Hanson, 1998
John Mayer, 2002
Jason Mraz, 2005
Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright, 2005
End of list, oh my god I’m so sorry
Hanson, 1998
John Mayer, 2002
Jason Mraz, 2005
Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright, 2005
End of list, oh my god I’m so sorry
Backstreet Boys, 2002. COME AT ME, BRO.
NSYNC, 2002. BRING IT ON.
eta: Nevermind, the internet just told me it was 2000, not 2002. I’m not sure but I don’t think we have to fight now.
I went to that concert series tooooooo! If you two do end up having to fight, I’ll be your second.
Britney Spears, 1999.
Backstreet Boys 1999! #intothemilleniumtour
I “chaperoned” my little sister and friends for that tour! Somehow my friend and I thought we were too old to go? We were so excited, though.
BSB 2001 for the Black and Blue Tour, thanks to winning a radio contest. Attended with my dad, wore an ankle-length jean skirt and a white t-shirt with a giant, fuzzy leopard print heart on the front.
Aaaaaaaaah ankle length jean skirts. I wore one, and a peasant top, and LEATHER CLOGS to a dance in grade 10.
Which was actually probably like a few years too late for that outfit. I was so not cool (which may have been what I was going for?)
Fuzzy leopard print is very Important. I had a fuzzy leopard print bucket hat.
B96 Summer Bash, 1999 (including Ricky Martin, 98 degrees, Britney Spears, AND NSYNC)
NSYNC, 2000
Britney Spears, 2002
I can do this all day!
I notice that you’re not apologizing for these concerts, and for that, I salute you.
AT MOST, I shall apologize for dragging my parents along with me.
#noregrets
99.9% sure i was at that concert with you.
past me is waving.
BRYAN ADAMS, FEB 2016.
(I am 31 and was among the younger audience members 😛 )
I attended a Blessid Union of Souls concert in rural Ohio in 2005. I have no excuse; only remorse.
YOU LIKE ME FOR ME!?
Yes! And not just for your collection of DVDs!
And yes, the charm of Robert Redford does ooze out of my ears. I’m seeing my ENT specialist about it next week.
At Hiram College?
Nelsonville!?
I don’t know how old you are Mallory, but I’m guessing it’s right around my age, given your concert interests.
My first concert was Hootie and the Blowfish when I was 11 in 1998, if it’s any consolation. But I feel like I made up for that a bit when, for my graduation from elementary school the following year, I asked to see Lilith Fair.
N’Sync Pop Odyssey Tour 2001. YEAH. IT HAPPENED.
(I’ve been to many concerts since, but that was the first)
SICK AND TIRED OF HEARING ALL THESE PEOPLE TALK ABOUT
A couple girls on my floor in college went to No Strings Attached in the fall of 2000 and I was paralyzed with envy for weeks.
I went to the No Strings Attached concert!
ayyoooo put your hands up if your parents (correctly) deemed you Too Young for a N’Sync Concert and you were relegated to watching the copy of N’Sync in Concert your cousin recorded in like 1999
My first CD was Hanson’s Middle of Nowhere. 😀
There was a summer where I woke up every day at 11 AM and went to my parents’ room (where the boombox was) and refused to do anything until I had listened to that album at least once in it’s entirety.
Mine too! I still love them.
Mallory, never apologize for a Hanson concert.
Gordon Lightfoot, 1991ish.
Lou Reed, 1994
Peter Gabriel, 1995
Lilith Fair, 1999
Lilith Fair, 2000
Brian Setzer Orchestra, 2000
Wayne Newton, 2005
Black Keys, 2010
I love listing these off to people because it’s a pretty random assortment of music that makes people go, “Wait, what?”
Look at Lilith Fair and Brian Setzer Orchestra right there next to each other. There they are. Just right in the same list.
Is it better or worse that I thought there’d be swing dancing at the BSO concert? Yes, this was when swing dancing was a thing.
I went to that BSO concert and there was a shitload of swing dancing.
There was only one? It would’ve been more accurate for me to say I thought one of the two women I went with would be willing to swing dance. They were not.
Ahhh! We saw Peter Gabriel on that same tour!
I’ve seen Gordon Lightfoot, probably in 2002ish.
My mom won tickets and asked if I wanted to go. “Sure, what’s he sing?”
I should probably apologize because my boyfriend at the time and I willingly went to this and I sang along.
No apologies necessary. I looked forward to Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald when I found out he sang that and was pleasantly surprised at knowing Sundown, which I had heard without knowing who sang it.
I have seen Wayne Newton TWICE. Once in the 90s and again a few years ago (both were concerts with my dad). Both times he put on a heck of a show so no judgement from me (although I’m sad to say his voice was completely shot at the second concert).
Ours was a gift from my wife and me to our moms. At the show we saw, a lot of the heavy lifting singing was done by backup singers and his range seemed pretty limited. It was entertaining enough, though.
GORDON LIGHTFOOT?!?!!!!!!!! 😀
I read this in Lisa Simpson’s voice, taunting Marge for liking, “Bobby Sherman?!”
Some country act at a County Fair, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999
Local punk show at the community theater, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Ted Leo at a variety of locales, 2009-present
Aw, I LOVE a live Ted Leo show. He always gives the impression that he’s having fun and happy to be playing and he goes until he looks like he’s going to totally collapse.
LET’S TALK MORE ABOUT TED LEO
THE TOAST SHOULD HAVE A TED LEO DAY
I’d be down for it.
Here’s a Ted Leo story.
I got caught in a blizzard driving cross-state right after Christmas. Middle of nowhere. Had to find a hotel, and one that would take me in along with my cat who was traveling with me. Found one after several others were full. Check in. Knock at my door. “Hey, I don’t mean to be creepy, but are you ksek?” It was a dude from my high school. He was staying across the hall with his cat because he’d got stuck in the same blizzard driving cross-state right after Christmas. In our brief catching-up-after-not-having-talked-in-8-years convo, I mentioned having gone to a Ted Leo concert the week before. HE SAYS, “MY CAT’S NAME IS TED LEO.”
[For your own personal satisfaction, feel free to fill in your own story from this point forward. (But actually I was happily and monogamously engaged and am now happily and monogamously married and did nothing that goes against that, but I understand that this story would have a way more fun ending from an outsider’s perspective if it ignored the truth and ended with romance or at least boning)]
Oh, man, country acts at the county fair, yep, yep, yep. So many (I realize now) BAD country acts, but that was all that was available where I lived!
But we saw Tanya Tucker at the fair one year and, no lie, she was awesome.
OH, and now I am remembering my very first concert ever that I actually don’t remember but I have been told about: Ricky Nelson at a county fair in a different state! (Yes, I am an OLD.)
TED LEO TED LEO TED LEO TED LEO TED LEO
THAT IS ALL
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, 2013
This is the shame I will carry to the end of my days.
I mean, did you see them at the Preakness, where at least there was a whole event of horse racing? Or did you voluntarily go to something at which Macklemore was the primary attraction?
Mallory, you are a howl, and also invited to attend any concert with me any time.
Also, first not-with-my-mom concert: Our Lady Peace and Everclear, circa 1996. Not sorry.
I saw them on the tour. Did Letters to Cleo open for them, as well?
Somewhere around there I saw Everclear with Spacehog and Tracy Bonham. I only knew one song by Spacehog before that, but boy howdy did they put on a good show.
That wasn’t my first not-with-parent concert (I think that was either Moody Blues or Juliana Hatfield, can’t remember), but it was memorable because I lost my mom’s cell phone at some point that night.
I have seen both of them as well, though at different concerts and at a later time. In fact I think I saw OLP 2 or 3 times!
Don’t be sorry. As we refer to them in WNY, PEACE!
I was about to be like “OMG I SAW THAT TOUR TOO” but then I realized it was OLP and Third Eye Blind, probably 2-3 years later. What’s the difference, though, really?
I am jealous of the Ben Folds/Rufus Wainwright one – was it the one where they did the Careless Whisper cover?
I am not even going to start listing mine as I go to a lot, but I am superexcited about seeing Rick Astley in two weeks.
I saw Ben Folds do Careless Whisper solo in 2003!
This was also the concert that Duncan Shiek opened, and when I hollered that I thought he was cute from the front row, he sang me a love song. Everything is wonderful.
My first concert without my parents (someone else’s parents took us) was SMASHMOUTH and ROB THOMAS.
The shame, oh the shame. Years of Being Cool and listening to Bands You Haven’t Heard Of cannot erase the shame.
I mean, I would go see this now if it was like 20 bucks. No shame.
Smash Mouth is one of the only bands my mother can remember me listening to, so she was still naming it as my “favorite band” two years ago. I am 24.
NGL though, agreed that I would totally still go if tickets were cheap.
I would go if it were free and I had nothing else to do, just to see if another Audience Singing All Star At That Dude type debacle happens.
A couple years ago there was an Outdoor Event here at which played Smash Mouth, Cake, Blues Traveler, Sugar Ray, and someone I forget. It was free, and I was roughly a freshman in college when they were all popular, so we went for masochistic nostalgia.
I found out later that Gin Blossoms had been on that tour the previous year. Although I have never intentionally listened to Gin Blossoms of my own, I will cry if they come on the radio. Clinically proven.
I’m not a concert person (crowds, ugh), but I did see Bob Dylan with the Bryan Setzer Orchestra circa 1997. Super awkward not-a-date, did not enjoy.
Hahaha this sounds like 1997 personified in a lineup and it’s amazing.
I’m honestly a little jealous. I was (am, who am I kidding) super into BSO. But I was not cool enough to know about Bob Dylan in 1997.
It may have been a little later than 97, those years are…um… kinda foggy. But yeah, Dylan’s set was pretty terrible, I spent at least half of outside smoking with a couple of confused redneck guys.
I saw that combo somewhere around 2000. I fell asleep during Dylan’s performance.
When I did eventually get to see Dylan around maybe 2009, the lineup was John Mellencamp, who I couldn’t care less about, followed by Willie Nelson, with Dylan headlining. At one point he was more than halfway through a rendition of Like a Rolling Stone before I finally figured out what he was singing. Willie Nelson’s set was the best of all three, by a very long long-shot.
I recognized “Lay Lady Lay” during the last verse, it was utterly dreadful. Willie Nelson would be pretty cool to see!
I’ve been to see Dylan three times (not by choice). . . and I could have had this same reaction each time (except that the odor of weed makes me ill so I couldn’t actually relax enough to sleep).
Dropping in just to say heck yes to the Hanson concert. 👌
The only concert experiences I’m proud of were seeing Great Big Sea (twice! Amazing! Before Alan Doyle left!) And seeing John Hiatt. Wait, four, I saw a teeny indie Canadian band in a bar basement one time and it was amazing and my roommate and I were the only ones dancing instead of swaying around like the “cool people” surrounding us.
Great Big Sea????? TWICE????? Man.
Hah, I saw Great Big Sea (opening act: *The Six Billion Dollar Band), too; it was very early on in their career, and they were fantastic! Oh Gawd, what was that Vancouver club called….The Town Pump!
*The Six Billion Dollar Band had a very tall, angular dude with facial stubble and a sour expression walking around in a white bunny costume selling the band’s CD’s…kinda like a time travelling, Bad Santa Billy Bob Thorton character. I loved watching this guy, ended up buying the CD, still have it somewhere!
Great Big Sea is my all-time favourite live band! I’ve seen them a half-dozen or so times, in theatres, arenas, and festivals and they always had this great positive energy that infected the entire crowd.
They’re AMAZING and the second time a guy in the crowd was like “you know all the words!” I was like “obviously with a band like this half the fun is singing along!”
WHO GOES TO A GREAT BIG SEA CONCERT AND DOESN’T SING ALONG
C’mon dude get it together
Great Big Sea was my very first concert!
Wait, wait, Alan Doyle left? Wow, my knowledge of pop Canadiana has really gone downhill.
Saw them on tour with the Turn album, I think. Melanie Doane opened and was charming.
Reason #5167 why I regret not having been born Canadian. My mom, btw, agrees that this was a huge mistake (we both love Great Big Sea).
I’ve seen GBS a couple times, too! My dad and step-mom got one of their lyrics inscribed on the insides of their wedding bands. They actually ended up meeting the band members in a bar and had a great time.
My dad also arm wrestled Steve Twigger from Gaelic Storm. In summary, my parents are much cooler than I am.
I saw GBS on their Australian tour in 2012! Yes! Really! They were playing at the Byron Bay Bluesfest (gigantor blues/roots/rock/folk festival near my hometown) that Easter, and they did a couple of shows in Sydney and Melbourne as well. The Sydney one was in a tiny jazz bar called The Basement, and we filled it entirely with gleeful Canadian expats and folkies who have a deep and burning love for GBS. It was wonderful. It was SO LOUD. We totally sold them on the existence of drop bears.
I have a poster from that tour, and when I lived in Toronto in 2013/14, I astounded many Canadians with a GBS poster from Australia.
