Conference rdvax::grateful

    Yup!  I remember.  I was about 13 years old.  I went with my oldest
    brother and friends.  We piled in his Chevy Impala and drove from 
    Upstate NY to Springfield, MA to see . . . The Amazing . . .
    Blue . . . Oyster . . . Cult!  That's how they called them to the
    stage.  Wow, I can remember my legs kinda shaking as I looked over and
    about the thousands of people there.  Never have I experienced it
    before.  I don't really listen to them anymore, although they do play
    out from time to time in a lot smaller places these days.  I used to
    love their early stuff!  In fact, they were my favorites for the
    longest time.  I started not liking there newer stuff and lost track
    of them.  
    
    --Cathleen

I was in the 9th grade so I was 13 or 14.  I remember being very jealous
that a friend of mine had recently seen The Outlaws with her older brother
and his friends ... we were all always jealous when RitaAnn took off with
her *cool* older brother Jimmi.  :-)  But it sparked a plug in us and
soon thereafter we were at Madison Square Garden watching David Bowie do
his thing.  Although I loved Bowie's music for quite some time (and still
do like that era of his work actually) that was the only one of his shows
which I saw.  And that it was - a show!  Bowie is quite a performer!

Lisa

I was about 15 and went to see Donovan and the opening act the Buckinghams
at the Cow Palace in SF.  Mellow Yellow had just come out, and Donovan had
an electric band with him...This girl I was going with at the time was a 
real Donovan head.  I had a great time, the Buckinghams did a medley of their
hit "Kind of a Drag".  I don't think they're around anymore and I still listen
do Donovan now and then..brings back nice memories of the times and the girl
I was going with...





Jim

	I remember my first concert!

	Bob Dylan and the Band, the "Before The Flood" tour, in 1974,
	at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island.  I was the 15.  

	My older brother, an original Dylan-head, took me.  Our seats
	were wayyyyyyy up on the right side, about 2/3 of the way back
	from the stage.  I mean, we were about 6 rows from the very top-most
	row in the place!   Because we were high up, it was hard to see
	much of Dylan and the Band, even with binoculars.  See, the 
	Coliseum got filled up with smoke that tended to drift to the
	ceiling... 

	I don't remember much of the actual music (like the songs played).

	My 2nd concert was the JGB at the Calderone Concert Hall, 
	Hempstead, L.I.  Musta been 1975??   There were two shows and 
	we did the first one.  My brother (an original Dead-head ;-) took me.
	Again, we had seats way in the back of the second balcony and
	after a few songs we couldn't see the stage too well cause of all
	the smoke.  Also it make my throat feel strange.... 
	I bought a black Jerry t-shirt which I still have!  This particular
	type was only sold on this tour.

	I have an excellent FM tape (WNEW broadcast) of what I guess must
	be this show (or it may be the second show?).  

		Josh

My first rock concert that I can remember was Van Halen, in '82.  Tons of my
friends from High School were planning on going.  We all blew off school to
wait in line for Tix.  Most of use got tickets pretty much together, so we
had a party of a time!!!  Don't really remember the show too well, but I
do recall it being quite a HOT concert;  Dave Lee was young and jumping all
over the stage; Eddie was POUNDING his axe, and the rest of the band was into
it too....

Back then, they did not have all the glitz they have now (or even in '84 when
I saw them).  It was a basic stage set up, bass, drums, guitar, and vocal.
No keys or synthesizers... good ole honest rock 'n' roll.

My next show was the WHO later that year, at the Centrum.  Now, that was a
REAL treat....

    
    My first two concerts were Styx and Meatloaf.  I don't remember which
    was first.  Obviously my musical taste has improved somewhat. :-)
    
    Styx was the first one that was like a concert though.. Madison Square
    Garden.. a bunch of friends.. a lot of illegal substances.  I don't
    know what year, but my first dead show was in '79 and it was before
    that.  Whatever happened to this band?  All the bands I used to listen
    to back then seem to have disappeared.  Remember Kansas?  :-)
    
    

    
    For my first concert, I went to see Arlo Gutherie in Central Park.  The
    tickets were $2.00 for downstairs and $1.00 for upstairs (this was
    1970).  Festival seating was the norm and when they opened the gates 
    everyone went running inside to get that one "great" seat!  He did 
    Alice's Restaurant for a good hour and the crowd just ate it up!  
    
    The following week we went to see The J. Geils Band and I knew that
    going to concerts was going to become a passion with me.  
    
