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Your First Live Concert (Spectator)...?

KISS with special guest Uriah Heep. 1977. Changed my life forever.

February 6, 1977

Details:
Bloomington, MN
Met Center
Promoter: Schon Productions
Other act(s): Uriah Heep
Reported audience: 16,800 **SOLD-OUT
Reported gross: $104,900

Set list(s):

1. Detroit Rock City
2. Take Me
3. Let Me Go, Rock ’n Roll
4. Ladies Room
5. Firehouse
6. Makin’ Love
7. Cold Gin (incl. guitar solo)
8. Do You Love Me
9. Nothin’ To Lose
10. Bass Solo/God Of Thunder
(incl. Drum solo)
11. I Want You
12. Rock And Roll All Nite

Encores:
13. Shout It Out Loud
14. Beth
15. Black Diamond.

Notes:
- From a local review: "KISS' choreographed, high-energy show last night was not substantially different from its local debut in 1976, although the staging was somewhat more elaborate if not more outrageous... The 75-minute performance was characterized by more spontaneity than last year's, though KISS clearly lacks the finesse, vitality and style demonstrated on stage by its heavy metal colleagues such as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and Blue Oyster Cult. KISS' music is merely an assault" (Minneapolis Star, 2/7/77).

My mom dropped us off, (we rode in a station wagon,) and some ladies bought us 3.2 beer. We were 13 years old. Mike Babcock, Mary Rausch, Jerry Bell, Tim Nielson, myself and perhaps the Dunsworth triplets, or at least two of them. Babcock confessed to me the next day he had a crush on Mary Rausch. I don't believe anything ever came of it. Jerry's mom picked us up and yelled at me because I had stolen weed from her.

View attachment 3013064
Cool story, Bro :thumbsup:
Seriously... Life changing, no bout a doubt it! I love all the detail recall, as well as reading some of their earlier critics (detractors) reviews :laugh:, and including the setlist ... Must've been the 'Rock-N- Roll Over' tour, yea?

KISS was the first band I went bananas over at around 12yo in 1981. 8yo me (in '77) would have had his young impressionable & malleable mind blown if I only had agreed to try my friend's home made time machine as that pre teen ... but I was afraid to cuz i didn't wanna be late for dinner that nite :facepalm::bawl::banghead:

I used to spin the KISS Alive 2×LP in my closet listening area with the headphones on, studying all the album notes and photos, while memorizing every note from every instrument in every song. I recall wondering about each of the many visible fans photographed pre show from the front of the arena floor, and what their lives were like in '75-76, and how lucky they were to be there, memorialized on an awesome gatefold LP for eternity>
KISS-Alive-1-1.jpg


My very first 'concert' was Bachman Turner Overdrive, who unexpectedly yet seriously rocked our socks off at the Scranton Civic Center when I was 15ish ... 1984?? (somebody's mom drove us from Wilkes-Barre to Scranton. As my teenage luck would have it, one of the floor staff knew my mom, and she got wind of us (me in particular) getting scolded by security to "Put that (joint) out!" :p:whistle:.)

The very next concert I saw there 2-3 months later, was Ace Frehley fronting 'Frehley's Comet' ... and I was terribly disappointed at how mediocre & sloppy Ace was :sorry: Years of hard drugs will do that. The name Space Ace stuck for a reason!

All of the best KISS music had run its course in the first 6 studio & 2 double live LPs, + Ace's solo was the best of the 4 (IMO.) After those, to me they became caricatures of themselves, and I moved on to more grow'd up stuff like Ozzy era Sabbath & (mostly Bon era) AC/DC.

As a first concert experience it must have been quite the spectacular spectacle :bassist:
 
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Depends on your definition of "concert". If you mean "live performance in an auditorium/concert hall", then I'd have to say The Beach Boys, in 1975 at Boise State. Otherwise? Yeah, I can beat that. The Cavern Club, Liverpool, fall of 1963. The Beatles (you know; that German band from Hamburg?), just before their recording contract. And, gotta tell ya - they were one Hell of a good club band, too...:whistle:
Oh hell yeah!
Beatles in the Cavern Club. :thumbsup:
They can close this thread now.
 
The Dave Clark Five!:wideyed: Circa 1964.
Beat that you young punks.:eyebrow:
My partner's can. The Beatles in the Cavern 61 or 62
Mine was Mott the Hoople in the early 70s

Edit: Just been speaking about this, not 100% sure of the date but they were quite new in the Cavern and the buzz around town was just starting and getting in wasn't easy
 
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Depends on your definition of "concert". If you mean "live performance in an auditorium/concert hall", then I'd have to say The Beach Boys, in 1975 at Boise State. Otherwise? Yeah, I can beat that. The Cavern Club, Liverpool, fall of 1963. The Beatles (you know; that German band from Hamburg?), just before their recording contract. And, gotta tell ya - they were one Hell of a good club band, too...:whistle:
Just read this post, my partner did too. The ultimate "in your face" experience with the dawn of a new era in music apparently. I'm jealous of you both !
 
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I saw this tour in Seattle in 1977. UFO and Max Webster opened; Rush came on late...fortunately the two huge flashpots they set off during Farewell to Kings shook me out of my several-hours-into-a-70's-dime-bag stupor (I mean we used to hang out in line for hours before the doors even opened...).

I have a vague recollection that I saw Yes the same weekend ("Going for the One" tour, with Alan White and Rick Wakeman). Blew my little High Schooler mind. Gateway experiences for the many Dead shows that came later ;)


I was at the Rush show as well, one of many times that I saw them. The first was at The Paramount, they opened for KISS!
 
Rush, Charleston WV, Grace Under Pressure tour, Nov. 1st, 1984. My senior year of high school. Our basketball team had a scrimmage against a local college ( that was really just a glorified HS team themselves) and they murdered us. Coach made everyone stay late. Me and the guys that were going were freaking out about it. Finally left and got there just as the opening act (Y&T) hit their last note.

BnB
 
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Led Zeppelin, Western Springs Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand, February 25, 1972. The absolute loudest thing we had ever heard, the promoters had noise complaints from 5 miles away! I was 19 and I was totally stunned at the sheer power! Me and my buddies all drove 250 miles to see them, it was more of a pilgrimage really.

This page: Led Zeppelin | Official Website Western Springs Stadium - February 25, 1972 sums it all up rather well.

"A roar went up from the crowd at 2 minutes past 8, as the group—Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones, John Bonham and Robert Plant—took the stage and blasted into the "Immigrant Song". Suddenly the hours of waiting, the discomfort, the hype and rip-offs in the form of posters, T-shirts and high ticket prices were all forgotten."

Bloody magic it was.
 
Trapt, Smile Empty Soul and Finger Eleven in 2004, somewhere around Youngstown. Followed by Pennywise at the House of Blues in Cleveland, in 2006.

The past 3 years I've seen Breaking Benjamin in Burgettstown with my lady. Along with Five Finger Death Punch, Chevelle, 3 Days Grace, Bad Wolves, etc.

I haven't been to many concerts. I need to get out more and go to shows that I'd prefer to attend.
 
1st live (not dead people) concert was The Cleveland Orchestra, George Szell conducting, early 1960s, Severance Hall.

1st pop concert was Peter, Paul & Mary, 1968, Blossom Music Center during its opening season.

1st major rock concert was Glass Harp and Humble Pie, 1971, John Carroll University Gymnasium.