As a Newfoundlander, who has accordingly seen Great Big Sea approximately one million times, and has belted Old Black Rum while falling-over-drunk in the street at George Street Festival at least twice, I am always surprised by how many non-NLers have seen the band. And love the band. It’s so random.
My first concert when I was 13 was New Kids on the Block. I am shamed and proud in equal measures. Last concert I have seen was either Beck or Clutch, I am not sure which? I have not been to a concert in a LONG TIME.
I’m jealous of NKOTB, don’t worry!
BE PROUD! I saw New Kids twice as a pre-teen, and once again a few years ago. Totally cried, it was amazing. Would definitely see them if they came around again (although the whole cruise thing seems kinda weird to me).
It kills me that I’ve never managed to see Beck live.
Me too, me too. I lost my voice I screamed so much.
Saw them at Radio City in 2011, it was amazing.
I also Glee Live at Radio City in 2010, no regrets would do it again.
ME TOO! That said, I was more excited about going to a concert (a friend had an extra ticket) than about NKotB, who I never really cared about one way or another. Which is not to claim I had great taste in music at 13, because I very definitely did not.
Are we counting only rock/pop concerts? Because I went to a ton of Minnesota Orchestra concerts all through my childhood.
Otherwise, my very first concert was in 2007. I was already in college. It was to see OK Go. Except OK Go wasn’t headlining; they were opening for some other shitty bullshit band, like Coldplay except newer than Coldplay? It might have actually been Coldplay. I don’t remember. I left two songs into the main set.
*googles*
Probably either Snow Patrol or The Fray.
THE FRAY! That’s who it was. God they were awful.
Oh man I went to the Snow Patrol one. Was not impressed.
Awww, I was going to guess Keane.
Okay now the full list:
OK Go – 2007
The Profits – 2007
Maybe some other stuff I forget
Doomtree – 2012
A Tribe Called Red – 2013
Tyler the Creator – 2014
Doomtree – 2015
Dessa – 2015
GUESS WHO MY FAVORITE GROUP IS GUYS.
The cool thing about moving to Chicago is that there has been a DRASTIC uptick in the number of concerts I’ve attended, both “real” bands and the the tiny little shows that are put on by friends or friends-of-friends. For a while I’d go see The Fat Babies every Tuesday – that’s a good damn jazz band, I tell you hwhat.
DOOMTREE AND DESSAAAAAAA.
Sorry, you have excellent taste.
THEY ARE MY EVERYTHING AAAAH.
I posted a pic of my new Dessa tattoo in last week’s OT. When I posted a pic of it on Dessa’s FB page, she Liked it and commented, “Whoa,” and I was like SENPAI NOTICED ME AAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Ok Go was my FAVORITE BAND in 2007, I saw them on my 17th birthday at my brother’s college, I’d been waiting to see them for two years bc they always played 18-plus shows in Boston and I could never go, so my parents drove me up to Maine specially for this concert and it did not disappoint.
I have since seen them…. god, at least 4 more times? But that first show was Very Important. I still have the signed playlist, somewhere.
oh and Citizen Cope was also there, which is weird.
An Ok Go/Citizen Cope lineup sounds delightful to me, though agreed on the kind of weird.
It was, in fairness, a very Colby lineup, in the tradition of liberal arts college hippy/preppy divides
I’ve seen OKGo a handful of times. Somehow my sister was super into them super early and was active on their fan club message board or something? I don’t know, all I know is that the first time I saw them I went with her to a tiny show and all the dudes knew who she was when she introduced herself and hooked us up with tshirts and stickers.
I still love their videos. So good.
Juggling Club! I was very active on the okgo.net message boards and we had a sort of weird rivalry with them, it was good times.
OF COURSE someone here knows exactly what I’m talking about. I should have known.
I went to an ok go concert once when I was visiting my cousin in California over spring break. They were the headliners but I mostly remember the concert because some band named io echo opened for them, had a sick cover of “I want you (she’s so heavy)”, and had a song in a phone commercial a couple months later, which was the only time in my life when I felt like I totally had my finger on the pulse of cool underground music.
I think my first concert-without-parents might have been Relient K… 2007…
YES M@LL0RY it goes without saying that you can attend any and all concerts with me forever. Good, bad, embarrassing, any kind.
and just like that I have that horrible Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything song in my head for the first time in a decade. THANKS.
AND I’VE NEVER BATHED IN YOGURT
AND I DON’T LOOK GOOD IN LEGGINGS
help I need an adult someone on the internet is referencing early-mid 2000s wholesome Christian pop rock at me
WE DON’T SMOKE
WE DON’T CHEW
WE WATCH CAPTAIN KANGAROO
😀
And I’ve NEVER BEEN TO BOSTON IN THE FAAAAALLLLLLLL
The ONLY concert I have ever been to was Relient K also in 2007? Where you there!?
I don’t like sounds. So I’m not sad about that.
I saw them in Baltimore! Probably in May… it was just after finals. Was that where you were?
Drat no California
Poop.
Also 2007 (I’m fairly confident), also first concert, also Relient K… but Ohio.
It was a concert with Plain White T’s (which was why I went), a couple others, and I think Hawthorne Heights?
Sadie Hawkins dance. In my khaki pants. There’s nothing better (oh oh oh!)
arg wu sentafinticate nar dunderford
That’s some next-level Relient K knowledge.
Also, who also went to Warped Tour during high school? Because I went to at least 3, and now I feel exactly zero need to ever go to Coachella/Lollapalooza/Bonnaroo because WHY
Warped Tour would’ve been my JAM in high school.
Except that I lived in rural PA and wasn’t allowed driving out of town w/o parents.
So much screamo. So many mosh/circle pits.
uggghhhh UNDEROATH. and the people trying to mosh to Reliant K.
why did I do this, what was the benefit.
Warped Tour 2005! Fall Out Boy AND MCR, ye gods
Jesus Christ, I have the worst story about MCR.
My college had them come do a concert in 2007, with Muse. It was during their Black Parade tour, and during the second half of the concert they switched back to their old backdrop with the Revenge logo. This logo features a lot of guns.
This concert was played in the beginning of May 2007. Virginia Tech happened two weeks earlier. My college was a in Virginia, and I knew people, both at my college and from high school, whose friends had died at VT. So when MCR opened the curtains on a backdrop surrounded by guns with the word “Revenge” in the middle, I walked the fuck out of there.
They subsequently got violent food poisoning and had to cancel a bunch of shows, and I don’t feel all that bad about it (I was sad that some of Muse’s crew got sick too, because they were AWESOME).
ooooh, yeah, that is. bad.
I’m pretty sure I was most excited to see The Offspring, though, so who am I to claim any moral high ground.
I saw a headline the other day about Good Charlotte playing Warped Tour this year, and I was like… did they ever stop?
Meeee, three times, I never got to stay for the big-name headliners because two of the years were before I could drive (thanks for driving us there and picking us up, dad!) and the third year, the friend who was driving wanted to get to the Twilight: Breaking Dawn book release lockdown party at Barnes and Noble that night. It was fun at that age; I liked the slip and slides and free samples and talking to the merch guys and little bands who seemed so *worldly* to 14-year-old me. Plus, it was an economical way to see a lot of bands I liked when few of them made tour stops in my city and I couldn’t convince parents to take me to weeknight concerts (or afford $30 tickets on a dog-walking wage).
Ah, youth.
I went to it once, jetlagged, exclusively to see Placebo, which was also had been my first concert. the spring before.
Ohhh yes. I went to at least 3 Warped tours, AND a local festival called Skate & Surf that had nearly all the same bands as Warped. Good times!
Oooo, Warped Tour, yesss! I went with my best friend in 1998 (I am OLD) and we danced and sweated and got terribly sunburned and tried to drink enough water but still felt a bit … off. Finally we ate some very salty French fries and realized we had been suffering from lack of salt. Dehydration cured by fries, basically. Super classy.
The local alternative radio station had a free concert series in the summers when I was in high school, and I convinced my friends that the area off to the side, across the street, and with a hill blocking the worst of the noise was the Cool place to hang out, so my total list is long enough that I wouldn’t be able to reconstruct it, except to say I’ve seen Guster a lot of times.
On the other hand, I haven’t been to many concerts I *paid* for. Off the top of my head, it’s something like-
Dexter Freebish- 2000
ani difranco- 2001
Guster- 2007
Amanda Palmer & Neil Gaiman- 2014
The Weepies- 2015
DEXTER FREEBISH! Saw ’em in 2001. With my mom.
oh man I’ve seen Guster SO MUCH and I don’t even care for them, really, they’re just always playing shows in Boston, usually for free. They’re inescapable.
They *are* inescapable if you go to free concerts in New England!
I saw Guster in… 2003, and then again this past November. I was really worried that the show wouldn’t live up to my memories/expectations, but it totally did and was so fun and delightful! I do not know if any of the band members are actual dads but I felt like they had this great Dad energy. The main guy was especially gleeful about playing the xylophone.
Yes to the dads. I’m still on the email list, and i just went to my email to see what the most recent info from them is, and from 3/16/16, there is an email with subject line “Babies! Tour dates! Jesus on the radio!”.
The email starts “It’s a lite spring here, with babies on the way for two important members of the Guster team. Follow us on Instagram for photos of Luke and Dave holding swaddled infants in the coming months.”
Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman?!?! You are living your best life! I’m super jealous I missed that one (by which I mean read about it a year after it happened and then was sad).
I’ve seen Five Iron Frenzy three times since they reunited, and each time was the Most Fun I have ever had at a show. I wore my quidditch jersey to two of the shows.
DUDE. I’d forgotten all about Five Iron Frenzy. They reunited? They’re touring??
Yeeeep. It’s mostly short runs or one-offs.
Junior High/High School Dirtbag Dave saw the following concerts at the Southern Star Amphitheater (which was attached to the Astroworld amusment park). My apologies for all this in advance:
– Ratt
– Night Ranger (twice; or maybe it was just one really long version of Sister Christian, I don’t know)
– Starship (once on purpose, once because I was at Astroworld already and they just let people in)
– The Power Station (side note: my now-wife was also at this concert, although we would not meet for another 5 years, in college in San Antonio)
I also saw a lot of cooler stuff (Devo, Black Flag, Ministry, Front 242, Dizzy Gillespie, etc.), but not at Astroworld. Man, I wish Devo would have played at Astroworld. That would have been so on point.
PS: Astroworld was basically like Six Flags or whatever theme park is near you
OH! I forgot. Once, when I was in the army, I received a direct order to take my entire platoon of infantrymen to a John Tesh concert. No shit.
Ahhhhhhhh! I saw Night Ranger at our state fair in 1987. It was…not great, but mostly what I remember was waking up the next morning with the realization that I had suffered possible permanent hearing loss from a concert (first time for that, not the last). I would’ve loved to see Power Station.
Power Station was really good. They toured with Michael DesBarres as lead singer instead of Robert Palmer, and he was better, IMO. Also, O.M.D. was the opening act, which was neato.
Wow, that sounds like an amazing show. Robert Palmer was by far my least favorite part of Power Station, so even better.!
My sister saw Night Ranger at a county fair a couple years ago. On purpose! Like, “We gotta go to this county fair and see Night Ranger!”
Even at age 14 I wasn’t sure seeing Night Ranger twice had been a good decision. Doing so as an adult would be nope
“my now-wife was also at this concert”
YES my husband and I were both at the California Mid-State Fair (in the late 80s or early 90s?) as pre-teens seeing Brooks & Dunn with our families. 😀 Met him in like 2005.
There have been several people in this thread with this experience! I love that this is something we all have in common!
We saw Hootie and the Blowfish at the Colorado State Fair back in the 90s; seemed a bit out of place at the time, but given Darius’ subsequent move to a country music career, I guess not!
RIP Astroworld :'(
I know. That place was great. 🙁
I don’t even like theme parks and I’m still mad about it.
My very first concert was Night Ranger at the Montana State Fair. Solidarity.
Britney Spears Circus Tour 2008. I was there when her microphone was live and she said “my pussy is hanging out!” It was glorious.
#noshame
Also, the Pussycat Dolls opened for her.
I saw Britney open for 98 Degrees as my first concert circa 2000. Those were the days.
My first solo concert – just me and my friend – was Mel C aka “Sporty Spice” sometime in the early 2000s. It was awesome and after listening to it right now, can confirm that “Never Be The Same Again” is still great.
c. 1985
Bruce Cockburn
Amnesty International Tour (included K. D. Lang, Bruce Cockburn and Peter Gabriel?)
c. 1987
New Order
c. 1990
Grapes of Wrath, Consolidated, Nine Inch Nails, Jane Siberry, Barenaked Ladies, Shuffle Demons, Spirit of the West, Ani di Franco (multiple times)
Now that I think about it, I saw Bob Dylan, Em Gryner, Rufus Wainwright, Ron Sexsmith and The Nylons in the 90’s too.
BRUCE COCKBURN!
If I had a rocket launcher….
