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Underground > Radio & Music >

First Gig You Ever Went To?

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13:24 / 26.04.02

or: show yr age! this has no doubt been done before, but not for a while, i think, and there's newbies here. and i think it's fun.

ok, mine: 3 april 1980. day after my 13th birthday - the stranglers/hazel o'connor/the passions at the rainbow in finsbury park, london. the stranglers were missing hugh cornwell (in prison for possession of cannabis) so they had special guests to help em out: ian dury, robert smith, toyah wilcox, billy idol, jake burns.... loads of horrible, sorry, lovable spikey tops were spitting beer at each other. some of them had our seats, but we were too little and afraid to ask them to move. it was scary, but it was great.

13:34 / 26.04.02

I think it was 1988 if memory serves? The Kinks on the "UK Jive" tour. I'd won the tickets through a bizarre radio contest in which one gave the "most creative" answer to some bizarre question. Arena seats at (no longer in existence) Poplar Creek Theatre. Freezing cold. The Kinks are the fucking bomb so needless to say it was a great show. They played the opening bars to "Lola" all night, the crowd would go wild and then they'd play something else. To this day I can't remember if they played "Lola" but the song remains a favorite.

Matthew Fluxington

13:41 / 26.04.02

My first gig was Sonic Youth/ The Breeders/ St. Johnny @ The Academy in NYC in 1993. I was just about 14 years old. I went with some older friends of mine, and it fucking ruled. They played "Candle" which was my favorite SY tune at the time, and looking back on the setlist, they also did "Kotton Krown"; which is a song that if I saw them do it live today, I'd probably cry. The Breeders were okay, I just remember just kinda being bored and waiting for them to play the 'good songs'. St Johnny were pretty decent too. I really miss The Academy - it closed down some time in 1996, a few of my first shows were there, and it was a really nice place in spite of the fact that the ceiling was falling apart.

Fun fact: my first two rock shows were both Sonic Youth gigs. The next one that I saw was this one.

Then I'd see Pavement touring for Wowee Zowee, Pearl Jam touring for No Code, and Fugazi touring for nothing in particular in 1996. I really badly wanted to see R.E.M. with a few of my friends in 1995, this is back when R.E.M. was my favorite band, but for some reason I wasn't allowed to go. I can't remember why. I'm still kinda bitter about that, because I love Monster/Hi-Fi so much...

13:44 / 26.04.02

Ronnie James Dio, West Palm Beach Auditorium, early spring 1984 I think. I remember getting high on second hand potsmoke, and I remember having swimming regional meet early the next morning. the serious swim jocks were jealous, which was a nice reversal.

and, of course, I remember giant fucking dragons with lasers in their eyes.

13:45 / 26.04.02

The Cure, in 1995, I think, when I was 15. Wembley. Fucking fantastic. Fell backwards off the chair I was standing on, admittedly, which was slightly embarrassing. Was next to a goth girl who was so committed to her gothdom that she just swayed miserably from side to side when literally everyone else was dancing about...impressive. (and no, that was not a slag off the goths type comment - I'd be a goth myself if I had the patience).

The Cure are so damn cool live... they should become their own tribute band, just so they get to go on performing the good stuff. Seen 'em 4 times in total now, I think.

14:24 / 26.04.02

Ratt with openers Queensryche. (Anyone know the escape keys for an umlautted 'y'?). THis was prolly early '87, at a crappy county coliseum in Odessa, Tx. 9th grade, and Midland/Odessa is waaaay out of the way, so we went to see whatever bands came to town, almost all of them shit. But with two rock shows a year, what can you do?

The Mr E suprise

14:25 / 26.04.02

Marillion
Followed by Heart the week after.
In my defence I was 13...

14:42 / 26.04.02

I won't admit to my first two shows (early highschool kid with terrible taste in music) I'll just say it was the end of the hair band years.

First show I'll admit to was my first club show. L7 at the old 930 club in June of '92. I either had just turned 17, or was just about to. The show was packed, and the main room was seriously cramped (I nominate the old 930 for worse lay out for a club, basically forcing the entire crowd into about a 1/3 of the club's space. Unless you like paying money to watch a show on small TV screens) You couldn't move, except up and down. I loved it as only a highschool kid going to his first club show could. Two things I remember is my shirt being soaked when I left, and finding a copy of the handstamp on my shirt. I guess from the person standing behind me.

God, we thought we were so cool.

14:42 / 26.04.02

I was 14, and had lied to my father about my whereabouts in order to venture downtown to see a show by some local punks bands, Hockey Teeth and the Ethyl Mormons.

After being force-fed watery domestic beer in some hideous dive of a bar whose washrooms were literally full of people smoking crack (!!), we proceeded to the show. The doorman, miraculously, let me into the club, where the music was so eardrum-shatteringly loud that I thought I was going to pass out.

