Gigographies
December 30, 2011 12:59 PM Subscribe

Did Poco play the Poconos? Did Roxy Music rock the Roxy? Did U2 go to The O2?

posted by Knappster (32 comments total) 38 users marked this as a favorite

Nice. I need to dig through some ticket stubs.

If this Best Post Contest for December was a voting thing, I'd be voting for this post.
posted by marxchivist at 1:21 PM on December 30, 2011

Hey! My very first concert!

"10 Years of The Mothers" tour
1974 04 24 - Convention Center, Indianapolis, IN

Previously listed as 1974 07 23.
130 min, Aud, B-

soundcheck intro, Pygmy Twylyte (incl. Dummy Up), The Idiot Bastard Son, Cheepnis, Inca Roads, Cosmik Debris, Montana, improvisations, Dupree's Paradise, It Can't Happen Here, Hungry Freaks Daddy, You're Probably Wondering Why I'm Here, How Could I Be Such A Fool?, I Ain't Got No Heart, I'm Not Satisfied, Wowie Zowie, Let's Make The Water Turn Black, Harry You're A Beast, The Orange County Lumber Truck, Oh No, Trouble Every Day (q: RDNZL), Penguin In Bondage, Andy, Camarillo Brillo
posted by Thorzdad at 1:25 PM on December 30, 2011

Holy shit, they actually have this show on tape -- it's the first concert I ever went to. Smashing Pumpkins at the very first show ever at the current 9:30 Club. Spent the whole show 20 feet away from the stage and sung along with every single song. This was back in the days when you only had a few dozen cds and listened to them over and over and over again..
posted by empath at 1:26 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

And my first concert, too! The Damned, Poole Arts Centre, 26 June 1985!

And as I mentioned in this thread, we met them in the chip shop before the gig!
posted by dowcrag at 1:27 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Apparently Hawkwind and Frank Zappa were soundtracking my arrival in this world.
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:34 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

My first concert (19 Mar. 1984) isn't listed on the Judas Priest site. I'd never heard of the opening act, but they would later make headlines around the world.
posted by Knappster at 1:36 PM on December 30, 2011

Wicked post Knappster - thanks. I have just launched a site called Gods and Alcoves which brings together discographies, gigographies and radio/TV broadcasts for the following bands from 1979-1989 ("Goth, post-punk and alternative").

A self link, but a relevant one. (I hope!)

• bauhaus
• the birthday party
• the boys next door
• the cult
• the cure
• death cult
• joy division
• killing joke
• love and rockets
• nick cave and the bad seeds
• play dead
• siouxsie and the banshees
• the sisters of mercy
• the southern death cult
• tones on tail
• warsaw
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 1:39 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

first gig - Killing joke, Digbeth Civic Hall, July 30 1983 with Play Dead supporting.
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 1:41 PM on December 30, 2011

My first show.
posted by davebush at 1:55 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

My first gig - Dire Straits at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Feb. 19th, 1992
posted by The Card Cheat at 1:55 PM on December 30, 2011

Well this was very frustrating. None of the greatest gigs I heard as a kid were listed. Not the Jefferson Airplane/Iron Butterfly gig around ~68. Not the Cramps on New Year's Eve in Chicago maybe 79 or 80. Not Uriah Heep in the early 70s. There's not even a gig list to find the Johnny and Edgar Winter gig (warmup act: James Brown) in Minneapolis around 75. I could not find the Jeff Beck/Jan Hammer Group gig in an outdoor amphitheater in 1976.. hey wait, they warmed up for Fleetwood Mac, check that list.. yess.. June 25, 1976.

A little more googling.. I am in this picture somewhere, the photographer was about 10 feet behind me. It's like being there again.
posted by charlie don't surf at 2:14 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Bogus tour dates shown on the backs of Weird Al's concert T-shirts

Waitaminute, I was THERE when he played the La Brea Tar Pits in '94... he did two extra shows when he and two of his band members couldn't extricate themselves... you might say he was held over when he was held under.
posted by oneswellfoop at 2:24 PM on December 30, 2011

> There's not even a gig list to find the Johnny and Edgar Winter gig (warmup act: James Brown)

They went on after James Brown?
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:32 PM on December 30, 2011

In August 1983, I saw James Brown open for The Police.
posted by davebush at 2:35 PM on December 30, 2011

I was at this show, which was apparently, The Police's first arena gig. Tom Robinson opened and Jools Holland played the intermission.
posted by octothorpe at 2:38 PM on December 30, 2011

"Sure mom, I'll be back early. Just going over to Stevie's house. Don't wait up." Not my first show ever, but my first Dead show. 2 hour drive each way in some friend of Stevie's camaro doing about 70 on 95 up to the New Haven Coliseum from NYC area. Made it home just before mom woke up for her morning coffee.
posted by JohnnyGunn at 2:44 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

They went on after James Brown?

