Your Earliest Concert Experiences

  • My first concert was Bread with opener Steely Dan in 1973. I was 15 years old. The following year, I took my 13-year-old brother to see ELP. We started our concert-going years at an early age.


    I have always loved David Gates and Bread. Were they popular in the UK and Europe? It's a shame that nobody writes songs like that anymore. Their music brings back wonderful memories of my early teenage years.


    Steely Dan were on their second tour and the lineup was amazing (see below). The guitar duo of Jeff Baxter and Denny Dias was pure delight to the eyes and the ears. This tour was for their Countdown To Ecstasy album.


    David Palmer - Vocals

    Denny Dias - Guitar

    Donald Fagen - Vocals, Keyboards
    Jeff 'Skunk' Baxter - guitar
    Jeff Porcaro - Drums
    Michael McDonald - Vocals, Keyboards
    Walter Becker - Bass


    Both bands played their hearts out to a very appreciative audience.


    I saw ELP in 1974 for the Brain Salad Surgery tour, which was nothing short of spectacular. I went the first night with a friend, and it was so good I bought 2 tickets for the following night's show and took my younger brother. The show was recorded and released on the album 'Welcome Back My Friends...' Tickets for these shows were 6 dollars each :thumbup:


    The final gig I will mention in the trilogy of early shows I attended was Cat Stevens touring for the Buddha and the Chocolate Box album in 1974. This album, plus 'Teaser and the Firecat' and 'Tea For The Tillerman', are among my favorite records ever. He and his band played all his hits. There was a feeling of peace and love throughout the venue. Music truly could bring the people of the world together. It's something I'd love to see happen in my lifetime :)


    All three of these shows were at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

  • I lived in Aberdeen when growing up.

    Too young for the 1980 Genesis and Gabriel concerts. So first gig was...

    Dire Straits December 1980. Making Movies tour at the Capital Theatre.

    Someone gave me a copy of Genesis Friday Rock Show Lyceum on SA C90 which was crackly and incomplete but that tape changed everything.

  • My first concert was Max Webster in 1979.

    I was a fan since their debut and when I finally saw them in concert, they were touring their fourth album, A Million Vacations which, of the five they put out, this one ended up being their biggest selling release in Canada.

    Prior to that, I think they tended to play clubs and licensed establishments where young teens like myself wouldn't have been allowed entry.


    To this day Max Webster remains one of my favourite bands from Canada. They never gained the popularity outside of this country I thought they deserved.

    When I have encountered non-Canadians who have heard of MW it is usually because of the song “Battlescar” (Rush guested on that track – and in exchange, MW’s lyricist Pye Dubois provided the words to "Tom Sawyer").

  • I went to 'teenage idol' shows starting in 1975 with Aussie pop bands Sherbet & Ted Mulry Gang. The first 'adult' rock show I went to was Status Quo in 1977. At the time I was living in Newcastle, New South Wales which is a provincial city & we didn't get the 'big' shows, so I wasn't allowed to see Wings in Sydney in 1976 because I was too young. I didn't really start going to shows on a regular basis until I moved to Sydney. Even in Canberra when I was at university from 1979-81 I only ever saw Graham Parker & the Rumour & a Sports-Split Enz double header (Sports were Australian). The first show I saw in Sydney was Elton John.

  • Mine was a band from the progressive movement, but not Genesis (although when I saw them, some would argue they were less/not progressive - still, they played plenty of the classic songs).


    Yes, on the 90125 tour in '84. (I desperately wanted my first concert to be Genesis on the MAMA tour in November 1983 in Philadelphia, but parental approval was lacking... ;() I got to see them plenty of times afterward (both bands).

    Stepping out the back way, hoping nobody sees...

  • Showaddywaddy, mid 70's, then Leo Sayer, mid 70's, both at the local ABC.


    Kate Bush, Liverpool, April 1979.


    Moody Blues, October 1979.

    Ian


    Putting the old-fashioned Staffordshire plate in the dishwasher!

  • Showaddywaddy, mid 70's, then Leo Sayer, mid 70's, both at the local ABC.


    Kate Bush, Liverpool, April 1979.


    Moody Blues, October 1979.

    My husband also saw her on that tour, in Sunderland.


    The second show he ever saw (after Rainbow) was Genesis, something he never fails to remind me about.

  • I have been to classical music concerts since I was a young child.


    My first rock concert was Rush on the Grace Under Pressure tour. Next was Yes on the 90125 tour.


    Being a Canadian, I am quite familiar with lots of Max Webster, although I have never seen them live. They have lots of great stuff from catchy stuff like Diamonds Diamonds. Let Go of the Line, to kick ass rock like High Class in Borrowed Shoes. Worth checking them out if you are unfamiliar.