Your first concert was to see who and when?

Simon and Garfunkel, Sept 1966, Heinz Hall Pittsburgh.  Homecoming concert University of Pittsburgh

Simon and Garfunkel, Sept 1966, Heinz Hall Pittsburgh.  Homecoming concert University of Pittsburgh

Bo Diddley. October 16, 1960. 
State of Texas Prison Rodeo, Huntsville, Texas, north of Houston. I was 14, went with my 18 year old sister and her husband.
Outdoor arena. A stage was set up for Bo and his incredible band in the arena.
The Prison Rodeo was an annual event with prisoners as the participants, Even though many of the participants were Black, the bleachers were still segregated at that time. Those stands were rocking while most of the Whites stayed relatively still.
 

1812 Overture & a Tchaikovsky Symphony at the Royal Albert Hall. I do not remember which orchestra was playing.  It was 1958 or '59. The cannon's echo may still be running round in the Gods!

I was in the local C of E youth club for about 5 years and a few times a year we would go to London, usually the Albert Hall or RFH.  In addition to "classical" concerts (baroque through romantic & 20th century periods) I remember Acker Bilk's Paramount Jazz Band and Monty Sunshine's "Trad Jazz".  We also went to the MJQ at the RFH in (I think) 1961.

Foreigner, 12/3/78, Boston Gahden

My first live show was Bad Company at the Long Island Coliseum in 1977. The Climax Blues Band was the opening act. My friend's mom dropped us off and picked us up. At 13 we thought we were pretty damn cool!
 

some amazing shows on this thread! 

Jefferson Airplane at the Electric Factory, Philadelphia, November 1968.

1970 or 1971, Linda Ronstadt and Michael Nesmith @ Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette Louisiana. Enjoy the music

(1) Typo correction to my prior post ; s/b the GUESS WHO (summer of 1970, not 1979) in Buffalo NY

(2) THE ASSOCIATION (my #1 all-time fave ….) 1970 at university in London, ON

(3) ALICE COOPER (1970 at university in London, ON)

(4j JOHNNY MATHIS (1967 in Toronto, ON ( I was 15….) ….almost forgot about this one ….

Santana, Music Hall,Boston,Ma.  I think it was 1970. Amazing show. 

The Beatles @ Cleveland Stadium in Ohio.  8/14/66

Deodato, performing a live concert on Waikiki Beach in 1974. Top that!

Iron Butterfly! In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida Baby! 

Electric Factory Philadelphia 1969.

Siouxie and the Banshees at a May Ball in 1980. At the end I saw a guy curled up inside one of the base bins of their 40kw system. I often wonder what happened to his brain.

Kenny Rodgers and the First Addition.  Van Wezel performance & arts center in Sarasota Florida in the early 70's.  ( Just dropped in, to see what condition my conditional was in )

The Who, the Clash, and T-bone Burnett - Day on the Green Oakland CA. Like ‘83-ish

In 1969 at age 13, my first concert was Creedence Clearwater Revival in Syracuse, NY.

Tickets were $5.00

A couple of years later, I had to pay the outrageous price of $13.00 to see Frank Zappa.

To put that into perspective, I just bought 2 front row tickets to see David Byrne here in Syracuse for $1100.00

Ah, the good ole days.

Kiss at Maple Leaf Gardens (Toronto) April 26, 1976. It was the "Kiss Alive" tour and it was awesome to a 14-year old! I saw them a few months later at Varsity Stadium with Blue Oyster Cult and Artful Dodger. Oh, the good old days!  

Restricting my response to rock concerts, The Rolling Stones, Hyde Park London, summer 1969

Elvis Presley - Pontiac Silverdome 12/31/75. Fourth row main floor center. I was 9 1/2 years old. My mom took me - one of my best memories as a kid. 

I feel like I always “win” this bar talk. :-)  But, damn, there are some good ones in this string for sure!

(Second concert was Elton John at the Silverdome that following July.)

Wishbone Ash at Alexandra Palace.

Yes Live at Scope Norfolk, VA

when I was Stationed in Hampton, VA

US Army, Jackson Browne, Live at Northern Kentucky University.

February 8, 1977.

Kiss - Rock n Roll Over tour.

Omaha, NE - Civic Auditorium.

Sets the bar pretty high for concert experiences with that being the first one for a 13 year old kid. 

ELO, Pontiac Silverstone, 1978

AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and The Dictators at The Aragon Ballroom in Chicago. 1978 I believe.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon tour in Pittsburgh in 1975. Also saw Bob Marleys last concert at Stanley Theatre in Pittsburgh in 1980.

Beach Boys with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi May 3rd 1968 Washington Coliseum

Steely Dan, August 17th, 1973, Municipal Auditorium, Topeka Kansas.

