I suspect that that this may have been done before, so I will try and be specific:
What was…
a) The first band/artist you paid to see (not including festivals)
b) Who did you go with
c) Was were your impressions of it?
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
a) Mine was The Monochrome Set at North London Poly sometime in the second half of 1983.
b) Went with my first proper girlfriend who was quite a fan. Quite a long way from South West London, most of the way up the Piccadilly line.
c) Had no idea what to expect being a tad naive but I really enjoyed it. Possibly not the era or line up most beloved of The Set connoisseurs but it was the one I knew, plus we had listened to all the albums quite a lot, so knew most of the songs. Stood right near the front. Like many others who speak about their first gig, I loved the way the sound of the bass and drums hit you right in the chest. And it was pretty loud!
d) Ended up seeing them about three times more in the next couple of years before they split for the first time, although they’ve since reformed a couple of times. Saw them again in 2012 at Dingwalls as a result. It was OK, but good luck to them. I don’t really listen to them now, although when a song pops up on a playlist it makes me smile and think of the first girlfriend.
Two possibilities:
John Williams doing a concept piece “The height below” with heavy friends “in the round” at the Brighton Dome, maybe may 1974.
my brother’s hippie friend had a spare ticket. I found it OK at points, boring at others. it was tasteful, and I have always had a bit of a problem with “tastefulness” in music unless it is sincere, rather than earnest, which i distinguish. Definitely not a long term fan.
Gig 2 – paid for by my paper round, was Steeleye Span, at the Dome, December 1974, when they were doing their Mummer;’s play.
I went on my own. My mum worried I would be given drugs and kidnapped. The audience were a nice bunch of wholesome hippie folk rock types; kindly men and bigger hipped women with peasant dresses (including one of my cooler teachers). It was amazingly loud, I thought. I hold no animosity for the band, but never listen to them.
the next year I saw Supertramp, led Zeppelin, and Alice Cooper, and my initiation into rock n roll really got going.
I remember that Steeleye tour with the Mummer’s Play – I think Gryphon were the tour support band. Both bands were ace, though I could have done without the Mummer’s Play, tbh.
Richard Digance in Brighton, unfortunately. I would have LOVED to see Gryphon.
Saw them on that tour too Rick Laird and Peter Knight were the stars of that band, Maddy Prior too matronly to be sexy.
Like @carl further down I got my bassists mixed up – it was Rick Kemp in Steeleye, Rick Laird being Mahavishnu of course
Oh well at least it wasnt Rick Astley.
Rick Kemp was really impressive in that pre-drums version of the Span, anchoring the band yet flurries of counterpoint melody. Hardly surprising, as a mucker of Michael chapman and mentor of Mick Ronson. Touched my admiration for what Ashley Hutchings memorably entitled the pantheon of balding folk rock bassists……
Surely this question must have been asked before on here! But no matter – never miss an opportunity to reminisce….
a) The first band/artist you paid to see (not including festivals)
Paul McCartney 1990 at Glasgow SECC. I was 17 at the time, so I suppose a relatively late starter.
b) Who did you go with
My cousin, my sister and my mum!
c) Was were your impressions of it?
The SECC is notoriously cavernous and atmosphere-less as a venue, but as it was my first gig I didn’t really have anything to compare it to. I thought he put on a good stab of it, Beatles material included. But I was a Beatles purist so it did feel a bit 80s for me, a bit “rock school”. He seemed (to me) like a very “old” legend even at that point – so I wasn’t expecting innovative music. I just wanted the hits and I undoubtedly got them.
Highpoint was The End, including the dualing guitar solos…. unless I dreamed that they did that?
Even the songs from his latest album, Flowers In The Dirt, came across quite well.
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
Beatles – yes. Always was, always will be. Totally rabid fanboy to the point of insanity.
McCartney solo – not so much. Up to then I had his Greatest Hits and a couple of albums. Since then I’ve bought a couple of singles and that “back to roots” rock and roll one he did in about 1997 or thereabouts. And I saw him again live in Glasgow when he came back just a few years ago. But I’ve certainly never felt the need to follow his career very closely.
a) The first band/artist you paid to see (not including festivals)
Saxon, Manchester Apollo, some time around 1981.
b) Who did you go with
On my tod.
c) Was were your impressions of it?
I had never experienced anything so loud and so thrilling, or such a sense of communality with the crowd and the band. I absolutely bloody loved it.
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
Not so much. I passed through my teen metal years pretty quickly, but I’ll allow myself a grin if Wheels of Steel or 747 comes up on shuffle.
I’m hardly a metalhead @Gatz but I’ll admit a soft spot for 747 as well!
Traffic in September 1971 on the tour promoting The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys at Liverpool Stadium (strictly the correct answer is support band Seatrain, which featured the brilliant Richard Greene). It was a line up that featured Ric Grech (see the preview of the RG boxset above by @Twang) as well as core members Winwood, Capaldi and Wood).
