First Ever Gig

[nickbug]

Now this is an embarrassing one. Would have been about 1974 I guess. Wasn't old enough to go to gigs on my own so an older mate took me to see Cardiff band Sassafras. About the only good thing about them was the front cover of their first album;

[ironwill]

NYC ska-band "The Toasters", circa 1991 at a basement bar in the Little Italy area of Toronto.

Still have the t-shirt purchased direct off a band member and even got served beer despite my 120 pound-17-year-old frame and spotty face! Must have been a slow nite for alcohol sales.

[Baldhead Selector]

A goth band called 'Karmasutra' at Brunel University.

I was about 15 I guess and threw my snakebite and black filled guts (still, at least that was more enjoyable than the music)

Respect

Baldy

[ekki]

My first 2 were Pink Floyd and Alice Cooper in November 1972.

[ahorn]

Don't know if that's a gig, it was a classical concert. I was ten year old in 1971 when my aunt took me to a concert of Radio Symphony Orchestra of Helsinki, Okko Kamu conducting. The programme was Ravel's piano concerto and Bruckner's 8th symphony. (don't have that good memory though, I picked up the facts from a book lately). I slept off during the adagio of that very long symphony and woke up in the finale :-) Same happened to me when I tried to watch Luchino Visconti's Death In Venice too.

[matt]

Slept through Des Lindberg in Cape Town as a 7 year old in 1970
Then Kenneth McKellar in 1973, followed by the Ipi Thombi musical featuring Margaret Singana in 1974
...and my favourite of all time:
very close between Fela Kuti, Flaming Lips and Nick Cave

[lex]

Must be either Madness or Adam & The Ants

[admin]

Desmond Dekker at Newcastle Riverside in 1991 or 92.

I was a bit of a late starter with gigs, being in the sticks I never knew of them!

Respect

Gordy

[rosko]

Thanks to an older brother, I saw Alice Cooper's "Welcome to My Nightmare" show at Maple Leaf Gardens at 11.

What a weird experience that was!

[bmd]

First gig was as far as I can assertain was Muddy Waters and his band in New York in 1969 at the New York Folk Festival, I was only two though! I would have seen Doc Watson around the same time.
Anyway, that's just silly, the first gig I made the effort to book a ticket for and go and see was an Elvis Costello and the Attractions gig at the Brighton Dome, way way back, when they were doing Oliver's army as part of their main set. They were great as I recall.

[Reggae Souldier (Big Five)]

Slade, followed by Jackson 5

[zapatoo]

Wilson Pickett (R.I.P.) - Hammersmith Odeon - 1971

The first of many visits (for Soul acts) to that hallowed venue.....

[Dr Cool Breeze]

The Jam Newcastle City Hall around 1980 - 81

[dubminister]

I wish the Jam had been my first gig!

I actually have never been much of a gig-goer but I think the first would be:
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Cure
Spizzenergy

all on the same bill at Birmingham Odeon I think. That was the tour where one of the Cure played with the Banshees - was it Smith?

Enjoyable.

First reggae gig woul have been Black Uhuru (at the Rainbow) or Sugar Minott whichever came first.

dm

[ironwill]

"I wish the Jam had been my first gig!"

i second that dubminister! mind you Desmond Dekker would be a great introduction to the world of live music as well...

[bmd]

nice selection dubminster...

[freewheelinfrankie]

Aged 14 in 1972 I went to an open air gig at Wealdstone FC (now a Tesco...) in northwest London, featuring the likes of Atomic Rooster and Patto and some even more obscure bands...don't remember much about the music but it was a lovely day... the next one was Arthur Brown at the Roundhouse about 6 months later - featuring a highly impressive lightshow and the Bentley Rhythm Ace drum machine. Quite an overwhelming experience at 14 and very psychedelic.

