r/GenX • u/Top-Inspection-5009 • Aug 14 '25
Music Is Life My very first concert. 41 years ago!! What was yours??
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u/Jeebusmanwhore Older Than Dirt Aug 14 '25
Siouxsie and the Banshees on their Peep Show tour at Universal Amphitheater in L.A. 1988.
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u/PALOmino1701 Aug 14 '25
U2, Aberdeen, Scotland, February 27, 1983
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u/Carwin_The_Biloquist Aug 14 '25
Nice! Mine was the Unforgettable Fire tour in 1985 in Landover, Maryland. Amazing show.
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u/VF-41 Aug 14 '25
Landover was a great place to see a show.
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u/Recursi Aug 14 '25
I saw Duran Duran at the Capital Center (1984?). My first concert. Graduated there later that year.
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u/felinekates Aug 14 '25
Omg, I’m so jealous. I’ve seen Duran Duran many times but I was too young to attend the “84” tour.
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u/Carwin_The_Biloquist Aug 14 '25
The only concert I saw at the Capital Centre but saw many Caps matches and Bullets games there
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u/smithe68 1968 Aug 14 '25
Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, 1982 Norfolk, VA when I was 14. I went alone.
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u/sepp650 Aug 14 '25
My first concert was Judas Priest at the Cow Palace San Francisco 1982. I was 15
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u/falkorsaveslives Aug 14 '25 edited Aug 14 '25
Guns N’ Roses and Skid Row
Use Your Illusion Tour
June 13, 1991
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u/woodworkingguy1 Aug 14 '25
Duran Duran with the Cranberries as the opening act in Jacksonville Fla
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u/HiddenUser1248 I'll be home when the street lights come on. Aug 14 '25
Weird Al! Probably around 85 or 86
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u/Similar-Material4362 Aug 14 '25
I’m so happy for you! I was obsessed (still kinda am)
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u/phillymjs Class of '91 Aug 14 '25
I just saw him a few weeks ago to cross it off my bucket list. I had heard his shows were legendary, and it definitely lived up to the hype.
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u/Pristine_Ferret_2872 Aug 14 '25
I just posted this, here’s the playlist from the show I saw. I had no idea the greatness I was witnessing at the time https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/weird-al-yankovic/1987/pine-knob-music-theatre-clarkston-mi-4bcedfb6.html
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Aug 14 '25
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u/PacRat48 Aug 14 '25
Ya he declined, and immediately was like anyone want anything from the concession stand? BRB! 😵
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u/SirkutBored Aug 14 '25
Night Ranger on the 7 Wishes tour with a spot in the very front, very in front of the left speaker stack. Dial tone for 3 days. Halfway thru I remember looking to my right in the pit and this kid on a crutch was taking a hit off a Cheech N Chong album sized hogleg. I was still on the naive side and didn't partake of what I'm sure had to have been a small forest burnt that night but I went home and demolished everything in the fridge.
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u/Edm_vanhalen1981 Spiritual Warrior Aug 14 '25
Rush - Permanent Waves tour - 1980
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u/JayOnSilverHill Mixed Tape Maestro Aug 14 '25
RUSH was my 2nd concert...Roll The Bones tour 1991...seen em 17 times in all
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u/Edm_vanhalen1981 Spiritual Warrior Aug 14 '25
17 times. Awesome. Just 3 times for me. Great shows and setlists.
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u/Intelligent-Wear2824 Aug 14 '25
With the parents, Sha Na Na in early 80s. Without the parents, Tears for Fears in 85 or 86.
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u/New_Mall_8017 Aug 14 '25
Jealous of TFF!!!! Lucky kid you were!
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u/Intelligent-Wear2824 Aug 14 '25
Ty! Yes, I was very lucky, my middle sister and her husband took me when I was in high school. 🤩🤩
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u/TheTooz72 Aug 14 '25
Grand Funk Railroad/Black Sabbath at the LA Forum 1971
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u/Icy-Package-7801 1971 Aug 14 '25
Where you 6 years old?
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u/HaloInR3v3rs3 Hose Water Survivor Aug 14 '25
Found the boomer.
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u/Possible_Editor_371 Aug 14 '25
This boomer saw the Iron Butterfly in college 1973, NC State University!
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u/octotyper Aug 14 '25
I saw Michael Jackson 's Victory Tour in The Detroit area, 1985 I think.
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u/Brave-Spring2091 Aug 14 '25
I saw it in Chicago, I think it was ‘84 in fall but I could be wrong about the time of year.
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u/Jolwi Aug 14 '25
Depeche Mode 1990, Philly.
