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Your First Live Concert (Spectator)...?

#41
First concert - The Spinners at the Granada cinema in Sutton c 1971 (taken by parents)

First concert on my own initiative - Hyde Park 1974 (Kevin Ayers, Nico, Chapman Whitney Streetwalkers, Kevin Coyne, Gong, Gt Moore and the Massed Reggae guitars)

The Hyde Park Free Concerts 1968-1976

First concert I had to stump up the cash for (GBP 4.50) September 1974 (Jesse Colin Young, Tom Scott and the LA Express, The Band, Joni Mitchell, CSNY)

Crosby Stills Nash and Young - Wembley Stadium 1974




 
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#42
Huey Lewis and the News or VanHalen. Both around 1984/85.

Huey was in Williamsburg VA (I think) and VanHalen was either Raleigh or Greensboro, NC.

Loved them both for different reasons.

I do remember Huey did a Tower of Power cover or two and that's whst turned me on to them too.

David Lee Roth spent more time in the air than he did on the ground. He was jumping all over the place.

I was 13ish at the time.
 
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#43
two fingers said:
Huey was in Williamsburg VA (I think) and VanHalen was either Raleigh or Greensboro, NC.
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I bet Huey Lewis was at Hampton Coliseum, which is pretty close to Williamsburg. That place did a lot of big acts back in the day. In 87 my friends and I road tripped without tickets from DC to Hampton to see the last show on U2s Joshua Tree tour. We picked up a friend in Williamsburg who was attending The University of William and Mary. We all managed to score tickets in the parking lot, at more or less face value, except the dude we picked up. He ended up drinking in the parking lot all night.


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#46
JMacBass65 said:
I bet Huey Lewis was at Hampton Coliseum, which is pretty close to Williamsburg. That place did a lot of big acts back in the day. In 87 my friends and I road tripped without tickets from DC to Hampton to see the last show on U2s Joshua Tree tour. We picked up a friend in Williamsburg who was attending The University of William and Mary. We all managed to score tickets in the parking lot, at more or less face value, except the dude we picked up. He ended up drinking in the parking lot all night.


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You're probably right. I went to many concerts there. Raleigh got on the bandwagon a little late. So for most of the 80s it was Hampton or Greensboro or Charlotte in our area.

Being a kid from a small town, and this being my first road trip with teenagers and not my parents, the whole thing was a blur other than the concert itself (not drugs.... just over stimulated). But I was hooked from that day forward. Huey and the boys threw down and started my long-time romance with horn bands. To this day Tower of Power, Blood Sweat and Tears, Chicago, Hall and Oats (with the Saturday Night Live horns), etc. rank right up there with my favorite rock and funk music. And that concert kicked it off for me.
 
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#47
So back in those glory days of the 70s/early 80s I saw:

  • KISS
  • Rush (at least 4 times)
  • Cheap Trick
  • Aerosmith (at least 4 times)
  • Ted Nugent (strangely, the Nuge was my most seen concert; I had to have seen him at least 6 times!)
  • Jethro Tull
  • Edgar Winter's White Trash
  • Al Stewart
  • Nazareth
  • Molly Hatchet
  • Marshall Tucker
  • Charlie Daniels Band
  • Styx
  • Journey
  • Pat Benatar
  • Heart
  • Ozzy Osbourne
  • Motorhead
  • Whitesnake
  • Golden Earring
  • Uriah Heep
  • Iron Maiden
  • Alice Cooper
  • ZZ Top
  • Little River Band
  • REO Speedwagon
  • Tom Petty
Probably too many more to name them all, but you get the idea. Stadium concerts were a huge part of our culture in those days, and we didn't miss many, for awhile.
 
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#50
I'm jealous of a lot of these. Mine was White Zombie at Saltair outside of SLC in 96. Not much of a fan anymore (who would think that tastes would change from when you're 13?) but the pyrotechnics and the adrenaline of the crowd was impressive to me. I'm not sure what my parents were thinking letting me go to that show at 13 solely with friends but their lax parenting also allowed me to see Rage Against the Machine for $12 later that year, so there's that.
 
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#58
I worked at the Garden State Arts Center in NJ for three summers back in high school. My first concert (actually first two concerts, since he played two nights) was Engelbert Humperdinck in 1983. I was paid $3.35 an hour to sell popcorn and watch the show. It didn't turn me into a Humperdinck fan, but it did turn me on to concerts. I've now been to over 400.
 
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#59
First concert:
January 21st, 1981: Styx on the "Paradise Theater" tour at the Mobile, AL Municipal Auditorium.

bonus - second concert was
April 18, 1981: Rush on the "Moving Pictures" tour at the same venue.

Most recent concert (number 204)
May 4th, 2018 - Plini and TesseracT at House of Blues, San Diego

Next concert:
May 24th, 2018 - Tony MacAlpine and Vinnie Moore at The Baked Potato, Studio City, CA
 
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