I 1983, at age 8, I was taken to a Men at Work and INXS concert.

In 1988 I saw the Dead Milkmen at a movie theater turned club in Indianapolis.

1989 I saw REM and Throwing Muses at the big basketball arena in Indianapolis.

Ben Adrian

First ever was Gillan with Budgie as support at the Southampton Gaumont in 1980 or 81. I was so excited anyhow, but I had not the slightest idea how loud it was going to be (maybe I thought it'd be a bit like my dad's stereo but a tad louder - I dunno), so the first bass riff nearly made me puke. By the time Gillan came on I was ecstatic, mainly just because I was still alive and my brains hadn't started leaking out of my ears.

Soon after that I went to see Whitesnake and Japan in the same week, though not with the same people. At Whitesnake, me and my mate Adam were chuffed that we fought our way through the ranks of burly grown-up metallers and got nearly right down the front, but in front of us there two dwarves who understandably spent the whole gig standing on the backs of the old theatre-style seats, so we had to do likewise to see anything. The dwarves were a million times better at balancing precariously than me and Adam, and we kept on falling down, beating our shins to a pulp in the process. Cozy Powell's solo was complete with massive flamethrowers which, rumour had it, could melt contact lenses, brains etc of people down the front. All it did to us was prompt a whole new wave of falling off the backs of the seats.

Cypress Hill at The London Astoria, circa. 1996.

Goddamn I was a lame teenager.

that damned fly wrote:i got everyone beat:

fugazi and the ex. dec. 07, 1999.

blew my fuckin' mind.

btw: fugazi got blown way off the stage. the ex should've gone on second.

Christ on a bike man - how old are you? 10? 1999?

themajormiller wrote:First show ever:

ZZ Top @ The Summit in Houston, TX. I was 11 (...??)

HATS OFF. My fellow bandmate Phil's first show was ZZ Top too. I am still untouched by the Top live...

Rotten Tanx wrote:First band that kicked my ass: Mogwai, 98. The gig was decent, I enjoyed it, didnt know all the songs but it was alright. Then they finish up with stereodee (complete with 3 men on one drumkit and brutal strobe). My ears are still ringing and my eyes are still stinging. The only thing I've ever seen that competes with that night, in terms of relentlessness, is The Boredoms.

Aerial M played that night too. Sadly I hadnt cottoned onto their genius at that point.

If this was in Birmingham at The Foundry then you missed US Maple too - shame on you. They opened up supremely early and were amazing.

steve wrote:"Frankenstein" was pretty good.

Of course it was!

simmo wrote:Cypress Hill at The London Astoria, circa. 1996.

Goddamn I was a lame teenager.

Ho ho.

My first was 1993 and it was (kind of in order):
The Family Cat, Kingmaker, Catherine Wheel, Frank & Walters, The Senseless Things, Blur (acoustic), Sugar, Belly, Carter USM, Dude from the House Of Love and then finally The Cure. A long old day. No booze either as I was under age.

Aged 15, I took a date to see Anthrax at the Wellington Town Hall.

I made her queue for a couple of hours with me while I waited to get my record signed at a shop in the afternoon. That must have been so dull for her. Never mind the fact that she had no interest in Anthrax… poor girl.

Then while waiting for the doors to open at the show there was a huge fight as a group of Maori guys beat the crap out of some skin heads that were causing problems. It happened right next to us. We had a front row view of a guy getting head butted and watching is nose explode. I wouldn’t let her run away… “No way! We’ve been standing here for an hour!! stay where you are, I’m not losing my place”. It was all very exciting. I’d never seen a proper fight close up, and it was thrilling to see some complete morons get their asses kicked… and nice to know they wouldn’t be inside the show too.

Anthrax were so good. I didn’t think anything could be that loud. I pushed my date to all the way to the front and managed to get a pick and a drum stick at the end of the show. I was elated. She dumped me a few days later…

My Bloody Valentine , Dingwalls, Camden, Summer '88. My ears were ringing for like two days.

Mose Varty-Seppanen wrote:My ears were ringing for like two days.

So they were ringing for 1 day? 3 days?

Give me a break. I like that little "like" adage Americanism. My ears were ringing for 2 days. Happy? Happy now?

the cult! Wembley Arena 1989, with claytown troupe in support.. I was even in the video for sweet soul sister when they panned over the crowd.. In retrospect it was a lame show as they came out and did sweet soul sister again for an encore to get more shots for the video! Fire Woman was good! Next gig was the friday of reading 1990.. when I saw mega city four, mudhoney, the cramps, faith no more, half man half biscuit, nick cave and some real toss like gary clail, and an emotional fish!

Probably would have been around 1993. These Animal Men at The Old Trout in Windsor. Such a great venue, and I popped my live music cherry watching a band of fey indie poseurs.