First Concert

[Slaky]

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Ashamed? That's awesome.

[Slaky]

I'm pretty sure REM were still cool in 1989.  Nowadays, if they played in my back garden, I'd close the curtains.  My first gig is something that I'm very proud of - indeed, each of my first three were, even with the benefit of hindsight, pretty fucking cool:

First: Jellyfish, supported by Katydids (who?) at the Town and Country, Kentish Town, London, 1991.

Second:  Blur, supported by Family Cat (who?) at the Kilburn National, Kilburn, London, 1991.

Third:  Carter USM, supported by The Inspiral Carpets at the Brixton Academy, Brixton, London, 1991.

Jellyfish is still one of my top three gigs ever - up there with Weller (in Munich) and Damien Rice (also in Munich).  Those boys had more fucking talent than a hundred Biebers or Rihannas, and it was a crying shame when they split up after just two albums: albums which I have absolutely worn out, and yet still sound as fresh and interesting as they did the day they were released.

Best band I've seen recently was "Buster Shuffle", at the Bitterzoet in Amsterdam.  Top ska band and destined for (relatively) great things, I think.  Check them out on Spotify.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Nothing wrong with any of this.  Just goes to prove, Tonker is way fucking cooler than I will ever hope to be.

My saving grace of my wasted youth in the late 80s (musically speaking) was my discovery of Jellyfish.  I have no idea how i found them among the garbage to which I was listening.  I remember liking them a lot, along with a band called Gene & Jezebel.

I then discovered Music for the Masses and Grateful Dead and the skies cleared...the 90s were all full of Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails and REM and good shit.  Thank athiesmo.

Mate, you're the coolest dude I know.  Apart from Slak, clearly.  Slak is the coolest dude any of us knows.

Well, at least I've got you fooled.

My first concert was MC Hammer supported by Boyz II Men at Rosemont and I went backstage and got my picture taken with MC Hammer. He was not yet Hammer, I don't think. I was definitely 12 so I think I get a pass.

[PenPho]

1. 1986 - Peter Gabriel "So" at Madison Square Garden.
2. 1991 - Van Halen "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" at Meadowlands. Opening Act - Alice in Chains.
3. 1992 - Santana @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Opening Act - Phish.

And I bought this shirt for $35.

[Tonker]

1. 1986 - Peter Gabriel "So" at Madison Square Garden.
2. 1991 - Van Halen "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" at Meadowlands. Opening Act - Alice in Chains.
3. 1992 - Santana @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Opening Act - Phish.

And I bought this shirt for $35.

Bit of a hiatus there, great mate - banged up, were you?

[PenPho]

1. 1986 - Peter Gabriel "So" at Madison Square Garden.
2. 1991 - Van Halen "For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge" at Meadowlands. Opening Act - Alice in Chains.
3. 1992 - Santana @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center. Opening Act - Phish.

And I bought this shirt for $35.

Bit of a hiatus there, great mate - banged up, were you?

Between '86 and '91?

Well, I was 10 years old, to be fair (in '86.)

After '92, there was a string of Dead/JGB/Further and Phish shows that I tripped my way through until I became this old guy.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

My first concert was MC Hammer supported by Boyz II Men at Rosemont and I went backstage and got my picture taken with MC Hammer. He was not yet Hammer, I don't think. I was definitely 12 so I think I get a pass.

You mean you didn't get to meet The Funky Headhunter?

Edit: Upon further review, he was already just "Hammer" by the time "Too Legit to Quit"* was released in 1991.

*My first CD

[SKO]

David Bowie. 2004? Maybe 2005. The Mark of the Quad Cities. He didn't do Space Oddity and focused mostly on his newest stuff. Man Who Sold the World was good. Had his bald female guitarist cover Freddie Mercury's part in Under Pressure. Overall, I was pretty underwhelmed, but the chick next to us had huge hogans and everyone got an eyefull at some point, so that's what I remember most.

[flannj]

I was sixteen, 1975, Halloween night.
Frank Zappa, at the Uptown Theater.
A 4500 seat monster built in 1925. Like so many of the old theaters it is shuttered now.
It's a local thing.

FZ used to play every year in Chicago on Mother's Day and on Halloween night, usually at the Uptown. He played for over 3 hard working hours at all his shows.  
After that first time I made sure skinny teenage flannj saw him every show.

Fastest guitarist I have ever seen live. A great way to start off a concert going youth.

For all you youngsters that never made it inside the Uptown, the lobby...



Don't let the old photo throw you, that place was a hole.

[Quality Start Machine]

I was sixteen, 1975, Halloween night.
Frank Zappa, at the Uptown Theater.
A 4500 seat monster built in 1925. Like so many of the old theaters it is shuttered now.
It's a local thing.

FZ used to play every year in Chicago on Mother's Day and on Halloween night, usually at the Uptown. He played for over 3 hard working hours at all his shows.  
After that first time I made sure skinny teenage flannj saw him every show.

