I just posted a Depeche Mode song, in memory of the first real concert I ever attended. By real, I mean without my parents, and at an actual venue. An older child of a friend of the family had an extra ticket, so my parents let me tag along.
I think my very first concert was The Beach Boys, in Atlantic City with my parents, probably around 1985.
Other early concert memories that come to mind:
- 2nd real concert: Squeeze (who I still love)
- Going to a huge hip-hop show in downtown Baltimore in Jr. High with a same-aged friend by ourselves. (3rd Base, Digital Underground, and a bunch of other equally dated acts)
- Guns N’ Roses and Skid Row, which was actually an amazing show.
- Choosing to see Michael Bolton at the Taj Mahal with my parents (such good food to be had!), rather than go to the first Lollapalooza
- Skipping my one chance to see Nirvana (American University, 11/93), “I’ll go next time”
- Sitting outside a Pearl Jam concert with my brother at the Patriot Center the night they found Kurt’s body. We drove down from Baltimore, but couldn’t get tickets to get inside.
- Crowd surfing at the HFStival my senior year of high school (1994) and being dropped on a glass bottle. Ouch!
There were also lots of underground shows in high school (I’ve got to find some of those bands’ tapes!), and a couple Jimmy Buffett concerts, but for some reason my memories of all of those are a bit fuzzy…