My friends Howard and Paul
I loved it. The Stadium (which was a boxing venue which used the ring as the stage). Seats were unreserved so you had to queue for the best ones. We got there early and got in the front row (though the wait to be let in seemed interminable).
Although the light show was pretty minimal, it really seemed to enhance the sound. Plus being so close was brilliant.
The encore was Gimme Some Lovin’ which was an absolutely storming version, but one abiding memory is Jim Capaldi tossing maracas into the audience as he left the stage only for a roadie to pile in to retrieve them.
A long term fan: yes and no. Traffic’s fragmented history meant they couldn’t be followed year on year. I saw them again at the 1974 Reading Festival. But I still listen to them. I bought the Chris Wood box set Evening Blue a couple of years back, which features a few Traffic tracks. One regret is failing to get tickets for the Jim Capaldi celebration/memorial gig at the Roundhouse some years ago.
Traffic’s reputation was given a bit of a boost when Paul Weller announced he was a fan.
I got my bassists confused. @Twang was writing about John Wetton not Ric Grech.
Both of course played with Family and it’s that connection I blame for my confusion.
First live music was Knebworth in ’79 to see Led Z. So, if IIRC, the first live band I saw were Fairport who I think kicked off proceedings that day. I didn’t have a clue, but I was happy to be there.
First stand-alone gig was AC/DC a few weeks later in the TV Club in Dublin – I’m guessing 200-300 punters at most.
I went with a few mates from school.
Loved it at the time. Bon Scott was front man and I was impressed when Angus got on his shoulders and they ‘toured’ the venue while soloing, including going upstairs to the balcony. Did they have wireless connection to the amps in those days?
Did I end up a long term fan? No. They were fun for a one-night-stand, but I’d never have a long-term relationship with them.
I’ve always thought that AC/DC were very early adopters of wireless guitar tech. I guess they wanted to be able to walk the venue with Angus on Bon’s shoulders, and you’d need a long lead… Hardly any bands had wireless guitars in the 70s?
Ah! The TV Club. We used to pass it regularly and they’d have coming attractions displayed. I was always trying to persuade my mates to go, but they wanted to save their cash for records and in the case of The Clash were intimidated by the thought of being in a room with punks and at 15/16 I wasn’t going alone.
But gigs shmigs, the weather this week has been reminding me of my first ever discoteca: They were playing The Walk by The Cure as I walked in, the DJ dropped Blue Monday three times by demand and they brought out a skipping rope for Double Dutch by Malcolm McLaren, and they were just delighted to serve me booze (even patiently waiting for me to figure out what I was supposed to ask for). Needless to say, it was never that good again…
Just to correct the record, SR, now that I’m home from work and had time to check, it was the Olympic Ballroom, not the TV Club. The mind degenerating is an awful thing…
a) The Pretenders at The Hammersmith Odeon, 1980
b) My older sister and her then boyfriend
c) They were rather fine – still had James Honeyman- Scott and Pete Farndon
d) Well, I still have the first three studio albums on vinyl, all of which I love but kinda lost track after that and really only familiar with the radio hits since then. Did see them again at Glastonbury 1994 – but not since
Gilbert O’Sullivan 1971, possibly early 1972, dressed in a flat cap, braces and shorts. Beige, naturally. I enjoyed it very much but I didn’t have his LP then, only a single, and I don’t have anything now, not even a mp3.
The first I saved up to pay for myself was Roxy Music November 1972 at Liverpool Stadium but my mum had already treated me to T.Rex. I couldn’t hear the latter for the screaming.
Sorry. I didn’t actually obey the OP.
It’s Roxy Music that counts. I went with a mate from school. We were stunned. And, yes, lifelong fan, last saw them on their last tour and own virtually everything they’ve released.
I think I’ve posted this info before, but:
The first band I ever saw live on stage was Van der Graaf Generator, at the George Hotel in Walsall. It was 12th December 1971. I was 14 years old; my friend PJ’s dad drove us all there and picked us up after the gig. In between, I had my tiny mind blown. I’d heard the band’s albums, but nothing prepared me for the full-on, uncompromising intensity of their performance. I certainly became a lifelong fan; I was already addicted to their “Pawn Hearts” album, and this was the first of several times I saw them (though nothing like my friend PJ, who saw them many times, and Peter Hammill solo even more times).
The setlist included: Theme One, W, Darkness, Lemmings, Man-Erg, Lost, Refugees, with Killer as the encore. A fabulous night.
Jealous? Moi?
a) I mentioned this somewhere else the other day, but when I was 15 I joined the St John Ambulance in Sheffield and my first duty at the City Hall was an Elton John gig in 1985. Over the next few years I saw loads, Lloyd Cole, The Blow Monkeys, Psychedelic Furs, A-ha (loads of screaming girls!), Status Quo, Shakey (Stevens, not Young!) and others I can’t recall off the top of my head.
