At The Barbecue: Concert Time

Rupert: Considering I had pretty limited musical tastes at the time, I’m glad to admit that my first concert experience was one I would happily repeat to this day. In fact, it was a good transition in my life, which involved quitting sports and starting to smoke tons of brick weed and listening to lots of music. With a fresh driver’s license in hand, I drove the crew to the 1994 edition of Lollapalooza at Pine Knob in Michigan – the venue with the steepest damn lawn in the world.

The line up consisted of the Beastie Boys, Smashing Pumpkins, George Clinton & the P Funk All-Stars (I’m still partially deaf from this set), A Tribe Called Quest, Cypress Hill, the Breeders, Pharcyde, and a bunch of other cool shit. Before there was Phish and the jambands, it was all about the Beastie Boys. A lot of my high school years were spent listening to and idolizing Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D. I remember feeling pretty lame at that Lollapalooza though and deciding that I needed to get into this concert scene. Needless to say, I walked away with a set of those terrible stickers they used to sell to all the dorky kids with the cheesy sun that says “Smile.”

Luke Sacks: My first concert was appropriate for a Jersey boy – Bruce Springsteen 1985 at Giants Stadium on his Born in the USA Tour. I can recall listening to the Born in the USA album for weeks on end leading up to the concert. It was hot as hell – even for August on the East Coast – at Giants Stadium that night. I remember it was the first night of the stand and more than any Bruce song, I remember him playing Twist and Shout. And there I was, just twisting and shouting my 11-year old ass off. Out in the Street and of course, Dancing in the Dark and Glory Days, also stand out in my memory. The following November, I saved my allowance and any other cash I could get my hands on and bought the Live 1975-1985 compilation on vinyl to relive that night. I’ve seen Bruce three times since then but none compared to that first concert experience.

Jennifer Kirk: My first concert was the great Charlie Daniels Band at the Oklahoma State Fair. I don’t recall what year it was, I had to have been around 8 or 9. I do remember the rodeo taking place before the show, and that was most likely my reason for being there at the time. I can’t give you a setlist but Devil Went Down to Georgia was, of course, nothing short of epic. The state fair was a great experience as a child, not only could I consume massive amounts of fried-funnel-sugar coated-breaded ANYTHING, but I was able to see my first concert of a has-been country artist and more importantly I got to ride a camel for the first time!

I would return a year later to once again witness the awesomeness of Devil Went Down when the CDB returned to the state fair. I haven’t seen them since and have no plans to see the band in the future, unless they get added to the Bonnaroo lineup. Don’t even get me started on Charlie’s outspoken politics and soapbox rants. However, I will give him credit for throwing some of the best southern-rock and country musicians together throughout the 70’s, 80’s and even today as he hosts his annual Volunteer Jam.

Scott Bernstein: While the Springsteen concert Luke attended was my second concert, my first concert was one year earlier at the same venue. My mom took me to see The Jacksons Victory Tour, and it was fucking awesome. Michael and his brothers rocked my world during a rapid-fire set that ended with the craziest fireworks display I had ever seen. I also learned a harsh lesson that day when The Jacksons played a number of songs from their horrible Victory album instead of the old standbys. I still can’t believe they didn’t play ABC.

Chuck Myers: February 9, 1982, Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, NM. Foreigner on the “4” tour, with a bigass inflatable jukebox that blew up during “Juke Box Hero.” Kind of like Pink Floyd’s pig, but dumber. The opening act was “And Special Guest,” who turned out to be some unknown Canadian dude named Bryan Adams. My older sister took me, and she made us move because she said the people behind us were going to puke. I didn’t believe her, but about an hour into the show, BLEEEAHHGGGH. Puke everywhere, except on us. My older sister rocks.

Mike Sicki: The first concert I ever attended was Bell Biv Devoe (with Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill as openers) at the Rosemont Horizon in 1991. This concert was followed a few weeks later by the second concert I ever attended: Vanilla Ice at the Riviera Theater. BBD had a basketball hoop on each side of the stage and Michael Bivins did not miss a shot he took, including what must have been a 45 footer. Vanilla Ice had the Riv balcony bouncing, but his set was on the short side.

DaveO: August 8th, 1994, it was The Spin Doctors on the top of the bill with – Cracker, The Gin Blossoms and a percussionist named Vinx to support. The scene was Great Woods in Mansfield, MA for my first rock concert and I was with my Dad. I remember it surprisingly well. First up was Vinx, who was humorous, I remember him doing a rendition of Day-O. Cracker came next, their set was great, and they were still touring for the album Kerosene Hat and played the hits: Low and Get Off This, as well as a memorable rendition of HIDDEN TRACK Euro-Trash Girl. They also played Loser and introduced it as a Grateful Dead cover but it would be another 4 years before I would start to discover the Dead. The Gin Blossoms also put on a great set; I remember being impressed with the drum work in Found Out About You, killer fills. The Spin Doctors set paled in comparison to the openers. I guess you could say I was a discerning rock critic at a young age. Dad & I made the decision to split for the parking lot before they returned for their encore to beat the traffic – making good concert decisions since age 12.

Some Dude: Like a few other people who have already detailed their first concert experience I was wrestling with which one to write about. Should it be the first concert I actively wanted to go to? The first I bought tickets to on my own and went to without parental supervision? Well since the question posed was very first concert, we’ll go with that one. Much like Jennifer I don’t remember many of the details, but I do know it was none other then the Jewish Elvis – Neil Diamond at Madison Square Garden (upon further investigation all signs point to the year being 1986) What I do remember about the night, other then sitting in the nosebleeds, was being excited about hearing Turn On Your Heartlight (Diamond’s hit inspired by the movie E.T.). I also seem to recall a rousing rendition of America and Diamond playing something off his Jonathan Livingston Seagull album with accompanying cinematic visuals.

So, we showed you ours, let’s see some of yours…