    We began to view Central Park as our home away from home.  They used to
    have early and late shows (8pm & 11pm) and we'd always go to the late
    show.  This meant that we'd get to hear 2 sets and sometimes we'd get
    there early enough to listen to the sound check.  The music presented
    was varied and the price was so cheap that we would go to practically
    every concert.  Even if we didn't have tickets, you could hang out at 
    certain locations and hear (but not see) the bands.  New York City was
    a very different place and since we were too young to drive, we'd take
    the subways at all hours of the day and night and never think about it.
    Remember those teenage thoughts of being invincible?  You'd go with a
    group of upwards of 20 people and know that you'd be alright.
    
    Every summer the rich people on 5th Ave would complain about the noise
    and dirt from the concertgoers, but Ron Deselner would get the
    concession for the following summer and we'd be back.  Their wasn't
    anything like Ticketron and Ticketmaster for obtaining tickets.  You
    had to wait on long lines with your listing of shows.  It was all so
    strategic, when to leave work, how to get back before lunch.  
    
    By the late 70's, Wollman Ice Skating Rink (where the concerts were given)
    was about to completely fall apart and the city had to close down Central 
    Park for concert usage (and also skating).  The concerts were moved to 
    Pier 84, the selection of groups has been drastically reduced and last 
    summer the prices were up to $20.00 a tix!
    
    Fredda

    
    Does this bring back some memories:-)
    
    My first concert was the Yardbirds in 1968 at the college town I grew up in.
    I was 13 at the the time and it only cost 2 dollars to get in! There
    were only about 100 people there as the band was four hours late
    getting to the show. It was their last tour before they broke up.
    Jimmy Page was their guitar player at the time. Some of the songs
    they played ended up on the first Led Zeppelin album but I cannot
    remember which ones they were. A couple of the other members went on to
    form Renaissance a couple of years later. Four years ago I found a
    Yardbirds boxed set of live material recorded two nights after I saw
    the Yardbirds, which was quite a treat!
    
    RE .1:
    
    Cathleen,
    
    Two members of the original Blue Oyster Cult, the Bouchard brothers,
    went to the same college I attended. They formed Blue Oyster Cult from
    a band that started as the Soft White Underbelly. I can remember them
    playing at antiwar demonstrations in late '70-early '71. They weren't
    that good at that time but they were loud!

Really not very much of it.

  john

 I was about 14 years old. My older brother and I went to see
J. Geils at the Bawston Garden. he managed to get seats in the 
press box (the best seats in the house IMO) totally unobstructed
view. What I remember most about the show is that they left the stage
and came back out 11 times the final time they returned to the stage,
the lights had come up and people on the floor were leaving. When 
they came back the lights stayed on and people stampeded back to
their seats.

Shawn

My first show was RUSH at the Radio City Music Hall, Sept. 23, 1983.  It was
the last night of a 5 or 6-night run there, for their "Signals" tour.  I was
about a month short of 17 at the time.  The face value was $18.50, about as
expensive as it got back then.  I think it was a bit pricey because of it being
at Radio City.  Suprisingly, ticket prices have not gone up that much since
then (about 33%, from $15 to about $20).  That's a big percentage, but not as
bad as other "commodities".

I went down with a good friend of mine from high school as well as his brother,
their neighbor, and another friend of theirs.  I remember some of the other
guys trying to get fake ID's on the streets of Manhattan from some seedy guys. 
I wasn't much of a drinker so I didn't bother with this.  I think all but
myself and one other guy went to the back room of some store in Times Square to
do the deal.  They were in there for at least 10 minutes, I was scared for
them.  They came out eventually with the $7 or so taken and no fake ID.

It was exhilerating to finally get inside and say to myself "so *this* is what
a rock concert is!"  I loved being part of the huge crowd.  Everyone was there
for the same reason.  Our seats were the 3rd row from the top, so we were far
away, but the sound was still great.  I remember I was in summer camp when the
shows went on sale.  I was isolated in Monticello, NY, but Alex knew I liked
RUSH and we bought the 5 tickets.  He wrote me a letter at camp telling me he
got tix for the show when I returned home.  I was psyched!

After the show, we had to take Metro-North (then Conrail, I think) back to
Stamford.  Somehow, Alex's brother and I lost the rest of the crew getting onto
the train, so when we arrived in Stamford, we had no transportation home (Alex
was driving and he was nowhere to be found).  Luckily, I lived right near a
spur line of the Stamford station so I was able to take another train home,
while he had to sit around and wait for the next train to arrive.  I remember
walking home from the station at about 2am, clutching my concert T-shirt (a
jersey, white with black sleeves, real popular at the time).  I still have the
shirt.  It's like a bib on me now.  I'll save it for the nostalgia.  At that
time, I think I paid $13 for it.  I think that's still expensive for that time. 
Since then, I've pretty much stopped getting shirts since they're all $22 and
up! :-(

Incredibly, all 5 of us had a reunion of sorts last Thanksgiving.  I went home
to Stamford, and Alex and I went to a local bar that we'd never been to, and
heard it was a big Stamford HS alumni crowd, and lo and behold, we meet up with
Alex's brother and the 2 other guys who had went with us to the show.  That was
weird!  We talked about the show, getting fake ID's, etc.  That was a trip.

