[Velvet]

First concert was The Rolling Stones.

Favorite is tied:
SARSfest in Toronto included Justin Timberlake, The Guess Who, Rush, AC/DC, and The Rolling Stones and
3 days Outsidelands in San Francisco with Tom Petty (and 60 other bands)

Does classical music count? Love piano concerts and opera.

[tophcfa]

First, Aerosmith in a free concert at Polaski Park in Northampton, MA before anyone heard of them. Favorites are a tie between seeing Lynyrd Skynyrd a couple weeks before their plane crashed, The Who, and Chicago. I have to also throw in a very small private Jonathan Edwards concert at a friends back yard pond with a pig roast.

Honorable mentions have to be The Almond Brothers and the Grateful Dead at the annual spring concerts at UMASS. And then there is the epic Simon and Garfunkel show at Central Park.

[RedFoxRick]

First concert was Boz Scaggs with Little River Band opening.....and then two weeks later The J Geils Band with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers opening - both in Springfield, Mass.....the best is tough....Three way tie - The Talking Heads in Poughkeepsie NY, Van Morrison in Dublin. IRE (yes he was sober enough this night to perform - which is seldom the case) and Bruce Springsteen at Giants Stadium....

[MandoMan]

First concert: Canned Heat, 1968. I was 15.
Best concert: Tie between Hot Club of Cowtown and Stacy Kent. Both bands are as good in concert as on their CDs. Hot Club of Cowtown is a great little Western Swing band from Austin. Stacy Kent sings jazz standards. Her husband, Jim Tomlinson, is a great sax player.

[Tmarkwald]

So many of these classic bands are out there still performing, although mostly in bits and pieces of the original lineup.

So, why doesn't TV think of booking one of these classic bands, even though not original, into TV for us, on a regular basis? I think we'd all be in agreement that we would pay if they did one of these every couple of months.

Most of these bands also have cover bands that replicate the music very faithfully.

Ahh, just dreaming I suppose....

[jcoyne77]

First: The Eagles 1975
Favorite: Grateful Dead, Englishtown, 1977.
David Bromberg, some college, earlier 80's comes a close 2nd.

[Berferful]

First: The Who, Jefferson Airplane and BB King at Tanglewood June 6 1969. . One week before Woodstock

Favorite: CSN & Y Hartford

[Jewelz]

The Eagles are my ALL time favorite...SO jealous of you that got to see them!!! My first concert was Captain and Tenille with Kenny Rogers as the warm up band in 1973!!!!!
Heart was my concert...1978!

[MickeyStevens]

First concert was a double bill with The Doors and Simon&Garfunkel at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium August 12, 1967.

Favorite concert was The Yes somewhere in the early 70s.

The Doors | Forest Hills Tennis Stadium 1967

I suppose the following should be in another thread but since my musical tastes changed later in life the first was the late jazz pianist James Williams in a small club in Somerville, Ma. The best was Latin American pianist Michel Camilo(at Regattabar Cambridge, Ma), John Pizzarelli with his wife Jessica Molaskey was a close second.

[La lamy]

First was Genesis in 1978. I didn't get permission to go, so I had to sneak out as a 14 year old to go see it. I sure was a rebel back then!! Favorite was Foo Fighters when they were doing bar shows. They played a full concert in our local bar in Toronto. Insanely intimate and mind blowing.

[Tmarkwald]

Originally Posted by La lamy

First was Genesis in 1978. I didn't get permission to go, so I had to sneak out as a 14 year old to go see it. I sure was a rebel back then!! Favorite was Foo Fighters when they were doing bar shows. They played a full concert in our local bar in Toronto. Insanely intimate and mind blowing.

HA HA HA - you are dating yourself!

[sjeffries]

ELVIS! Miami, FL, Olympia Theater. (1962 approx)

Alanis Morsette, Atlanta in the ‘90’s, maybe

Lee Greenwood, Reba McIntyre, Earl Thomas Conley and others at Concerts in the Country, Atlanta.
This was during the 3 years I actually enjoyed country music. What was I thinking??

[cgw3431]

First: Chicago at the Spectrum in Philadelphia 1970
Favorite: Styx & Journey at the Twitter Center in Camdan, NJ. 1991

[Tmarkwald]

This has got me thinking - a lot. I've been to well over 1000 live concerts, toured with numerous bands as a photographer and it makes it hard to pick my favorite.

For me I'd have to say Bon Jovi 2800 Fahrenheit tour. Although I saw about 150 dates, I think a lot of the enthusiasm has to do with the band's raw talent and hunger to succeed. That translated to the audience in a big way. At that point the band, myself, and the tour manager travelled in the bus together. One bus. It was tight but it was intimate and the preparations these guys did to make sure they succeeded was palpable.

There were a lot of other bands and shows that were memorable - Heart, ACDC, Wierd Al, Tears for Fears, Chicago, Beach Boys, Skid Row (before they were signed), Cinderella, Paul McCartney, Alabama, Ratt, Ozzy, ZZ Top, list goes on.

Second best would have to go to Cinderella or Skid Row - tie . Again, a more personal connection, but maybe the familiarity and the ties with the bands made the experience better, Only one show was I contracted to do that I walked out on - Kiss. They were so incredibly nasty I couldn't handle it....

[daca55]

The Rolling Stones in Lynn Mass in 1967. Ended In a riot and we were all tear gassed. Before the riot the Stones were very good. Jagger brought the crowd to a frenzy and then all hell broke lose.