Rules:
1. Tell us about the first concert you ever went to...who played, when it was, etc.
2. Post one song from each band that you remember playing that night.
3. Posted songs have to be ones from that era. No songs that the band hadn't written yet at the time you saw them.
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My first concert that I went to (under my own agency, not being dragged along by a parent) was at St. Andrews Hall in Detroit in 1991 I think. We were going to see The Screaming Trees. First opener was a band called Das Damen, whom I'd never heard of, and the second opener was Superchunk, with the Trees headlining.
Das Damen played an amazing live set and won me over as a fan. Can't say I'd listen to them today, but 16 year old me dug it. Superchunk was never my bag, but I remember they were FUCKING LOUD. All the power pop-punk bands I hate today are just copying Superchunk in the biggest way, so they should at least get the credit. I could feel the bass pounding my chest out in the crowd. The Trees came on and they were LOUD AND AWESOME. They absolutely tore it up. Of all the bands that night, the Trees are the only ones with a portion of their catalog I can still enjoy to this day. Sadly, we had to leave early because my folks didn't want me in Detroit past midnight at 16 years old, and that was the compromise I made to head down there. Parents man..
Kicking the show off with Das Damen. Here's a song from that era called "Mirror Leaks"
And Superchunk with "30 Xtra". This is the least boring song I could find by them.
Screaming Trees jamming hard and showing why they are the headliner with "Invisible Lantern". All the early Trees albums were mixed so terribly. A shame.
What about you Hubski? Show me your fist concert.
1981 - AC/DC, "For Those About To Rock"
I was 13.
There were huge banks of cannons hanging from the ceiling, and every time a cannon goes off in the song, one of the cannons hung from the ceiling went off. Huge clouds of white smoke. Fantastic.
"Hells Bells" of course started with this HUGE bell being lowered onto the stage, and Brian Johnson hitting it with this huge hammer that was almost as big as him.... unfortunately, the bell made a high-pitched "ting!" sound when he hit it, and not the "BOOOOOONG!" sound you hear on the record. So it looked kinda silly.
But what really blew me away was Angus Young, standing on top of a sheet of plywood, that was being carried on the shoulders of four security guards. They walked through the crowd from the back of the stadium (the Colosseum in Seattle), to the front, while Angus played a ridiculously crazy solo standing on top of the plywood! It was nuts.
The show was sweaty, loud, and every single think that rock-n-roll has ever promised. It smelled like leather, and sweat, and Marlboros, and it was FANTASTIC. I was a rocker for life, and I still regularly listen to that album today.
(Of course, this was my first "I want to go to X concert, and I bought the ticket, and I went on my own volition" concert. I had been to many concerts before that with my parents, but this one was ALL MINE.)