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What was your first concert and how old were you...

Featured Replies

The Beach Boys, Southern Star Amphitheater at Astroworld! I was probably about 10 years old.

Lynyrd Skynyrd  - 16

Billy Joel ‘79 @FEC.  I was 18, late bloomer to concerts. I’ll watch his Houston concert of that tour on YT every once in a while. 

Roy Orbison at Aquafest 1988. I was so young though, I spent the whole time running around with my friends.

First real one, I was 15, my college age cousins took me to see Dave Matthews Band and Phish. 

Rush/April Wine @ 13 years old at the Municipal Auditorium. kick ass show.  Saw Judas Priest a month or two later at the Austin Opera House. then UFO a week or two after that.  fun times

My dad took me to see Donovan at Rockefeller's in Houston when I was very young. I really don't remember most of it. My mom took me to see Don Williams at the rodeo one year. Don't remember much of that one either. The first concert I went to on my own may have been Crazy Killed Mingus at Fitz when I was 14.

Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, and Charley Pride. Cotton Bowl, mid 70s

Holy shit! I haven't heard of them in years. JPN was a local guy that was always playing some honky tonk around here. 
Oh, yes! Jacksboro guy. Was always playing around Wichita Falls.

Eddie French and the French Quarter.

Race Rutledge

AA Bottom.

Damn, that was a lot of beer ago

KoRn, Disturbed, TRUSTcompany, Unlöco at 101X Fest, whatever year that was. 2001ish. My 15th or 16th birthday.

Edited by Tired of Lurking

Iron Maiden & Anthrax, 1991 at the Fair Park Coliseum in Dallas.  I was 15, it was amazing.

Sometime in 8th grade I went with my folks to a show at the Continental Club while visiting the grandparents in Austin.

1976, Willie Nelson at Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport.  I was 15.

Texxas Jam 1985:

Deep Purple - Perfect Strangers tour.

Scorpions - World Wide Live

+ Night Ranger, Ted Nugent, Bon Jovi (first album), etc....

 

Second concert was '86 Jam with Van Hagar (5150), Dio, Loverboy, BTO, etc.

Rolling Stones 1978 Folsom field I was 12

First show at Red Rocks was the Doobie Brothers in 1979

Willie-in utero, and about 10 more times between birth and puberty.  I remember being 6 years old at the Summit in Houston and waiting through the openers only to pass out shortly after Whisky River came on. I was so mad at myself the next day.

First concert solo at 15:  Soundgarden, Pearl Jam at the Unicorn Ballroom in Houston.  Good times.

July 7, 1979: Bee Gees at Dodger Stadium.  We were in the stands, quite a ways away from the stage.

 

fa_1170_beegeescrowd600.jpg

Weird Al - 1992 or so at the Southern Star Amphitheater (AstroWorld).

33 minutes ago, Born to Run said:

First concert solo at 15:  Soundgarden, Pearl Jam at the Unicorn Ballroom in Houston.  Good times.

That’s the show for the highly sought after “Pink Lady” gig poster. Tell me you bought multiple posters. They go for $500+ today.

IMG_4076.jpg

2 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

That’s the show for the highly sought after “Pink Lady” gig poster. Tell me you bought multiple posters. They go for $500+ today.

IMG_4076.jpg

Fucking Nope, at 15 my “wall art” was whatever I could cut out of Spin magazine.  I’ve seen em framed for $800+

Blackfoot 1979




Man! I love Blackfoot. Saw them with Molly Hatchet and John Butcher Axis.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Police - Ghost in the Machine.  March 1982, Reunion Area in Dallas, I was 15.

ZZTop, I was 15. In Dallas at Reunion Arena.

The Clash

1983, I was 15

Amarillo Civic Center Auditorium

Edited by SizzleChest

The Beach Boys at the Summit when I was a kid.  Went with my older bothers and a friend of theirs.  It was the first time I smelled weed.  The opening acts were The Fabulous Thunderbirds and some guy named John Cougar.  Or John Mellencamp.  Or maybe Cougar Mellencamp.

On 3/29/2018 at 10:18 AM, Quasimofo said:

Oh, yes! Jacksboro guy. Was always playing around Wichita Falls.

Eddie French and the French Quarter.

Race Rutledge

AA Bottom.

Damn, that was a lot of beer ago

Mike O'neill...

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1984. I had just turned 13 and I loved Van Halen. So my brother and I were going. Interestingly due to the huge demand, the Jackson 5 had a lottery system advertised in the newspaper to get tickets. I guess you mailed in a request from some cut out in the paper and if you were lucky they would allow you to buy tickets(limit 4). My mom had a friend that won some but ended up having to leave town for work and would not be able to go. So they offered my mom 2 tickets for free if she would take their two daughters. So the four of us went. It was a good show even though I knew none of the music. Until Eddie Van Halen came out on stage and played Beat It with the Jackson 5. Interestingly I had no idea till now, but I found the below written on the show and it looks like it was one of the only times they played the song together live.

http://www.jack969.com/2017/07/14/eddie-van-halen-jacksons-beat-it/

Two nights later I got the honor of watching David Lee Roth stumble around stage with a bottle of Jack Daniels. Throughout the night he was screwing songs up and during "Jump" he did his famous jump/splits and almost fell into the first row. Eddie was in his prime though. His guitar solo was off the charts. Good times.