Rush was/is my favorite band.  I say was/is because it's hard to group any
other band in the same class as the Dead.  But, for the longest time, Rush was
the only multi-show band I'd seen.  I've seen them each tour since Signals (5
times).  They are coming out with a new album in a few months.  At the time I
saw them, I was not really that familiar with their older stuff, but I remember
they did most of their 2 latest albums at the time, which I knew.  I wish I
could go back to that show because they probably did older stuff that they
don't do now!

sorry this is so long.  what can I say, this brings back great memories!

re: the Who.  I remember when they did their "farewell tour" in 1982 (or was it
83).  I remember being real jealous of a guy who had tickets to the Shea
Stadium show!  I did get to see them 6 years later, though!

    My first concerts were several 3 day events in Georgia and S. and
    N.Carolina the summer of 1972, One wuz at Rockingham Speedway.....
    everyone from AliceCooper, Black Oak Arkansas, to Fleetwood Mac and 
    an all girl band called Bertha also Rory Galager was big then..hot
    guitar. 
            rfb

	Spring of 1972, junior year of high school.  At the Cincinnati 
	Garden (basic arena type place).

	Warmup?  Uh, I forget.

	Headliners?  Humble Pie and Edgar Winter Group.

	Ticket price? Maybe $4?

	How was the show?  A little overwhelming and *alot* loud.

	The following year, I had tickets to see Deep Purple - along
	with a friend from school/work and *my Dad*!  Unfortunately,
	they cancelled out in favor of playing a festival in New York
	state somewhere :-(

	Bob

	P.S. The spelling of Cincinnati was checked and approved by
	the mad_spelling_checker_from_Hamilton_County :-)

1st show was probably the O'Jays.  I was into r&b and that 
was probably 1968.  Lettermen were on the bill too.

1st major show was in Greenville, NC at the ECU homecoming
and it was Jethro Tull,  Electric Hot Tuna and Cactus.  Don't
remember the year but think it was 69 or 70.  I was visiting 
my sister at her college and she dropped me off outside (HAHA!)
and picked me up after the was over....the next night in Greenville
I saw the movie "johnny get your gun" ... talk about depressing!

I saw the Chambers Brothers,  Alice Cooper and Blue Oyster Cult
in 70, I believe.  WHAT A SHOW!  This was Cooper's Killer Tour 
so that oughta get the date down pat if anyone knows when that
lp was released.   

nice note!
bob

My first (not counting High School battle-o-the-bands type) was at the Boston
Tea Party.  This was when it was still in an old church in Boston's South End.

I saw Rassan Roland Kirk and Joe Cocker.  Yow!

Next one was John Mayall.


...I keep kicking myself for all the Deadshos I missed back then

	- Prob

    I went to see the Beach Boys at the tennis courts in North Conway, NH
    in '83 (I think).  The Romantics opened, but the Beach Boys were late
    and kept us waiting for hours in the hot sun before they finally went
    on.  I didn't care very much for the show, and the girl I was with
    didn't care very much for me.  The closest arena type place to my
    hometown was in Montreal, so it wasn't until I went to school in
    Worcester that I got to see Huey Lewis open up for .38 Special at the
    Centrum.  Can't remember why I went, no girl involved that time.
    
    My first Dead show was in Providence in '84.  A bunch of us rented a
    school bus and went down together, drinking and smoking the whole way
    down.  We even made the driver stop on I-95 so we could relieve
    ourselves!  I was kind of bored by the show, although I remember a good
    Scarlet>Fire>Estimated>Eyes 2nd set (Eyes was [and is] my favorite song
    - I'd only heard "Wake of the Flood" at the time).
    
    Jamie

    My first was Boston at the Prov. Civic Center back in maybe 1976 or
    1977 in 9th grade.  I HATE Boston now!  
    
    I saw REO Speedwagon about 3 times!!  YUCK!!  I saw Ozzie too.  One of
    the funnest concerts I've been to besides the dead is ZZ Top.  The
    loudest was Ozzie and Deep Purple.  Believe it or not the worse concert
    I've been to is still Eric Clapton back in the early 80's.  He musta
    had a bad night then.  I enjoyed REO better than EC.  But then I saw EC
    at Grate Woods this past summer and now that was one of my best!!
    
    dave

    
    I was working in the kitchen - scraping plates - at a camp in Western
    Mass, Camp Becket. Summer of '69, and The Who, Jethro Tull, and
    Jefferson Airplane came to Tanglewood. All of these groups for $5.-
    for lawn seats, which meant that we walked around all day and night.
    