Yes. That James Brown performance is the worst concert act I have seen in my entire life. It was ruined by a showboating bass sax player, all you could hear was the guy honking, he drowned out everyone else. It could not have been just a bad PA mix, the sax just didn't seem to be playing anything but the same note, honking over and over. Well at least the Johnny & Edgar Winter main show was one of the best shows I ever saw. And they hardly ever played together.

In August 1983, I saw James Brown open for The Police.

LOL, you reminded me, I saw English Beat open for The Police probably around 78. That gig is also not on any list. We walked out after English Beat, that's who we went to see. The Police sucked.

I'm checking other gigs I attended. Oh holy crap. I found a video of the 1985 LA Street Scene Riot. Fishbone played and the mosh pit got aggressive. Then Agent Orange threw free skateboard decks into the pit, and people started fighting to grab them. A minor riot started, so the LAPD shut down the stage. So everyone drifted over to the main stage where Sparks and The Ramones were scheduled next, the main act for the night. That stage was shut down and they never went on. People got pissed off and started tipping over the big oil drums filled with water that they were using as crowd barriers. So people started running away from the water rushing across the grassy plaza. The police thought there was something dangerous that people were fleeing from, but it was just people who didn't want to get their shoes wet. So the LAPD Mounted Police rushed the crowd. They were swinging long nightsticks, I remember ducking and one went right over my head and into the face of a guy standing about 3 feet from me. Well I suppose he deserved it, he was beating on his girlfriend. I got the hell out of there and thought to myself, I'm sure glad I didn't take that acid someone offered me about 2 hours earlier.
My girlfriend and I tried to go to the final act the next night, Edgar Winter was playing. But every time we tried to get close, our path was blocked by latino gangbangers, they actually had the whole concert area cordoned off. Every time we tried to push through, they'd push together, shoulder to shoulder to block us. We couldn't get close so we left. Good thing too, there was a shooting about 15 minutes later, IIRC one guy got killed.
posted by charlie don't surf at 3:42 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

Well this has helped me remember a couple of things. Sort of. I did see the Clash twice in '82, yes.
posted by zomg at 3:44 PM on December 30, 2011

I saw English Beat open for The Police

That was '81, probably. I saw the Cow Palace show. Mostly holding my girlfriend in the air because she was short.
posted by zomg at 3:46 PM on December 30, 2011 [1 favorite]

This is fantastic, thanks for posting this. I remember seeing Pearl Jam in 1995 in San Jose; PJ was awesome, natch, but I had to leave early because I had to be in LA the next morning, so I spent the entire drive kicking myself because I couldn't remember the name of this this amazing guy in the opening act.
A few months later, I met my husband, who fired up a copy of "Fight for Your Mind" and the mystery was solved.
I just pulled up the MonkeyWrench Radio link to the preshow so my husband could hear it. Damn, I love the internets.
posted by Dr. Zira at 4:12 PM on December 30, 2011

Wow. My first ever concert is in there. CSN&Y, 08-17-1974 at Foreman Field in Norfolk, Virginia.

Three sets of pure "my life is gonna rock from now on".

I feel really, really old now.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 4:17 PM on December 30, 2011

This is a great post. Thanks.
posted by davebush at 5:39 PM on December 30, 2011

I can't imagine any act today grabbing the kind of numbers The Jacksons were getting on their Victory tour in '84. They sold out Dodger Stadium six damn nights.
posted by davebush at 6:21 PM on December 30, 2011

It was ruined by a showboating bass sax player

As big as this one?

If the horn seemed heavy on the low end to you, it was most likely a baritone sax. Or likelier still, a tenor sax. But you should also consider that the sax player might not have been "showboating". Actually, it is hugely uncharacteristic of the late Mr. Brown to let anyone besides himself "showboat". Much likelier that the culprit that night was a bad sound mix. The man at the mixing board might have been high, or half asleep, or just had bad ears. You might have been standing (or seated, whatever) in what's called a bass trap: a part of the room (often under a balcony) where bass is enhanced and overpresent.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:24 PM on December 30, 2011

I feel really, really old now.