It was in the hall at the fairgrounds two towns away. Folding chairs set up in rows.
I saw him in 1985 as well! But in a non-fairgrounds music hall.
I see nothing at all on this list that merits an apology!
It’s OK Mallory, my list of concerts (which is maybe like 20 shows long) includes seeing Macy Gray TWICE. It also includes Grace Jones and My Bloody Valentine (2x) and Joanna Newsom (3x), but still…
oh man, i went to a Jason Mraz concert in 2009 and my unwavering love for him started to waver a little after he skipped onto the stage and gleefully cried out “how are you doing detroit?!?!?!?!” to a mostly white crowd in Sterling Heights, MI, a suburb of Detroit whose Wikipedia page says in the third sentence, “Sterling Heights consistently ranks as the safest city in Michigan with population over 100,000.”
Almost three years ago I went to see Matchbox 20 and the Goo Goo Dolls when they were touring together. My mom went with me, as she had bought the tickets for my 25th birthday. I regret nothing.
I SAW THEM IN ATLANTA THAT YEAR. Last minute lawn tickets were something like $23, it was my last summer before graduating college and I was feeling nostalgic.
No regrets. Matchbox 20 sound just like they do on the albums, and GGD is still pretty great even though Johnny can’t hit his high notes anymore. 🙁
Yeah, I actually own at least three albums from each of those bands and will still happily listen to almost any song from any of them. I appreciate consistency!
Matchbox 20 + Goo Goo Dolls = soundtrack to my angsty middle school youth, am having some pretty big flashback feelings now
The VAST majority of my early concerts were christian artists- see Mallory’s WOW rankings for the list, more or less.
Now I volunteer at a venue that constantly brings in great musicians I’ve never heard of so whenever I have a free evening I go see whoever is playing for the low low price of an hour of bartending.
My first concert was Jars of Clay, 1998ish. I went with my little brother. It was the best.
Yeah, I’m amazed she came out of a Christian upbringing without a smattering of Jars of Clay/DC Talk/Michael W Smith/Steven Curtis Chapman/Newsboys shows up in there.
I’m an Old and my first concert was Amy Grant’s Unguarded tour! I had an Unguarded sweatshirt with this design, which I paired with hot pink stirrup pants! #soproud
Pretty much all of the concerts I’ve been to have been Christian artists since I haven’t been to a concert since I left high school. Well, I volunteered at a Switchfoot concert while I was in college but I wasn’t there for the music so…
I did see Idina Menzel in concert. It was amazing.
Every concert I’ve been to ever consisted of Christian artists. And all during the 1990s. Meh.
(edit: I’m assuming concerts livestreamed via Concert Window don’t count.)
UM, my first concert was Rockapella, YES, the guys who sing the theme song to “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?” and YES, it was awesome, and YES, we (aprox. 6 teenagers and one mom) were the only people under the age of 80 there.
NO REGRETS.
I totally saw Rockapella a year or two ago in some tiny little theatre in some tiny little town in Pennsylvania. My dude and I were maybe 27 and still were about half the age of the next youngest audience member. It was delightful.
(Then again, my best friend and I had the Camen Sandiego theme as a perpetual staple of our college music, so. Make of that what you will.)
Why would there be regrets? They’re pretty awesome.
My favorite video of theirs is all of the jingles they’ve done:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrtvBpcyqBM
OHMYGOD, I have never seen that video before, and you have made my week (month? maybe even year)! I actually remember most of those jingles, especially the Matt Lauer and Folgers ones. Really takes me back to the nineties, but in a good, nostalgic way!
First concert? HUEY LEWIS AND THE NEWS, 1985
I’ve seen so many concerts. I love live music and giant concert experiences are one of the few times I can stand to be in a giant crowd of people.
Favorite shows (out of the probably 30+ I’ve seen in venues of over 1,000 people): Peter Gabriel (first row!), Pink Floyd (not a giant fan, but they put on an amazing show), Pink (just as amazing as you’d imagine), Lady Gaga (twice, before the abomination that is Artpop dropped), Puscifer (the most surreal concert I’ve ever seen), The Cramps (not as surreal as Puscifer, believe it or not), Morphine (right before Mark Sandman died), The Beastie Boys (twice, no shame), They Might Be Giants (four times), and The Stray Cats at their one-time LA House of Blues reunion show for the Carl Perkins memorial.
I have sixth-row floor seats to see Joan Jett next month!
Duuuuuuude Huey and the Lewis is probably the best answer you could possibly give.
My mom took me and some friends because I grew up in Small Town Kansas and it was a three-hour drive to the show. She also ran onto the floor with us (back in the days of GA concert seating). We made it nearly all the way to the stage. It was the best.
…And I just noticed my bizarre error in my previous comment, but I’m gonna leave it because “Huey and the Lewis” sounds kinda neat.
I didn’t even notice! OH BRAIN WHERE ARE YOU THIS MORNING
Oh my God, the Stray Cats.
Wednesdays are my favorite commute home, because the local university radio station has it’s rockabilly show on.
Yay, fellow rockabilly music fan! I was heavy into the rockabilly scene in the 90s. Went to lots of weekenders, was active in the online community, etc., hung with the Cool Kids and the bands, even dressed rockabilly for everyday (wore cats-eye glasses and everything)…ah, good times. I miss it, and I’ll never stop loving the music, but man, talk about a problematic subculture.
THAT IS SO COOL.
I would break a man’s arm without a thought to see Peter Gabriel live. I am supremely jealous of your experience.
It was the closest thing I’d ever had to a religious experience. If you want details, I’m happy to share them, but completely understand if you don’t.
PLEASE DO. I will live vicariously through you, I have zero shame in this.
Okay, well! Thanks to a stupidly high-paying IT job (oh the 90s), I had money to burn in my 20s, so I bought a lot of tickets from this one scalper and that’s how I got my first-row seats to his Denver show on the US tour. The stage had a long runway extension coming out of it, and my seat was at the end of the pointy bit. I could see the whole stage, but he was really close when he came out to the end of the extension (which he did a lot). Let me also mention that we were dressed exactly alike–loose white top, black jeans, black ankle boots (oh the 90s). I remember being so charmed when he messed up the lyrics to “Sledgehammer,” started laughing, and made the band start the whole song over which meant they had to walk all the way back down the runway to the main stage and start their procession over again because of course the lighting and everything was on timers and placement and they couldn’t just start over where they were standing. It was adorable. Also he rolled around on this old-fashioned institutional-type bed in the middle of the runway during “Shock the Monkey” and eventually whipped the sheets around in circles over his head while he held onto the headboard and it was just really fucking sexy. It was the first time I’d seen a concert where the headliner asked the opening band to come out and play some songs with them (apparently I’d only seen a bunch of asshole bands before that? or maybe it wasn’t a thing yet?) and that was glorious (the opening act was Papa Wemba). He used this setup for “Talk to Me” and it was magical (this video could have been the same show I was at–everything looks identical including those jeans he’s wearing look at those jeans GOD he was so sexy). But the moment I will never, ever forget is at one point during a song (forgive me I don’t remember what it was), he walked to the edge of the stage right in front if me, and sang right to me as I (no exaggeration) sobbed and reached up for him. My parents (who were also at the concert, on the opposite side of the stadium in much more reasonably-priced seats), said the spotlight above and behind him was pretty much the only lighting on at that moment so I was illuminated in all my weeping glory.
I still get emotional thinking about it. I’m sure he would never remember it, but I sure do, because for five seconds, Peter Gabriel was singing to me and just for me and I shall fucking treasure that until my dying day.
GOOD CHRIST I am literally hopping in my office chair reading that. Peter Gabriel was instrumental for my formative years and I still can listen to any of all of his music on repeat. How amazing you got to see him on the US tour! That is one of my favorite albums of his and I’ve probably watched that Secret World Tour clip of “Come Talk to Me” 1,000 times.
I would die. Absolutely die. That’s incredible. You are the luckiest individual alive.
Thank you for sharing that.
You’re welcome! Thank you for wanting to hear it. FUCK YEAH fellow PG fan. *highfive* I found him during my Formative Music Years, too. Sometimes when the Burgomaster is out for the evening, I’ll put on all his albums to just lie on the couch for six-plus hours, listening. Except for OVO, which I just never could get to like. *sigh*
*highfive*! Always nice to see a fellow PG superfan on The Toast dot net 🙂
Good Christ this is amazing.
I was a poor small-town Kansas kid, and a post-college roadtrip to Denver to see PG on the Growing Up tour was my first big-venue experience.
I cried. And cried and cried and cried from my nosebleed seats, and have gone to every show I could since.
Huey Lewis & The News! I’m jealous. I’m also jealous that you saw Morphine.
Best concert I’ve seen was Pearl Jam at Red Rocks in Denver, for the Vitalogy tour (aka the “F You, Ticketmaster” tour).
Red Rocks is an amazing venue, and I bet that show was incredible!
I am DYING to see Huey Lewis. Every now and again he comes to the local casino and timing just hasn’t worked out yet, then he played a free show at the freaking fair in my city last summer but I was out of town for a wedding! 🙁
I hope you get a chance to see him, eventually!
Huey Lewis was my first concert, too!! Nashville, 1989, on a date. The most memorable portion of that evening was when my date told me that “some people tell me I look like Tom Cruise.” He . . . didn’t. He was cute though and we dated for six more months and one more concert (Beach Boys reunion tour).
Yay Huey Lewis fans!
It me. I have kept a corkboard covered in all my concert and play tickets for about a decade and a half. It’s actually been time to get a new one for about five years now; the old one’s out of room and they’re piling up waiting to get stapled on.
I will note that my first big concert was Summersault.
Fun! I save my tickets, too, but I put them in the CD cases for the band because I still buy CDs, yes.
I too still buy CDs! Sometimes I want to make sure if this whole DRM thing gets out of hand I’ll still have the music I bought.
My first concert was also 1985! It was Platinum Blonde! My second concert was the very next night, and it was Philip Glass! I regret nothing either.
Over the years I’ve seen way more electronica acts and djs perform than live bands, but to me there’s no essential difference – somebody’s conveying emotion through music either way. Electric Skychurch at a rave in the 90s put a stamp on my soul that’s never going away.
YES! I hear people joke about electronica concerts and I’m like “you are not comprehending a crucial aspect to the musical experience, here.” I would feel sorry for them if they deserved it.
Seriously. At that Electric Skychurch set, for example, the crowd was fully clued in and let out this amazing full-throated howl when the beat first kicked in and Roxanne started singing. You could see the three of them rock back on their heels in surprise then they looked at each other grinning and DUG IN. Nobody left the floor that whole set and twenty years later the hair on the back of my arms is still standing up just thinking about it.
Music is a gateway, and it can be built of many materials.
Ooooh slightly late to the party but this Tool/APC fan would love to hear your thoughts on Puscifer: The Most Surreal Concert You’ve Ever Seen, please.
I’ve seen Tool, APC, and Puscifer and of the three, Puscifer was by far the most experiential experience. I saw Tool in 1997 in a tiny venue in Wichita and it was kind of what you’d expect of a Tool concert in Wichita, KS. Lots of dudes and moshing. Still a good show, but nothing earth-shattering. I saw APC when they opened for NIN at a big arena show in KC. By far my least favorite of the shows. I think Maynard plays better in small spaces.
Puscifer was at a beautiful old music hall in KC. It was their most recent tour (for Money Shot) and two tag teams of Mexican wrestlers were the opening act. But then they left the ring set up on stage after and the band performed on/around it, occasionally making way for the wrestlers to fight again. There was some sort of general story with good guys/bad guys and a sneaky wrestler imposter? All the while the band’s just playing songs from the albums, making no connection at all to what’s actually happening on stage. And then suddenly GRAND CANYON VISUAL MONTAGE but then back to wrestlers. It was amazing.
That does sound amazing and I’m VERY jealous. Interesting you think Maynard plays better in small spaces because I saw APC’s first Aus tour, where they played a small-ish club, and it was one of my favourite Maynard performances but I put that down to it being my first time seeing him live.
Interestingly my other fave is the last Tool tour where they played a stadium and Maynard was losing his voice. I went two nights in a row and the first night he really held back, but the second was one of my all-time favourite concert experiences – right up there with Destiny’s Child and Lyrics Born and Tori Amos and Pink but not as good as Kanye cos no one is that good – and I’ll forever regret I didn’t tell him that when I was awkwardly standing next to his seat on the plane the next day :(.
I am intensely envious of your Morphine experience. Still my favorite band of all time.
Backstreet Boys, 1999. ON MY ACTUAL BIRTHDAY. I regret nothing!
And though technically not a concert, the tour of the 2000 Olympics Gymnastics Team was also a real adolescent highlight and also featured a lot of boy band music.
That Gymnastics Tour sounds amazing!!!
HAHA in 1999 I saw Phish on my birthday and I regret EVERYTHING (probably because we bought dubious drugs off of a guy in the parking lot and smoked them)
I am maybe a little older than you, but preteen/tween me was so pumped for the 1996 women’s gymnastics team tour. It was awesome, no regrets!
