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

  1. This is fun! My first was January, 1984 at the New Haven Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum. The show was Ozzy, Motley Crue and Pete Way’s band Waysted. I was 14. My dad got me tickets, which I was surprised about! Waysted were pretty good. Crue were great, opening with Shout At The Devil. I saw MTV and their videos, so I was pretty excited. Ozzy was, as he always was every time I saw him since, fantastic. I had good seats up in a section near the stage. Tickets were $11.50 apiece.

  2. My first show when I was 13 (days away from 14) was Ronnie James Dio (Last in Line Tour) and Whitesnake (Slide It In Tour) on July 26, 1984 at the Seattle Center Coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena). One of the most memorable of things aside from the AMAZING show was that my sister and her best friend were also there, they were 15 and wearing all of their rock gear (spandex included) and some drunk guy tried to pick up on her in line. We were there (being “chaperoned”) with my uncle and he proceeded to get in a fist fight with the guy because he couldn’t keep his hands to himself! This was an epic show and set off a multitude of amazing rock shows ever since! I went back in the next year (December 12, 1985) for the Dio tour with Yngwie Malmsteen for the Sacred Heart tour. Years later I ran into Jeff Scott Soto at the Showbox in Seattle touring with Sons of Apollo and we talked about that night! Epic!

  4. Kansas……Madison Square Garden…….June 28, 1978…..Les Dudek was the opening band. You can look it up !!! Went on the http://www.setlist.fm website to confirm Les as the opener. (https://www.setlist.fm) is a great way to reminisce on past concerts and remember what you heard/saw.
    Kansas ‘Point of Know Return’ tour was a big deal. Being my first concert I remember:1- lots of cigarette/weed smoke as we arrived at our seats…..and 2-when the lights went out some maniacs lit and threw M-80 fireworks to detonate in the air which scared the hell out of us. Or at least me. 3-street T-shirt vendors by the dozens selling black concert before and after the show. $5 for a very cool Song for America shirt which I wore proudly through high school. 4-taking public transportation home, which wasn’t a big deal because we all did it.

    1. I was waiting on you, since this was your question. Glad you made it, and I see you are, or were, a fellow New Yawker. 🙂

  5. Ozzfest ’98, Saturday 20th June 1998 at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Milton Keynes England. Headlined by Ozzy solo and Black Sabbath (minus Bill Ward who had not long suffered a heart attack but did make an appearance to say hello). I was 19.

    Also on the bill was the mighty Slayer (who I had heard of but had never heard them musically – but were absolutely brilliant!!) as well as a then new act called the Foo Fighters.

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