The highlight of the evening was some drunk punk girl repeatedly ashing her cigarette on my head, which made my hair gel crackle in a really appealing way. All the beer in combination with second-hand cigarette and pot smoke made me very very ill, and I spent the whole night longing to be far away from the squalour of the city and back in the bland cleanliness of suburbia, while trying to act cool and tough. Ick. I'm glad I'm not an adolescent anymore.

It's taken me 10 years to get over that experience, and I've only just started to attend shows again.

14:52 / 26.04.02

Ride, at the Hummingbird, Birmingham. I was 15, I think. 1991-ish, just before Going Blank Again came out.

They'd played some of the tracks from that album a couple of weeks before on the Evening Session and I'd learnt them off by heart. Spent the entire night in the centre-front, singing my little heart out. Amazing night. Ride, at that time, were my Big Thing and had been since I'd ifrst heard the Play EP. The only thing wrong with the night was that the only acknowledgement of the crowd came in the form of a muted "Thanks" from Mark Gardener at the end of each song.

Supporting group? Mercury Rev, my friend. This would have been six months or so after Yerself Is Steam was released and hardly anyone knew who the fuck they were. The vast majority of the audience were completely disinterested, but there was something about the absolute oddness about ver Rev that got under my skin. They did a twelve minute cover of the Specials Ghost Town, with someone playing a flute into a mic, filling the room with the strangest noise I'd heard.

16:42 / 26.04.02

Blur, Modern Life is Rubbish tour, Manchester, October 1993, which means I was 16.

Won the tickets through Melody Maker; pretty good show, as I remember.

Salad were supporting, which was a bit of a downer as they were absolutely crap.

wembley can change in 28 days

16:45 / 26.04.02

Oh, this is not funny. I saw New Kids on the Block play at Skydome when I was 13.

Before you decide I'll never be your friend, let me say that my own young folly has taught me that people can change and that I should be patient with teenagers (this does not preclude making fun of them, of course). After all, my next gig was Sarah McLachlan (back on the Solace tour, before she had lots of money), and since then I've seen Tom Waits and David Bowie. I'm all right, really.

Goodness Gracious Meme

16:47 / 26.04.02

Soul II Soul allnighter at Brixton academy, 1989 I think. Taken by older cousin who was looking after me...

Was a revelation to a speccy 14year-old

19:39 / 26.04.02

My first was ABBA in -78.
/oldtimer

20:04 / 26.04.02

I'm not just saying this to save face, but I honestly don't remember. Probably some forgettable punk gig at a VFW hall. The first one that sticks in my memory is seeing Big Drill Car at a high school in Green Bay.

20:05 / 26.04.02

i started hanging around local clubs when in 1994 (i was 13 at the time) when some friends had formed bands, but my first show by a money making artist would be: >sigh< silverchair at the stone pony, asbury park nj, dec 1995. yeah, looking back what a shit band, but i held my own on the floor (avoided those two steel beams, for anyone familiar with the old pony), though i got kicked in the head trying to help some dude crowdsurf, and some aussie took a few swings at me. my first show could have been that REM tour Flux spoke of, but no one else wanted to go. for years i told no one of this.

20:15 / 26.04.02

fascinating stuff so far, you (mostly) young whippersnappers. first gigs are special indeed. there was a band i saw well over a hundred times, but no one here will ever have heard of them. ah, those days.....

20:30 / 26.04.02

Agent Orange when i was 13-ish at the Diamond Head Theater in Honolulu, in um...85 (freshman yr) =)

my first show would have been those guys that did jukebox hero back in eighth grade but my pop wouldn't let me go out that late on a week night, the bastard.

22:48 / 26.04.02

I grew very quickly into pop from 14 onwards, mainly because I discovered a wondrous thing called the "Evening Session". But I never twigged that people actually went to gigs, coming from a backwater where there were none. Arab Strap played when I was 16, but somehow I forgot to try to get in. I'd have killed to have seen them then.

So anyhow. Doves, Cambridge Corn Exchange, November 2000.

I ought to gig more. I just don't. Might see Hundred Reasons next week, though...

23:38 / 26.04.02

Sgt. Skagnetti and Spring Heeled Jack at a local teen center when I was about 14 or 15. And an inordinate amount of fun it was too.

Although my first grown up non-teen center gig would have been Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds at the House of Blues during my brief stint in New Orleans in '98. I was about 18. Yeah, I know, old maid for a first concert, but I'm kind of an agoraphobe.

00:36 / 27.04.02

radiohead concert in belfast last september. Kinda old for a first concert( i was 20) but it was excellentio. mr yorke seemed to adore us lovable irish and was actually smiling alot of the time and came out for four on cours. Not many people there so we could get up really close, heard spinning plates piano unscrambled version for first time and sent shivers down my back. yeah and the taxi driver who took us to the gig said he'd had a couple of the guys in the cab earlier on. he was surpirsed they were such quiet, polite, friendly, boys, not what he expected at all.