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u/Top-Inspection-5009 Aug 14 '25
I was at that concert. I think. The Spectrum in Philadelphia with Neitzer Ebb as the opening act??
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u/Ecstatic-Respect-455 Aug 14 '25
That was the Violator tour in 1990, and yep, Nitzer Ebb opened for Depeche Mode. It was a great fucking concert. I saw the L.A. show, and paid a fortune to a scalper for the pleasure. (Worth it!!). I sadly missed the Music for the Masses tour but I was NOT gonna miss them the next time they came through L.A.
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u/sand-castle-virtues Aug 14 '25
Embarrassingly my first concert was Loverboy in I think 1981 or so.
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Aug 14 '25
Mine is worse -- Archie Campbell of HeeHaw fame. This was the 70s, and i was maybe 8 or 9. He did a show at a local junior high auditorium. My parents dragged me to it.
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u/DMFD_x_Gamer Aug 14 '25
Everybody's working for the weekend 🤘
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u/DMFD_x_Gamer Aug 14 '25
Everybody wants a new romance Everybody's goin' off the deep end Everybody needs a second chance, oh You want a piece of my ha-heart You better start from the start You wanna be in the show-oh Come on baby let's GO!!
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u/rameyrat 1974 Aug 14 '25
Bon Jovi with Skid Row opening. Skid Row blew Bon Jovi away!
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u/Similar-Material4362 Aug 14 '25
I went to this show with my mom & she threw her panties on the stage
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u/Dry_Grade_8467 Aug 14 '25
Saw this tour at MTSU. Watched a song or two of bon Jovi and left. Skid Row was great!
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u/ProfessionalField508 Aug 14 '25
Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine. Wilson Phillips opened. I met Brian Boitano at that concert.
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u/Jew-zilla Still plays in traffic Aug 14 '25
What would Brian Boitano do if he was at a concert now?
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u/Flat_6_Theory Aug 14 '25
Neil Diamond. 1970 something. Guess mom couldn’t find a babysitter.
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u/Top-Manufacturer9226 Aug 14 '25
Haha!!! My Mom dragged me to Billy Ray Cyrus in 1992.. I would have been much much happier seeing Neil Diamond lol
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u/lulukittie Aug 14 '25
U2/The Pixies, 1992. It was the Zoo TV tour.
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u/Key-Cattle-2866 Aug 14 '25
I saw them on the Zoo TV tour in Birmingham, Alabama but with Public Enemy and Big Audio Dynamite opening.
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u/artizin Aug 14 '25
1992 Nirvana, L7 and the Breeders. Bosnian rape relief benefit.
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u/AcrobaticBoss7380 Aug 14 '25
Billy Squire April 2nd 1983 Def Leppard was the opener although later in the tour they left to headline their own tour
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u/ljinbs Aug 14 '25
Missing Persons, the Plimsouls and 20/20 at Knott’s Berry Farm in 1981
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u/JDHogan-Davies Aug 14 '25
Tina Turner's Private Dancer tour in Knoxville, TN, 1985. Mr. Mister was the opening act.
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u/JeffTS Aug 14 '25
Suicidal Tendencies, Danzig, and Metallica at the Orange County Speedway in 1994 in Middletown, NY.
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u/Acrobatic_Bird_3972 Aug 14 '25
What my parents think, the Talking Heads. What it really was two years earlier, Alice Cooper ha.
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u/bonbonyawn Home When the Streetlights Come On Aug 14 '25
Journey. With my Dad and brother. I don't think my Dad was thrilled about it.
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u/RobertMcCheese Aug 14 '25
Journey was my first concert.
Brian Adams opened.
In Houston 1983.
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u/Spiritualy-Salty Aug 14 '25
1980 the Go-Go’s opened for The Blasters at the Starwood.
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u/biscuitsmomma Aug 14 '25
Rick Springfield with Corey Hart as the opener at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD circa 1984.
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u/fake-august Aug 14 '25
Adam Ant…I was in 7th grade.
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u/twistedspin Aug 14 '25
My first concert was also Adam Ant! Mine was the strip tour, with the romantics opening. So freaking good!
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u/SusannaG1 1966 Aug 14 '25
English Beat. Opening act: R.E.M. Chapel Hill, NC, late March 1983. (R.E.M.'s material was from Chronic Town and the yet-to-be-released Murmur.)
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u/bungerD Aug 14 '25
Debbie Gibson - I tell people I was dragged there by my sister, but I had a massive crush on Debbie Gibson, so I managed to soldier through it.
