First Bigtime Concert

[CatDaddy]

I'm really missing live music! My first concert was Aerosmith`s Toys in the Attic tour back in the summer of 1975. Nazareth was the opening Act. My sister took me to the show because I was in middle school. It was awesome. What was yours?

[thickornotatall]

Janis Joplin at University of Michigan 1967 or 68 with The James Cotton Blues Band....Iron Butterfly with Country Joe and The Fish at Grande Ballroom in Detroit....Barry White with The LOve Unlimited Orchestra at Madison Sq Garden...

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

My first concert was The Manhattan Transfer on its Bodies and Souls tour. I didn't have much for an entertainment budget in college, but once I heard they would be performing on campus, I skipped Sunday dinners (only meal not covered by my dorm's meal plan) until I had enough to buy tickets.

[+ WilliamM]

Ella Fitzgerald on a Sunday Summer night at a tent theater in the Massachusetts town where I lived. It was a big freaking deal

[+ Lucky]

I can't remember that far back, but my early concerts were The Rolling Stones, the Beach Boys, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Deep Purple.

I had to leave the latter one early because the two guys who went with me got too stoned to enjoy it. (I didn't partake.)

UPDATE: I almost forgot! My sister begged me to take her and her friend to see The BEATLES in Cincinnati. So they bought my ticket and paid for the gas. The concert was rained out! So we came back on August 21st, 1966 to see Cyrkle open for them with their popular tune Red Rubber Ball. Then the Beatles came out to a bright sunshine to sing songs that no one could hear because the screams were so loud!

Edited August 11, 2020 by Lucky

[+ WilliamM]

Dylan, Joan Baez.

[nate_sf]

ABBA Voulez-Vous tour at the ASU Activity Center. I was 10 years old and the entire family went.

[Guest NYCRich212]

Aerosmith Madison Square Garden, Ella Fitzgerald West Hartford, Donna Summer in NJ. Front row ( but sat next to a nun in full dress-serious fun killer).

[EZEtoGRU]

Kiss at Cobo Arena in Detroit in January 1976. I've seen them again many times since then...most recently in August 2019 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

[+ Charlie]

Martha and the Vandellas in 1962.

[+ WilliamM]

I saw Judy Garland at Boston Garden when I was a college freshman and even brought a date . The concert was sold out. . I was too young to completely appreciate all the songs. Very talented Singer

[wklukas]

I saw Judy Garland at Boston Garden when I was a college freshman and even brought a date . The concert was sold out. . I was too young to completely appreciate all the songs. Very talented Singer

 

Marlene Dietrich @ Coconut Grove, Miami.....I was 5 yrs old (brought along to the one-woman show / concert by my grandparents) & I def was way too young to appreciate the greatness of the history of that singer, femme fatale & early, early supporter of the LGBTQ culture.

[+ g56whiz]

Alas. My next concert will be my first.

[RandyVue]

Michael Jackson. Incredible!

[thickornotatall]

Kiss at Cobo Arena in Detroit in January 1976. I've seen them again many times since then...most recently in August 2019 at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

We saw James Brown and The Famous Flames at what I remember as the old Cobo Hall...on Saturdays my friends and I took the 7 Mile Rd...2nd Ave bus to The Fox Theater to see the Motown Reviews...Little Stevie Wonder..Fingertips Pts 1 and 2...the bus fare..25 cents

.the ticket..75 cents..after donuts at Mayflower near JL Hudson...

[+ Cash4Trash]

Have seen a number 1) The Who doing all of Tommy at Fillmore East 2) The Pretenders at Radio City 3) Sarah Vaughn, Betty Carter with special guest Billy Eckstine at Carnegie Hall and also Patti Labelle. But, of course, being gay the best concert was The Richie Family at the Ice Palace on Fire Island.

[down_to_business]

The Police... think it was 1981.

[+ LIguy]

Bryan Adams at Madison Square Garden

[+ Charlie]

It was not my first live concert, but does seeing Bette Midler at the Continental Baths count?

[Spursy]

Not my first concert, but what I would consider my first "bigtime" concert: U2 in 1987. It was so good I've since seen them 34 more times in five countries.

[+ azdr0710]

as a young adult, I barely remember seeing King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Chicago in, I believe, 1923.......one of the biggest bands of that era.....sadly, King Oliver died in utter poverty in 1938 in Savannah........

 

Edited August 16, 2020 by azdr0710

[+ jrhoutex]

Fleetwood Mac - Tusk Tour - 1980 - Dallas Reunion Arena

[+ Charlie]

as a youngster, I barely remember seeing King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band in Chicago in, I believe, 1923.......one of the biggest bands of that era.....sadly, King Oliver died in utter poverty in 1938 in Savannah........

 

Wait a minute! Does that mean you are now 100 years old or more?

[rvwnsd]

Hmmm...my first arena concert was Billy Joel in the early 1980s. Had I waited in front of the Carson Pirie Scott store in the rain for the Ticketmaster window to open it would have been Madonna's Like a Virgin tour, but even college-age rvwnsd had the good sense to come in out of the rain!

[beachboy]

Roberta Flack at the Royal Albert Hall in London. At one point the microphone failed but you could still hear her crystal clear voice up in the 'gods.'

 

She sang a Stevie Wonder song & extolled the brilliance of his work then ended with 'And he's just so sexy!