The first I paid to see was The Lilac Time at the Limit club in Sheffield in 1988. I was 18.
b) I went with a mate, whose musical tastes started and ended with Marillion. He borrowed the small van from his mother’s pet shop, which we nearly crashed on the way. There was only really one nightclub in Barnsley at that time and I worked there on Saturday nights. It was called Japanese Whispers and was a bit rubbish. A typical 80s club with a fountain inside, where you needed to be wearing shoes, etc. And as we both looked a couple of years younger than 18 and were totally naive, we covered all eventualities by wearing shoes, not trainers, trousers, not jeans, shirt and tie (think black leather one I bought off my mate’s brother for half a pint!), and of course we had our birth certificates with us. I last got asked to prove my age at a bar in Hollywood on my honeymoon. I was 34.
c) My first impression was that I shouldn’t have worn shoes, trousers and shirt and my non-more-80s tie. It was a dingy little club, the first time I got served beer in a plastic glass (that I cut my mouth on), but it was brill and they played decent music instead of the rubbish I had to put up with at the club I worked in/usually went to. I’d already seen the band when they boarded their personalised mini bus after their soundcheck, standing beside me for two minutes with my mate urging me to say something, whilst I stood their trembling. Their first album had just come out. I think this was after it had been reissued on Fontana, because my original copy on the Swordfish label jumped, so I had taken it back to Casa Disco (iconic Barnsley record shop, eh @neil-dyson). They sent it away but couldn’t get a replacement, so for several years I only had the Fontana version, where some tracks had been re-recorded for the worse, until I jumped off a bus a few years later and ran to a phone box, after seeing a copy of the Swordfish version for sale in the back of Record Collector. Discogs and eBay are so much easier aren’t they? Anyway, it must have been after it had been reissued, cos I knew all the songs.
There was only a modest crowd. I think it was only their second ever gig. Someone stood near me was recording it, but I’ve never seen a bootleg of it anywhere, and I have a lot of Duffy/Lilac Time live bootlegs. They played all their first album and maybe a b-side or two. I don’t recall them playing any of Duffy’s earlier solo stuff though. I was already a big Duffy fan, so it was terribly exciting, but my mate asked me if I was enjoying it a couple of times, so I had already perfected my ‘standing there staring and listening intently, drinking it all in through my eyes and ears’ gig-going stance. I hasten to add that some 31 years later I have incorporated tapping a foot, nodding my head slightly and smiling every now and again to my repertoire, although there was a time in my mid to late 20s of acting like a chemical and alcohol fuelled tit, but Camden Town was such a fun place to be in the 90s!
They finished with a second performance of their ‘hit single’ as Duffy said, Return To Yesterday, followed by a closing rendition of Jambalaya, where they invited their support act Bro (“not Bros”, they insisted) on stage to join in. And the show was fab.
d) I was already a big Duffy fan and became even more of an obsessive (in a nice way!), made easier because his records were so good. Collecting all his records was a real labour of love. They were so difficult to track down, but when you did find them they tended to be cheap. I’ve now got a pretty good Duffy collection, that’s only possibly bettered by one person as far as I know. I was in Word magazine once when they did a bit on people who had stupid amounts of the same album, when I sat surrounded by all my different versions of their first album. My Duffy (and Dream Academy) collections are all I kept when I sold all my vinyl off in the early 90s (what would I give to have it all back, particularly my Beatles rarities!). I’ve bought all sorts over the years. My favourites are the proof artwork for his Kiss Me single and a signed, very early concert poster, where he’d taken a marker pen to it and scribbled out the words ‘Tin Tin’ in between Stephen and Duffy.
The Jam on the Sound Affects tour 1 Nov 1980 Manchester Apollo.
With a school friend.
They were absolutely amazing. Fire and skill indeed. The sheer energy of the performance was what stayed with me: Weller and Foxton jumping around, Weller slashing at his guitar, neck muscles straining to get that growl scream just right. And the intensity of the crowd – unmatched by any other group in the bond they had with their fans.
I am still a fan, I recognise their limitations and they have some well iffy moments (most of The Modern World etc) but they’ve stood by me for forty years.
I don’t remember exactly when but it was probably in 1966, when I was 15 and still in school. I saw Unit Four Plus Two at the Trade Union Hall (sold off and knocked down sometime in the ’70s) in Watford. It was almost directly opposite Watford Junction station.
I must have been with a friend or friends because there’s no way I would have gone out on my own at that age. Must have been cheap too, because I rarely had any spare money back then.
I don’t remember anything at all about the music but I remember the place was pretty full.
They were not an especially successful band (one-hit wonders with “Concrete and Clay”) and I never saw them or took any interest in them again.