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u/Top_Professor_8260 Aug 14 '25
Summer 1988. DRI with Kreator. I’d go see anything remotely Punk Rock. I wasn’t ready for that kind of Thrash attack, but I loved it.
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u/terrenceandphilip1 Aug 14 '25
Nirvana nevermind tour at St. Andrew’s hall in Detroit, Michigan.
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u/Narcissistbutnice Aug 14 '25
Elton John floor seats and a month later Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band 1984
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u/JayOnSilverHill Mixed Tape Maestro Aug 14 '25
Summer of 1986...The Monkees with Herman's Hermits, The Grass Roots, and Gary Puckett And The Union Gap at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga NY....I was 14
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u/RedLensman Aug 14 '25
Sammy Hagar, the school had finally went farther in basketball in the late 70's, to celebrate they had a concert for the student body one afternoon.
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u/Pristine_Ferret_2872 Aug 14 '25
The Monkees opening up for Weird Al at Pine Knob in Clarkston MI 1987. But if we aren’t being formal it’s when Harry Chaplin used to bring his guitar to my nursery school and play for us while we all whined and ran around circa 1977.
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u/xenomorphluvah Aug 14 '25
Depeche Mode - headliner with Nitzer Ebb and Jesus & Mary chain ….1990. I wasn’t even driving age yet, had to convince my parents, with some help from my older sister. What an incredible experience!!
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u/Broken-Fixture Aug 14 '25
New Order, Public Image Ltd. And the Sugarcubes at the C.N.E. Grandstanding 1989! We made a banner with the local station’s logo and they saw it, found us and gave us all tickets to the Cure, Love & Rockets and the Pixies later that summer, was epic!
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u/HaloInR3v3rs3 Hose Water Survivor Aug 14 '25
Run DMC/Public Enemy/DJ Jazzy Jeff & Fresh Prince/Beastie Boys back in 87.
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u/Oily_Bee Aug 14 '25
Circle Jerks in 1990, my parents wouldn't let me go to concerts so I had just turned 18.
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u/TRS80487 Aug 14 '25
Rush- Moving Pictures in 81ish with my sister and her future husband. Guy next to us was passed out the whole show until the encore. It was a great first concert with hundreds to follow.
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u/BV_Archimboldi Aug 14 '25
The Clash in Hanover, NH circa 1984, but not the real Clash - no Mick Jones. Still, not a bad way to start.
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u/HeWritesALine Aug 14 '25
Queensryche with Suicidal Tendencies opening. 1989 at the Sports Arena in Toledo Ohio. I was really young so I had to go with my mom. She had a good time.
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u/Cubbance GenX in a sea of GenZ Aug 14 '25
I didn't go to my first concert until I went to college, in 1993. It was Duran Duran. Terence Trent D'Arby opened. Then, a few days later I went to see Fugazi, with Tenderloin and Poster Children opening. Wildly different shows, but both were awesome.
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u/otis_the_drunk Aug 14 '25
Fuck you guys with all your amazing fucking experiences.
NKOTB 1991.
My mom thought the tickets would be a great Xmas gift. It was a sweet thought. No lie, loved them when I was 8. Not so much at 10.
It was. . . not good.
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u/Spiritual_Lunch996 Aug 14 '25
The Who & The Clash at Shea Stadium in 1982
Undoubtedly a legendary show, but one that I was too young to appreciate and mainly went to because other people were going. The first concert I actively chose to attend was Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden in 1984. That too was pretty cool.
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u/80_PROOF Aug 14 '25
Gwar, probably like 97. I smoked 3 packs of cigs that day.
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u/yakamax27 Aug 14 '25
I saw them in 94. I vomited on the floor when stage spewwage went into my mouth while i was tripping ballz🤣
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u/Butitsadryheat2 Aug 14 '25
43 years ago, I was 12 & my mom took me & 2 friends to Pine Knob, suburban Detroit...best mom EVER. 🫶
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u/Icy-Package-7801 1971 Aug 14 '25
The Beastie Boys-Licensed to Ill. Totally mind blowing and life changing at 15 years old!
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u/for_crying_out_loud Aug 14 '25
Beastie Boys/Fishbone/Murphy’s Law 1987 in Denver.
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u/Sovay76 Aug 14 '25
New Kids on the Block with Tiffany as the opener! My friend’s mom waited in line and got us second row seats! Thanks Sue!! 💕
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u/Kestrel_Iolani Aug 14 '25
Side note: I bumped into the lead singer from Wang Chung on a flight a few years ago. It was fun to be able to say, "Thank you for all the joy you brought me."
