Since today is a virtual Friday for many of us, thought I'd throw this one out there just for fun. Try to choose a single answer for each question...yes, the latter two are tough.

1. What was the first concert you saw and when?

2. What's the best concert you've seen and when?

3. If you could see the concert of your dreams, who would it be? Choose an opening act and a headliner. Yes, they can be defunct and/or dead. Qualify a band's time frame too if you like (e.g. "'79 Olivia Newton John open for Metallica in '82"). Anything goes. Except that answer, yikes.

Me:

1. Los Lobos, '83 @ Pikes Peak Center, Colorado Springs, CO. I didn't pick this concert, but it was a fun first concert experience...I was 8 at the time. This was right around when those guys got big as a result of La Bamba coming out. They're a sweet band to this day. Whatever happened to Lou Diamond Phillips anyway?

2. Extremely tough question, but I'll go with Tool @ The Mammoth in Denver, 1996. I was completely caught off-guard and blown away by the power and intensity of those guys that night. I had seen them earlier in '92 on a side stage at the first Lollapalooza, but it wasn't until seeing them in a proper venue as the headliners that I really came to understand the talent they have. Thinking back on it gives me goosebumps, no shit.

3. Can't think about this one too hard, it hurts my brain. Quick answer: late '80s Janes Addiction opening for Mid '70s (Rumors era) Fleetwood Mac. Seen both bands, but would have liked to have seen the height of their brilliance. Hell while I'm at it I'd like a 1959 Miles Davis playing between sets.

Enjoy the long weekend all!

Lava

First: The Clash 1982 SF Civic (I was 14)

Best: Fishbone ~1987 in SF but any of the 20+ times I've seen them; best live show ever.

Wish: Fishbone circa 1985 at the Santa Clara University kitchen; $4 for 4 bands.

T

1. I have no recollection of who was playing, but it was at Steppenwolf (at Kings Island, Cincinnati in 1980 or 1981)

2. It is a toss up between:

Pink Floyd (Ohio State University) 1987 or 1988 (there was still some FOGGY haze, but it was clearing by that point in time).

and

The Who (Rosemont, North of Chicago) 1990 or 1991 (my memory is shot)

3. I would like to see:

Jimmy Hendrix opening for Jim Morrison and the DOORS, then The Who, followed by Led Zepplin, and just to round things out, some Grateful Dead.

1. Jethro Tull - Aztec Arena -San Diego State University, must have been 1994. I was too young to go by myself so one of my aunts took me.

2. Velvet Revolver in a parking lot in Hollywood last year. Not because it was an especially great concert, though it was good, but because it was free, and spontaneous.

3. Kraftwerk as an opening act to the Roger Waters enabled Pink Floyd



-Tony

1st - Deep Purple with Rory Gallager and Fleetwood Mac 1973

Best - California Jam 1

Dream - Rolling Stones with Aerosmith and Led Zepplin...

First - John Cougar 1982 Marriotts Great America in Santa Clara (before the Mellencamp was added)

Best - Garth Brooks 1998 at San Jose Arena. I'm not a big country fan but took my wife ( a huge fan) and had nose bleed seats. About one hour before the show started a member of Garth's road crew approached my wife and I in our terrible seats and "upgraded" our seats to second row compliments of Mr Brooks. Garth Brooks will not sell the first two rows of his concerts to keep all the high dollar guys from killing the vibe. I've heard that Billy Joel does the same. Most of the people who were "upgraded" were young hot chicks. I was one of only several guys in the first two rows. It was FUN.

Dream - Sublime 1996 opening for The Police 1983.

First, frampton comes alive, Anaheim stadium.

Best, Paul McCartney, nov. 2005. Incredible show, worth 10 times what it cost. 3 hours of unbelievable music. I just hope I get a chance to see him again.

Second best (and biggest surprize) Dan fogelburg. I got free tickets, I didn't expect much and I was wrong.
Great classic songs, the kind where you know every word and can't help but sing along and he played them very, very well. Highly recommended.

Worst, Elton john, Feb 2005 arowhead pond. He sang 3 songs and left, Fuch that so and so.
He'll never get another penny from me.