It was probably not until a year or two later, when I was out of school and working, that I went to my next paying gig, probably at Kingham Hall just round the corner from the police station in St. John’s Road (also now gone). Inbetween there were some local bands in church halls and community centres but I probably didn’t pay for those.
MSG (the Michael Schenker Group) at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham. The first proper “rock” gig they had there. December (I had to look it up) 1982, I was 14 and a half.
I went with my mate Ian from school, a year older than me, and an uber AC/DC fan, as well as, I recall, his mate Martin. Not long later, Ian was the original DJ at Rock City Friday night Rock Night.
MSG weren’t on my radar much as a 14 year old (Saxon were (see above) and they were my second gig) but I was transfixed.
Support was a nascent Adrian Vandenberg’s (before his late 80s/early 90s spell in Whitesnake) band, and they were great. Their first album is a belter, although more than a little of its time, and the second isn’t bad.
MSG were excellent. From the opening strains of Armed and Ready to the final Doctor Doctor, I was spellbound. Walls of Marshall stacks, Schenker making his guitar sound like a bell, Ted McKenna and Chris Glen as the rhythm section. It was a pivotal moment, looking back, looking down from the tier.
I still play stuff by that line up, from that time, but don’t have any of the later stuff, and haven’t seen him/them live since they returned a year after, on the Built to Destroy tour.
From that day on, I was a confirmed gig goer and live music lover.
Happy days.
a) The first band/artist you paid to see (not including festivals)
The Who and The Spencer Davis Group package tour in June 1966. I was 16. I think it was 12/6d
b) Who did you go with
3 mates. We were near the back of the stalls in the cheapest seats, I think.
c) Was were your impressions of it?
There were a lot of rubbish support bands. Jimmy Cliff was also on the bill and nobody had a clue about him and, shamefully, he was booed and heckled (not by me, I hasten to add). There were screaming girls too.
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
I was a fan of both the headliners anyway, and remain so to this day – saw Steve Winwood with Steely Dan this year once again and the last Who gig was around 4 years ago at the RAH when they were effing superb. Had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Spencer Davis a couple of years ago and got the programme signed!
A) Dire Straits, Newcastle City Hall, December 1980 (Making Movies tour)
B) My now oldest pal, Gary. He was then, even at 16, and remains a fantastic guitar player. I’d just started to play. So going to see Mark Knopfler was a must
C) I wasn’t sure I was a fan or not at the time. The first two albums I’d liked but I wasn’t fussed either way. This was the first time at the City Hall for us both, though, at the time THE rock venue in Newcastle. Only a 2000 seater but pretty much the only hall in the area of any size to accommodate touring bands. We were thrilled to just be in it. Then the band came on. I maintain that even allowing for it being the first time at a gig they were incredibly loud. Really really loud. Remember that Making Movies was a shift from the JJ Cale-isms of the other albums and they seemed intent on making a bit of a noise at this stage. Knopfler looked very new wave in his skinny leather jeans, t-shirt and suit jacket. This is long before the headband and BIA. I was quite breath-taken. Guitars were all that mattered for a long time after.
D) Yes. Of him. Brothers In Arms was a disappointment. Very smooth and bland, so I lost interest in Straits at that point but perked up when I heard him play on other records. When he let the band fold and made records under his own name I was pleased.
1. Depeche Mode and Blancmange Feb 1982, Exeter University
2. With my brother and some of his friends – he was a student there, I was 15. I had made the trip because Fr Bruce Kent, leader of CND was making a speech. Yer mode was a bit of an afterthought.
3. Loved the really loud bass synth sounds from massive Marshall amps. Blancmange played to a small crowd of about 20 teenage girls with the hall otherwise deserted. The venue filled up considerably for the main act, as they had been in TOTP a good few times by then. Ra-ra skirts, Diana haircuts and billowy shirts all present and correct. Audience mostly teenage girls – this demographic changed over time. The band seemed very “normal” and, apart from Dave Gahan, pretty shy/nervous. Amusing version of “I Like It!” by Gerry and the Pacemakers.
4. Oh yes.
1. Uriah Heep, Glasgow Apollo, November 1975
2. I went with my pal from school, Muttley Martin – we were both 14
3. Impression was one of sheer heft and volume…and some very tasty bass playing (yes, it was John Wetton).
4. I didn’t remain a committed fan, but I do still listen to Magician’s Birthday, and Demons & Wizards, from time to time…
The first band I paid to see was the Tubes, but Fee Waybill broke a leg and the tour was cancelled. The first band I actually did see was Yes at the Empire Pool on the Tormato tour.
I went on my own. Nobody else was up for it.
The concert was in the round and I was in row 7. Loved it but my ears were ringing for days.
I was already a fan and still am. I even bought the Talk and Open Your Eyes albums. Never saw them again but have all the live DVDs and did see Rick and Jon when they played in Crawley.
a) The first band/artist you paid to see (not including festivals)
Status Quo on the Blue for You tour at Newcastle City Hall in March 1976.
b) Who did you go with
Mates from school – Cooper, Ray and Jeff Tullin.
c) What were your impressions of it?
