[Poultrygeist]

My second live concert was a year or so later (1965?) at the Spartanburg, SC Auditorium where James Brown and his Famous Flames were performing. This was before integration and since the band was black, white folks had to sit in the balcony while the black folks were seated on the floor. The white folks had to stay in their seats but the blacks folks were allowed to dance in the aisles. The music worked the crowd into such a frenzy that one guy down below pulled out a pistol and emptied it into the air. JB ran off the stage and we all hit the deck before scrambling for the exits. The concert ended at that point and we never got our money back. True story.

[doug s.]

I was a mere child when I saw "little" Stevie Wonder at the Township Theater in Columbia, SC circa 1963. The intro group was unheard of at the time but we were all knocked out by their soon-to-be hit, "Baby Love" - The Supremes!

i saw stevie wonder open for the rolling stones at rfk stadium in 1972.  he rocked.  the stones sucked - they took almost 2 hours to come on stage, and played about 40 minutes...

doug s.

[WGH]

Sounds like you are not sure if that was your first concert you been to or the last concert you been too...... 

A good time was had by all. The concert looked something like this:



Illinois Speed Press were fantastic. I still have their first album bought in April '69. Being a poor college student and in the tradition of the times we cut across some farmland, evaded the security patrol on horseback and sneaked in.

Wayne

[richidoo]

First concert that I remember was a jazz reunion concert in downtown New Haven. It was 1970, I was 5yo. Pretty much everybody was there. Dizzy, Ellington, Mulligan, Stitt, Roach, Vaughan, Fitzgerald, Satch. I remember them introducing Ellington, I remember Dizzy introducing Jon Faddis as  his son, he was 14yo. I remember the big jam session they had, w/2 dozen players, all legends. At the end of the jam, Max Roach played a solo for 10 minutes. Everyone walked off stage while he played. When he finished people were standing on the armrests of their chairs screaming. It was pretty intense concert. I've been trying to find info about it but so far nothing. 41 years is a long time. 

Edit: My dad says Mingus, Webster, Basie, Griffin were also there, et. al.  I've been researching this concert on the web. Thanks to the OP for putting me on this trail, it's very exciting to try to revive this great memory.

[mgalusha]

Denver symphony performing the nutcracker,  field trip in elementary school. First rock show was deep purple with Tommy Bolin on guitar. I think Rare Earth opened for them. Probably at the Denver coliseum.

[rockadanny]

1970 (or '71?) - Olympia Stadium - Detroit, MI - 5th row - Alice Cooper and Steppenwolf. When Steppenwolf played "Pusher", with that awesome Hammond B3 and the searing, ear-splitting lead guitar my life changed forever. I went from being a stupid teenage boy, to a stupid teenage boy with an obsession: loud, raunchy, fuzzy, BLUESY, funky, rock-and-roll. My virgin ears rang for days. I still love that kind of music.

[Bill Baker]

First concert I attended was Devo at the Palladium in NYC sometime around 1980. Afterwards was able to meet Mark backstage. Hard to beleive this is the guy that now writes theme songs for childrens' shows such as The Rugrats

[Eric]

Deep Purple with ELO opening in the early 70's

[aragon63]

   The Rolling Stones concert June '76  Zagreb ,Croatia ( Tour of Europe '76 )

[Chromisdesigns]

National Symphony Orchestra when I was in early grades of elementary school.  First rock concert was at a long-defunct alternative FM radio station studio out in the woods somewhere north of Frederick, MD when I was in high school.  Don't remember the station call sign, either.  Bunch of bands, including the Hangmen, a DC local favorite.

First "big-name" concert was Jefferson Airplane at the University of Maryland during the riots...inside they are singing "Gotta revolution" and outside the police are firing pepper gas at the protestors on Rt. 1

[MttBsh]

Mine was Jethro Tull on the Aqualung tour (July 1971) with Yes as the opening band.

[hmen]

I barely remember it, but I was taken to a couple of Leonard Bernstein’s Children’s Concerts in the early 1960’s. My first rock concert was Sly and the Family Stone, Rare Earth and some female folk singer whose name I don’t remember at Madison Square Garden. I think it was September 1970.

[Chromisdesigns]

Mine was Jethro Tull on the Aqualung tour (July 1971) with Yes as the opening band.

That was a great series -- I caught them that summer at Colorado College in Colorado Springs.  Can't remember who opened for them, it might have been Yes.

[jeffh]

REO Speedwagon - 1978

[Demarche]

My first rock concert was Van Halen in 1982, the Diver Down tour. The tickets were a birthday present for my parents.

[Rclark]

Living Color  (remember the song Cult of Personality?) with Fishbone and some other band opening. They tore **** up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0&ob=av2e