I went to that Ben Folds and Rufus Wainwright tour! We sat in the last row with my friend’s dad and were the only ones excited about Rufus Wainwright. Unbeknownst to me, the guy I would marry 10 years later was sitting about 50 yards away.
eta: This is the whitest thing I’ve ever posted.
I wish I could go back in time and see that concert. I was in high school then and not really familiar with either of them, but now I adore Rufus Wainwright’s music. And Ben Folds was amusing on The Sing Off. I do not see why this concert had to be apologized for.
It was an awesome concert! No apologies necessary. In retrospect, it is just the epitome of 2005-ness for me.
I did too! It was an outdoor venue and I was on the grass in the back for Ben’s portion but some people were leaving halfway through and offered me their seat, so I got to see Rufus right up close! He was wearing an amazing white suit.
My first concert was The Moffats, who are the Canadian version of Hanson.
I literally clutched my chest when I read that. I REMEMBER THE MOFFATS. You’ve awakened a long-slumbering memory from my childhood/tweendom. I don’t know if I should thank you or not.
Oh my god I forgot about the Moffats!
I am familiar with exactly one Moffats song, and it STILL holds a place on my running playlist.
Every now and then, (usually in the most of some thankless parenting task), the chorus of “Misery” pops into my head…
Aww, I took my little sister to a Moffats concert when I was 16 and she was 13 and we smuggled a joint with us in a cassette tape case!! Memories…
I too went to a John Mayer concert, I’m afraid. Probably on that same tour. I went with my college roommate and we were dancing together and some bro behind us burned me with a cigarette, I think on purpose.
To retrieve my lost Cool Points I’d like to point out that the first two concerts I attended were in 1996: Alanis Morissette (opened by forgotten 90s band K’s Choice), and Garbage opening for the Smashing Pumpkins.
(That twangy bass line you hear is the sound of Peak 90s being reached.)
Heh, I was at that same Alanis concert. I don’t take responsibility for anything I did at 13, though.
I HAVE NEVER FORGOTTEN K’S CHOICE, “not an addict” was literally on my ipod until like a year ago
you and i appear to have been the same person in 1996. *fistbump*
K’s Choice is still touring! They are on Twitter! “Butterflies Instead” & “Not an Addict” are still on my iPod.
I saw Alanis in 1995 with The Rentals opening and 1996 with Superdrag opening.
Garbage played an outdoor festival here a few years ago. The sky opened up just as before they played Only Happy When it Rains, and she said wow, I’ve never actually sung this in the rain before. We were content to be soaked.
K’s Choice performed at the Bronze on an episode of Buffy and have a song on the first Buffy album, which I own; they will never be a forgotten 90s band to me!
Hanson in 1998 was my first concert, too. With my parents. I stood a few seats away from them in a semi-empty row because I was mortified by their presence and also SO PUMPED ABOUT HANSON.
I went to way too many shows as a suburban teenager but the thing I will be remembered for is having seen Aaron Carter in concert twice.
Aww. I heard this recently, and although I was never into Aaron (don’t talk to me about Nick though) it made me like him more! http://www.theheartradio.org/season2/desirayandaa…
Too bad he’s a Trump supporter!
I’ve seen both Neil Young and Rod Stewart. I was born in the 90s. There really is no excuse.
first concert, age 13, Bruce
first concert without my parents, age 14, Blink 182 and No Doubt
I was seriously expecting that to be “first concert without my parents, Bruce again.”
as if my dad would let me go without him!
Ha! I know my Bruce & E Street fans!
Are you from New Jersey? If you are can you tell me your degree of separation from Bon Jovi and or Springsteen and the band? Because I like to believe that all New Jersey people know who they know who knows someone who might be able to get in touch with one of them. (“My mom’s hairdresser’s daughter’s college roommate was the daughter of one of their oldest roadies”-type things.) I’m from California and I find it fascinating and wonderful that there really are some things that the majority of a state’s residents love. I think if I had to pick something for California I’d go with Huell Howser because I can’t think of much else that actually crosses the major North/South, Urban/Rural divides we have.
HUELL HOWSER!!!!!!!
nah, I’m from Boston. My dad’s from Queens, and all my NJ relatives are his cousins & my 2nd cousins, so while they might have Bruce or Bon Jovi connections, I don’t know about them.
Fellow Jerseyite?
Bruce is always a family affair for me as well haha
Boston, but my Dad’s from Queens and we get it from him!
first concert, Bruce! Tunnel of Love tour. I was in fourth grade. My friends were like, “you are excited about this WHY.”
Bonus: my aunt met her future husband on line at the concession stand that night!
Bonus bonus: someone threw a glow stick on the stage and Bruce threw it back into the audience and said “I hate these goddamn things,” and I hate these goddamn things is still what my brother and I say to each other every time we see a glow stick.
ahh, nice!
This was The Rising tour, and unfortunately I was not that excited, because it was definitely still My Dad’s Thing at that point. I was very embarrassed when he started playing air-piano during Rosalita, and never really recovered.
We were in the nosebleeds in Gillette, and it ended up being an incredibly foggy night, so the later it got in the show the less we could see. AND the guys behind us were pretty drunk and super obnoxious.
BUT we’ve seen him as a family 3 more times since then, and as I grew up and got over myself and got more into his music, they’ve been a better experience each time.
I think Bruce was maybe my second concert, at the age of 15 on his wrecking ball tour (yes, I was 15 in 2012, i am wee and yonge), which was an absolutely religious experience. I went with my dad (obv) and I only knew about half the songs but it was amazing and I think I had a heart attach when he did a song off of his folk album with Pete Seeger, because I was that kind of 15-year-old. Also it started raining super heavily right in the middle of the concert and he stood on the very edge of the stage and sang a clearly unplanned solo of “Who’ll Stop The Rain” and honestly it was suuper amazing and I think about it all the time.
I went and saw him again this year (again with my dad) when he came to Chicago doing The River, which was also really neat, although that’s partly because I napped through the extremely mushy second disk of The River and just waited for the fun popular songs in the last half hour.
My first “real concert” was a Christian contemporary singer whose name I have forgotten at a megachurch a few towns away. My mom went with me.
The second one was Good Charlotte and Simple Plan in 2005. My mom went with me to that one, too.
Also, I have, without any forethought or intention, seen Reel Big Fish at least three times live. It just keeps happening to me!
My first concert was Adam Ant’s “Friend or Foe” tour in 1983. Some band named INXS (nobody’d heard of them yet) was the opening act. It was a pretty good show!
I went with 3 other girls and we all painted our faces and wore our best frilly pirate shirts.
I am so jealous, Adam Ant in his prime was just a beautiful specimen.
You might be interested to learn that he performed “Strip” fairly early, while actually taking off his top, and was subsequently shirtless for most of the show. 🙂
Man the days when INXS was an opening act. That sounds like a great show!
It really was! I went and bought their record the next day!
I still listen to “Desperate But Not Serious”, also “Don’t Change” and “New Sensation.”
My first concert was Howie Day. He was the homecoming show at my university the first year I was there, and I couldn’t even make myself stay for the whole thing.
I sometimes wish that I’d just gone with my brother to see Yes when I was in high school, if only to have THAT as my first rock concert experience instead.
I saw Yes on the 90125 tour (am an old) and I can confirm you should have gone to see them.
I was/am generally incredibly uncool (I was a nerdy theater dork who read a lot of fantasy in high school), but my first concert (other than, like, Raffi) was the Beastie Boys. I was 14 and it was amazing. Followed by Lollapalooza, REM (with Radiohead opening), the Indigo Girls, Liz Phair, and Lucinda Williams in the next 4 years. Not sure how I ended up with such a badass concert list as a teenager.
Billy. Ray. Cyrus. *smokebomb*
He was one of my first real concerts too! I LOVED him. I also saw Clay Walker (and, I am so embarrassed to say, tried to touch his butt), Marty Stuart, Alabama… they came to our local county fairs. 🙂 I actually don’t go to a lot of concerts, so those are the legacy I’ve got.
I’ve been blessed to go to many concerts of which I’m proud (first concert, circa 2003, Cher with opening act Cyndi Lauper!), but this is the safe space to admit I have seen Dave Matthews Band. Twice.
My first concert was Cher! Don’t remember the opening act.
Safe space- I’ve seen John Mayer more than once.
AAAAAAAAAAH!!!! I saw Cher with Cyndi Lauper as the opener during her last round of concerts (aka Closer to the Truth Tour, aka This Is The Last Tour, For Reals This Time), and I just about passed out I was so happy. I bought tickets to see her AGAIN in sixth months, but by that time the rest of the shows got cancelled.
Sorry, I felt like I needed to gush about Cher with someone, because too many people don’t get it.
Abridged:
*NSYNC, 1998 and 2000
Lifehouse, Michelle Branch, and The Calling (THIS WAS A REAL CONCERT), 2001
Weezer, 2001 and 2005
Foo Fighters, 2003 and 2005
Ben Folds, 2007 and 2011
The Hold Steady, 2013 and 2014
Billy Joel, 2014
Various acts at college (abnormally good at booking artists): Stars, Jenny Lewis, Sufjan Stevens, Sigur Ros, Vienna Teng
And upcoming: Paul Simon this summer. It’s been a steady decline/ascent into Dad Rock.
The last concert I went to was Corb Lund at the Capital Theatre in Nelson, BC and my stranger seat mate was, of course, a male person who was overly friendly the entire night (to the point where I was gifted a small chocolate from the theatre concession stand sometime during the concert, like WTF male person, like he got up, came back and poof! chocolate). Seriously ladies, I am getting more action in my late 40’s then I ever had when a teen/young adult.
Oh dang, I just saw Corb Lund a couple months ago in Seattle! It was such a great show, except for the couple of people who got waaaaay drunk and were “dancing” and woo!-ing during one of his Sad Army Songs.
Oh Corb, you and your sad songs about horses. Never change.
(It always makes me cringe when he plays Truck Got Stuck and Time to Switch to Whiskey. He hates it so much, but as a proper showman, he plays what the audience/his label want. But I mean, though those are fun songs, I would be fine without hearing them if it would make Corb feel better.)
Hah! People were dancing in the aisles and in front of the stage here, too! (And also a very good show! I went on a whim with a group of buddies and was super impressed by his singing, stage presence, etc.)
My first concert was Dave Matthews Band SORRY NOT SORRY
I was 17 and went with my mom’s boyfriend and my ex boyfriend (mom’s BF had bought the three of us tickets when we were still a couple), so it was weird.
My first concert was Weird Al’s Running with Scissors tour, so 1997-1998?
I think the last concert I attended was also a Weird Al concert, probably around 2012. The man doesn’t age!
My first concert was Weird Al as well! He played at the Rib Fest on the river in my home town. And then I saw him again for the Poodle Hat Tour…He puts on a good show!
My first concert was Metallica, Limp Bizkit, Korn, and Powerman 5000.
I was there for Metallica, obviously, but that doesn’t really help.
Was it a Metallica show and those other bands were openers? If so, I think I went to a show on that tour.
Yeah, Summer Sanitarium 2000!
Hopefully worth it for Metallica?
I was an orchestra kid, so my version of “cool concerts” was like, seeing the ASO doing Holst. But one time I also saw Jessica Simpson before she was famous. So I guess that counts.
that list is an archetypal illustration of the phenomenon “something so completely, utterly uncool it actually transmogrifies into something cool”
Backstreet Boys, 1999. On Halloween! It’s the only concert I actually made it all the way through.
Concerts I had to leave early because I got claustrophobic/anxious:
Finger Eleven
The Dead (with my mom and aunt)
OK GO
The Who
Muse
That was all in ~2006 when my friends were attempting to convince me that concerts were great fun. I eventually decided to stop wasting my money on events I wasn’t enjoying at all.
I am so glad that’s not just me! My brother and sister have always been very into music (they are now in a band) and went to lots of gigs; in my mid/late teens I sometimes went too. I remember one (the White Stripes, maybe?) where I just cried hysterically en route to the venue and gave up and went home, and being in the middle of a dense crowd at Reading Festival and getting completely overwhelmed and just wanting to lash out. Concerts are not my thing.
My first concert was Amy Grant in either ’94 or ’95. My aunt took me to get my first manicure so my fingernails would be painted for the occasion. Then there was Reliant K and Sister Hazel in high school and Drive-By Truckers in college.
Is this where I can confess that I do not enjoy live music? I have really terrible stage fright about singing in public, and listening to people sing makes me equally nervous for them and I can’t enjoy myself. Please tell me I’m not weird and don’t have some sort of anxiety by proxy thing going on.
Nope, I totally get the projected-stage fright thing. For me, it doesn’t happen at concerts, but it’s the reason I can’t watch live events on TV (like presidential debates. I just….get a lot of anxiety and second-hand embarassment, even if I don’t like the candidates).