    I was 16, and it was my first rock-n-roll experience. I remember thinking
    that the music was loud, very loud. Then The Who came on !  They played
    Tommy - most of it, anyway - and I was hooked on Rock and Roll.
    The Who have always been one of my favorite bands. The whirling
    and twirling, the foot stomping, and then of course there was Keith
    Moon. At the end of the concert, they smashed their instrument,
    moon kicked over his drum kit, and threw everything into the audience.
    By that time we had walked all the way to the front, it was a sight.
    
    Long live Rock and Roll
    
    

Oh, the ticket price for Van Halen in '82 was something like $10.50 ...

    
    My first concert experience was Led Zepplin, Johnny Winters, and
    MC5 at Boston Garden in '68 (I think).  Just after "Stairway to 
    Heaven" was released.  
    
    MC5 came on first and ended their set by destroying their equipment.(no
    encore that way).  
    
    Johnny Winter came out next and started playing a few songs.  During
    the middle of his set, the lights came on and all these cops came
    running up the aisles on the floor.  They got in this big fight
    with a motorcycle gang.  They clubbed a few and dragged away the
    rest.  The lights went back down and Johnny Winter started singing
    some song about "mr policeman do your job".
    
    Zepplin came out last and played most of their first and second
    album.
    
    Pete
      

My first concert was ELO at the Boston Garden, when I was around 15 or so ...
I was a really big fan of theirs back then (I had the single "Telephone Lines"
and played it until it was unlistenable), and had a great time.  I suspected
that some of the music was taped, but it didn't bother me.  ELO was really
big at the time for its stage show, where a spaceship would rise from the
stage and the band would be underneath ... there was a great laser show, where
the lasers would shoot through the portholes of the spaceship, draw pictures
on a large screen behind the band, etc. ... I was impressed.

I went with a friend and his older cousin, who drove ... during the show he
brought out some wacky tabacky, which bummed me out a bit as I really did 
consider it to be the Evil Weed (tm) at the time.

I'm not sure when ELO stopped touring; Jeff Lynne is (was?) part of the 
Travelling Wilburies.  I still enjoy listening to ELO's albums, at least
those before "Out of the Blue" (although I still associate one song from
that album, "Sweet Talking Woman," with a crush I had in high school ;^).

- Dave

re:                      <<< Note 123.20 by NEST::KIBLING >>>
   
>    My first concert experience was Led Zepplin, Johnny Winters, and
>    MC5 at Boston Garden in '68 (I think).  Just after "Stairway to 
>    Heaven" was released.  
    
 
 Just a nit.  It couldn't been '68 because Zep didn't exist (in name
that is) till late '68 early '70 . Stairway to Heaven was on their
4th album released 73-74. Jimmy Page still had ~4 committments to 
fill as the Yardbirds when the 'birds broke up.

Shawn

      

    
    re .22
    
    Such a long time ago...  It was just after their second album was
    released  Hit song = "Whole Lotta Love"   Musta been '69.
    
    Pete

    >       <<< Note 123.15 by NECSC::LEVY "Across the lazy river" >>>
    >                                -< Yep >-

>My first (not counting High School battle-o-the-bands type) was at the Boston
>Tea Party.  This was when it was still in an old church in Boston's South End.
    
    I thought Boston Tea Party was in Kenmore Square, where Narcissus is
    now.  Was it originally in the South End and moved, or am I completely
    confused?  Maybe I'm mixing it up with the Ark.  Please straighten out
    these Boston landmarks for me!
    
    Jamie

    
    
    re.20
    
    Pete,
    
    I went to that show. I think it was 69-70 it was in support of LZII.
    That was a wailing brawl, and Johnny never missed a beat, just treated
    it like a baroom occurance. I remember wowing a the effects Jimmy was
    getting using the violin bow and the clouds of rosin when it banged 
    of his axe.
    
    My first rock concert was 66-67? It was Creams first US tour and they
    played this little club for two weeks straight. Not much of a crowd
    but then Fresh Cream had just been released, caught about 4-5 nights
    tickets were $2.50-$3.00 The band was pissed cause they got rejected
    by 5or6 hotels that didn't like their looks.
    
    dems were de daize
    
    steve

    
    Jamie,
    
    The original Tea Party was on E. Berkley upstairs from now a little
    peach. the ark was on Lansdown where axis is now. When the ark folded
    the tea party moved there. Narcissus is where Lucifers used to be.
    Worked at the party for about 18 months fun time saw the boyz on new
    years eve too
    
    s

    RE: Back a few, The Boston Tea Party moved into The Ark after a
    few years, because it was bigger.
    