The support band (Google tells me they were called Shanghai) were dressed as gangsters, in black with white ties and fedoras. I could not tell you a single thing about how they sounded. The Quo were amazing to a bunch of 15 year olds who listened to their albums endlessly and who played very poor cover versions in the back room at the local youth club.
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
I can’t remember the last time I listened to one of their songs. Later in the year it all changed with The Ramones, The Damned etc. Jeff got really into the Eagles and formed a band called California. We went our separate ways.
If you saw Shanghai you had the pleasure of watching Wilco Johnson’s hero, the late, great Mick Green (before he became a Pirate again).
Cliff Bennett (without his Rebel Rousers) was the singer. I have a single by them from 1975 which I have just played – I won’t be playing it again!
Lo and Behold . . . here it is:
I saw The Pirates and Mick Green at the long since demolished Mayfair in Newcastle later in the 70s and would never have linked them with the Quo’s support act. This kind of knowledge is why I love this place.
The Pirates were the first band I paid to see – in 1978/9 (god that feels like a long time ago) at a nightclub in Hull. Went by myself. They were jolly good, but not sure if it is possible to have become a long term fan of a band already 20 years past their peak. I went because the NME bigged them up after playing their Xmas party (IIRC). I had a great but rather nervous time. What is the protocol for going to a gig? How do you buy drinks? Would they let me?
Could have been the Human League with my mate John, but I was poorly. Took me another 30 years to finally see them.
a) (I think) Marillion (Hammersmith, January 1988)
b) Mate from School (although we had both left in June the previous year)
c) Impressions – not knowing the Underground system, it took a bit of a while to get there (we got confused (somehow) and ended up going to Oxford Circus on the Bakerloo Line – I have no idea why). And getting home involved about 20 minutes waiting at Edgware Road (I repeat, we had no idea how the Underground functioned)
The support band (Jadis) were a bit rubbish, but Marillion live were superb (and Fish came over like a wannabe stand-up comic)
d) Already a fan of the band – saw them again (with Steve Hogarth) a year or so later – not so impressed. Musically great, but missing “something”.
Seen Fish a few more times later (in smaller venues, obviously) and never been disappointed
Wizzard – Free trade Hall June 1973
Went with a couple of mates from school Laney and Cis
Loved it, two drummers, played the singles Ball park Incident, See My Baby Jive and Angel Fingers….what more could a 15 year old ask for……
Gilllan, Great Yarmouth ABC, December 1982.
Supported by Budgie.
Loud and excellent. Janick Gers on guitar throwing lots of shapes, John McCoy on bass with a beard to impress and Ian Gillan in full voice. Some good tunes from the then current album (Double Trouble) and the expected Deep Purple tunes with Smoke on the Water as the encore.
The 16 year old me loved it!
I went with a couple of other metal heads from sixth form and never ever attended another Gillan gig again.
I did see him again in Oxford in the early 2000s on a Deep Purple reunion tour..
I wasn’t a huge fan of Gillan but saw them in Cardiff in maybe 1980 when Berine Torme was on guitar. I think most were there just for the Purple songs.
I also went to see Purple in Oxford – may have been 2002. There was some kind of classical band on first – caught the last song. Steve Morse on guitar and a great set overall – particulalry the bit where they played snippets of Led Zep and Who songs.
It would have been a 2nd shout for Steeleye, but that was a school trip, my L6th General studies class all sent to the Congress Theatre. Another time we saw Marvin Hamlisch, the Entertainer, remember, ragtime piano.
First paying was Procol Harum at the Dome, Brighton, autumn 1973. I had to get special permission to go by train to Brighton, my housemaster vetting a tape I had of the band before permission was granted. It was terrific, the stage set out with the band in a crescent, Gary Brooker at one end and the fabulous BJ Wilson, on drums, at the other. Missed the encore to catch the train, wondering quite what they might have played. (Clue: they didn’t play it before I left.)
I went with mum old mate Adam, who didn’t go to the same school, living up the road from my parents house in Lewes. Not seen him for 30 years but we corresponded recently about his fave band, Blue Oyster Cult, on their return to these shores.
I had never been to the Dome before, and never since. I think we were in the gods, but we still felt like big brave bold hippies.
I think I did stay a fan, although it was 45 years before I saw them again. This time I did stay for Whiter Shade of Pale.
Stiff Little Fingers, Dunelm House, Durham University, 1979. Supported by The Donkeys, who, a few years later, changed to being The Donkees.
I was 15, just, and went with my school mate Dave Robson, whom I last saw in 1982 in Berlin.
Having devoured the scarce rations of punk and new wave provided by TV, tabloids and the music press, this was the opening of the gates into a whole new world. People I’d previously just imagined – both band and audience – now became flesh and blood (not to mention cidery farts).