Well, I’m going to see Hanson in May here in the year 2016 and I’M NOT SORRY AT ALL.
Not my first concert, (not by a long shot, I reviewed concerts for a summer for a local paper and I saw a loooot of concerts that were not my choosing) but my FAVE from that indelible Summer of ’06 was Jon. Fucking. Secada.
He sounded amazing, looked great – was gracious and lovely to everyone at the venue and silly ol’ me who had to interview him. He brought up a lovely Mom-looking person named Linda during “Angel” and proceeded to sing INTO HER ADORING FACE as she cried/laughed on a stool. We all wanted to be Linda that night.
Then he did a cover of “Dancing in September” to close and literally everyone got up and danced. It was truly a moment of joyous humanity brought by JS.
I loved him so much.
I love this story so much. Thank you.
The first “concert” I ever went to without parents was sitting on the college lawn during freshman week to see Dar Williams; I was hyper-conscious of how hippie-cool I was being and that still makes me cringe. Also the sound system was terrible.
The first concert I ever actually went to was Al Greenwood. I think I was twelve or thirteen. I should probably thank my dad for suffering through that with me.
I saw Dar Williams the summer before college and she was fantastic. No regrets.
I’m not sure I could list all the concerts I’ve been to. My very first was with my dad to go see Kenny Rogers at the Great Western Forum, because my mom was sick or something like that.
The only one I will apologize for is Owl City. I’m 42 years old.
I saw Kenny Rogers with my parents on The Gambler tour. I was so proud I took the concert program to Show-and-Tell the next week at my elementary school.
Never apologize for Owl City! The only (and yes, except for little mini-concerts in local parks and classical concerts, I have only ever been to ONE) concert I, and my husband, have ever been to is an Owl City concert. This was a few years ago. One of Owl City’s songs is our song.
We were the oldest people there that were not chaperoning tween girls. It was … only a little awkward, because I was having back problems at the time (it was a small, standing only concert hall) so we got to be in the handicapped section and watched the tweens from afar instead of being in the middle of them.
I enjoyed it 🙂
That’s exactly it. The only other people my age were chaperoning.
NO APOLOGIES FOR OWL CITY. My husband and I were definitely the oldest ones there without kids at the age of 30 but who cares I loved it.
O-TOWN.
(Guys I just googled O-Town and they have an active Twitter account and I can’t anymore.)
SAME O-Town came to the country fair one year and my seventh grade class was Very Excited.
I saw them at the county fair, too! I would ask if it was the same county fair, but I have a feeling they were doing more than one county fair at the time.
O-Town DEFINITELY had a multi-state fair tour situation, I am 100% sure of this fact. Mine was the Eastern States Exposition AKA The Big E AKA hell.
Oh man. I had almost forgotten about O-Town until a week or two ago, when my brother gave me a very detailed description of Ashley Angel and every step of his post-O-Town career, as well as a long soliloquy on exactly what his blond hair used to look like.
Another for O-Town. My friend’s mom made us both wear earplugs. At the end of the concert Clive Davis came out and gave them awards because their album had just gone platinum.
I just had to come into this thread months late to reply to this: my first concert was also O-Town! I was 13 and was supposed to see them in NYC on 9/11/01. Which obviously did not happen; it got postponed for a month. My dad brought me and two friends and was BY FAR the tallest person there. I was obsessed with them at the time and my friends and I made the most embarrassing posters to hold up. I can’t lie, it was a completely amazing night for 13-year-old me.
The reason their twitter account is active is that they got back together, sans Ashley Angel, two (?) years ago. I went to see them once for nostalgia’s sake, which I am a bit embarrassed about. It was fun, but without the nostalgia aspect, not a good show, which really wasn’t surprising.
The Spice Girls in 1997, 3 John Mayer concerts in the mid-2000s, and a One Direction concert in 2015. As you can see, my musical tastes have thoroughly evolved since I was 9.
Really really jealous of your seeing 1D. Was it wonderful?
It was the best day of this 27 year old’s life.
1D in 2012 and 2015, here in solidarity
A friend and I were high as a kite at Nuit Blanche in Toronto some years ago and *thought* we were watching Neil Young performing live. Friends, it was merely an old concert projected on a Jumbotron, which we found out the next morning at the coffee shop as we bragged about this amaaaazing, free Neil Young show we caught. Another customer had been there too and corrected our embarrassing mistake.
This is the best thing ever.
I have only been to one concert and it was a James Taylor concert about 15 years ago. (I’m 37, so too old for the first part of that sentence and too young for the last part.) I used to be embarrassed by this and even made up stories of quasi-medical conditions about crowds and loud noises. But the truth is I was just not really into music when I was young and now I’m just not really into spending a lot of money!
I have also only been to one concert (it was Owl City, I will not apologize)! I love music, just not usually the types popular enough to be in live concerts or aren’t available in concerts (oldies, classical (been to classical concerts, do they count?), Broadway shows). I also love such an eclectic smattering of songs that it wouldn’t make a concert worth it anyway, since I’d only like one song that they probably wouldn’t play.
Lilith Fair with my mom in 1998
My personal favorite: three free UB40 concerts three days in a row while living abroad. In 2011.
Are you me? Lilith Fair with my mom in 1998 was my first big concert. Wow!
One of my first concerts was the original Watershed Festival in Walkerton, Ontario, in the late 1990s. It was a fundraiser for a town that had had several deaths from their e.coli-tainted water supply.
Bands included See Spot Run, Serial Joe, and perhaps Bif Naked? I can’t remember. We went at my sister’s behest, who had seen these bands on Jonovision. My best searches for a lineup found this: http://www.angelfire.com/on3/SerialJoeReviews/wal…
Ahaha I wondered if Serial Joe would come up here. My whole middle school was obsessed with them. And I definitely had a friend who thought she had ‘invented’ spelling it ‘kool’ and also ‘kewl’.
Oh middle school…
oohhh boy.
First concert:
Asleep at the Wheel on the 4th of July at the park, approx age 10 (1993)
Innumerable contemporary christian shows in junior high/early highschool, approx 1996-1999, including but not limited to:
-the Newsboys
-DCTalk
-Audio Adrenaline
-Sixpence None the Richer
-the Supertones
-Jars of Clay
-manymore?
Also during this time I performed with my clogging group at the county fair and Hanson played after us and those boys were really, really nice kids.
Highschool:
-TOOL
-They Might Be Giants
-the Flaming Lips, pre Wayne’s descent into douchebaggery
-10000000 local bands
-more I’m forgetting?
College:
-10000000 more local bands
-Ani Difranco
-Bob Dylan/Willie Nelson (in a minor-league baseball stadium! I smoked a joint with some dudes in their late 70s. it was awesome.)
-Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey
-Flaming lips again
-Beck like 5 times and I have NO REGRETS
Post college/after 2005:
-Old Crow Medicine Show more than once
-Willie Nelson again
-Abigail Washburn
-John Vanderslice
-The Bowerbirds
-other things I don’t remember
-La Femme
….and then I stopped going to concerts because I totally lost interest in dealing with crowds of people unless it’s chill like the Prospect Park concert series or something, even though I love music.
Dear 90s me: I’m sorry you were so sheltered and consequently had such bad taste.
I keep wanting to edit this comment and add things but I won’t because it’s just going to reinforce the insane nature of my show-going-teenage-self (oh yeah! warped tour! oh yeah! bad religion! oh yeah! pixies! more lady-singer-songwriters/world music/roots music/etc etc)
oh god.
This list is amazing and I love it.
On a family trip in August 1998, my sister and I had our hearts set on seeing the Backstreet Boys in Las Vegas but instead my mom made a last minute decision to visit another national park so instead of seeing the Backstreet’s Back tour our rental car’s radiator broke in the middle of Death Valley.
i have probably seen 200 shows, big and small, over the last 20 years. my shows this year so far have been Jack Garratt and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. this is just for context.
have seen
John Mayer
Jason Mraz (x2)
Ben Folds (x2)
Sevendust (x4, including one ACOUSTIC show)
Garrison Keillor
Gordon Lightfoot
Peter Paul & Mary
The Chieftains
O-Town. (I didn’t even like them, and my friend’s mom made us both wear earplugs.)
:'(
My first “real” concert that was not a contemporary Christian artist was Lifehouse at the Colorado State Fair when I was in middle school.
I had a chance to see Ben Folds and John Mayer together at Red Rocks but I was dreading the John Mayer part so I told my friends I had to work.
The list of contemporary Christian artists I saw as a Youth is very long and includes Point of Grace and TobyMac. And Switchfoot three times.
I’ve seen a bunch of people I’m not ashamed of–(Bowie, The Who, I dunno, other people? Motley Crue. I am 0% ashamed of Motley Crue.)
BUT:
– Accidentally seeing The Killers three or four times because they keep turning up at music festivals I was at for other bands.
– One of those times being the HFSmas Nutcracker in 2004, where I was absolutely only there for Franz Ferdinand.
– Another one being HFStival in 2005, where I was absolutely only there for Billy Idol. Who played outdoors in a thunderstorm. It was very . . . Billy Idol.
– Being, um, me, and ending up at a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert. This was last year. It is very strange being a me surrounded by long-haired dudes in Confederate battle flags shirts who presume to call you “miss” and “little lady.”
(ETA: I’m not actually ashamed of The Killers. I just find it odd that I’ve seen a band I have no real opinion on more times than any other band I’ve ever seen.)
In that case, maybe you can tell me what the hell “Somebody Told Me” is about?
I think it’s about somebody whose name you never caught telling you a convoluted story that you didn’t ask for, about seeing somebody else who was either a boyfriend or a girlfriend and it was either recently or February of last year and you eventually feel the need to interrupt their narrative to day, “I don’t know what you’re talking about, dude. I just came over here to get some more chips.”
But they seem really excited about it and promise you it’s not confidential. You nod, grab a handful of chips, and avoid the snack table the rest of the night.
Later you hear this person plaintively asking someone else if they’re human or dancer.
I don’t know if this counts as a gig but my secondary school played host to boy bands who were ‘on the up’ in the UK. So consequently, as a very immature 12 year old I got to see Take That, Let Loose, 911 and MN8. Yeah. MN8, world’s worst boy band name?
I went on to be a big Backstreet Boys fan and then saw Ben Folds about 10 times so…
MN8??????
*crying*
Hahaha oh yeah – they did a not-at-all creepily titled song called ‘I’ve got a little something for ya’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nocKgb38-MA
Still gives me the shivers now. Not in a good way.
Live music is one of the few things I just really, truly enjoy. And yes, in there with allll that emo, my first concert was Fleetwood Mac. It was amazing, I really enjoyed it, but also it was a birthday present to my mom. Anyway, feel free to judge me:
Fleetwood Mac 2003
HIM 2003
My Chemical Romance 2005
Carbon Leaf 2006
AFI 2006, 2009, 2013
Projekt Revolution (yes the music festival by Linkin Park) 2007
Silversun Pickups 2012
Garbage 2012
Spring Fling Rock AF -TOMORROW!
The Kills- May
I’m not sure if this list is acting as a justification for seeing the Joy Formidable in April or just proof that I spend too much money on concerts and need to tone it down.
Oh yeah, and Third Eye Blind came to my concert so I saw them in like 2008/2009 before I knew Semi-Charmed Life was about meth.
How is AFI live? I loved them as a teen and then picked up their latest album a year ago and actually really enjoyed it– they’re one of the few bands that I’ve liked for several years and not seen live yet.
I have loved them every time I’ve seen them. They also seem to act as my “big transition” band- I saw them right after graduating high school. a few months before graduating college, and shortly before I moved back to the East Coast to be near my dying grandparents. So as much as I love them on their own merit, they’re also all tangled up in sentiment for me.
I saw Silversun Pickups but I don’t remember if it was 2012, and in fact am going to see them in a few weeks again!
I’m now remembering based on your Fleetwood Mac that I saw the Eagles at around that same time.
Take it from someone who has spent (and will continue to spend) a sizable portion of her income on seeing concerts: don’t tone it down unless it’s causing you problems with bill-paying and staying fed. If you love live music, those experiences are absolutely 100% worth it.
projekt revolution was a bitchin’ tour, that is all.
Milli Vanilli, 1989.
My best friend’s mom made her older sister take us. Whenever the older sister wants something from us, even now, she reminds us.
(I mean, I’ve seen a ton of live music, but this is the pinnacle of my shame. I saw NKOTB again as recently as two years ago and I REGRET NOTHING.)
Edit: Oh god, I also saw Kenny G. I had a visceral flashback just as my smug moment of “only one shameful concert!” was ending.
YES Milli Vanilli, that is amazing!
Recent conversation:
Spouse: “My ears are gonna be in great shape, because I’ve only ever been to one rock concert.”
Me: “What was it? Surely you don’t mean the Sarah McLachlan/Chieftains concert I dragged you to when we were in college?”
Spouse: “Yeah, that was the one I meant.”
Me: “I don’t think that counts as a rock concert.”