First reggae gig was Steel Pulse at Norwich UEA in early 1978. It was snowing heavily. I think most of the audience had never seen live reggae before, they were absolutely stunning, with brilliant live dub mixing (or so it seemed to my inexperienced ears at the time) but refused to do an encore despite lengthy and fervent demands for more - apparently they thought they'd played a crap gig.

ff

[admin]

Did I just spy a Doctor in the house?

Respect

Gordy

[Funky Dread]

My first ever gig should have been an outdoor affair, on August 6, 1965 here in Bodø, featuring Jimmy Cliff and Millie backed by a Norwegian beat band (including future jazz guitar hero Terje Rypdal).
Alas, my parents thought I was too young to go to the gig so I had to sit in my bedroom window (literally!) and listen to the noise from the gig some two kilometres away.
Days of wine and roses.....
My first ska gig was Desmond Dekker, years later.


Respect
Funky D

[alireggae]

Megadeth with support from The almighty and Alice in Chains about '92. Woohoo!

Reggae - probably The UK Players with InI Oneness.

[grumpy]

First gig I ever went to (I'll exclude The Dransfields at Knaresborough Folk Club) was at the Manchester Free Trade Hall in 1969 and featured a treble bill of Liverpool Scene, Blodwyn Pig (and, yes, Mick Abrahams did play Cat's Cradle) and Led Zeppelin. I went with my friend Phil from Staleybridge and I remember my Mum insisted I wore my school tie and blazer ("you're going to a concert!").

First reggae was the band that was supporting Linton Kwezi Johnson at a gig in Bradford. LKJ never showed.

[Baldhead Selector]

Led Zeppelin as your first gig!

I would love to have seen them back in the day.

Where's that green icon??

Respect

Baldy

[dots69]

Aswad TV Club Dublin 1984

respect
Dots

[grumpy]

Yes, Baldy. My mate Phil had two great passions in life: playing guitar and playing chess. He went along to watch Mick Abrahams and Jimmy Page in particular. I went along because ... well ... wow. I remember Page playing his guitar with a violin bow at one point which certainly seemed novel in those days. The following week Phil was desparately trying to get hold of a second-hand fiddle bow and even contemplated making his own as I recall from a likely looking branch of wood and some sewing thread. Hopeless.

[nickbug]

I was beginning to wish I hadn't started this thread as mine seemed to be by far the worst although thanks to freewheelinfrankie for the Atomic Rooster contribution....I don't feel so bad now

As for Grumpy............a school blazer and tie .........you have my deepest sympathies.

Keep em coming.

[zapatoo]

...I can't think that I've ever been to a "Rock" gig...

...or a straightforward "Pop" one either...

Leastwise, I can't remember going to any...

;D

[jcom]

Quicksilver Messenger Service, 1968 at Chicago's Auditorium Theatre. A glorious concert hall. We sat way up in the top balcony and smoked about half a lid of bad Mexican. Got lost on the way home and crashed my buddies' '64 T-bird. Great time all around.

First reggae show was a band called the Wailers in the winter of '71 or '72 I believe. They played a little folk club called the Quiet Knight in Chicago. My buddy Moleman dragged me there on a cold, cold night. I vividly remember Bob and Peter but I can't remember if it was Bunny or Joe Higgs who I later read replaced Bunny on that tour because it was too cold for him and he went home.

They were pretty good...

[kas]

A free concert in a park in my hometown Turku. That would have been sometime in july 1979.
The concert was showcasing local bands and a young, loud and snotty Finnish punk band called Eppu Normaali.

The first international band I saw live was Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and that was in september 1979.
The first reggae gig was by a Finnish not-entirely-serious-about-it reggae band called Top Ranking Erik & the Astronauts In Babylon, and the first real thing I saw live was Linton Kwesi Johnson with the Dub Band at a club gig in 1983.

[ringo]

Val Doonican, some holiday camp, 1975. Ruff.

[Richter Atmosphere]

Honestly,

Kenny Loggins at the Great America Amusement part sometime around 1987. I was ten, and his song from the Top Gun soundtrack was a hit and we happened to be there that day.