Yes, 90125 tour (with Trevor Rabin on guitar, not Steve Howe). Fun show.
Second concert: Deep Purple on their “Perfect Strangers” tour. Giuffria opened. Awful.
Then it gets better: Three straight REM concerts, 2 at the old Kiel Opera House, 1 at the Fox Theater, where we sat 2nd row, center. Openers were 10,000 Maniacs (who I thought were a pretentious, awful mess even then), Camper Van Beethoven (who were good stoner fun), and The dB’s (who, even at the end of the line were sublime).
I saw Cinderella, Winger, and the Bullet Boys in '89 in concert. I didn’t much care for any of them, but a friend was coming to town who was a big Bullet Boys fan at the time so it was a group decision to go.
What I really remember most is the chubby girl that wanted to sit on my shoulders and why that was such a bad idea.
Oh, and another friend, as usual, picking up some total stranger that he later ended up spending the night with.
Oh wow, do I ever lose at first concert. First concert I ever saw was Canadian hip-hop footnote Kish. (Hey, life was hard when you were in the Canadian boonies and a hip hop fan.) Extra sadness points added because of a surprise guest appearance by Maestro Fresh Wes and the place blew up like it was… y’know… an actual celebrity.
L7, House of Pain, and Beastie Boys circa 1991 or so.
Metallica, Vancouver 1998, at T-Bird stadium on the UBC campus.
Having grown up in a remote small town, concerts were denied to me for a very long time.
Not counting Lollapalooza 1993 and 1994, then either Sisters of Mercy at the House of Blues, or Offspring at the Hard Rock. I can’t remember which, but both were mid-90s.
Bon Jovi in 1993 (I think) at the Palacio de Deportes in Costa Rica. It was pretty sweet.
Metallica, Palace of Auburn Hills, '97. Tender age of 16. I think we were in the 5th or 6th row of seats, maybe 20 feet from the edge of the stage. Simply an amazing experience, despite the Palace’s horrible soundsystem.
AC/DC, Metrodome in Rockford, IL. It was for the Razor’s Edge album. I want to guess it was '91? Pretty great show for my first concert.
U2 with RATM opening.
Loverboy, with Zebra opening. 1982, the Houston Summit.
Though the couple having sex in the bathroom was a bit much for me at 15 years old.
Dead Milkmen with Das Damen opening, in '86, I think.
Also U2, but more specifically: The Joshua Tree, at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, Oct. 1, 1987. Particularly memorable for the fact that they played “October”, which wasn’t really on their usual setlist, but seemed appropriate considering the date.
I used to love me some Das Damen back in the day. I think I still have a copy of Triskaidekaphobe on pink vinyl somewhere.
Hmm… I think the first concert I ever went to was Weird Al. I was about 12 or so at the time and my dad took me to see him at the Vogue Theatre in Vancouver.
The first concert I ever went to without parental supervision was Foo Fighters back in 1996 or 1997 (I’m almost positive it was 1997). I would’ve been in grade 9 at the time (14 years old). They played at the UBC Student Centre. Which was basically a really small basketball court. I don’t think 500 people could be packed into the building.
Huey Lewis & The News on the “Fore!” tour in Amarillo, TX.
The crowd refused to leave at the end of the show. They played two encores and left again. Still, no one would leave. HL came out and asked, “Don’t you guys have anything else to do?”
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” (We live in Amarillo, Huey. What the hell else do we have to do?)
“You just want to hear us play all night?”
“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAH!”
“Well there’s one small problem with that. I’m tired.”
“BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”
But he was cool. They came out, did one more quick song, and then they started taking down the stage.
The show was actually a big deal because HL&TN hadn’t been to Amarillo since before they became famous, and Fore! was really the height of their fame. And they put on a hell of a show, too. They actually, like, knew how to play their instruments and perform really well. It wasn’t a mind-blowing rock show, but it had no flaws, either.
I was a big Zebra fan. Used to see them in the clubs on Long Island.
All right! I need all the back up I can get to withstand the relentless QT3 tide of Huey Lewis and the News love.
1978
That was the year I saw Tom Petty, Journey, Blondie, Chuck Berry (yes Blondie opened- THAT was weird), Montrose and Greg Khin…I forget the order but I hit the concert scene pretty hard that year.
All great stuff.
Poison with Slaughter opening in… I wanna say '89 or '90. Hair bands totally rock! Well, they did back when I was in high school anyway.