Someone threw a shoe at his face and the show was over.
Francois on what he remembers from his first concert, Billy Idol, at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland, Calif.
My concert shirt said, “If it’s too loud, you’re too old.” Now I’m 42, and it’s too loud.
Toni Momberger on seeing KISS and Queensryche at age 15 at her first concert at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, Calif.
My first concert was Midnight Oil, Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers and The Silencers. It all happened in Detroit 1989.
We hate to practice on you, but that’s kind of what this is.
Guided By Voices frontman Robert Pollard at the Nelsonville Music Festival and the band’s first show in months.
via Mark Garcia, which marked his first concert and first kiss.
They played in the cafeteria, used the kitchen as a dressing room and stood on top of the lunch tables for their set. I stood literally 3 feet in front of Jimmy Page for the whole set and got his and the whole band’s autographs after the show. Just unbelievable and still a thrill when I think back.
JoeM about seeing The Yardbirds at his 1968 high school dance at Christ The King in Middle Village Queens.
My first concert-I am coming late to this meme, because this period in my life is pretty fuzzy for me, and I can’t remember for sure, but I think this was it. I was probably 18 or 19 years old, a freshman or sophomore in college. ”Worldly” music had been forbidden for as long as I could recall, but my family was becoming a little less rigid about some of the cult’s rules, as they began to be disillusioned around this time.
My friend, “Freddie”, was from El Salvador, and we went to see Jose Luis Rodriguez, “El Puma” with Freddie’s brother and his girlfriend. Looking back on it, I suppose Freddie was probably hoping it was a date. But I was naive, and he was shy, so, although I recall a hand on my thigh through the denim of the jeans, that was as far as it went.
El Puma was quite rico suave in the mold of early Julio Iglesias, perhaps. It was way out of my realm of experience, and I was a little bit embarrassed by the sensuality of his performance.
Sadly, even though I think we were friends for about a year, this concert is my only real memory of Freddie. I eventually went to see Santana at the Forum in L.A. with Nick and my sisters several years later. My sisters always saw a lot of concerts starting in their teens, but Nick had seen so many before he met me, and it wasn’t something I thought to pursue. Now, I do feel like I’ve missed out, although I may have been to as many as ten concerts total if I could remember them all.
First gig I ever went to alone: Dexys, Cardiff, 1982. Most recent gig I went to: Dexys, London, 2012. Everything in between is mere detail.
Simon Price on seeing the newly reformed Dexy’s Midnight Runners this month in London.
I saw the Alabama Shakes live in Birmingham tonight. It was my first ever live gig, and wow, it was amazing! I was right at the front. We hung about after the show and I managed to meet the band too! Such an amazing night, I won’t forget this in a hurry.