    My first concert was also at the Boston Garden. I saw Grand Funk
    Railroad, with Bloodrock as the opening band. Bloodrock had this
    hit single DOA. I would guess this was around 1968...Not real sure.
    
    

    
    Whelp, my first show was RUSH for the Moving Pictures tour.  My dad
    tood me to this show!- imagine that.  My dad is/was a big RUSH, Eric
    Clapton, Moody Blues, Joe Cocker, Pink Floyd fan to name a few.  It was
    quite a sight - a lot of freaks :-).  The music was loud - I was
    nervous during most of the show cause I felt kinda out of place being
    my first show and all.  One thing I do remember is the lasers and Neil
    Pert throwing his drum stick all the way up to the ceiling and catching
    it again - amazing.  
    
    I guess this is a silly question for most of you but it is something I
    wonder about - do you think your musical tastes will change as you get
    older and have a family - will you still crank out the tunes as you did
    as a kid?
    
    Happy Cheese-
    Jerry

'69 or '70 in Cleveland
Pete Seeger headlining
Stone Ponies was the warmup (Linda Ronstadt was not mentioned by name)

Jim

    ...first concert was in junior high 1965?  It was the Barbarians.
    ...first big shooo was at the Boston Garden and Jimi Hendrix was
    the main act..the Mcoys and Soft Machine were warmups.
    ...I might have seen the boyz prior to the Garden show but its all
    foggy...I did see the Boyz at the Tea Party and at MIT butcan't 
    remember if it was before or after.
    ....then I saw a bunch of shows all at once that included the Allman
    Bros., Mountain, Ten Years After, and Blood,Sweat and Tears.
    
    rich

You *saw* Soft Machine?  Yow!  Lucky dog.

	- Dave

Here goes my age, Beetles in K.C..  I was offended because my girl friend 
screamed so much.  ;-)  Actually, I saw some pretty good concerts early on:
Rightous Bros.  James Brown (taught me what it felt like to me a minority
in a crowd) Jefferson Airplane (one of the best) Supremes, then nothing until
the Boyz and very early Heart in the northwest.

  john

    
    >...first big shooo was at the Boston Garden and Jimi Hendrix was
    >the main act..the Mcoys and Soft Machine were warmups.
    
    Is this the "Soft Machine" that is refered to in Truckin'
    "Dallas, got a soft machine;
     Houston, too close to New Orleans; 
     New York's got the ways and means;
     But just won't let you be, oh no."
    
    I have always wondered what the heck a soft machine was....
    
    Happy Cheese-
    Jerry
    

  	I was a freshman in high school, for some odd reason my Mom & Dad
    said I could go on a bus with my friend Dave from worcester to North
    Adam State college to spend the weekend with Dave's sister and to see
    the Outlaws at the school.....so this about '76.....but wait ! I
    remember I also went to see Elton John on the 4th of July '76.....but I
    also went to see the Beach Boys/Chicago the summer before ('75)......
    hell I might have seen something else before that for all I know (more
    like remember).....1st Dead show was at Cape Cod fall '79 , drove down
    bought tickets at the door for both nights , and we camped on the beach
    and if I remember right it rained too ! cold cold cold ! but that might
    have also been the time I went to see Marshall Tucker at CC ? ayh never
    mind as you can tell I have know idea what I talkin' about.....
    
    
    wel to answer the question       NO i can't ! :')
    
    
    
    Chris

    ref; Soft Machine....I don't think it is the same as in Truckin....
    if I'm not mistaken they were an English group...very much ahead of
    thier time and not the greatest opener for two loud groups they were
    more jazz fusion..(in a sense they were a good opener for Hendrix,
    but in those days loud outruled real music).
    
    rich

    my first was Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Providence Civic Center...
    
    i believe it was 1976...  not certain though...  
    
    they were always a favorite of mine...  in fact anyone who knows what
    kinds of music i like to play could probably attest to the fact that
    they still are a big favorite!!!  :^)
    
    i think the Dead were my second concert, but then again, i could be
    wrong...  actually, the more i think of it, the more i am sure that
    i am wrong...
    
    					da ve

    Re: .20-something
    
    Stairway to Heaven was on Led Zep IV, released in 1971.
    
    
    My first concert wasn't really too long ago, October or November 1983.
    Before that either I never had the money (probably because of no job)
    or just really had no interest in the concert scene.
    
    It was the Moody Blues at the Centrum, right after their album "The
    Present" came out. I came in just as the opening act took the stage,
    some unknown guitarist sitting on the edge of a stage lit with just
    blue lights playing some great stuff. It took a while to remember his
    name: Stevie Ray Vaughan.
    
    I've seen the Moody Blues only twice, the secong time in 1986. This was
    definitely the better of the two shows. They even used an honest to god
    Mellotron for one song (played by Justin Hayward). Patrick Moraz does
    the keyboards these days and his electronics just don't have the full
    sound of the mellotron from their early days.
    