02:20 / 27.04.02

I think I must of been around 6..it was the Osmonds. I was in tenessee visiting an aunt and they had a concert when we were touring the grand ol opry. So that was my sad but true first concert..(sad to say my next was the Jacksons Victory tour..my cousin wanted to go.)

05:41 / 27.04.02

kegboy - are you for real???? i would've killed to see the osmonds! and the jacksons.... well, you win for kudos. as paleface said, i didn't know that people went to gigs. how would you get a ticket? it was all very mysterious. my first gig was nearly the boomtown rats, because my sister wanted to see them, but my mum thought they were a bit heavy going for us young 'uns - not sure what made the stranglers ok.

A

05:45 / 27.04.02

Living Colour, supported by Australian rock "legends"* the Cosmic Psychos, at Brisbane Festival Hall, in 1993 (i think) when i would have been 16. Living Colour were great (although hardly the sort of thing I'm into these days), Cosmic Psychos were pretty crap.

My second show was Fugazi, though, which has a lot more cred.

*Note- pretty much any Australian punk/rock'n'roll band that has played for a fair few years without much success is apparently "legendary".

10:57 / 27.04.02

can't remember the exact year, between 1985-1987 when I was a teen I went and saw my first Hip Hop gig(showing my age)at the Essex University . Then line up was: Cookie Crew, Three Wize Men and Schooly D. I was on the guest list coz my cousin AJ was in the Three Wize Men.

11:28 / 27.04.02

Motorhead & Therapy? in Swansea, about 2 and a half years ago.

What a start!

Matthew Fluxington

13:02 / 27.04.02

..(sad to say my next was the Jacksons Victory tour..my cousin wanted to go.)

Are you FUCKING INSANE?

You saw Michael Jackson in his prime, with the Jackson Five! That's cool beyond belief!

20:58 / 28.04.02

I fell asleep inside Jane Sibery's amp when I was 3 or 4 at the Mariposa Folk Festival...

...first gig was Metallica in 1991, age 13 at Maple Leaf Gardens. Loud and Fun.

First real concert was Lollapalooza '92. Still one of the best just because I was 14, it was the height of grunge and I got to see Lush, Jesus and Mary Chain, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ministry, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Ahhh... It was even during the whole 'cop killer' scandal, so Soundgarden played it in tribute.

03:27 / 29.04.02

This is disappointing - Poison touring for Open Up and Say Ahh, with opening band Warrant. Please kill me.

The next two were AC/DC and, finally, Fugazi.

uncle retrospective

05:14 / 29.04.02

God, I got a bit freaked out about this a few weeks ago it's benn 10 years scince my first gig. It was Therapy? In a pub in my home town. I thought I was going to die in the mosh pit.
The first "propper" gig (ie not a pub band) was Nirvana in 92. They sucked.

07:57 / 29.04.02

My first show was Pegboy at the Metro in the fall of '95, I was 13. I wasn't doing anything and my older brother just up and asked me if I wanted to go to a punk rock show. I, of course, said "YES!" Then he made me change out of my Wedding Present shirt (a band that he got me into) and into a punk shirt; I picked my Dead Milkmen shirt, it was dirty, but he pointed out: "we're going to a punk show no one will care." Larry Damore, lead singer of Pegboy, accidentilly kicked my glasses off of my head, missing my head by about an inch, when he stage dove, we (my brother's friends and I, he had to leave because my mother paged him because she got mugged on the way home from work) were right up in front the whole time. I went to school the next monday feeling like a whole new man almost.

14:21 / 29.04.02

Went to see Fish (ex Marillion) when I was 15 at the Hammersmith Odeon. I repeated this 4 more times before coming to my senses. My first non-Marillion related band was Screaming Trees at the Marquee in London '93 - which totally blew me away (I'm not going to include the Radio One Roadshow I saw in '89.

The Return Of Rothkoid

14:56 / 29.04.02

My first real gig was You Am I, Crow, The Verys and Drop City at the now-closed Phoenician Club in Sydney. First albums for all. You Am I hadn't quite gotten big, but this was a fucking blinding gig. Front-row, open-mouthed rawk powah.

Prior to that, there'd been Midnight Oil and Bobby Brown (and no, I didn't pay for the latter, thank fuck) but I choose not to think of them.

15:05 / 29.04.02

November 10, 1987, Roger Waters at Copps Colesium in Hamilton on the Radio KAOS tour. And still one of the best damned shows I've ever been to.

Zoom.

15:12 / 29.04.02

3jane: Agent Orange when i was 13-ish at the Diamond Head Theater in Honolulu, in um...85 (freshman yr) =)

85... that'd be right after "When You Least Expect It..." came out, right? Before "I Kill Spies"?

In Honolulu?

Damn, that'd KICK ASS!

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