Who & When Was The 1st Concert You Attended & How Old Were You?
 

1986: Van Halen 5150 Tour - I was 15 & they sent me home from school the next day because I wore this shirt from the concert:
http://www.greenguysboard.com/board/...1&d=1550616173
I went home, put tape over ASS and went back to school :D

BTW: A really cool website to keep track of every concert you've ever been to is SetList.fm - oddly enough, I'm greenguy over there |greenguy|

I was 17. June 1977, KC & The Sunshine Band, Memorial Coliseum, Portland, OR. My brother won the tickets on a radio station call in promo. I wasn't really a KC fan, but one of the opening acts was Santana. |thumb

I went to see Judas Priest when I was in eighth grade. I didn't want to go, but my parents sent me to chaperone my older brother. |loony| It was the first time I smelled pot and I have hated the smell ever since. Great show other than all of the smoke and, well, people.

First one? Wow.. Leonard Bernstein conducting at the Shrine Auditorium in probably 1962 or 1963. I was about 8 at the time and the school took all of the music students to see how a real orchestra performed. I also first saw Harry Belafonte with Miriam Makeba during this same time period. I think that was my first real night-time paid concert.

I always thought it was KISS 1976 but we looked it up on the internets lol, it was KISS July 8, 1977 in Halifax, I was 11 and my brother 8 about to turn 9. My Dad took us :D

Guess Who at the Canadian National Exhibition with my sister (who is seven years older than me). I think is was about 1972 or 1973 so that would put me about 11 or 12. Like UW, it was the first time I smelled pot.

Now THAT is a very cool 1st concert, especially when you throw in Love Gun was released a week before |headbang|

I'm surprised it wasn't 24 time Juno Award winner Anne Murray :D

I was gonna say that's a HORRENDOUS first concert, but since you guys won the tix & Santana opened, I'll let it slide :D

Speaking of opening acts, Van Halen's was Bachman–Turner Overdrive, so technically they were the 1st band I ever saw #TCOB

J:)lly hasn't posted in this thread yet because he's spent the last 8 hours on this site|lol|

Had to use the interwebs because I knew I was 14 but it was in 1979 and then it all made sense as it was just a couple weeks before my 15th birthday.

Styx - March 30,1979 - April Wine opened.

Styx in 79 is cool |thumb We saw them a couple years back & Tommy Shaw is still a fucking Rock God |headbang|

Like me, the 1st band you ever saw was also Canadian|lol|

Big brother AND Greenguy sees you! |lol|

This was a hard one, because I really can't remember.
But I *think* this was the first one (after some google'ing)
1984-10-11: Dio on his Last In Line tour. Fun fact, this was the first concert in this venue without chairs!! (So I'm part of local history|boobies|).

Back in those days big names usually didn't stop in Norway. We're kind of on the outskirt, at least back then with very few venues to choose from.
I *DID* see Eric Clapton in the same venue and there are two dates it can be, but I'm going for EC 1985-03-20.

Nowadays almost everyone makes a stop in Norway and we have some really great venues spread around southern part of Norway.
Back then it was almost only Drammenshallen who did have concerts and that's not even close to close where I lived.

And, if we count out a few small christian bands in our community, DIO is the very very first. Probably.

J:)lly

I'm no dingaling |thumb

Dio on that tour is a great 1st concert |thumb

This made me think of the last concert at Darien Lake* before they installed permanent seating (no, I wasn't there, but it was BIG news)

*Darien Lake is a Six Flags about 1/2 way between Buffalo & Rochester that has a 21,000** seat amphitheater.

**The arena*** in Buffalo holds 19,000 for hockey, but that's gotta be less for concerts.

***The stadium holds 71,000**** for football but Wiki shows the attendance of The Jacksons Victory Tour in 1984 was 94,000. Point is, no one even comes close to filling it anymore (The Rolling Stones had 50,000 in 2015, Guns N Roses had 35 when I saw them there in 2017)

****The stadium used to hold 80,290 for football & there was a time in the 90's that we were the biggest NFL stadium after Cleveland did some renovations & dropped from 83,000 to 78,000 in 1992. We're currently 10th.

PS - One fact I never knew about the stadium I grew up 3 miles from:
Thank |buddy| I was only 6 or I'd have been PISSED!! :D

DID EVERYONE GET ALL THAT?!

|couch|

Why do you imagine that is? Is it that modern bands don't have the same pull or are people just not as interested in concerts?

I have only ever been to just two concerts, but that's largely due to the fact that social anxiety made them basically unattractive to me. (Remember the good old days before social anxiety came along and you could simply say that you didn't like people?) Plus, and you will find this very difficult to believe (Ha!), I never had that tight group of friends other people seemed to have had, and therefore went to shows with. Either way, I'm not sure I ever liked any band enough to want to see them live.

I've enjoyed seeing them for what is now 40 years. Saw them a few times during the early eighties but have actually seen them more in the past 20 years. The band, with some new players, still puts on a solid show every time we've seen them, true professionals.

You have to remember a couple of things:
- Buffalo isn't exactly the most populous place on the planet, even with Canadia just north of our unwalled border. Other than The Jacksons, the only concert that shows selling out was The Who in 82. (but there are a lot of concerts with no data - and they only show 60k for Guns N' Roses/Metallica in 92 & that place was packed)
- 70-80k is a lot of fucking people. Most arenas (hockey/basketball) hold 15-20k. Baseball stadiums are 40-50k. If a band sells out our arena, that's a big deal. Move those 20k people to the stadium & you'd wonder why they bothered to put on a show.

4 words: Fermented Hops And Barley |cheers| That's how I turn off that pesky social anxiety crap |thumb