    I still like to listen to the Moodies, but mostly only up to the last
    album before they broke up the first time (Seventh Sojourn). Their last
    few albums aren't nearly as enjoyable.
    
    Scott
    

    My first concert was Traffic and Little Feet Boston Garden 72 or 73
    Don,t remember much of Little Feet. But Traffic was great.

     My first concert was Arlo Guthrie and Pete Seeger at the Boston Music
    Hall when I was about 13.  My parents took the whole family...My first
    real "rock" show was the mighty J.Geils Band at the UMass Fine Arts
    Center when I was 18...and 1 year later I got on the bus in the same 
    place(UMass)...
    
    
               :-)  DaveB.

    Both the name of the band and the reference in Truckin' would seem be
    derived from the William S. Burroughs book "The Soft Machine". A "soft
    machine" is a (near-)invisible network that controls the thoughts and
    actions of people. At least, that's what I got from the book--it's not
    easy going.
    
    John

    Well, being fairly young (21), my experiences are rather new.  No trips to
Yardbirds shows for me...  8-(
    My *first* rock show was a local band called Visitor.  They played at my
high school/junior high.  They had one local hit, something called "Freedom of
Rock 'n Roll", or something like that.  It must have been '82-'83.  Tix were
probably about $2.
    My first *real* show was (gasp) Whitney Houston at Saratoga PAC, summer of 
'86 (I was a real late bloomer).  Tickets were $9 on the lawn.  I only went
because the young lady I was dating at the time wanted to go, so I got dragged
along.
    Since then its been a total free for all - I get to SPAC at least half a
dozen times each summer plus any other stuff during the winter (much prefer the
summer shows outside).
    My first Dead show wasn't until this past summer (Buffalo '90).  I got shut
out of the SPAC '88 run and the Albany '90 run...  Before that I was just a
casual Dead listener.  My condition has degraded severely since this summer,
evidenced by me scoring Albany and Nassau tix this spring...guess I'm just
going to hell in a bucket...  8-)

The First Concert I went to was in 1976. I was almost 14. It Featured 
Fleetwood Mac. Warming up for them were Sanford & Townsend, Bob Welsh, and The 
Steve Miller Band.

It was at JFK in Philadelphia. It was about 95 degrees and we were drinking 
vodka out of a watermelon and smoking alternative substances. 

A smokin show.

I've never listened to Sanford & Townsend before or since, Bob Welsh doens't 
really do anything for me. The only Steve Miller I really like came out 6 - 10 
years before the concert I saw and I still enjoy old Fleedwood Mac at times.

It was the beginning of a long and wonderous career of concerts, Followed 2 
weeks later by the Rolling Stones with 2 other bands I don't even remember.

Geoff

    re .28
    
    do your musical tastes change as you grow older/have kids/etc?
    
    Mine have somewhat. But not radically. I love bluegrass now and
    am more and more interested in jazz. I haven't listened to any
    of my (complete collection of) Black Sabbath records in 12 years
    or so. But I grew up liking 60's R&B and old Stones, Creedence,
    etc; still love that music.
    
    - Dave

    Jeeeezzz, this note really took off!
    
    My first concert featured Eric Clapton with a warmup by *Golden Ear Ring* 
    at the Filmore West, sometime in the mid-to-late sixties.  I had never
    heard of Golden Ear Ring before that and hadn't heard from them again
    until their "Slipping into the Twilight Zone" song hit the radio charts
    about 20 years later.
    
    I remember the Filmore as being a fairly intimate room in which
    everyone sat on the floor and *stayed* there.  
    
    I also remember standing in line outside and seeing the Hare Krishna for 
    the first time. (I didn't fly much.)

This is a great note ... I also love how so many of us aren't quite sure 
if we are getting all our facts right or not ... ;^/ :-)

I remember the Pier!!  Saw quite a few concerts there (concert #2 and up)
the summer between 9th and 10th grade (1980?); let's see, The Ramone's,
the B-52's!!, the Buzzcocks?, Squeeze??  Yikes - it really *is* fuzzy...

Adam, it was "The Who in '82" -- that's about all I could say my senior 
year in HS!!


Re: .16 by Jamie

>    My first Dead show was in Providence in '84.  A bunch of us rented a
>    school bus and went down together, drinking and smoking the whole way
>    down.  We even made the driver stop on I-95 so we could relieve
  
	Well, if I remember corectly we didn't *all* relieve ourselves!
	There were a couple of us in pain....;^/

	or was that in '85?


