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What Was Your First...

SHOOTER12

By SHOOTER12
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SHOOTER12

SHOOTER12 8766

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Searched, but didn't find this topic, so apologies if I screwed the pooch.

Concert, where? When? Opening act? Special date or occasion?

My first occasion of seeing a musical act was at SWT seeing Sha Na Na in 1975.  I don't really count that as the first though because it was just basically a band playing and there was no concert atmosphere or what have you.

I consider my first true concert experience to be in 1977 at the Hemisfair arena headlined by The Doobie Brothers with Pablo Cruise opening. The atmosphere was absolutely electric for a young shooter and I was amazed at the huge clouds of mota floating around before the concert. Pablo Cruise, who was one of those here-today-gone-tomorrow bands really played a decent set, while I was amazed at the volume I had no idea what was about to come.  Just prior to the Doobie Brothers starting up, from our seats we can see rows and rows of power amps. As loud as Pablo Cruise had been we started seeing green and red lights start coming on in sequence row after row at the control booth and backstage. Needless to say the volume was unbelievable, but the Doobies sound and tightness was so incredible you could hear every single notes. That was back when skunk Baxter was still with them and between him Johnston and Patrick Simmons it was a guitar opus beyond imagination. A really cool part was when all three sat on the edge of the stage for the intro of Blackwater.  The dry ice fogger is the only way to go in a concert btw.

A very special part of this night was the little hottie that was with me. I had started seeing her before my first divorce and mercy was she wild. Attending the concert almost did not occur is on the way from my hometown to San Antonio we got pulled over for me speeding only for me to find out that she had three quarters of an ounce of weed stuck in her boot that I did not know about. No harm, no foul, slow down and be careful is all we heard out of the traffic stop. A great first concert and one hell of a great private after party with my new little hottie

So my Surly Brothers tell me about yours.

 

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NTVTXN

NTVTXN 1429

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Elvis, 1977 Tarrant County Convention Ctr

My 9yo brain couldn’t understand why anyone would throw panties and bras on stage. 

I can still hear the high pitched screams and remember the house lights going up with a loud voice “Ladies and Gentlemen- Elvis....has left the building “

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Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor 18544

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Rush with Golden Earring opening on the Signals tour at Lakewood, I mean The Summit , March 1983 so I was 14 and in 8th grade. A friend of mine got stabbed at the Scorpions show there earlier which I neglected to tell my parents. (He was ok, pretty much a flesh wound. But tons of street cred).

About all i remember of Golden Earring is that they played Twilight Zone for about 20 minutes and Radar Love for almost as long. 

Rush comes on and was really good, sounded like they were in the studio. In hindsight that was kinda strange because obviously not many other bands are like that. I bought a shirt and stuffed it down my pants. Made it out of there without incident.  

Been to many many shows since. But not another Rush show

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83Horn

83Horn 1637

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First big name show I attended was February 1971 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo when my dad took the family to see Johnny Cash.  I was only 9, so it was a little hard to appreciate, but I do remember enjoying the show.  First rock concert was March 1976 at the Sam Houston Colosseum when my sister and I saw Bad Company with Ted Nugent opening.  Atmosphere was awesome, and I managed to get slightly stoned vicariously due to the thick clouds of Mary Jane in the air.  Not related to my first, but I thought this was as good a place as any to mention that 40 years ago this very night,  in fact from the very moment I'm typing this, that same sister and I were in the Summit watching as Muddy Waters opened for Eric Clapton.  Great, great show.  Was hoping Johnny Winter would make an appearance, but that was not to be.  Great show anyway.

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drifter379

drifter379 1106

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Pink Floyd, Carter-Finley Stadium in Raleigh, 1994.  Never was able to go to concerts as a kid, so this was my first show when I was in college. I’d say it was a pretty damn good one to start.

I believe I was at that show. Took a party bus from fayetteville through the radio station .
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Guest Lobo

Guest Lobo

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Rush on the Presto tour, June of 1990...still in 8th grade and my mom let me go with Mike O'Grady, his older sister and her boyfriend.  They drove us to a little town in Wisconsin called East Troy.  But there was a massive outdoor amphitheater called Alpine Valley. 

Although nothing 'Alpine' about the skiing in Wisconsin, there is enough serious undulation there that it can prove difficult to navigate in a helicopter.....particularly with the fog that accompanies that time of year in the north woods.  Less than two months later, those hills claimed the life of a rather famous Texas musician.  

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Go Pokes

Go Pokes 979

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14 hours ago, SHOOTER12 said:

A very special part of this night was the little hottie that was with me. I had started seeing her before my first divorce

 

So you got divorced before you'd ever been to a real concert?  Did you get married at 13?

My first was Foghat in 1978 with Bachman-Turner Overdrive as the opening act.  Some band I'd never heard of, Judas Priest, was the first band to go on, but I missed most of that getting settled.  Tickets were $6.50.  I remember all 3 of us who went wore our black Foghat concert t-shirts to school the next day (as was the style in those days).  

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Jerry Callo

Jerry Callo 8626

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Willie Nelson at the Austin Music Hall sometime in the early 80s.  First concert without parents was Alabama's Roll On at Frank Erwin center somewhere around 1985-86.  Bon Jovi Slippery When Wet was not too long after.

