Our neighbor (mother) loved the Osmonds. I'm sure she somehow met them during her life. She was truly crazy I think. But I was in jr. high and she got tickets for her and her kids and my sisters and I to go to an Osmond concert at the Salt Palace. I don't really remember much about it.
The next concert I went to was many years later. I believe I was 21. I went to see Billy Joel. I've seen him four or five times. One of my favorites. I was actually just thinking about concerts I've been to as I saw that Josh Groban had played at Red Rocks in Colorado recently. I did get to go to a concert there once.
Almost?? The Beatles @ Cow Palace, San Francisco 1964. TBM older sister would not consider letting her 15 year old younger sister get anywhere near them.
Peter, Paul & Mary, at NSU (Nevada Southern University), precursor to UNLV, in 1963. Of course, I had to sit in the Lamanite section...
But in high school, after the junior prom, Rayetta and I went to the midnight show at one of the strip hotels, but I don't remember which one, or what we saw: 1961.
Then after Senior Prom, Christine and I saw Steve Lawrence & Edie Gorme at the Sands.
Morrison wouldn't stop playing and they turned the lights out, but everyone stayed. So exciting. The Doors, for me at least, sure didn't age well. Strange Days is the only song I still like.
Blood, Sweat, and Tears in 1974. Unfortunately, David Clayton Thomas (the lead singer) was not with them anymore. It didn't really sound like BS & T without him. In 1975 I could have easily gone to a performance by a group I'd never heard of: Fleetwood Mac. This was the real FM with Stevie and Lindsay, but I didn't go. Still kicking myself for that one.
I saw the Doobie Brothers in the early 80's. It was at Six Flags in Atlanta. Good show. It was supposed to be their farewell tour, but they've toured quite a bit since...
Up With People, Tucson, 1976. The dorm mother for the little blind boys' dorm at the state school for the deaf and blind got the tickets.
Of the more famous names, John Denver, ASU Activity Center, 1986. Extra tickets from a charity supporting blind children in the Phoenix area.
And, as a subbranch to this thread, the first African-American (I love older R&B) I saw in concert came in the 1990s (I don't remember the year) when Natalie Cole played the Celebrity Theater. She was pretty good. And I got to see (obviously a figurative term for me) Stevie Wonder in 1992 when he performed on the day then-Arizona Governor Fife Symington made Martin Luther King Day an official state holiday, reversing the decision of his Latter Day Saint predecessor, Evan Meekam (hope I spelled his name correctly).
Hendrix must have been 1970. I was around 17 then. It was a first date with a very nice guy. I told my parents we were going to a concert, which they assumed meant an orchestra or something. They would never have allowed me to go to Hendrix if they knew. A lot of people at the concert were lighting up weed. Being all Mormon, I was appalled and acted all uncomfortable and righteous. I can't imagine why that guy never asked me out again!
I don't remember when the Neil Diamond one was at BYU. Everything is a blur. It must have been mid 70s. All I remember is people being outraged over his tight leather pants.
I just remembered that James Taylor came with his guitar to my elementary school to sing to us kids in the auditorium. I don't remember what grade I was in. This was in S. Cal in the Valley.
He was a nobody back then. Most of the kids, including me, were bored, giggling and talking to each other. That has to be my earliest "concert."
dagney, could it have been early february 1976, did he tear up a letter of someone complaining of his long hair? and his black drummer got a embarrassing long ovation for his solo? i was there too!
I saw Neil Diamond in the late 1990s. He wasn't a hard rocker, but he sure put a lot of himself into the performance. Now I wonder if Mr. Diamond wanted to hold a concert today at BYU if that school would allow a very liberal Jewish man to perform there.
Around 1967, because I was taking violin lessons, my dad took me to see Yehudi Menuhin at ASU's Gammage Auditorium. I would have been around 8 yrs old.
My uncle took me to my first rock concert around 1971. Grand Funk Railroad at Big Surf in Tempe.
Grand Funk Railroad was a great American Band! (pun intended) ;)
I saw Yehudi Menuhin in London (96?) at the Royal something or other theater, with the Royal something or other symphony. It was a nice performance (sorry, I don't recall the details).
Paul McCartney and Wings, Seattle King Dome, June 1976 (last day of school 9th grade)
My friends and I bought 300 level tickets (I think they were about $10) nose bleed section, and some other friends had 100 level tickets but wanted to trade with us so they could sit with other friends that had 300 level tickets.
Great show, sat for the first half, went down to the floor and got close up for the second half.
I was at that concert. It was a miserable time for me. I was with a guy that was my ex-fiancee. He begged me to go. I had a bad cold, I was just over him and his stupid shit.
I went and forced myself to suffer through it. I thought Paul's voice sounded cooked. I'd seen the Beatles in Portland when I was in 8th grade. Much more exciting. That was my first concert, about 1967ish
John Denver with Helen Reddy opening at BYU. I forget which hall but I remember they wouldn't let her sing her hit "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar.
Best concert EVER: Bette Midler at the Greek September 17, 1979 when besides her other outrageousness surprised us with the Mermaids in wheel chairs.
A blurb on the show:
But Monday night we also got Bette the clown, Bette the impressionist, Bette the chanteuse, Bette the mine, Bette the rock star and other Bettes too fleeting to pin down. At times it wasn’t so much a revue as a prospectus. Here’s one performer who is never going to be accused of giving us the same old thing.
And . . , she was ours. Some of you will know what I mean.
As for Bette, I wonder how much of what she used to do and say could be done in today's Correctness Police State.
I forgot about Lagoon. That was great. As a teen in the sixties I saw Paul Revere and the Raiders and Bobby Vee but I don't remember which one first. Unfortunately I do remember I wore a Nehru jacket and medallion to one of those with my blonde Beatle cut.
I saw Cheap Trick just a couple years ago at a local amphitheater. The music was good. The schtick wore a little thin (how many times can Rick Nielsen look at the audience and act surprised?).
(for those unaware, Screaming Lord Sutch was a rock singer but best known as the founder of the Offical Monster Raving Loony Party which is a joke party that nevertheless contests some elections)
Soft Machine Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Was he any good? > > (for those unaware, Screaming Lord Sutch was a > rock singer but best known as the founder of the > Offical Monster Raving Loony Party which is a joke > party that nevertheless contests some elections)
He was very good. Though the stage curtains accidentally set on fire during his version of "Fire". Very dramatic. The two guitarists riffed whilst they rescued the drummer (trapped behind his drums, near the flames) and put the fire out with fire extinguishers. I was at the front of the crowd thinking "****! This isn't good!"
1964, The Rip Cords. Capital Theatre Lethbridge. They were a California hot rod/surfer duo that had a hit with Hey Little Cobra.Was just prior to getting my license so dad drove me and a buddy into town.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2022 08:18PM by Lethbridge Reprobate.
A bit of an embarrassment but the first concert I asked a girl out too. I got turned down. She is however a Facebook friend and likes all my posts, so I guess no hard feelings.
Ended up going with one of my best friends and my Dad insisted I not drive, so he picked us up at the curb. Lot's of Freaky People with weed even at a SLC John Denver concert.
Interesting responses, what I don't see, Phil Collins, pearl jam,red hot chili peppers, Nirvana, bon Jovi, matchbox 20, etc. lots of boomers, early gen-x (like me)mine, Stevie Ray Vaughan, 87, lawlor events center Reno,nv.just wondering if it's the boards demographic, like I said ,interesting