Re: .33 by John


>Here goes my age, Beetles in K.C..  I was offended because my girl friend
>screamed so much.  ;-)

	Offended?  Well wouldn't you .... nevermind!
		(just getting you back :-)
	

    I would say my musical change changed a bit.  The change has always
    been in the rock n roll category.  I like the same jazz and classical
    that I liked in high school.
    
    If I may bore you for a few, my first love was Aerosmith.  Then Kiss. 
    Then I got into "classic hits" (before they got popular on the radio),
    late 60's early 70's, mainly pshcadelic non-dead music.  Then I got
    into the Journey/REO Speedwagon/Van Halen/Ozzie scene.  Then Yes with a
    little Rush thrown in.  B-bbut t-then, I found the dead, or they found
    me??  Or a deadhead friend saw that unusual light in me that all
    deaheads posess that told him I may be a good candidate as a deadhead.
    
    He was right.
    
    dave

    OH MY GOSH!!!  I FORGOT LED ZEPPLIN!!!  How could I forget???  I loved
    them always and to this day.  I guess I just take them as a default
    musical love and take it for granted.
    
    Geepers!

My first big-time-arena-type concert was at the Boston Garden in or around 
1976, with Aerosmith headlining.   There were 2 bands opening up:  a band 
called Wishbone Ash, and Angels With Dirty Faces.  Both were pretty poor.  
The Angels With Dirty Faces band was a late replacement for Frank Marino 
and Mahogany Rush who I wish had played instead.  

One thing I remember about this concert, besides a great "Train Kept A Rolling"
and "Sweeeeeeeeeet Emoooooooooootion" ;-) was the line getting in.  Picture
thousands of people in the concrete tunnels of the entrance to the garden,
getting anxious as the doors are late in opening, chanting "One, two, three,
four, open up the ****ing door!"  over and over!  I was amazed at the wildness
of the scene.   

I don't listen to any Aerosmith albums any more...  lately I find myself 
listening to a lot of acoustic stuff: Hot Tuna, Country Joe, Dylan (who I
recently discovered ;-).  Aside from that, lots-o-dead and reggae.

One other early concert was KISS at the Orpheum in 76 ot 77.  Man, have 
my tastes changed!!

re: Golden Ear Ring

They had a tune called "Radar Love" right ?   A great "cruising" tune!   

Ken

>>re: Golden Ear Ring
>>
>>They had a tune called "Radar Love" right ?   A great "cruising" tune!   


Funny aside on this tune.  Where I work out, the young high schooler behind
the desk used to always play that crap on WAAF.  Every night when I was there,
at 6:30, guess what I would hear?


Went on for about 6-8 weeks before they finally stopped playing Radar Love at
6:30...

    Yeah, "Radar Love" is a Golden Ear Ring tune.  I don't think they
    played it back in the '60, but ya never know.  Golden Ear Ring is
    definately one of those bands that sounds a lot better when you're
    around 13 or 14.

My second concert was Aerosmith, with Golden Earring as the warm-up band ...
of course "Radar Love" was their big finale ... it must've lasted about 15
minutes.  At the end, one of the guitarists, sweating profusely, ran across
the stage and kind of jumped into the other guitarist, then they both collapsed
and played the final chord ....

Even at 15, it seemed stupid.

;^)

- Dave

My first concert was the Beach Boys at the Rhode Island Auditorium. This was 
about 1963 or 64. I remember that I was in the seventh or eigth grade at the
time and thus too young to drive. RE:- 33 I can sympathize with your comment 
re age:-) :-) _-) so my parents drove me to the show and picked me up afterwards
I remember really enjoying the show. This was way back when Brian Wilson still
toured with the group and they all wore those striped shirts. Aside from the
thrill of actually having seen someone famous, I remeber being somewhat 
frightened of so many people in one place. Although the original R.I. Auditorium
has been remodeled to the point that the original structure is completely
different, back in these days this was an INDOOR arena where seats could be 
rained out because the roof leaked so badly!!!. I also remember going to see the
Providence Reds ( minor league hockey team) play here. Rather than glass above 
the boards they only had chicken wire. In addition they allowed fans (of age; I
was only about 15 then) to drink in the stands. A player from the opposing team
would get checked into the boards and a fan would douse him with beer. Several
interesting fights insued...
I forget exactly what the price of this show was.

A few years later I got my drivers license and I started to see the Newport Jazz
and Folk festivals when they were at their old locatiion in Newport. This 
location is right near where the JAi-alai fronton and one end of the Newport 
are now located. I remember seeing Arlo Gutherie twice, and Dylan as part of 
the folk festival. The last year they had the Jazz festival (1969??) they had
Janis Joplin (with Big Brother) & Johnny Winter as Jazz acts. Amazing.

Debess this was a GREAT idea for a note. I really enjoy reading other peoples 
first shows because although they were not my first I too attended them.