I am HERE for the Chieftains being a rock concert! I’ve played concerts with them so that would mean I’ve played HARD CORE ROCK CONCERTS and I wasn’t just chilling with the orchestra in fancy concert halls…
If I had any musical talent I would be so jealous of you right now, but I have none whatsoever so wishing I could have played with the Chieftains is on a par with wishing I were a purple unicorn.
(Do not disillusion me and say it was horrible.)
I saw U2 in Dallas with Hanson bopping along right next to me.
I see what you did there.
My first concert was going to see Paul McCartney and Wings when I was in second grade. He was in nearby St. Louis and my dad heard on the news that there were still tickets (this was the early 90s, before all concerts sold out online in 90 seconds). So naturally my dad took his eight-year-old daughter which turned out to be a good idea–when my dad asked if there were still tickets the guy at the ticket counter took one look at me and then sold my dad orchestra row seats (the 12th row!) for $25 each. I remember very little about the actual show (again, second grade–also I swear to God I was wearing an actual poodle skirt because I didn’t know what people wore to concerts and I thought it would make me look cool), but it really is one of my favorite memories.
OK that is seriously the sweetest story I have ever heard. Poodle skirt! So cute!
This makes me feel waaaaaaay too old for The Toast. My first concert was The Beatles.
I dislike other people especially when they’re drunk & loud so I stopped going to concerts. I’ve seen The Tossers, The Prodigals, a bunch of other Irish bands, Metallica (twice), Tori Amos, & Stevie Nicks but I forget the years. I’ve passed on seeing Muse, Rammstein, Buddy Guy, Type O Negative, & System Of A Down. I just watch concerts on YouTube while sitting on my comfy couch with nobody dumping beer on me. My husband is big into concerts so we have a mixed marriage. I live in Chicago & have never been to lollapalooza, by choice. I was intrigued the first year but decided I preferred not being around Other People.
There is a major amphitheater in town that is an absolute clusterfuck to get in and out of, and I have passed on seeing some fairly big acts because I just can’t deal.
Avril Lavigne in (I think 2001 or 2002)? I REGRET NOTHING.
Yup…saw her twice in my early teens!
My first concert was Coldplay, in 2005. I have seen them twice (05 and 08), and I regret nothing.
1. My mom was horrified/mortified that I was going to see a “rock band” in concert. (I was 22 and had just graduated from college.)
2. I drove my friend and I there, and when we parked (in a field of course), I somehow managed to drive over a ditch and she and the parking attendant laughed at me. She still found it funny years later.
3. The second time I went (Viva La Vida tour) I once again had lawn tickets, but this was the tour where they had three stages, depending on the venue – Stage A (main), Stage B (towards the back of the pavilion/seated area), Stage C (a platform on the lawn). The brief (unplugged) lawn performance came out of nowhere. I didn’t know to expect it, but let me tell you, when everyone else is running, you run too. We left all our stuff behind and crowded around the platform without a fraction of personal space (body to body) and I was ridiculously happy (this is the only time in history I have ever not minded zero personal space). I was just a couple feet away from them, despite having spent $25 on a lawn ticket. And they gave out free live CDs as you left the concert. It was so great.
4. I still maintain that if you took away Chris Martin’s voice and weak lyrics, people would realize they’re actually a good band – like instrumentally speaking, they are actually talented. I don’t love them like I once did (11 years ago a jobless, post-graduation girl was sobbing into her pillow listening to X&Y. What can I say?), but yeah, I don’t regret seeing them live at all. It was a lot of fun.
Other concerts I have seen:
Nickel Creek/Fiona Apple
Muse
The Avett Brothers
Over the Rhine
My formative concert experiences include Wham! (c. 1984-5), The Monkees (1986ish? well, whenever they were touring with Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and Herman’s Hermits), at least four Moody Blues Shows (1987-1992???) because my friend had been conceived at a Moody Blues concert, and, most notably, EMF (1990, probably). If I remember correctly, their set lasted about 40 minutes and included at least six renditions of “Unbelievable”. It was pretty amazing.
You may admire me.
Seriously jealous about the Wham! show.
My first concert was They Might Be Giants, at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 2002. I was A Certain Kind Of Person.
In 2006, I saw Joanna Newsom at the MFA, a couple months before Ys came out. In the garden, with the twinkle lights & Renoir’s behind her. I went with this nymph-like lovely woman I’d just met hours before. We didn’t really remain friends after that, but 10 years later, I have a picture she mailed me of her writing “Love” in the dirt framed in my office. It was a super magical experience. Not my first concert, but definitely one of the best!
YES! So jealous. (I am firmly, also, that kind of person)
No but why is nobody talking about that an adult person has only attended four concerts in her lifetime? Is that not…. An unusually small number? Even I, pathologically shy and with not a huge number of friends, had gone to more than that before college graduation.
I’ve been to…one? I was a child and was taken to some Christian music festival as part of a family vacation.
I just don’t enjoy concerts/live music. I find them incredibly boring. Idk what Mallory’s reason is.
I do see upstream that there are a fair number of people who share this! – but I thought the point of this article was the meagre and eccentric selection (and term ending 11 years ago) yet nobody else seemed to think that was the point, and I was/remain perplexed.
I think my real first concert might have been Michael Card (Christian singer) with my mom. Like a Bible study set to music.
But the first one I chose was guitar virtuosos Chet Atkins and Tommy Emmanuel at the Grand Ol’ Opry when I was in high school.
I was in a taxi yesterday and the driver was playing George Strait, and my love of country music just came back to me…I thought I had evolved away through bluegrass to singer-songwriters but now I know that the girl who was enraptured at the Grand Ol’ Opry is still in there. I must get out my country CDs tonight.
“Pardon me, you left your tears on the jukebox/ And I’m afraid they got mixed up with mine.”
Chet and Tommy you are so lucky.
My first one was the Red Hot Chili Peppers (supported by James Brown) when I was 13 or 14, with my whole family. My parents then decided we would go to Reading Festival together, and we did this as a family for three years in a row (2004, 2005, 2006, I think). It involved driving there and back at the start of every day, and while I enjoyed some aspects of it (I did get to see some great bands and listen to some good music) it was really not my thing – there’s nowhere to sit down! There are huge crowds of people! Everything is so loud! And there is a very particular smell of mud, beer and weed which will always take me right back there. I remember on at least one occasion crying in the car and asking if I could just stay at home, but apparently I could not. (This was repeated when I was 17 when we went to the End of the Road Festival, something I did not want to do at all. My parents still go every year; they are much cooler than me.)
Other gigs: a fairly representative mix of mid-2000s indie-rock, including Weezer, Green Day, Regina Spektor, the Mystery Jets, Kimya Dawson and Jeffrey Lewis (both of whom my siblings have played with a few times). I remember one interminable Jeffrey Lewis gig where he said he would just play a couple more songs and played SIX. Some of us had sore feet and wanted to go home!
Kimya’s dad lives around the corner from me and I always have to restrain myself from accosting her and singing Who’s Got The Crack. I’m not cool.
Can I just say how amazing this whole comment section is? It is wonderful to be able to share so openly and know that no one is going to be a jerk. Love all of you so hard.
I was a bit of a late bloomer on concerts (I am a bit of a late bloomer on everything), so my first was right after my high school graduation when my little brother took me to see the White Stripes. Far and away the best first concert experience I could have had.
I was thinking “I’ve been to SO many concerts!” and then realized most of mine are like “Yo-Yo Ma, Hilary Hahn, the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, Yo-Yo Ma again, various symphony and chamber orchestras” which is maybe not so cool
My youth group saw Jars of Clay somewhere in high school, that was a thing that happened
I have also seen Cyndi Lauper! and Josh Ritter (twice)! and the Decemberists.
The Decemberists are so good live! I nearly faint from excitement when they bring out the whale for the Mariner’s Revenge 😀
Uh…They Might Be Giants, 10x. That’s pretty much it.
I…yeah.
I cannot say I have regrets.
my first concert was coheed & cambria.
then i went to wayyyy too many bright eyes shows.
high school was a dark, dark time.
no such thing as too many bright eyes shows
i saw them five times in four yearssss. in hindsight, a bit much.
i don’t want to count how many times I’ve seen him in his various forms but probably upwards of 10 now? & am seeing him again this summer oops #teenangstforever
haha you do you! enjoy it! i heard a desaparecidos song in a store last week and was transported back…
First concert – The Monkees with opening act, Weird Al. Peak 80s! Peak awesome, too.
I have seen Ani DiFranco at least twelve times between 1997 and now, and I know that’s not the final number for me. Sometimes I just have to own up to my White Feminist Nonsense.
Highlights/Lowlights:
Phish 1999 at the Gorge on my 19th birthday, where dubious drugs were purchased in the parking lot and then smoked.
Eminem, Papa Roach, Xzibit, and Ludacris. Three of these were fantastic and one was just embarassing.
Beyonce/Jay-Z
Third Eye Blind and Foo Fighters at Bumbershoot
Sonic Youth at Bumbershoot (when Diamond Sea was their big radio hit but they did the album version, which is 19 minutes long)
Sleater-Kinney at a tiny club in Olympia
I worked concessions at the Gorge during summers in high school to raise money for my dance team and saw a lot of concerts from our shitty ice cream booth: CSN/Chicago, BB King, Boyz II Men and Montell Jordan.
I threw a sweater at Weezer when they opened for No Doubt. I’m sorry.
I think my all-time favorite show was Queens of the Stone Age in a club in Seattle with Dave Grohl on drums right before Songs for the Deaf came out, half of the amazing was from the band and the other half of the amazing was the yearbook of Seattle rock stars who were in the audience. Kris Novocelic is tall AF.
So my hometown has this summer festival every year with two or three concerts. They’re good at pulling in big country artists because it’s Tennessee and half of them are probably local anyway, but their track record on non-country artists is… dodgier. And since I haven’t been to any concerts elsewhere yet, this is my entire list:
1997 – All-4-One
2005 – Edwin McCain and Collective Soul
We rock hard in my house.
I also saw Hanson in 1998. In Atlanta. Let us never be ashamed.
My first concert was the Black Clouds and Underdogs Tour in 2006 (8th grade for me). It was Fall Out Boy, All-American Rejects, Hawthorne Heights, and the Hush Sound.
It was amazing.
BRITNEY SPEARS 2002.
My first real concert was Bush in 1997 (with No Doubt opening) I am so so sorry. And a year or two later I saw Sugar Ray oh god. 🙁 🙁 🙁
I just made a list of the concerts I can recall attending and it is… weird. I too have seen Hanson, Ben Folds, and John Mayer, but I’ve also seen Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Peter Murphy, Ani DiFranco several times, Snoop Dogg, and SUPERDIAMOND. TWICE. (This isn’t the complete list, just a sampling.)
Tori Amos 1998! I went while my parents were out of town and let my friends sleep over at my house and got grounded for it and it was totally WORTH IT.
Next concert I went to was The Offspring in 1999 which was so much fun. I ought to be ashamed of that one I think but I just can’t do it.
As in "'Best Wishes, Gordon Lightfoot?!' Eww"
My first concert was Taylor Swift so…..
At least I feel like I have sorta redeemed myself by seeing Upset open for Colleen Green and all of the variously tiny San Francisco not-quite-bar-shows
Really sad I missed Colleen Green coming through here the first time. How was it? She’s coming back in a couple weeks as the one opener of like a million acts, trying to decide if it’s worth the slog.
Oh it was really great! The first opener was just horrible, but Upset went second and was AMAZING. Colleen Green was so good. She’s so personable, like she manages her merch stand and actually talks to you.
I’ve been considering that too, but if I remember right, it’s the week before Rhye’s at The Regency. Unfortunately it’s either one or the other for me, and I’m going to do my damnedest to see Rhye.
I love that you’re going to Rhye, that band is so good. I expect the Bay Area will have a mini-baby boom 9 months from that night.
Are you in the Facebook group Concert Raptors? If not, definitely join. It’s a great place to pickup show buddies for things you’re going to solo or get face value tickets to sold out shows.
Haha, I would not be surprised!
Now I am. That is awesome, thanks so much for telling me about it!
My first concert was Raffi in 1993.
My most memorable/hilarious concert was Me First and the Gimmie Gimmies in 2006 in London. Memorable because it was in London. Hilarious because someone accidentally stepped on my foot and when I tried to pull my foot out from under their foot, my shoe came off. So I wandered around this crowded concert venue with only one shoe, and when the show was over I went outside thinking, “I can buy new shoes in the morning. I just have to make it home with only one shoe. That’s a totally punk rock thing to do, right?”. My friend talked me out of that idea, so I reluctantly went up to a security guard and asked if there was a lost and found. He raised is eyebrow at me, possibly thinking I was drunk when I explained my one-shod situation, and then mumbled something into his walkie-talkie. He asked me to describe my missing shoe, and repeated my description over his radio. And then he walked me back inside to the bar, where the bar tender handed me my slightly flattened, beer soaked Birkenstock clog.
