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First Live Concert


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I was sixteen, 1975, Halloween night. Frank Zappa, at the Uptown Theater in Chicago. A 4500 seat monster built in 1925. Like so many of the old theaters it is shuttered now. http://www.wagnerone.com/wind/album24 . FZ used to play every year in Chicago on Mother's Day (Zappaphiles know why) and on Halloween night, usually at the Uptown. He played for over 3 hard working hours. After that, I made sure when he was in town I saw him every time I possibly could. Fastest guitarist I have ever seen live. A great way to start off a concert going youth.

Heres the lobby:

post-17373-13819301282106_thumb.gif

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Stones - Ampitheater - Chicago - Chuck Berry opened for them with Mick and Keith rockin' behind his amps as he played - Mick Taylor had just replaced Brian Jones - the tour produced the Get Yer YaYa's Out album - what a show!

Stone have always had a thing for Chicago ....

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............long ago.

The group who sang, "I shot the sherriff"....it was extremely loud and yes I forgot their name.

You're kidding, right?

Bob Marley and the Wailers or possibly Eric Clapton? How could you possibly forget those names, or your first concert?

Dean- Starcastle, I really dug them- fantastic Yes-clone band. Had some nice albums. I remember that Lady of the Lake song, very cool.

Michael

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My first live concert that I remember was at Grace Church of DuPage where they do this huge awesome XMas concert every year....I was 6 or 7 years old at the time and all I remember is staring up high at the huge cluster of hornloaded mains [H]

A year later my parents started taking us to a new church - and lo and behold it was the same church with the huge speakers! By 8 years of age I was already working back in the booth...and that's where this crazy obsession with audio officially began.

Since then, I've only been to a handful of concerts where I wasn't behind the board or involved in some other way with the concert.

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Doc- Get out more and LISTEN! Your goal for the remaining half of 2006-

see a jazz combo in a smoky bar

see a hard rock big hair band from the 80's

see a classical symphony, opera, or ballet

see a local band of any type at a seedy nightclub

M

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My very first live concert ever?

Woodstock...1969! Honest...well, sort of...

I was 7 living on top of a hill surrounded by dairy farms in the little rural town of Pulvers Corners, NY. My best friend, Scott Jr. had a teenage brother and sister, and all they ever talked about that summer was going to Woodstock with their hippie-parents. I had no idea they were talking about an outdoor concert...I had no clue what was going on at all in Woostock, but it sounded like whatever they were gonna do it'd be fun!

When Scott Jr. finally asked me if I wanted to go with them to Woodstock, I said sure. Scott Jr. was my best friend and I always liked hanging out with his family...they were a real groovy family and more fun to be around then my boring, old fashioned parents...what'd I know, I was only 7)!

I ran home and asked my mom if I could go to Woodstock that weekend with Scott Jr. and his family. Now, my mom knew all about the rockfest that was going to take place out at the farm through the local news reports, and she wasn't about to let me attend any concert with a bunch of "hippie, commie, pervert freaks!" (her words...she's from Jersey)...in otherwords, NO! Sadly, I later told Scott Jr. that my parents wouldn't let me go, and I can still see 'em all bunched into their Ford LTD stationwagen waving at me as they drove down the road and up the hill, disappearing off into the distance...

Woodstock is over 10 miles northwest of our quiet little farming community, and to this day I can still recall one clear, quiet night sitting on the front steps of our place (after catching a jar full of fireflys), glancing off to another distant hill with a dairy barn and a single silo at its peak. Just beyond that distant hill above the treeline I could see a faint glow of what looked like stadium lights, and very faintly...at times...you could almost make out what sounded like people screaming and applauding...and at times when the breeze would stop blowing...what sounded...like music! I swear this is all true! I can honestly say that I attended the one and only Woodstock...from a distance![H]

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Doc- Get out more and LISTEN! Your goal for the remaining half of 2006-

see a jazz combo in a smoky bar

see a hard rock big hair band from the 80's

see a classical symphony, opera, or ballet

see a local band of any type at a seedy nightclub

lol, I get to mix for jazz gigs every other week on campus - and there are plenty of wannabe 80's bands playing here too. Actually, tomorrow I get to mix for a Jimmy Buffet cover band (I forget their name).

Growing up I always ended up behind the board or performing on stage (playing viola). Heck, I didn't start actually listening to recorded music until I was in highschool. And I had already worked on a few albums in the recording studio by that time!

For the last few years I've been averaging a live concert of some kind at least 3 times per month - though if you count church stuff make that 15.

The handful of live stuff I mentioned was stuff that I wasn't involved in some way with its production...and only one or two of them was I able to enjoy myself. To begin with it's hard to turn off the critical ear, but it's not just that when the soundguys suck. But there's been a few where everything goes smoothly and holy crap is it fun to actually sit back and enjoy yourself.

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My first concert was Queen and Mahogony Rush .

It was 1974 and was at the Gaillard Auditorium here in Charleston . I was 9 years old .

How did a 9 year old luck into this ? Easy , my mother thought that by older sister taking me it would keep her in line . "Did Not Work" . My mother at the time was leary of my sister going to concerts . After the whole Alice Cooper Killers show Fiasco here . Little did my mother know that it would be bussiness as usual . Pot was everywhere , and truethfully I remember hanging with my sister and a couple of her friends that night more than I remember the show . At the time it was louder than anything I had ever experienced . My love for loud , live music was born .

I should mention that Queen was the supporting act . Frank Marrino and Mahogony Rush was the headliner

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Michael,

lol......It was Eric Clapton and I would now love to be able to see that again. Another fellow, a well known drummer played with or opened the show for him.

..............cool thread!

That might have been the tour when Robert Cray opened for Eric, then joined him on stage later. Phil Collins from Genesis would have been the spunky little drummer that night.

Michael

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My first live show by a recorded band was The Electric Prunes at the Clearfield County Fair in central Pennsylvania in August 1967. They showed those farm kids what garage rock was all about! It was a great show that was similar to the Prunes' historic bootleg "Stockholm '67" which was recorded a few months later on the European leg of their tour.

"I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" and "Get Me to the World on Time" were their minor hits.

triceratops

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I must be older than anyone here . . .

I saw Gary Lewis & the Playboys ("Who wants to Buy this Diamond Ring") at some indoor venue in summer 1965 (I think) on the NJ Boardwalk. I was on a family vacation with my mother and sister, and staying with relatives that lived in NJ. I remember that a big hit song at the time was "Summer in the City" by (can't remember who). What year was that? I believe the Beatles played in Shea Stadium while we were in NYC, but unfortunately we didn't attend.

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I must be older than anyone here . . .

I remember that a big hit song at the time was "Summer in the City" by (can't remember who).

"Summer in the City" was by the Lovin' Spoonful featuring John Sebastian. I think their guitarist--Zal Yanovsky--was one of the more underated guitarists of the era. The guitar riff in "Summer in the City" was pretty damn cool! I never saw the Spoonful, or Gary Lewis for that matter. But I did see Sebastian in '69 at Woodstock--when he was way into the tie-dye lifestyle...

triceratops

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Willie Nelson??!! I've got that one beat! Donnie and Marie Osmond at Kings Island some time around 1976. We were at the park anyway and we just were just walking by between rides. They were on a make shift stage consisting of 2 flatbed semi-trailors. Shame we didn't have any darts with us to continue our accuracy practice as we did with D & M's posters at home.[6]

After that is was a few years later when Roberta Flack played at Riverfront Stadium after a Reds game.

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