Fastest guitarist I have ever seen live. A great way to start off a concert going youth.

For all you youngsters that never made it inside the Uptown, the lobby...



Don't let the old photo throw you, that place was a hole.

Double features every Saturday night. Keep your feet up to avoid the rats.

[BigDrinky]

Rush, Palmer Auditorium, Davenport IA on February 22, 1981.  I was sixteen years old and I don't remember anything except the concert aroma and what a dump Palmer Auditorium was.  Of course, neither stopped me from seeing quite a few more shows there over the next few years. 

[thehawk]

Bruce Springsteen, September 1985, the Orange Bowl (Born in the USA Tour).  Never really had that great taste in music (although they were also the first tickets I had bought online).  Ironically, I did marry a Jersey girl who used to hang out at a Mexican Restaurant in Rumsen NJ (as Bruuuce was known to hang out there). 

[Tonker]

Bruce Springsteen, September 1985, the Orange Bowl (Born in the USA Tour).  Never really had that great taste in music (although they were also the first tickets I had bought online).  Ironically, I did marry a Jersey girl who used to hang out at a Mexican Restaurant in Rumsen NJ (as Bruuuce was known to hang out there). 

I'm pretty sure that's not ironic.  CT?

Also, you bought tickets online in 1985?  Really?  Jesus, I didn't get the interwebs until about eight years after that.  God Bless America.

[Slaky]

Bruce Springsteen, September 1985, the Orange Bowl (Born in the USA Tour).  Never really had that great taste in music (although they were also the first tickets I had bought online).  Ironically, I did marry a Jersey girl who used to hang out at a Mexican Restaurant in Rumsen NJ (as Bruuuce was known to hang out there). 

I'm pretty sure that's not ironic.  CT?

Also, you bought tickets online in 1985?  Really?  Jesus, I didn't get the interwebs until about eight years after that.  God Bless America.

Seriously - how the hell?

[CT III]

Bruce Springsteen, September 1985, the Orange Bowl (Born in the USA Tour).  Never really had that great taste in music (although they were also the first tickets I had bought online).  Ironically, I did marry a Jersey girl who used to hang out at a Mexican Restaurant in Rumsen NJ (as Bruuuce was known to hang out there). 

I'm pretty sure that's not ironic.  CT?

Also, you bought tickets online in 1985?  Really?  Jesus, I didn't get the interwebs until about eight years after that.  God Bless America.

I'm gonna go with no on the irony.

And as long as I'm in this thread - first concert was AC/DC at the Rosemont Horizon in 1991.

[morpheus]

I'm pretty sure REM were still cool in 1989.  Nowadays, if they played in my back garden, I'd close the curtains.  My first gig is something that I'm very proud of - indeed, each of my first three were, even with the benefit of hindsight, pretty fucking cool:

First: Jellyfish, supported by Katydids (who?) at the Town and Country, Kentish Town, London, 1991.

Second:  Blur, supported by Family Cat (who?) at the Kilburn National, Kilburn, London, 1991.

Third:  Carter USM, supported by The Inspiral Carpets at the Brixton Academy, Brixton, London, 1991.

Jellyfish is still one of my top three gigs ever - up there with Weller (in Munich) and Damien Rice (also in Munich).  Those boys had more fucking talent than a hundred Biebers or Rihannas, and it was a crying shame when they split up after just two albums: albums which I have absolutely worn out, and yet still sound as fresh and interesting as they did the day they were released.

Best band I've seen recently was "Buster Shuffle", at the Bitterzoet in Amsterdam.  Top ska band and destined for (relatively) great things, I think.  Check them out on Spotify.  Go ahead, I'll wait.

DPD.  Hah, I've just realised that I'd actually forgotten my very, very first gig, which was a year earlier:

Iron Maiden, supported by Anthrax, at the NEC, Birmingham, 1990.

That's nothing to be ashamed of, either.  Maiden rocked, and Anthrax might even have been better.  Still the first and only arena concert that I've ever been to, though - I figured out pretty quickly that I preferred more intimate settings.

Nothing wrong with any of this.  Just goes to prove, Tonker is way fucking cooler than I will ever hope to be.

My saving grace of my wasted youth in the late 80s (musically speaking) was my discovery of Jellyfish.  I have no idea how i found them among the garbage to which I was listening.  I remember liking them a lot, along with a band called Gene & Jezebel.

I then discovered Music for the Masses and Grateful Dead and the skies cleared...the 90s were all full of Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails and REM and good shit.  Thank athiesmo.

Mate, you're the coolest dude I know.  Apart from Slak, clearly.  Slak is the coolest dude any of us knows.

Well, at least I've got you fooled.

My first concert was MC Hammer supported by Boyz II Men at Rosemont and I went backstage and got my picture taken with MC Hammer. He was not yet Hammer, I don't think. I was definitely 12 so I think I get a pass.

How did Apex get Slak's login info?

Mine was Genesis, August 1982 as I recall it.