Including
RE: -15 Rasan Rolland Kirk at the Tea Party when it was a converted 2nd floor
walk up church (Praise Ye the Lord) written over the stage. I saw Rolland Kirk 
with Poco at about the same time you saw you show. This (the first) Tea Party
was an incredible place to see a show. Shows there included Led Zepplin just
before the release of their first album (68 or 69)and The WHO who performed the
entire Tommy opera, again just before the release of the album.

Also saw a number of shows at the new Tea Party on Landsdowne street including
my first Dead show 12-30-69!!!!

RE: Hendrix, McCoys, Soft Machine Show at the Boston Garden. This was in the 
spring of 1970 or winter of 1969. Tickets were something like $3, $4,& $5. I had
floor seats for this show ( I still have the ticket stub!!!!) at a cost of $5.00.
As an aside I met Jimi, the day of the show in the lobby of the Statler while
waiting for a friend. We were both looking at a painting on the wall. I turned
around and he was standing right behind me looking at the same painting. I said
something like "nice painting" to which he kind of grunted. End of conversation.
This show has some very special memories or lack there of for me....


Jack



 

    re Wishbone Ash....their albums were pretty good...they were a dual
    lead guitar format
    
    rich

I was 12 at when I went to my first semi-major concert.  It was Poco at Umass 
in about 1970, it was the spring concert.  The only thing is Poco didn't show
up :^(.  I still love the album Poco Deliverin which was recorded live at the
Boston Music Hall in '69 I think.  Anyway, I did see Brewer and Shipley ("one
toke over the line").  After that, every show I could afford that came to
the Springfield Civic Center and every spring concert at Umass for the next
10 years (including my first dead show in '79).  I think the first show I saw
in a big arena, Springfield Civic Center, was J. Geils and Gentle Giant.

Chuck

      My first concert was The Poisette Dart Band & Pure Prairie League 
    at Clark University in Worcester in 1977, I was 14.
    
     My first Big time concert was YES at the Springfield Civic Center
    in 1978.
    
    Sean

    Sean,
    
    I was at that Poisette/Prairie show, but I remember that was about the
    same time as the release of the Police's 1st LP (1979), why do I
    remember this ? 'cause we were in line singing Roxanne very loud (Eddy
    Murphy must had been there cause he copied us to the "T") but then
    again they might have played in '77 also. and as I have already stated
    I don't know what Im talkin' about anyway !
    
    	Chris

    Wow, what a great bunch of first shows!
    
    Mine was in Spring, 1969 at the Philly Spectrum.  The Doors, right
    after Morrison got outta jail for the Miami Indecent Exposure rap.
    I was 14, and had no idea what I was going to.  A bunch of us rented a
    bus (a CYO youth group :-).  It was awhile before I figured out why
    I felt so funny on the ride home.  By the time I got to my second
    concert (Black Sabbath, Humble Pie and Mountain) a year later, I
    understood why.  Leslie West was amazing.
    
    Some of that Doors show in Philly ended up on a live album, I think
    L.A. Woman?  My first Dead show was in the same venue, in 1973.
    
    tim
    

     My first concert was Lewiston '80, Sept. 6. I wrote a long description 
of that show and general turn on to the Dead in the `First Dead show' note,
something like 25.4 so I won't write it again. But my first live music thing,
probably was a Junior High dance. We used to have school dances around here
where a band would play and people would stand and watch. Also, of course 
a major social event. Funny, in reflection the scene is so similar to what 
goes on in adult life, but more people dance. Oh, and the music is ... 
magnitudes better.
     My first, distinctly remembered as being my own choice, favorite rock tune
was Killer Queen, musta been about '73, '74. My first Album, vinyl disk, was 
the associated album, "Shear Heart Attack"
     Then I turned on to Aerosmith. I had every Aerosmith album, all the way
through the "Live Bootleg" recording; On 8-track! Well one summer I worked
at a summer camp and bought a cassette deck with my pay. I guess the rest
was fate.

     Wow, I've gone through a few decks since then. That reminds me of my 
old stereo, a semi-failed all-in-one system with the turntable missing. An 
output from that was fed to an amp in a dead receiver. Mickey Mouse con-
traption, but it played music.

     Geoff

    Ya my first show was Blackflag, CiRcle jErKs ,in boston at the channel
    first hardcore show or rock concert .... took one look at the 
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    pit.  
    
    slam dancing was in had no idea what was going on but had fun .
    
    
    
    Then i finally discovered a more calm sceen      THE     DEAD   ,
    
    j b

    My first show was in 1970.  $3 to see Chuck Berry open up for the
    Mothers of Invention (Flo and Eddie version) in New Haven at the now
    defunct New Haven Arena.
    
    Smashed up my dad's car on the way home  8^)  8^)
    
    
    						Brian