Hello, all.

I just spent (or maybe wasted) an hour or two of my evening watching YouTube clips of favorite bands from my past. If you're breathing, you probably love music. I'd love to see the community's responses about their concert experiences that fit the title of this thread. I'll strum the first chord...

• First concert: Metallica (opened for Ozzy Osbourne in 1986)
  
• Favorite concert: The Struts (best rock n' roll band you've never heard of)
  
• Fail: Red Hot Chili Peppers (I left the venue before they took the stage in 1987 because I hadn't really heard of them)
  
• Future: John Mellencamp (seems doubtful considering his age, but I can hope)
  

~jamie

I've only ever been to one concert. Savage Garden, back in 2000.

And with the reveal of Celine Dion's health issues, it's doubtful I'll ever see her in concert.

• First: Paul McCartney 2002 at the United Center
  
• Favourite: it’s hard to pick one, but I think FINALLY seeing Jackson Browne do “Late for the Sky” is certainly a recent highlight, as is the Yacht Rock Revue concert I ended the 2022 Ravinia season on. Or the time I got to see Vertigo in concert and Kim Novak actually sat behind me in the audience.
  
• Fail: I’ve had a couple concerts I’ve had to miss, either due to the rain getting too bad (and, in one instance, having my basement flood mid-concert), or Dad’s back acting up, or one particularly unfortunate incident where I had to give George Benson and Buddy Guy a miss because, well, the temperature was so high that I suspect that only Fremen could have survived on the lawn tickets we had.
  
• Future: 2024 looks like a good Ravinia season, concerts like ZZ Top and The Ship of Theseus Lynyrd Skynyrd, or Robert Plant and Alison Kraus, or John Hall and Elvis Costello. Yes, it turns out there’s a lot of double headers this year.
  

Yes, most of the last three categories are filled with Ravinia concerts, because, frankly, that’s most of the concerts I go to at this point.

(April 10, 2024 at 11:52 pm)Jamie Boy Wrote: Hello, all.

I just spent (or maybe wasted) an hour or two of my evening watching YouTube clips of favorite bands from my past. If you're breathing, you probably love music. I'd love to see the community's responses about their concert experiences that fit the title of this thread. I'll strum the first chord...

• First concert: Metallica (opened for Ozzy Osbourne in 1986)
  
• Favorite concert: The Struts (best rock n' roll band you've never heard of)
  
• Fail: Red Hot Chili Peppers (I left the venue before they took the stage in 1987 because I hadn't really heard of them)
  
• Future: John Mellencamp (seems doubtful considering his age, but I can hope)
  

~jamie

I have seen The Struts, in Portland around 2019.

First: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1981
Favorite: Pink Floyd sans Roger, around 1985
Fail: I missed an opportunity to see Stevie Ray Vaughan before I knew who he was.
Future: Jeff Lynne's ELO in August, Heart and Cheap Trick in September, Iron Maiden in October

Mostly I follow local bands, though.

First: The Chieftains

Best: Rolling Stones

Fail: Frank Zappa

Future: Nothing on the radar.

Boru

First: I think it was REO Speedwagon and was in something like a high school gym. I only went because my friend wanted to go. Didn't leave much of an impression.

Best: Saw Harry Chapin in 1977 and again in 1981, I was pregnant both times...loved those shows. Saw Fleetwood Mac in the early 90s sans Buckingham. Honorable mention - the many times I have seen Blue October in Dallas and in Austin.

Fail: While driving to a Metallica outdoor concert we were surrounded by three tornados and decided to go back home while the gettin' was good.

Future: Probably nothing. Most of the concerts here that I have wanted to see in the last few years have been at an outdoor venue when it's hot as the hubs of hell.

First: Some country western band I got dragged to and blocked from my memory.
Favorite: Alice Cooper, perception altering medications were involved. (but that was most concerts back then)
Fail: Same as first
Future: Those days have passed me by.

(April 11, 2024 at 12:48 am)Jackalope Wrote: I have seen The Struts, in Portland around 2019.

First: Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, 1981
Favorite: Pink Floyd sans Roger, around 1985
Fail: I missed an opportunity to see Stevie Ray Vaughan before I knew who he was.
Future: Jeff Lynne's ELO in August, Heart and Cheap Trick in September, Iron Maiden in October

Mostly I follow local bands, though.

July 2019 was my first concert with The Struts. In Portland. Small world maybe?

And I just wiped away a few tears after reading of your missed opportunity. SRV was fantastic.

(April 10, 2024 at 11:52 pm)Jamie Boy Wrote: Hello, all.

I just spent (or maybe wasted) an hour or two of my evening watching YouTube clips of favorite bands from my past. If you're breathing, you probably love music. I'd love to see the community's responses about their concert experiences that fit the title of this thread. I'll strum the first chord...

• First concert: Metallica (opened for Ozzy Osbourne in 1986)
  
• Favorite concert: The Struts (best rock n' roll band you've never heard of)
  
• Fail: Red Hot Chili Peppers (I left the venue before they took the stage in 1987 because I hadn't really heard of them)
  
• Future: John Mellencamp (seems doubtful considering his age, but I can hope)
  

~jamie

First: Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat, performed by the music faculty of the University of Kansas. Even though the concert was just for the college crowd, they made a huge effort. 

Favorite: Now that I think about it, probably the first one, as above. I was a senior in high school but had run away from home to stay with a girl music student at KU, and since I came from a tiny town with no music at all it made a big impression. I still love the music. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZrPO-1WCgQ

Fail: Handel's Messiah at a church in midtown Manhattan. I didn't know you could make a Gothic-style church with such terrible acoustics. Even up front the singers sounded a hundred miles away. 

Fail #2: Phillip Glass's Akhnaten at Lincoln Center. Boring.

Sort of fail: Laurie Anderson, also at Lincoln Center. She just told stories and didn't play music, but by chance I sat next to John Cage and Merce Cunningham so I was excited about that. 

Future: Next month a former student is giving a piano recital, so I'll go to that -- mostly for moral support.

First concert: Shel Silverstein at the local public library 1978 or 79 or so
Favorite concert: Faith No More, Worcester, MA, 1996
Fail: 10000 Maniacs Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 1989 - they were all drunk off their skulls and the singer berated the audience
Future: Vulfpeck with Cory Wong