Creedence Clearwater Revival, with The Ike and Tina Turner Review opening for them. May 22, 1970. Salt Palace Arena, Salt Lake City. I was 14 years old. I lived in a small rural town about an hour's drive away. My older sister drove me and my friends into the city and waited outside while we saw the show.

The mighty Led Zeppelin at MSG June 1977. I was 15 and it was great. 

Cheap Trick, year 19-whatever 

Three Dog Night at the Sioux Falls Arena.  My oldest brother and girlfriend took us three siblings of which I was the youngest - aged 12. 

Blood Sweat and Tears summer of '69.

Jimi Hendrix and Chicago Transit Authority(Chicago) LA Forum 1969. Age 13. What I remember the most was the whole concrete Forum structure was vibrating during the whole time.

Iron Butterfly, with my girlfriend, 1968 at SUNY Binghamton (Harper College) I was 16 years old.

GRAND FUNK At Public Hall Cleveland 1971 

Neil Young & The International Harvester’s with Kris Kristofferson as the opening act. Toronto, Ontario Aug. 1985. CNE Grandstand inside Exhibition Stadium. I was 15 1/2 yrs. old. First time I smoked a joint too ! 
 

Great night still burned into my brain.

Aerosmith at the old Boston Garden in 1977... was a Junior in HS

Elton John Bicentennial tour MSG. With Kiki Dee. I think he made his entrance rising up as the Statue of Liberty or I'm having a fever dream.

I also grew up in Detroit and attended UM .  Not sure it qualifies but Bob Seger played a short set at a Bar Mitzvah in 1971.  He must have been down on his luck and he subsequently hit it big a few years later.  I had gotten into Classical Music in HS and saw the DDO a bunch of times but my first pop concert was at Meadowbrook with the Temptations, probably 1974, and no doubt not anything close to the original lineup.  The one I remember most was first week of college 1976 and the Eagles at Crisler Arena with Hotel California tour.  The week before Gerald Ford had kicked off his election campaign at Crisler and the UM Marching Band played the Victors (Ford had captained the football team ) and it was a political ruckus that ensued.

Lynyrd Skynryrd Capital Theater Passaic NJ 1976. Warm up bands 38 Special and Atlanta Rhythm Section.

I had tickets for Madison Square Garden in 1977 but the plane went down after the 4th show of that tour.

@jrod68 That's cool!  I was 16 or 17 years old.  We were just old enough to drive.

Around 1983, I saw AC/DC in Omaha.  Their Hells Bells tour.  It was awesome, but really loud.  My ears rang for days..... I've read that it was one of the loudest tours in concert history. 

aside from high school symphonic band concerts I played in [contrabass clarinet], the first "real" concert where I wasn't a player, was back in the summer of '83 at seattle's central tavern where blues harmonica player charlie musselwhite and his band were blowin' the walls down, almost literally. the speakers were refrigerator-sized, and the volume was so loud that my drink sloshed in its glass as I sat right up front and center. my hearing has never been quite the same since. shoulda wore industrial hearing protection. young and sorta dumb about it. 

My first was a Battle of the Bands show at the then Charlotte Coloseum with The Grass Roots as main attraction.... don’t remember the others. I went with my ’girlfriend’, shapparoned. 

First real concert was The Doobie Brothers @ Cameron Indoor Stadium on their "Vices" tour.

The Blues Magoos (I'm Never Going Back to Georgia) in the Spring of '69 at the Ekman Civic Center in Old Greenwich, CT. I was 17 and a high school junior.

Yes, April19,1973 in Atlanta.

I was class rep and arranged the group trip as a junior in HS. I got called on the carpet because a joint was passed down our aisle, upsetting someone's parents. Then I got props for not having let anyone take a toke, telling them just to pass it. I even got an apology from the parents, who had to admit that rubbing it out on the floor would have caused potential trouble. As much as we wanted to take a hit, I was relieved that everyone realized it was a school trip and abstained. As a result, we later were able to attend a Flames hockey game and the premiere of the Exorcist at a 2000 seat movie house.

The Beatles with The Righteous Brothers, Seattle Colosseum, August, 1964. 

@sls883  hey I was there too! My mom took me lol. I was 9 or 10. By that time, Kiss had already “jumped the shark”, as the saying goes.  Great memories though. Some guy offered my mom a hit off his joint. I saw a lot of great shows at the Civic Auditorium in the 80s. 

Reading everyone’s first concerts made me think of one thing.  Two amazing concerts I saw were Led Zeppelin’s last tour through the US at the LA Forum with John Bonham and The Who’s last tour through the US with Keith Moon, also at the forum.  Both drummers died soon after those concerts and it just made me think, I must have been the J.D. Vance of drummers!

Hall and Oates at the Wittenberg University Field House in the mid-70's. Followed shortly afterward by AC/DC opening for Foreigner at Hara Arena in Dayton, followed shortly afterward by Kiss, and then Styx/Kansas (or was it the other way around?). So many bands, and a lot of idle time.