First- Foghat & ZZ top. Musta been about 1972
Best- Steely Dan. I dunno when
Imaginary- Billie Holliday & David Bowie

First rock and roll concert? The Beatles, I think. 1965? Same year as the Parade in Santa Barbara. Best? Hard to tell. Jefferson Airplane, Little Richard, CSN, Jerry Lee Lewis, BB King, Freddy Fender, Ike and Tina Turner, Los Lonely Boys (with their dad), Lyle Lovett, the KPIG Texas Uprising, The Steve Goodman Memorial Concert, JB Hutto and the Hawks, and literally hundreds of others. I used to do concerts A LOT.

The Cap'n

First...FLEETWOOD MAC
Best...WOODSTOCK 1969 (boy am I getting old)
Dream...FLEETWOOD MAC,ZZ TOP,ELO,HEART

...Cop-out! It's a tough question by design, meant to be at least mildly thought provoking. JB Hutto was as good as Jefferson Airplane?!?

First concert and one of the best:

1978 Bob Marley at the Santa Cruz Civic

First: 1975 Ted Nugent Winston-Salem civic center outside Roanoke, Virginia.
(Couldn't hear for three days)

Best: Ditto. Hard to beat the motorcity madman....

Wish: Stevie Ray, Eric Johnson and Jonnie Lang all on the same stage,...

OK add in Rory Gallegher for safe measure. Oh yeaaaaa....

Click to view attachmentFun!

First Concert: Either Cheap Trick or Ted Nugent - it was the same summer - 1980, both in LA.

Best Concert/Dream Concert: two of them, both in the summer of 2005 at Red Rocks. In May we opened for Big Head Todd. In August we headlined and had our CD release party there. Got the call at 10 am that it was sold out. Best night ever.

Ummmm.... What band are you in?

That's a sweet pic by the way...

*** EDIT ***

Just noticed your sig line...The Trampolines. Never heard you guys, but I'll look around!!

First: The Beatles. 1965

Best: #1 - Genesis - Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
#2 - Oueen and Mott The Hoople

Dream: Jimi Hendrix and The Doors

1. Fleetwood Mack (w/ Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer), Sir Douglass Quintet, Black Peal, and ??, including a light show! Shrine Auditorium, SoCal circ 1968

2. Loggins and Messina, Santa Barbara County Bowl, Couldn't believe how good they sounded live; may as well have been in a studio! Circ 1975ish

3. Wish I knew. I despirately would like to listen to something not in the main stream, but with quality. Need help here.......Last concert was Latina star Paulina Rubio; it was kinda commercial stuff.

BTW, Rory Gallager, now that's going back; saw him and Rod Stewart at UCSB in ~'74. I think he recently passed? Since I lived close to Griffith Park, many free concerts durring the '60's at the no defunct merry-go-round included Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Joan Baez, and assorted flower children.

Andys

First: The Kinks at the LA Forum in 1981 (I was 14)

Best: That’s a hard one, I was fortunate to see some really great shows during the late 80’s & early 90’s (Used to work for a record company).
My top three would be..
Jane’s Addiction, New Years eve at The Embassy Hotel Theatre in 1988
Lollapalooza, 1991 at the Irvine Amphitheater (highlights were Jane’s Addiction & Nine Inch Nails)
Lollapalooza, 1992 at the Irvine Amphitheater (highlights were Temple of the Dog, Ice Cube & Boo-Yaa Tribe)

Coolest: (not necessarily the best shows but just soo cool):
Metallica at Jezabelle's night club in 1986. This was the second secret show with Jason in the band. The power kept going out during the show but the crowd kept singing along, it got damn hot in there. BTW, most everything after And Justice for All is crap and I think they are douche bags now.
Spinal Tap at the NAMM showcase in 1991 or 1992. How many people get to see Spinal Tap play live?

First: The Tubes in Radio City Music Hall NYC 1986

Best: Slayer at the Concert Hall Toronto Canada, CRAP people were dive bombing off the balconies which were 20ft. above the crowd!!!

Wish: Rage Against The Machine in Mexico or Rush in Reo got the videos.

Dream: Me and band on Saturday Night Live

First: One of those "Day On the Green's" at the Oakland Coliseum. Probably Black Sabbath, Journey, Jethro Tull... I kinda' remember some of it.

