QUESTION OF THE WEEK, THANKS TO READER/POSTER SILAS BARNABY: WHEN, WHERE, WHO WAS YOUR FIRST CONCERT AND HOW OLD WERE YOU??

Judas Priest, Defenders Of The Faith tour, Madison Square Garden, NYC, June 1984. I was 15? I believe,

That was the infamous show, where the fans tore the cushion foam out of the seats and threw it onstage. It caused  $250,000 worth of damage and caused Priest to be banned from playing the Garden ever again. I think the ban is still in effect.

You can read about it at Ultimate Classic Rock, by clicking on the highlighted story title, 40 Years Ago: Judas Priest Fans Trash Madison Square Garden.

79 Responses

  2. My first concert was KI$$ on the “Dynasty” tour in San Diego. I was 15 years old. The Rockets were the opening band. I didn’t want the concert to end, it was such a cool moment for me. I was seeing my “heroes” live, in the flesh, it was unreal to me. I still have the concert tour book. The good ol’ days….

    1. Wow rattle!! I am so jealous of you! I had one of those parents who did not want me to have any fun! My first concert was UFO. The too hot to handle tour. Probably their best tour! I didn’t know much about the band or their songs at the time.They opened up for cheap Trick! Can’t stop the music was the big hit. Great song!! I must of been 14.

    3. Rattlehead wins again! F en &%$#@!! I had a ticket to that tour in Portland OR, and the Fire Marshall there shut it down, Kiss wouldn’t do it without their pyro, so it wasn’t until Creatures that I saw them and we know Ace and Peter weren’t in the band then. Gene was great, he was really dark and mysterious on that show…you still didn’t know what his deal was, but that doesn’t come close to seeing the band on the Dynasty tour.
      My first show was Rush on the Moving Pictures tour, I forget who opened, and I was bored for most of it, and even left before the encores.

  4. My first real arena concert was KI⚡️⚡️ in 1979, Dynasty tour, I was 13, Judas Priest opened for KI⚡️⚡️! It was at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale NY. I had seen Blondie, and a few other bands before then, but I can’t remember exactly where (somewhere in NY) small venue, or when, etc…

    2. Hi Dana, it was Killing Machine/Hell Bent For Leather, I remember Leather was the 1st song, after that? I went to Setlist.fm to refresh my memory! Here it is –
      1. Hell Bent For Leather
      2. Delivering The Goods
      3. The Ripper
      4. Running Wild
      5. Diamonds & Rust
      6. Victim Of Changes
      7. The Green Manalisha
      8. Starbreaker
      9. Tyrant
      That was from September 1st, 1979! Ah the good ol days!

    4. I think what I remember the most was the way KI⚡️⚡️ came up from under the stage on the risers, that was just fkn amazing! Magical moment for sure! The lights, pyro, music, starting out with “King Of The Night Time World,” and ending with “Rock And Roll All Nite,” that was my first real concert, and you know the old saying – you never forget your first! 😉

    5. Awesome, Doug R.! That KI$$ show with Priest opening up must have been great! I would guess that was the Hell Bent for Leather/Killing Machine tour? If so, that Les Binks ere is my favorite era of Priest! I would have loved to have seen Priest during that era!

    7. that was Hell Bent for Leather, they played Diamonds and Rust, and KK’s hair almost touched the ground when he bent backward…at least that’s what my friend told me who saw that show in Knoxville, TN. I was living in Portland OR then, and was canceled from seeing it, much to my chagrin. Doug R. seeing Blondie in a small venue in 1978 or ‘9 is also really cool. We have some real OGs on here.

    8. Yea that Blondie concert was at Belmont Park in Elmont, NY, July ’79, 2 months before I saw KI⚡️⚡️

    9. – AND Judas Priest of course! Whom I am sering again on September 24th with Alice Cooper!

  5. November 5, 1983 – the old Philadelphia Spectrum – Black Sabbath w/opener Quiet Riot; BS was the famous/infamous Born Again tour (“Stonehenge- where the banshees live, and they do live well”); QR was the Metal Health tour; 16 YOA…Loved the Born Again album then (as I do now)…as maligned as that album & tour were, my 16 year-old self was in awe.

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