I saw OK GO twice between 2005-2007, once opening for (IIRC) the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and once because my friend had a friend who was one of the band members' cousins. Claim to fame!
First concert: Duran Duran. Erasure opened for them. Contain your jealousy.
NOT CONTAINED ONE LITTLE BIT
NO WAY. After my dad dragged me to Kenny Rogers, the first concert I willingly went to was Erasure’s Wild! tour. I would have given my ten year old right arm to have seen Duran Duran. I still might.
Is it bad that I still want to see Kenny and Dolly sing live?
Okay, I would almost trade my Peter Gabriel experience for that. Wow. WOW.
I didn’t even appreciate Erasure at the time. I was an idiot teenybopper.
O-Town at Kings Dominion. We spied on their rehearsal through telescopes on a fake Eiffel Tower. Years later, Warped Tour wearing a duct tape tie.
Picture it, Washington D.C., 1997. My Mom has taken me to the pre-inauguration festivities for Husband Clinton’s second term. There’s some general theme of building a bridge to the future, and Peter, Paul, and Mary. Mom and I are in a tent listening to them, and I being a dirtbag teen in training, sit with my arms crossed even when the rest of the crowd stands up and starts swaying. I catch an elbow in the eye, and get my first black eye. Thanks, Peter, Paul, and Mary!
On the way back to the metro, we’re nearly run over by a speeding van carrying the groups ‘very good friend’ Teddy Kennedy.
Luciano Pavarotti, 2005.
…
Wow, that’s seriously it. Huh.
My first concert was U2 (obligatory, because Irish) in 198…5? (-ish? IDK, was in Croke Park…), but I went to many, many gigs as part of my “who-even-was-she?”-younger-person-days. I have slacked off a lot in recent years…urgh crowds, urgh standing, etc.
I know the next gig I’m going to is Belly in Dublin in July because I haven’t seem them live since 1993 and I adore them. I will brave both crowds and my arthritic knees anytime for a shot of such tuneful nostalgia.
BELLY
:hearts for eyes: :looking at tickets to Dublin:
First concert was one of those massive radio deals where they just cram in bands. The only ones I remember with clarity were American Hifi, Dreamstreet, The Cranberries, and Barenaked Ladies. It was 2001 ish. I only cared about BNL, but The Cranberries opened up with Zombie and my mind was blown.
The Chieftains in 2004 ish.
In college (first time 2007) I saw Carbon Leaf, but only cause they played at the school.
Flogging Molly in 2009 at Stubbs in Austin. I was in the Air Force then and technically went awol to see them. Good times.
Kinda sorta The Flaming Lips in 2010.
The Decemberists last summer.
My parents talk of all of their awesome concerts in high school and college (Joan Jett!, Black Sabbath!, Cheap Trick!, Duran Duran!, Bruce Springsteen!, INXS!, U2!, Journey!, Talking Heads!, The Blues Brothers!, etc etc) and I die a little inside.
I’m dying inside a little thinking that I could probably be your mother.
In all fairness, my mother is incredibly young. By the time she was my age she had three kids and had been married for a decade.
I must only assume that you, like her, are very good looking, well-preserved and intelligent, with awesome taste in music.
The only concert I had wanted to see up to age 22 that I could have reasonably attended was Liz Phair in Kansas City, but it turned out to be the night between the two days of my CPA exam and oh my god the unchecked rage. I have spent the last few years overcompensating IN SPADES by flying around the country to see J-pop.
Also I dropped an entire paycheck for three of us to have GOOD seats to see Paul McCartney a couple years ago. No regrets.
+1 for the CPA exam, jesus.
I saw Paul McCartney at the MGM Grand in Vegas in the early aughts, and it was so frickin’ good. Like I’m pretty sure I teared up a few times.
Jingle Ball 1997
N’Sync 2000
Sugar Ray 2001
Dave Matthews 2002
The Roots 2005
Wyclef Jean 2006
Hanson 2015
2015 was actually my second time seeing Hanson perform as they were also at Jingle Ball ’97.
My first concert was James Taylor. It was just 15 year old me and a sea of moms. Moms everywhere.
Concerts I have seen so far in 2016:
Rebirth Brass Band
Chris Garneau / Emily Jane White
Sea Knight / Marie Naffah
The Thermals / Party Baby / So Pitted / Cruel Summer
The Mountain Goats (solo) / Field Medic
Waxahatchee / Briana Marla
Jack Garrratt / Kacy Hill
ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE
Daughter / Wilsen
Murder By Death / Tim Barry
Poliça / Clara-Nova
The Joy Formidable (tonight!)
Are there any other music nerds here to keep me company?
I highly approve of your determination to see live music, even though I have never heard of any of those bands. Enlighten me.
Signed, Spent All Her Early Adulthood In Muddy Tents Among Metalheads
The two top things from that list I’d recommend to a recovering metal head:
The Mountain Goats, especially “The Best Ever Death Metal Band out of Denton” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IsXKMkDAMQ, which is from a time when all of his music was made on cassette decks.
The Thermals, this is one of my favorite music videos of all time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwgNMrs-i80
I have never met another person who listens to Chris Garneau! I only have one album from him, but it’s solid. Weird, but solid.
Also the Mountain Goats are the best live thing ever because people are so chill and everyone knows all the words.
Chris Garneau is the best!
I went to a Mountain Goats show recently where I was standing next to three our parent’s aged people who had no idea where they were. They recoiled in horror a little bit when everyone screamed “I hope you die! I hope we both die!” They just wanted to hear that one song from the Weeds soundtrack, but they gave me the gift of getting to watch the whole thing go down from an outsider’s perspective.
So jealous of your Waxahatchee concert.
Yes! I am ride or die for Waxahatchee. She’s a genius.
And I fought the rest of the fan girls to get a really good spot for that show: https://www.instagram.com/p/BCuebxzCqd-/?taken-by…
I was reading through this and was like, “somedays I feel like the toasties are My People, and sometimes, we’re just not on the same planet.” Then I read your post and was like BANDS I RECOGNIZE!!!
Acid. Mothers. Temple. Saw them in 2009/10-ish Woah–that was nuts. We actually just got rid of our Acid Mothers t-shirt because it fits no one anymore, but it was a gift from the band and now I’m kind of regretting it? I also saw The Mountain Goats, which are the only bands I cross over with. I don’t go to many concerts any more, because money mostly. But RIGHT ON.
My first giant concert venue lineup was:
Finger 11
Jimmy’s Chicken Shack
CREED
ohgodohgodwhyyyy
I CRIED OUT
HEAVEN SAVE ME
I’m amazed that so many of you guys remember all the concerts you’ve been to… my first one without Mom was Blind Guardian in 2002ish, and afterwards my memory gets hazy. The worst one was Gun’s’Roses in 2006, the best one possibly Omnia in 2009.
A whooooooooole lot of CCM concerts at Carowinds… I don’t think I went to a “real” concert until well into college, and that was just indie stuff. I have never really had the money to shell out $100+ for a shitty bleacher seat at Madison Sq Garden or whatever, sounds like a nightmare, so I mostly just go to small-venue concerts with lesser-known artists, which is still a hell of a lot of fun. Rachel Yamagata, Betty Who, etc.
Live music has been a staple of my life ever since childhood in rural Montana.
I don’t go much for large concerts anymore, but that said I will be taking my first flight to see a concert this year, Adele. On the flip side of that coin, I really like house concerts.
My first concert was Deep Blue Something (as in Breakfast at Tiffany’s), but I was like 7 so I just sat on the bar and fell asleep. It was a pretty good nap!
Lilith Fair at around 12.
GooGoo Dolls (opener Fastball who were AWESOME) was my first “concert” without my parents. It was in the CYC gym. We sat on bleachers. Jonny Reznick wore a cowboy hat and my bestie and I had an only half-joking argument about which one of us he winked at.
DAVID FREAKING BOWIE, BEST THING EVER. Opener Stereophonics!
Counting Crows like 5 times, once they coheadlined with John Mayer but I left 2 songs into his set cause he was SO BORING).
Girlyman, every time they were in NY. I miss Girlyman.
I have no regrets and no shame for any of it.
Edited because I can’t believe I forgot about going to see Savage Garden! I was so in love with them.
I saw that Counting Crows/John Mayer concert. And, for a bonus, Maroon 5 as the opening act before they were a thing.
My pro tip for the day is get yourself some Amy Speace. Then go see her play whenever you can.
Chris de Burgh, 1995. -_-
I’d like to point out that I was 14. I was a teenager in the 90s who thought Chris de Burgh was cool.
Jimmy Pardo (on the Never Not Funny podcast) described his experience seeing Chris de Burgh either earlier this year or late last year, so you’ll be glad to know he’s still out and about. And apparently has a huge Persian diaspora following.
Pffft.
I can get way more shameful than that.
I’ve been to a metric ton of concerts but here are some lowlights.
-My first concert was….Van Halen. And not even the Van Halen people like…it was the version of the band with that dude Gary.
-My family and I saw Poison play every single summer for SEVEN YEARS IN A ROW
-Dave Matthews…..cover band.
-Front row at Dashboard Confessional (actually that was really fun for 16 year old me)
-Bon Jovi ……… 20 times. That is not a typo. My mother is rabid.
I think that’s enough sharing for now! Haha
I may have audibly winced at “Dave Matthews cover band”, I’m sorry.
Haha yup!
I should point out that I was dragged there against my will while on vacation.
Friend – “C’mon! It could be a real good time!”
Spoiler: It was not.
I shamefully didn’t make it to a concert until after I graduated high school. First one – Phil Lesh and Friends. Then a string of Ani Difranco shows (you know, before she was racist), at one of which I met my now-husband. Then 2010 Lilith Fair, which was awesome. Then Streetlight Manifesto and SOJA.
And the Violent Femmes at some point, but I stayed for about five minutes because I was way stoned and very claustrophobic.
My most embarrassing shows attended: NKOTB 1989, Bush/GooGoo Dolls 1995
Rufus Wainwright and Ben Folds are not embarrassing. If they are then I should be embarrassed for myself multiple times
First concert: SARAH BRIGHTMAN, Feb. 2004.
then: Josh Groban, 2005.
and:
….Michael Buble, 2006.
then no more concerts, until small indie band shows in college, post-2010.
*drops heavy, out-of-date, clearly homeschooled mic*
Lifehouse. More than once. More than twice, even.
Oh my gosh, I went to a Hanson concert in 1998 too, haha. I was 12. My mother let me chase the tour bus down the street. My only other two concerts were Backstreet Boys (2001? 2002?) and Hanson again, but in like 2004/2005.
Was that the Ben Folds + Rufus Wainwright show where they covered Careless Whisper? If so, props.
I cannot remember them all, but first concert was Veruca Salt and Local H, which may be the most 90s combination of words ever assembled
(although I stand by my love of VS and saw them when they toured last year)
Best concert: Joan Jett, seriously if you get the chance GOOOO because she’s been touring since she was 16 and damn that lady can work a crowd
Most annoying: Douchebag standing next to me at a Liz Phair concert who kept screaming “You’re hot!” at the stage over and over
I think I saw Reel Big Fish once? Again: 90s
But I kind of don’t…get concerts? I wish I did! And maybe it’s because my friends basically never like the same artists I do so I go by myself a lot, but I spend a lot of time spying on the crowd at concerts and there are some people who basically seem to be having a religious experience and it makes me jealous and sad that I don’t experience things that way. Although, in retrospect, I am PRETTY SURE the guys at the Marina and the Diamonds concert who were essentially giving off sparkles of excitement and energy might have been on something.
No Doubt (gift from my mom), 1997
Incubus (gift to my mom), 2002
Various festivals in high school, who could possibly remember all the bands?
Ben Folds, 2004
The Faint, 2004?
Wilco, 2005
The Flaming Lips, 2006
OK Go, 2x in two days, 2006
Interpol, 2007
The Julius Airwave (hometown favorites), 5x or thereabouts, 2007-2008?
Foo Fighters (another gift to my mom), Jimmy Eat World opened, 2008
They Might Be Giants, 2008?
Tegan & Sara, 2010 (free tickets but I had to see Paramore, too)
Philly Folk Festival a couple of times; saw Jeff Tweedy once, 2010-2014?
I think that’s all, but who really knows! I’m really impressed with all the people who can remember so many.
I have no regrets because life should be an adventure, y’all (except … maybe no one really NEEDED to see Peter Murphy 5 times? oh well! fun!), but my most magical concert experience:
Voodoo Fest in New Orleans, just before Halloween 2002, Garbage (playing right before No Doubt), and as “I’m Only Happy When It Rains” started up, it began to absolutely POUR. Shirley Manson shouted “I’m a witch,” every woman in the joint screamed, and possibly the world shifted on its axis a little.
SHE LIED TO US in 2012 that it was the first time then. MAYBE SHE IS and maybe the world did.