I’ve seen SLF five times since, all of those in recent times. Indeed, I split up with a girlfriend at Rock City in Nottingham in 2015, my first encounter with Burns et al since ’79. They’ve never failed to deliver, and I’m suggesting they’re better, according to a few criteria, than ever, though of course nothing can equal that first encounter.
Deep Purple I think 1970 or 1971 supports y their In rock album.
Racking my brain who I went with but would have been a school mate. Support was Ashton Gardener and Dyke.
Was to this day the loudest gig I have ever seen. Ritchie Blackmore smashed his guitar up during a strobed jam and I was hooked.
Loved them up to and including Machine Head but the mainstream success of Smoke on the Water meant they were no longer my band and I moved on to pastures new.
a) The first band you paid to see
Fairport Convention at the Royal Festival Hall on 24th March 1969. I remember the date because I’m looking at the programme! (Price: One Shilling.)
b) Who did you go with
I was on a month long work induction course and persuaded some of the others to come along.
c) What were your impressions of it?
I loved every minute of it. John Peel was the compere. Patrick Sky, Al Stewart and The Sallyangie (young Mike Oldfield and sister – it’s possible they didn’t play because of his stage fright but I don’t remember) were support.
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
Fairport were Sandy Denny, Ashley Hutchings (the programme says Tyger Hutchings), Richard Thompson, Martin Lamble (sadly soon after deceased), Simon Nicol and Ian Matthews (who I think was then on his way out). I am still a fan of them all.
I had to look this up for the details and I eventually I found a reference online.
It seems so unlikely now that I had to be sure.
First proper gig:-
May 12th 1971 at The Assembly Rooms, Tunbridge Wells.
Parliament Funkadelic.
I was 17. Went with some people from school.
It was just completely barmy – about 20 people on stage in various costumes; incredibly loud and just overwhelming.
Long term fan? I suppose so but its never had that impact again.
And here’s the proof
https://soul-concerts.fandom.com/wiki/Funkadelic_UK_Tour_1971
Stands back in amazement.
If festivals aren’t allowed then I guess package tours are disqualified too. So that lets out Billy Fury, Duffy Power etc etc at the Southend Odeon 1960, and fair number of others in the next few years, including the Beatles twice. So:
a) The first solo gig I actually remember buying a ticket for would be John Lee Hooker at the Flamingo Club in Wardour St, July 1964. Backed by John Mayall et al.
b) Can’t remember. Dave and Steve probably.
c) Very dark and sweaty, felt pretty dangerous – I’d never been anywhere like that before. I had no doubt that pills were being popped all around me, but nobody offered me any. A lot of black guys – the famous American servicemen presumably. I remember that Mayall and co had difficulty keeping up with Hooker’s random 13-bar blues, or 15, or whatever he felt like.
d) I was already a fan, it was why I was there. I’ve read subsequently that some people were unhappy because they felt he’d dumbed down for what he presumed was a pop audience and blamed Mayall for providing the sort of generic r ‘n’ r backing that Chuck Berry’s pickup bands specialised in. But I was quite happy.
One further memory. Wandering wide-eyed round the streets of Soho until it was time to get the milk train back to Southend, we encountered a copper who was unhappy about these young lads at loose unsupervised in Sodom at that time of the morning. So he packed us off to an all-night cafe on a bomb site somewhere in the Old Compton St area. I remember it was on stilts and you had to go up stairs to get into it. I can’t say we felt any safer – there was a right collection of riffraff in there, as I recall. But we survived that too..
I suppose it depends really…technically the very first gig I saw (free gigs in parks not counted – there were lots of those in the 70s…all more or less bad) I sort of paid for, but not intentionally.
I went to the Stockholm amusement park Gröna Lund with my best friend Lisa in -82 and paid to get in without knowing that Phil Lynott would play later in the evening at the main stage. But back in those days – because the amplifiers weren’t as good as they are now, I suppose – they’d close down all of the rides in the surrounding area – and they were the good ones – so we had to listen when the gig started. And we were both absolutely knocked out by how good he was.
We were supposed to leave the park at a set time to take the ferry to meet Lisa’s grandparents, but we kept postponing leaving the park because we wanted to hear the whole gig.
But since I didn’t pay specifically to see the gig, I guess my official first gig that I paid for would be The Police at Isstadion in -83 (I was fifteen, going on sixteen).
I went on my own (I’ve very rarely gone to see gigs with anyone else) and I loved every minute of it, even almost getting squeezed to death in the crowd when they opened up the venue but not enough doors so everyone pushed towards the same door. Being short I had to stretch my neck and turn my face up towards the sky to be able to breathe, being the meat in a Big And Tall Club sandwich as I was, but thankfully they manned a few more doors and the danger was over.