Freshman year of high school. We drove 3 hrs to see Rush at the Erwin Center on the Hold Your Fire tour (early 1988 I believe). Tommy Shaw opened. We had terrible mezzanine seats way up high and I couldn't see Neil Pearl's kit due to the speakers hanging from the rigging. I remember nodding off near the end of the set but ended up a lifelong fan of that band.

 

Edit: added year



Metallica, Guns n Roses, Faith No More - Astrodome, 9/4/1992.


I was at this show. Had tickets in the pit and Faith No More was absolutely crazy. We caught our breath after their set only to be destroyed again by Metallica. I had seen them once before (at the ERC) and was a much bigger fan of theirs than I was of GnR. We knew Axl was doing his prima donna bullshit where he was delaying their start time, etc, and we had a long drive home after the show so we decided that Guns wasn't going to be as good as Metallica and we left. To date I've never seen GnR live. I've never been a huge fan but while I loved FNM and Metallica I do regret leaving that show before their set.

Van Halen, 1984 tour. FEC. I was 14 years old. Eye-opening experience.

I remember David Lee Roth saying something like "Sorry we're tired tonight. I have the hotel room next to Alex and last night the girls were up all night banging on his door. I finally went over at 3am and LET THEM OUT AALLLLRRRRIIIIGGGGGGHHHHTTTTT!!!!! YYYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Which for a 14-year old was pretty much the greatest story I'd ever heard.

Ray Stevens, circa 1980 at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa. Laughed my 10-year old ass off.

Ray Stevens, circa 1980 at the Ector County Coliseum in Odessa. Laughed my 10-year old ass off.

Squirrels went berserk I’m sure.
Hootie and the Blowfish at the Woodlands Pavilion..I was 12 or 13.


Did you not have older siblings to guide you to music like zeppelin or sabbath?

Not counting gospel concerts or stuff like the Oak Ridge Boys, that my parents took me to as a kid. My first concert that I choose to go to was Joan Jett opening for Aerosmith on May 12th 1990. Followed that up with about 8 other concerts that same year. Finally ran out of spending money and before I could save up for more, ended up married for 10 years of hell, to someone who hated crowds and did not want me to do anything without her. 

Edited by bamachine
Forgot my age for that first one, was 18.

On 3/31/2018 at 1:08 AM, SizzleChest said:

The Clash

1983, I was 15

Amarillo Civic Center Auditorium

That would have been pretty interesting. I would have liked that.

On 3/27/2018 at 6:18 PM, phdhorn said:

I saw Fat Elvis near his death (about 1 1/2 yrs, before he croaked) and pretty much this, especially with the women.  I got 10th row seats through someone who gave them to my mom, who didn't want to go.  So my friend, who ironically did a great Elvis impersonation (like, formally, got paid and stuff) and I went (I was his pianist), we were I think about 18.  I will fucking tell you right now when that 2001 theme played and the lights finally splashed on Elvis, all around us women of ALL fucking ages, even in their 80's, were going so absolutely batshit apeshit frantically screamingly nuts crazy that I thought I was in another universe.  You have NEVER seen women, especially old ones, move like Walter Payton through the entire defense.  They were jumping on chairs, on each other, on me, I mean they lost their fucking minds.  

The other stuff I remember clearly is that 1) Elvis was great, self-depreciating, 2) everyone and everything on stage was completely in his control, and he was a master at knowing everything - the band, the backups, everything.  Guy was a master presenter. 3) Elvis LOVED the gospel part of his concerts and he LOVED the gospel quartet he had, and when he sang that stuff he transformed from doing almost mocking self-parodies of some of his hits (you can imagine he was sorta sick of 'em after 30 years) to putting everything he had into the gospel songs and he did.  And his voice singing that stuff was absolutely fucking magnificent... this bloated, jaundiced, sweaty fat guy in a white suit belted out those tunes so powerfully, crack on key, and beautifully, THAT'S when I knew the guy had a talent far, far greater than most people.  Man did he enjoy those songs and his voice thundered out like nothing I ever saw.

It was pretty amazing.  Oh yeah, all around me women were throwing panties, bras, keys, everything.  I mean they would have fucking died of excitement if he would have picked them up.  Oh yeah, one last thing... Elvis had a guy who did nothing but hand him bandana/neckerchief after bandana/neckerchief.  Elvis took one, swiped it around his neck, then threw it out to the crowd and I swear that an arena of pit bulls looks tame compared to the frenzy.

You have no idea how driven to an excited batshit level of frenetic crazy love pains women can be driven to.  I never saw anything like that before or since.  As in ever.

What always amazes me is that Elvis was what, 42-years old when he died. To be that out of shape and to basically kill yourself when you have everything in the world, is beyond me. I reckon the same can be said, in a way, for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Curt Cobain, the dude from INXS, etc, etc, etc.

18 hours ago, honolulu horn said:

Van Halen, 1984 tour. FEC. I was 14 years old. Eye-opening experience.

I remember David Lee Roth saying something like "Sorry we're tired tonight. I have the hotel room next to Alex and last night the girls were up all night banging on his door. I finally went over at 3am and LET THEM OUT AALLLLRRRRIIIIGGGGGGHHHHTTTTT!!!!! YYYYEEEEAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" Which for a 14-year old was pretty much the greatest story I'd ever heard.

Mine too. I was 15. Do you remember Michael Anthony's "solo"?  He rolled around on the floor with his Jack Daniels bass guitar. Quite the contrast to Eddie's performance and skill. 

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