I took an embarrassingly long time to go to a live concert. My younger brother had to take me to Ted Leo when I was in college just so I’d stop being so #uncool. Although I was super awkward it was fun so I’ve since gone to a few more. Best ones include Two Door Cinema Club, Murder by Death, and Barenaked Ladies with Whitehorse as opener.
R.E.M. Berlin 2008!!
No regrets, not even for Rush. (They’ve walked back the Ayn Rand stuff, more or less, and they’re technically brilliant.)
John Mellencamp and Heart: Heart was much better; this was before the lil’ guy got over his “John Cougar” phase completely.
Genesis: Not the Peter Gabriel days, but Phil was just fine, and they did my favorite Genesis song, “Mama.” (I think it’s my favorite because it sounds like Phil trying so damn hard to be Peter Gabriel.)
Liz Phair: Pretty good, although not quite as big of a deal as I’d been led to believe.
Paul Simon and Bob Dylan: Surprisingly good. Simon was good, but Dylan was really on (I guess that it can be variable for ol’ Bob, even within the same tour); he ended with the heaviest version of “Not Fade Away” that I’ve ever heard.
…hmm. Guess I haven’t been to a lot of concerts, at least big ones. Lots of smaller shows, though.
My first live concert was seeing Van Cliburn playing the Tchaikovsky 1st piano concerto. I requested tickets for my 13th birthday.
I was (am) a weirdo.
I have always felt very Un.Cool. for my lack of cool concert-going so I feel very redeemed right now.
Dave Matthews. Twice. I know, I know. (first time with my mom and HS boyfriend OH GOD. Second time with my husband a few years ago and whatever, it was great).
Garth Brooks. In Texas. During Peak Garth Brooks Thunder Rolls era. A friend had tickets so I went. Women wept. Garth Brooks consistently did a lot of Christ-like gesturing. It was…weird.
Audioslave. Awesome.
Smashing Pumpkins + Bush + Alice in Chains + Soundgarden + some other 90s grunge rockers probably? I saw this AS AN ADULT and it spoke to the 90s teen buried deep in my soul who was not allowed to go to concerts.
Lindsey Stirling. I was probably the only adult there who was not chaperoning their child, but I went with my little sister, and it was GREAT. Afterwards we sprinted to the fancy ice cream shop so we could eat fancy ice cream before it closed. A+ concert-going experience.
The Steepwater Band, maybe…4-5 times? The first time was my then-boyfriend, now-husband and I’s first weekend trip together, and we went to a tiny town on a river to see this band play, on the strength of one song I really liked. We stayed in a bed and breakfast where you paid by putting money in a breadbox. The band is pretty good, but we would probably keep going to see them even if they were terrible.
* This list does not include the various video game concerts I have attended (or am about to attend, this very Sunday, in fact.)
Let’s see, I have seen:
Billy Joel, 1994(?)
Boston, 1995
Brian Selzer Orchestra, 2000
Indigo Girls, 2002
Indigo Girls, 2016
Yeah, that’s about it.
In 1984 (85?), I bought Don Johnson’s album.
i’ve seen every Grateful Dead offshoot, probably more than once. (i’m 29, it’s nonsense.)
also my first festival was Creation. i went 3 years in a row, then moved on to Warped Tour.
my first concert was the Spice Girls….for their 2007 reunion tour.
My first concert was Carman. Yeah. That guy. I barely remember it because I was maybe 4?
After that, my mom made me go see Psalty the Psalm Book while I had a badly injured and untreated ankle. Thankfully, my concert experiences since childhood have been much better.
1993, Alice in Chains at a crummy venue in Wichita
Living in Colorado has given me easy access to many more concerts (oooh, Red Rocks, how I love you), but the early-rising toddler in the room down the hall isn’t making concerts very appealing right now.
Ah well. Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn last month, Avett Brothers at Red Rocks this summer…gotta make ’em count these days.
RED ROCKS. One of the things I miss about living in Denver.
I can no longer count the number of Ani Difranco and Tori Amos shows I have seen. In my defense, I now do not go see Ani because of that plantation bullshit even though I still really enjoy her sound, because no.
1996: Alanis Morissette (and again on the 9.5 Weeks tour with Tori)
1998: Puff Daddy & the Family. Foxxy Brown did the entire show in a bikini.
Way too many free shows headlined by K’s Choice, but fuggit cause I still like them.
2000s sometime:
Widespread Panic (for free, after I comforted a radio deejay having a bad day)
Phish (voluntarily)
The first three Bonnaroos (never again, year 1 was the only year to be there)
The Beach Boys (actually one Beach Boy plus a bunch of studio musicians) on the Feed the Children tour. Also for free. The Black Eyed Peas opened before anyone knew who they were and were super rude that the people in the seats weren’t singing along (because the people in the seats were all geriatrics) and I have hated them ever since.
Weird Al (awesome)
They Might Be Giants (awesome)
DJ Irene (awesome)
Way too many forgettable raves
Joan Jett at the fairgrounds (awesome)
The Fabulous Thunderbirds opening for Joan Jett at the fairgrounds (only awesome because we were there to see the band get in a no shit fistfight behind the stage while their bassist played the longest unintentional solo of all time)
Sleater Kinney (awesome)
The Butchies (so awesome)
Cowboy Mouth (a bunch)
Some more I’m forgetting
The tens:
Snoop Dogg
GWAR
Cowboy Mouth some more
I only regret that my law school exams made me miss Arlo Guthrie.
ETA how did I forget Roger Waters
I saw Raffi in concert when I was about 4 or 5 years old, and I don’t think I’ve ever been as excited about a concert EVER AGAIN.
I saw Cat Power in college, and she got everyone standing in this crowded little venue to all sit down on the floor instead, so we could all see. That was pretty awesome.
Come to think of it, my two favorite concert memories include sitting cross-legged on the floor in a large friendly circle, singing along with the rest of the crowd.
I also saw Wango Tango…more times than I should have. I would replace this with more cross-legged floor sitting concerts if I could.
New Kids On The Block, 2010 (never had the disposable income the first time around)
Jukebox the Ghost, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
This is kind of a weird list.
Alanis Morrisette, with Garbage opening. 2001. I regret nothing.
First non-chaperoned concert: They Might Be Giants 1993ish.
I stand by my choice.
311. The Dixie Chicks (2x). Flogging Molly (2x). Joshua Bell (2x). Ani DiFranco. Rodrigo y Gabriela. Coldplay. Randy Travis. Lady Gaga. Eddie Money. St. Vincent. Josh Groban. The Who. GARTH BROOKS (I waited forever for him to come out of retirement). Vampire Weekend. Lindsey Stirling. The Flaming Lips. MGMT. Heart. ZZ Top. Our Lady Peace. Alanis Morrissette. Garbage. Limp Bizkit (eugh). Sting. Owl City. Paramore. Tegan and Sara. Big Data. Cage the Elephant. Loreena McKennitt.
Yeah, I have eclectic tastes. My mom also used to get free tickets to a corporate box seat at the Pepsi Center, so… Regrets, though: being too tired to make the recent Foster the People and Neko Case concerts in my town. :’-(
My list:
Phish, circa 1997?
DMB circa 1998?
That’s it. Although G Love and Special Sauce opened for Willie Nelson my senior year of college and I went to that, so I guess that counts; it was free and it was there so I don’t really include it on my List.
Now, if we’re including classical stuff, I have been to many and sung in countless more, including three operas and two different performances of Sweeney Todd.
c. 1986 – The Replacements
c. 1987 – Depeche Mode (think OMD opened)
c. 1987 – New Order (Bjork’s band The Suger Cubes and Johnny Rotten, who cussed us all out, opened – unless they opened for Depeche Mode – hard to remember)
c. 1990 and c. 1992 – Billy Bragg
c. 1991 – Two Nice Girls (lesbian band that sang the song with the chorus “I spent my last 10 dollars on birth control and beer, my life was so much simpler when I was sober and queer” – aka the official drinking song of my queer friends in college)
2001 – David Byrne (the week of 9/11 – legit best concert I’ve seen)
sometime after 2004 – Ween
That’s leaving out classical and folk concerts. My list is shockingly male.
And white.
ETA – forgot Peter, Paul and Mary, sometime in the mid to late 90s, for a frien’d birthday.
Lord Huron in 2013 and Twenty One Pilots in 2015. Both amazing. (only the two so far because i am a tiny newborn 23-year-old, unfortunately. no concerts except for my parents’ friends’ folk bands pre-college.)
Lord Huron was at the Fonda Theater in Hollywood and my friends and I were in the balcony section and one of my favorite moments was before the show, when my best friend heard the couple in front of us wondering aloud about the strange murals on the walls – people getting eaten? beaked creatures??? what’s going on?? – and she simply could not stop herself from butting in like OK HI HELLO THAT’S ACTUALLY HIERONYMOUS BOSCH, LET ME LEARN YOU SOME THINGS ABOUT HIERONYMOUS BOSCH. LET’S TALK ABOUT WHAT HE’S DOING. IT’LL BE GREAT
The first concert I went to was the Violent Femmes. It was fun. I’m still a little bummed that I didn’t go to the free outdoor concert the Smashing Pumpkins did in Minneapolis. A friend and I planned to go, but then his mom thought the something horrible would happen to us because we would be in a big city! We were from the actual boondocks.
Hanson (1998) as well!
Yanni (2004-ish)
The Killers (2009)
Dethklok and Mastodon (2009)
Nine Inch Nails (2013)
Dierks Bentley, Luke Bryan, Easton Corbridge, Jake Owen (2013)
Pentatonix (2014)
Fall Out Boy (2014)
of Montreal (2015)
Sleater-Kinney (2015)
All the love for of Montreal!
I actually go to concerts a lot these days (my +1 is a music person), but my first ever concert was, somewhat horrifyingly, Herbert Grönemeyer in 2002. After that I didn’t go to anything for years. Ugh.
Most of my concert-going was concentrated in middle and high school, because the only person I know who likes approximately the same music as I do is my Mom.
Eve 6 (2003)
Franz Ferdinand (2004?)
Kaiser Chiefs, Kasabian, Sum 41, Sugarcult, Bowling for Soup, (ok that one was for my friend) (were all of these really in the same year?) (2005??)
She Wants Revenge, Dir En Grey (also for a friend, it was an experience) (2006?)
There’s a bunch of others that were 2006 or later, like They Might be Giants (x2), Snow Patrol/Ok Go, MSI/The Birthday Massacre, Amanda Palmer….
Is there a difference between a concert and a show? Because I’ve been to a lot of shows but I’m not sure if they count.
Can’t remember my first concert because I’m old, but I met my now-husband at a They Might Be Giants show in 1995!
First concerts I went to that were not performed by a symphony ( I was the kid in high school who woke up gleefully to the classical station playing Clare de Lune at 5:30 AM every morning) were Contemporary Christian Concerts. DC Talk! Jars of Clay! Supertones!
Thankfully my husband is incredibly cool and hip and markedly upped my game in this department. I went to Sasquatch last year for my 30th birthday, to “observe and experience American youth”.
Goo Goo Dolls are the Canfield Fair circa 2000 beat that
Yeah I'm not even ashamed that I went to see O-Town, reunited minus Ashley Angel, last year.
It was amazing.
Most of my concerts are with my parents (but are, I should clarify, people I lo-o-o-o-ve), so I’ve seen the Eagles three times and Billy Joel four, plus Elton John, Simon & Garfunkel, Barbra (huge disappointment, she basically tricked me into an Il Divo concert), James Taylor, Tom Jones (my idea)…
On my own/with friends/with my little sister, my concert list is a lot more queer college student-y, not much more hip, and pretty much equally unregretted:
Barenaked Ladies, 2003 & 2015 (ft. Colin Hays and Violent Femmes)
Of Montreal, 2007
Bruce Springsteen, 2008
Nellie McKay, 2009 & 2014
Ani DiFranco w/ Erin McKeown, 2010
Lucy Wainwright Roche, 2010
Roosevelt Dime, 2010
Amanda Palmer, 2010, 2012 (singing Purple Rain, it was great), & 2015 (ft. PWR BTTM)
Idina Menzel, 2012
The Both, 2014
Queen and Adam Lambert, 2015 (!!!)
(I feel I should add that I’m Mallory’s age…I just had old taste and only saw one concert on my own before I went to college.)
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, 1992. :::mic drop:::
Oh god, the first show I ever saw was the Fray……
I have seen Peter, Paul, and Mary live four times in my life, and just Peter and Paul this one rather depressing time. I also went to an Irish pub once to hear the Flying Fish Sailors, but I got uncomfortable and left halfway through because alone in a bar is my idea of hell. Oh, and I’ve heard Eliza Rickman live at my favourite comic book store!
Depths of nerdiness, I am plumbing you.
The Osmonds, 2008, with my mum and sister
Gerard Way, November 2014
Gerard Way, January 2015 (I know, I know, but MCR is the only band I ever really loved and I couldn’t not go see him both times he was performing in London)
I’ve been to a gabillion classical music concerts but my List of Pop Music Concerts is much more concise