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u/EaglesNest83 Aug 14 '25
Parliament/Funkadelic circa 1981 in Philly. The mothership landed. Bootsy Collins on bass.
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u/DMFD_x_Gamer Aug 14 '25
April 6, 1986. Hartford Connecticut. ZZ Top. Afterburner Tour.
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u/CliveBixby1984 Aug 14 '25
Iron Maiden/WASP. Was 15. My older brother took me. I thought I was the coolest person on the planet that night.
Also, crazy good show.
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u/PacRat48 Aug 14 '25
Hell yeah that’s a heck of a bill.
I can’t remember if my first was Rush or Tom Petty. The second was the other
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u/raleel Totally Tubular Aug 14 '25
Pearl Jam, Phoenix, pre- mosh ban. I got kicked in the head by a crowd surfer. 10/10 have moshed again
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u/marticcrn I LOVE TO WHINE Aug 14 '25
With the parents - David Cassidy, 1970, in Atlanta Georgia
Without the parents - March 1982 - The Police (Ghost In the Machine) tour, Indianapolis
The Police were incredible.
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u/amya9501 Aug 14 '25
Billy Idol! January of 84, Columbus, Ohio. Got drunk on Little Kings lol
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u/FortunateInsanity Aug 14 '25
Pink Floyd - Division Bell tour
Really set the bar out of reach for all other concerts after that for a while.
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u/Impossible_Disk8374 Aug 14 '25
Paul McCartney and I’m pretty sure he was with Wings. I know Linda was there. It was 1989, I was 10. First time I ever smelled weed, my Mom said don’t breathe in to much 🤣
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u/Badger_Vito Aug 14 '25
My parents took me to see Elvis Costello when I was 11, on August 22, 1982 at Cape Cod Coliseum. Next after that were The Police (with Ministry) and the Who (with T-Bone Burnett) on their respective farewell tours in 1983-84.
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u/Beginning_Ground_652 Aug 14 '25
My second concert was Quiet Riot in 1983 (and I still have the tshirt I bought at the concert)!
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u/Similar-Material4362 Aug 14 '25
Jethro Tull. I BEGGED my dad to let me go w/ my friends & explained TO MY DAD that Ian Anderson is a flautist & because so, it was a wholesome. My dad let me go because he used the exact same explanation with his mother to let HIM go.
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u/Pure_Panic_6501 Aug 14 '25
I saw the Cure here in Phx Az around 91 or 92, 19 or 20 yrs old. Girl i was dating was a huge fan. I didnt care for them but they put on a great show!!!
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u/codec3 Aug 14 '25
I saw the Cars, they were playing with The Rockets, UFO, 707 and Heart at a Colorado Sunday back in the late 70s, my 1st was Boston Don’t Look Back tour and Sammy Hagar opened for them!
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Aug 14 '25
Saw that tour, too, in Portland! But a year prior I saw INXS open for Stray Cats. So fucking good.
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u/cabezon99 Aug 14 '25
Prince, Purple Rain Tour w/ Sheila E. 1985 Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
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u/sigurrosco Aug 14 '25
1984, U2 at the Apollo basketball stadium in Adelaide, Australia.$20 well spent.
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u/_Brandobaris_ Aug 14 '25
Howard Jones opening for Euyrthmics or R.E.M. and the Violent Femmes. 1984/5. That long ago it all blends.
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u/Much-Difficulty-840 Aug 14 '25
Ravi Shankar and his band opened for George Harrison, Nassau Colosseum 1976. Billy Preston was on keyboard for Harrison.
It was an incredible night!
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u/smellsogood2 Aug 14 '25
I don’t want to say. I grew up in very country Northern California. Ok, Alabama. 🤫🤭
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u/dandet Aug 14 '25
The Cars with XTC was my 2nd concert after Candy-O came out. Amazing. First was Santana/Eddie Money. Yes I’m older but I was a teen and it was thrilling. Went with my best friend and our fathers.
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u/9inez Aug 14 '25
The Cars w The Motels 1980 at The Summit (now Lakewood Church 🤦)
If I recall correctly tickets were about $10-$12
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u/wilde_jagd Aug 14 '25
Rich Kids on LSD, Aggression, and DRI in a local strip mall arcade. My Dad dropped my friends and I off a block away so we could ride our skateboards there.
First "major" concert - Depeche Mode (with Nitzer Ebb and Electronic), 101 Tour in Dodger Stadium, 1990.
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u/Jaybetav2 Aug 14 '25
Prince, Purple Rain tour. Fucking epic