I remember after the gig, walking home from the metro in the night, too excited to wait for the bus, singing “Walking on the Moon” all the way home.
I was a big fan of the band from the start and they didn’t overstay their welcome before they broke up. Although I wouldn’t call myself a “fan” today, I still feel joy when I happen to hear a song of theirs (with the exception of EBYT, which I hated from the very first time I heard it…)
Chain.
Who you say? Australian 70s band that played “Chicago blues”. Must have been credible as they toured and then recorded an album with some of Muddy Waters Band.
I went with my elder brother. Reckon I was 15 no idea how I was let in but then again can’t recall booze, just a constant immersion in cigarette smoke. As a bad asthmatic, it was a real struggle.
I was entranced. A gravelly harsh vocalist / harpist Matt Taylor and a near albino Phil Manning on white stratocaster.
Did it influence me -well given my nom de plume Id say yes. A couple of years (?)later Junior Wells and Buddy Guy came to town and the deal with the devil was sealed. Reckon my love affair with “the boogie” started there too.
Kraftwerk at Birmingham Town Hall 1975. Saw them on Tomorrow’s World the previous week so took a punt, not really even knowing it was a ‘rock show’ we were going to.
My mate Paul Kane
Incredible, smoke in the air, petunia oil and Kaftans galore, shouts of ‘Wally’ All new to me and very edgy for a 14 year old. Kraftwerk probably haven’t their act much changed to this day, but it blew my mind and live music became my thing.
I remain interested, but when they played here in Hong Kong last month I wasn’t prepared to pay in the realms of £200 to see them. But as an initiation into the world of rock gigs, it was ‘far out’.
Echo and the Bunnymen, Mountford Hall, Liverpool some Uni friends, yes.
Motorhead Deeside Leisure Centre Flintshire 21/03/1982 (just looked the date up!) Iron Fist tour. I was 16.
Ado – Schoolmate and now FB friend
We started queuing way too early (1 ish!) so ended up being “befriended” by a bunch of massive bikers – they were quite friendly to be fair, they took the piss a bit but we had to do that up against the wall anyway or lose our place. We stood at the front for the support band (Raven I think – technically the first band I ever saw) then after about ten seconds of Motorhead we got squashed and crawled much further back thus wasting the six hours of “eventful” queuing. One of the last gigs by the classic line up though.
By this point I was becoming an indie kid via Joy Division/New Order then Creation Records and The Velvet Underground but still enjoy having the odd listen to Overkill and Ace of Spades LPs – still not really heard Iron Fist though, except live of course!
The classic Deeside tactic was for other people to step on the backs of your shoes so they came off, and when you bent down to pull them on again you would be squeezed back back a press of bodies pushing into the space where your upper body had been. It’s surprising that no one (that I know of) got trampled upon.
I can just imagine! Amazing list of gigs though – Bob Marley, Blondie, The Clash, Genesis, The Jam, The Police it goes on and on!
https://www.setlist.fm/venue/deeside-leisure-centre-queensferry-wales-1bd53938.html
Lousy venue though; essentially a corrugated iron ice rink with rubber matting over the ice for gigs. It was echoey and always freezing cold. All lost when, as I recall, someone left a pinball machine plugged in overnight and managed the neat trick of burning down an ice rink.
a) The first band/artist you paid to see
Genesis (supported by Richie Havens) live at Earls Court, London. Friday, 24 June 1977
This was Genesis without Peter Gabriel but still with Steve Hackett. Indeed, I believe it was one of Hackett’s last 5 gigs with the band.
b) Who did you go with
A friend and, erm, my Dad
c) Was were your impressions of it?
Mixed. There was an interminable wait before the support act came on. Then there was another bloody interminable wait before Genesis came on. We had terrible seats right at the back of Earl’s Court. I found it frustrating that the band were so far away, you weren’t really involved in the performance. 42 years later, I still feel the same.
But obviously, it was still fun to hear Genesis perform live.
d) Did you end up a long term fan?
– I’m still a huge fan of Gabriel-era Genesis. Incredible band.
– I’m a moderate fan of Genesis after Gabriel left but before Hackett left.
– Genesis after Hackett left? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. And again no.
First gig: Queen at Glasgow Apollo, 30th May 1977.
Went with: John Park, aka Pecker. I was 14. We lived about 20 miles outside Glasgow and it was a condition of my being allowed to go that I found somebody to go with. Can’t remember how we got there, but my mum and dad came to collect us at the end.
Impressions: it was incredibly exciting – I got so carried away I stood on my seat at one point.
Did I end up a long-term fan? Actually, no. It being 1977 had a lot to do with it: I think I’d already bought my first NME the same month, and the process of absorbing an entire worldview from it, one with which liking Queen was evidently incompatible, had begun. Gigs 2 and 3, also at the Apollo, were the Skids, then Buzzcocks supported by Joy Division.