Best: Tie between Rush (with drummer Neil Peart's Solo) and Clapton (with special guest drummer Peter Gabriel just after Genesis). Both freakin' ROCKED!
Okay, if I HAD to pick I'd choose Clapton. His guitar skills are just plain sick. He just stands there and all these sounds come out (AKA Slowhand for a reason)

Dream: A Day on the Green with Fleetwood Mac (my local people) to warm the crowd up, then Clapton, then a little Rush and the Grand finale', Stevie Ray Vaughn may he rest in peace.

1.)Metallica, with Suicidal Tendencies, Fight, and Candlebox. August 1994, Austin,TX

2.)Ozzy with Type-o Negative and Sepultura, 10th Row! Aerosmith would have been a tie, but Collective Soul opened for them and sucked ASS!


3.) Black Sabbath and Aerosmith in the early-mid seventies or Metallica (w/Cliff Burton) opening for Ozzy(w/Randy Rhodes)


I just Saw Aerosmith again a couple of weeks ago, with Motley Crue... A-Smith still sounds awesome, Crüe was good, except Vince Neil sounded like pure shit... it sounded like he was out of breath, or his mic was cutting out... damn shame, those guys would have been fun to see in the 80s. I knew every song, but it would have been nice to hear the lyrics live.

1st. Rush and Golden Earring at the Forum in LA. '83 or 84, don't quite remember.

Best. Probably Pink Floyd at the Silverdome. Don't remember what year, I believe it was the Division Bell tour. Close second would have to be John Mellencamp at Wings Stadium in Kzoo, or any one of the Kiss concerts.

Dream. Early 70's Beatles with Zeppelin. Could be greedy and name a dozen others but pretty sure I could leave that concert with no regrets.

I've been to so many concerts, but I'm going to have to say the best was Woodstock 69. Deep Purple, Bruce Springsteen 75, Pink Floyd 71, Humble Pie, Mott da Hopple, David Bowie (Ziggy Startdust) The Who, Leon Russel, The Grateful Dead, Credeance Clearwater, this list could go on all night.

First: Black Sabbath & Bob Segar 1976 Swing Auditorium Orange show fair grounds.

Best: Pink Floyd- Divison Bell 1994 Rose Bowl.

Dream concert: Led Zepplin pre heroin Jimmy Page era.

First = Yes ( most of them ) 1990

Best = probably Bad Brains around 1992-93. Small club in Richmond and the WHOLE first floor was a pit

Dream = this would HAVE to be a festival because I can't pick just 2 sooooo.......Doors, Hendrix, Police, Dream Theater, Primus, Buckethead, Blind Melon, Rammstein, Phish and closing with Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich trading off with T.S. making some melodic masterpiece

Biggest dissapointment ( not worst just dissapointing ) this either goes to Tool or Rush simply because for 2 bands with such INCREDIBLY talented musicians I expected more than EXACTLY what is on the CD. Police and Primus live GO OFF the chart with alterations which is what I want when I hear someone live.!!

1. Boz Skaggs, late '60s or maybe 1970 at some high school gymnasium in the San Jose area.

2. Probably Jackson Browne in the back of McCabe's Guitar Shop circa 1972-1974?

3. I'd pay to see Martin Sexton circa 1995 again. Never saw the really huge acts like the Beatles or the Rolling Stones. I'd probably go see the late 60's Beatles if you could leave the screaming teenage girls at home. Do they need an opening act? Maybe John Lennon mid-70's solo as an opener...

Skip

First: Ozzy Osbourne (w/Randy Rhodes) Motorhead opened in 1981ish @ the Forum in LA
Best: US Festival 1983 Metal Day in Devore, CA.
Wish: Led Zeppelin in my backyard

If you've seen JB Hutto, you understand ................ Inside Mr. Henry's, SE in DC. Granted, the Airplane was at the Filmore, and the opening act was Steve Miller with the incredible Norton Buffalo on harmonicas. As I recall, AB Skye was the 3rd band. Oh, yeah, and practically everybody you've ever heard of in the SF music scene showed up after hours and jammed until nearly dawn. Still, JB Hutto had an amazing band. It was mindblowing without chemical enhancements. The Cap'n

First: Slayer 1985

Best: I dunno

Dream: Don't have one