Nah. Your is gonna rock from now on.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:28 PM on December 30, 2011

Um... "you're gonna".

"Your is gonna" is good, though: nice ring to it.
posted by flapjax at midnite at 6:40 PM on December 30, 2011

One of these gigographies needs your help. The Asking Tree — the Robyn Hitchcock database — is looking for a new host. It's written in very old ASP, and could be updated.
posted by scruss at 7:57 PM on December 30, 2011

Awesome post!! You inspired some great memories! Thank you

My first show-WAY too young(not quite a teen) but my brothers G/F and her brother took me for my birthday (and got me to smuggle weed down my pants as I laid in the back of a damn Pinto hatchback) ಠ_ಠ I was a KISS army member and fanatic
I think that is the only reason I was allowed to go.

http://www.kissfaq.com/tourdates/1978/012578.html

AMAZING show and surreal crowd with many in full costume-Gene with the blood and flames-Ace flying through the sky-Paul and Gene on the elevating platforms-Peter with a rising drum set and pyro galore-my ears rang for a few days-even The Rockets were good. A major concert in the 70's was an experience beyond description-the ambiance etc I can remember/smell/feel to this day.

I wish I had gotten a tour shirt.

I have seen 100 + concerts since-nothing compares to the stage show they had-not even Floyd.NIN/Jim Rose Circus and Marilyn Manson at Maple Leaf gardens is the only one close with energy/vibe. Maybe The Tubes could have come close-unfortunately I never had the pleasure.
posted by plumberonkarst at 1:47 AM on January 1

Hopefully good additional links

http://dorseylandmusicmaster.blogsome.com/ lots of concert dates/ tickets stubs

http://www.says-it.com/concertticket/ticket1.php print a memory
posted by plumberonkarst at 1:58 AM on January 1

Maybe The Tubes could have come close-unfortunately I never had the pleasure.

I saw the Tubes during the Power Tools tour. The concert was just after the big local college football game. So the Tubes opened with Hey Sports Fans [NSFW]. Fee Waybill came out dressed in every type of sports gear you could strap on your body all at once. Then as he sang, he stripped them off one by one and hurled them at the audience. Then he started hitting baseballs into the audience, really hard. They were bouncing off people's heads. ROFL.

But then Mondo Bondage.. I will never forget one of the most athletic feats I ever saw. Fee picked up one of the dancers, held her upside down against him and started simulating 69 while standing. Then the two of them did cartwheels across the stage, alternating from his feet to hers. Wow.
posted by charlie don't surf at 8:12 AM on January 2

I imagine most who are interested already know, but there's another Phish resource on phish.net.
posted by knile at 1:28 AM on January 3

Hilariously, there appears to be no record anywhere of my first concert, which was ZZ Top at the Mississippi Coliseum in Jackson, sometime in 1986. My guess is that it was in the spring -- they also played a date on the coast, which a friend of mine attended, and it was apparently in March. And my ticket was a birthday present from my mother, which also places it in March.

But I know when and where it was. My mother decided that, at 16, I was too young to drive to Jackson by myself and see the show, so we went up as a family -- her, my brother, and I -- and made a weekend of it. As I recall, there was a trip to the Jackson Zoo the next day, about which more later.

Anyway, we stayed in a hotel across the street from the venue, so after dinner mom and bro went back to the hotel and I marched my skinny nerdy ass across to stand in line, ticket in hand, for entry. I was almost immediately sort of adopted by two Marines on leave who had miracled their way to the show, and who apparently thought I was way too little to be safe there at a general admission show all by my lonesome. (They were probably right; I was small until my junior year.) They were also very helpful, in their own way -- they bought me a beer, and gave me a hit off their joint, which made the inevitable mid-80s laser show just that much more awesome. I did have the good sense to ignore their advice on women, however.

The other punch line was the zoo trip. It was full of concert-goers from other parts of Mississippi, too, all of a certain Jim Anchower type. My mother, bless her, is a bit of a goody, so she didn't immediately realize why all those people were cheering at the rhino enclosure until we'd all gotten an enormous eyeful of what the rhinos were doing, what the daddy rhino was working with, the the vigor with which they were enjoying the pleasant springtime afternoon.

Rock and roll, baby.
posted by uberchet at 12:42 PM on January 3

« Older Kieron Gillen on sex and The Sims... | The Americans who live on the ... Newer »

This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments

Gigographies December 30, 2011 12:59 PM Subscribe

Gigographies
December 30, 2011 12:59 PM Subscribe