, and whiplash at 51. We had 8th row!!
Click to expand...
Sweet! They are etched in my mind as the absolute best ‘metal’ (I really don’t like labels but oh well) guitar duo using synchronized harmonic leads to create unmatched depth without distortion. Run to the hills!
 
1977 Maynard Ferguson Band at UNT (Denton, TX). Peter Erskine on Drums.
1980 Jackson Browne at Frank Erwin Center (Austin, TX). Running On Empty Tour featuring The Section, Russ Kunkel on drums.
1983 Rush at Reunion Arena (Dallas, TX). Signals Tour.
 
Great list I noticed that you didn’t name the drummer of the third band haha
 
Ok there are not put rock but:
Roger Waters 2 years ago, Winnipeg
Prince, 2 years before he died, Winnipeg
Rolling stone, 70's, Paris
 
Long live setlist.fm so i can keep track of it hehe

The first concert I've ever been to was Status Quo @ de Houtkamp Hal, Doetinchem (NL) on November 6th 1992. I was 8 at that time and i only remember a few things; before the start of the show being in the dark, hearing that intro drone come on, the spotlight turning on to Rick Parfitt... and that it was loud! My parents arranged that we could stand on the balcony so we wouldn't stand in the crowd. I believe i still have the ticket somewhere. Have seen them a total of 15 times over the years and the last time was December 2nd 2016. Rick wasn't on that tour and still recovering from a heart attack and they had another guitar player substitute for him, but it didn't sound the same. After Rick passed away 2 weeks later i didn't go to see them live anymore because the spark was gone for me. Anyway...

2nd most memorable gig was Dream Theater @ Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam (NL) on October 10th 2005. Went with my sister to it after we got the Dream Theater virus. Obviously being older i remember a lot more of that gig! Was so great to hear all the songs live that I've been listening to and the setlist was spot on. Played everything i hoped they did. Still have a video-recording i made with my old Nokia cell phone of John Myung and John Petrucci standing a few meters away from us doing that epic unison on the end of 'The Glass Prison' and... well let's say that my memory is more vivid than that video haha. Mess of pixels and the audio is almost inaudible. Have another vid and i just can't see/hear what they're playing there, but ah... the memories :)

Lastly but not leastly... Delain @ Tivoli Oude Gracht, Utrecht (NL) May 16th 2008. They opened up for Epica and went with a friend and another drummer i knew from the Pearl Drummers Forum (who took 2 friends with him) to see Epica. Knew Delain and wasn't really into them at that point, but the live performance blew me away. Sound was great and everyone played spot on. Preferred them over the main act even. After that i started listening to them more and more and got hooked. Number of live performances i attended is at 23 now and hope the this Corona thing is over soon. Can't wait to go to a live concert!

Honarable mentions: Foo Fighters at PinkPop 2011, Status Quo Frantic Four Reunion at Wembley 2013 (recorded live on dvd/blue-ray), Tool last year in the Ziggo Dome (which was sold out in 15 mins, so really glad we got tickets!)
 
The Tubes in 1977 was the first big concert for me, great show, Fee Waybill rode in on a Harley if my memory serves me. No naked ladies though. Then a 180 turnaround to see Weather Report, Jaco on bass, don't remember who the drummer was, this was maybe 1978 so Alex Açuna or Peter Erskine.
Around the same time I saw Peter Gabriel, great concert as well.
 
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