First gig : Slade Top Rank Birmingham (Status Quo support) 15.5.72 – I was 17.
Went with : My pal Bernie Noakes
Impressions : Electrifying – 2 great bands -we were hooked after that Hawkwind and the Faces followed very shortly afterwards .
Long term fan? Only for a year or so – once you had seen the Faces they were my band.
The first gig I paid to see – Orpheus at Marlborough Town Hall. It must have been about 1975. They were a local band I went with a bunch of class mates, most of whom swooned over the lead guitarist (Andy McGill I think – cooler than a polar bear’s todger) and his sister, who was in our year (but not the band). What the PA lacked in fidelity it made up for in volume, and of course they only played thier own songs. Probably the most excited and scared I’d been up to that point in my life.
First professional gig – Blue Oyster Cult supported by Motorhead. Maxiumum umlauts. I went with Tim and Mark from school, with Mark’s dad driving is from Wiltshire to the Hammersmith Odeon. I’d like to claim I was sussed enough to see how bad Motorhead were but all I recall is intense volume and incomprhensible songs until they warpped up with “Silver Machine”.
As for BOC – I’m a fanboy to this day. The show simply blew me away – the strobe lighting during “Flaming Telepaths”, the glitter ball adding to the erie feel of “Last Days of May”, the flash bombs ending “Me262” – total sensory overload. I had a blast watching (3 of) them again just a couple of years ago in London where they dug out some of the old show.
a) Queen 1979 at the Lyceum in London. This was their crazy Tour of relatively small venues. Freddie came out on Superman’s shoulders. What more could a 12 year old want? (Although I would have preferred Darth Vader.
b) Two of my brothers (and possibly sister) + a couple of their friends.
c) Loved it, saw them the following year at Wembley. Funds permitting, it felt like I was at the Hammy Odeon every weekend after that gig (I wasn’t. we were poor, but we were ‘appy). My clearest memory of the gig is walking into the Lyceum with my brothers and, me being somewhat on the short side (still am), being lifted up by the bouncer who loudly proclaimed “blimey, we’ll ‘ave to put you on a box”. Was I embarassed? Bollocks was I, I was going to see Queen!
d) Very much, although I largely ignored the Rodgers years (great singer, wrong fit). Lambert does a decent job, have seen them twice, but it doesn’t feel right somehow. The marketing of the Queen brand leaves a lot to be desired. May’s latest with that old bloke who makes busts of Freddie is particularly dire.
Ian Gillan of Deep Purple told me that Engalnd had been knocked out of the 1970 World Cup by West Germany at the first gig I went to.
OK, he told everyone from the stage of the Fairfield Hall in July 70.
I went with my mate Tom, and we’re still friends though I don’t think we’ve ever seen a band together since. He reckons we say Sandy Denny but were very drunk but I don’t recall that at all.
It was great. I’d never heard anything so loud. They were bikers down the front doing the greaser dance and the couple next to us were snogging throughout.
We went because we’d seen them on a schools music TV programme and though at some point I had In Rock I was never a real fan and soon became more of a Neil Young, West Coast rock fan. Not long after I saw the Byrds at the same venue.
I went to see The Bootleg Beatles, sometime in 2001 at the Derngate. It’s the closest I’ll ever come to seeing the real thing, but with a much better sound. I remember thinking it was fantastic but after I watched them again a few years later (2005?) I realised it was better to be further back in the audience, otherwise your night will be ruined when you can’t stop noticing ‘John Lennon’ is being portrayed by a 50 year old man.
When they started replacing the orginal members with guys who were actually in their 20s, they improved.
That has to be Sting`s Summoner’s Tales 16/04/1993 Toulouse, Palais des sports.
I went there with a friend from work who was an Elvis Presley fan even if he didn’t mind other artists. I didn’t know so much about other artists at the time, so, I had very little to compare with. We were far away and couldn’t see so much of the concert as there was no extra screen at the time. I remember finding a better view. hanging over a deep staircase well with my army belt and enjoying the show anyhow. The day after, one of the local newspapers describe Sting’s prestation as without the little extra (as the journalists were used to with him). I had nothing to compare really.
I never felt like a fan (I generally never feel like a fan for anyone ) even if I appreciated his songs, with the age my interest faded a bit as I saw many concerts, listended to many great records, etc.. On june 17th this year at Gröna Lund, I saw him in concert, very close, I just noticed that many of my friends were there, I enjoyed the consert but half way during the show, I decided to leave this privilieged spot to try to find a friend which was stayed far from the scene. I succeeded. I couldn’t see so much then, but that was okay. I finally understood that with that kind of artist, a part of the experience is to share the show with some friends that sung those songs and believed some of those texts at the time. I guess that what I describe here is some kind of nostalgy.
My friend from work wasn’t there, he is still in France and he is still a fan of Elvis, he even wrote in 2017 a french biography of him. That’s what I can call a real fan, unlike me.