Seeing live music in the 80s in Austin was great.  Won a bunch of concert tickets from K98 and saw dozens of acts at the Austin Aqua Festival.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45055

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Actually, now that I think about it I saw Jerry Reed in Eminence MO at a bluegrass festival, probably ~ 1973 or so.  I don't think that really counts, but he was probably the first "star" I ever saw.  This was pre-Smokey.  Dude could play guitar, though.

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Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor 18544

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58 minutes ago, Cheeseweasel said:

Rolling Stones. 1981. Billed as their "farewell tour". 

 

56 minutes ago, Cheeseweasel said:

3/4 sleeve baseball shirt? Those things rocked the 70's.

didn't go to the show but got a Stones shirt like this from a friend  but with red sleeves...it was awesomeIMG_7578.jpg

 

  

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SHOOTER12

SHOOTER12 8766

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1 hour ago, Go Pokes said:

So you got divorced before you'd ever been to a real concert?  Did you get married at 13?

My first was Foghat in 1978 with Bachman-Turner Overdrive as the opening act.  Some band I'd never heard of, Judas Priest, was the first band to go on, but I missed most of that getting settled.  Tickets were $6.50.  I remember all 3 of us who went wore our black Foghat concert t-shirts to school the next day (as was the style in those days).  

Lulz, got married in October of '75, threw her ass out on our anniversary in '77.

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Carl Spackler

Carl Spackler 3455

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I think there was a thread on first concerts on the old Shag.

Cheap Trick (Saxon and Krokus opened), 1982, Omaha.

Years later, I was at another CT concert and got to meet the band before the show.  When I mentioned that CT had been my first concert, Rick Nielsen asked me which one it was.  He rolled his eyes and said "sorry" when I told him.  Hell, I thought it was a great show -- still do.  But when it's your first concert, a big part of it is being blown away by the sheer volume of the music, like it was for the OP. 

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TonyTexas

TonyTexas 10377

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Another Pablo Cruise/Doobie Brothers veteran here.
It was at Jeppesen Stadium at UH in 1976. I was 15.
Cruise opened, followed by Santana, Marshall Tucker Band and then the Doobies.
It was Sunday afternoon show in April and hot as hell.
 

Jeppesen used to have some amazing concerts. Summer of 74 had an Allman Brothers/Eagles slate and a CSN&Y/The Band/Beach Boys line up. Both in the middle of the summer. I was only conscious for some of it.
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stc

stc 1440

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one of the first i can remember going to without my parents was a free sammy hagar show at starplex in 1999. 97.1 the eagle gave away tickets for weeks in advance. we were all the way in the back of the lawn by the wall and there were so many trashy people it was amazing. i don't remember any of the concert but i vividly remember the 3 fights that happened directly in front of us. 

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ohchaucer

ohchaucer 1443

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Neil Diamond when I was probably 5 years old (and then a few times in the few years after that - early 80s).  With my dad, I went to see Chicago and CSNY as a pretty little kid and that was awesome, even if it wasn't "cool" for me at the time.  My first real show with no parental drop-off/chaperone was probably Lynyrd Skynyrd in 8th or 9th grade.  Also saw Bruce Hornsby around then and then a few more high-school friendly shows (New Order, etc.).

I wanted desperately to see Huey Lewis and the News when I was in elementary school but my parents wouldn't let me go because one of his hits was about wanting a new drug.  Goddammit.

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Txlc

Txlc 10

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1976 Eagles in Brisbane Australia. Don't remember who opened for them but they came out for 3 encores and told the crowd after the third one that was all the songs they knew. They were my first and one of the best bands I've ever seen.

 

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VABuckeye

VABuckeye 2472

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1979 Legend Valley Rock n Roll Jam

Cheap Trick, The Cars, Eddie Money and Todd Rundgren and Utopia.  It was the weekend after I turned 18 and graduated high school.  It was also the first time I dropped acid.  I'm surprised that I remember that I was there.

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SHOOTER12

SHOOTER12 8766

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1 hour ago, VABuckeye said:

1979 Legend Valley Rock n Roll Jam

Cheap Trick, The Cars, Eddie Money and Todd Rundgren and Utopia.  It was the weekend after I turned 18 and graduated high school.  It was also the first time I dropped acid.  I'm surprised that I remember that I was there.

Of course you would remember it... you just remembered more vividly than other people, and that's always a good thing 😆

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Mach 1

Mach 1 1676

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3 hours ago, TexasBeta said:

AC DC - 1979 El Paso County Coliseum.

 

Highway to Hell Tour with Bon Scott. Still one of the loudest concerts I’ve been to.

 

 

 

Ha, I saw Aerosmith there in '78.  That place was basically a sweltering barn, with acoustics to match.  I think every rock band just said fuck it, let's turn the amps up to 11, play our set, and get the hell out of here.

* Quick side note : also watched a random exhibition hockey game there.  We left after the second period, not realizing there was a third. 

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TexasBeta

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Ha, I saw Aerosmith there in '78.  That place was basically a sweltering barn, with acoustics to match.  I think every rock band just said fuck it, let's turn the amps up to 11, play our set, and get the hell out of here.
* Quick side note : also watched a random exhibition hockey game there.  We left after the second period, not realizing there was a third. 


Saw VH there in the Fair Warning Tour plus countless others. What a dump.

West Side Rules!
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NTVTXN

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20 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

 

didn't go to the show but got a Stones shirt like this from a friend  but with red sleeves...it was awesomeIMG_7578.jpg

 

  

OT yet sorta related... I just saw this exact tee shirt for sale at a store in LA, on Monday. It can be yours for $225. 

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