First Concert

Yep, that's a scan of a ticket from the very first concert I ever went to. The Eagles on their Hotel California tour at the old Met Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota the day after my 15th birthday. The Steve Miller Band and Pablo Cruise were also on the bill that for many years (and maybe still is) the biggest crowd at a Twin Cities concert: an estimated 65,000!

My mom gave me tickets for my birthday so my best friend Andy and I were going to go. We were also put in charge of my younger step brother and his cousin. We got dropped off in the old parking lot at the Met in the middle of the afternoon and wandered through the tailgating, partying crowd, getting into about as much trouble as a bunch of 14 and 15 year olds could get into without having our parents called.

The concert was general admission, which meant when the gates opened, the crowds crushed together to get inside and get a vantage point as close to the stage as possible. Remember, this was over a year before the tragedy at the general admission Who concert in Cincinnati that claimed the lives of 11 people caught in the same sort of stampede.

We eventually got in and found some space next to some college girls up from Mankato for the concert and danced like crazy to songs like "World's Away" from Pablo Cruise. Then a storm moved in during Steve Miller Band's set. Instead of shutting down the show (as would be done now even on the threat of a storm) thousands of us dancing in the rain on the field, attempted to lift the tarp up for some cover, tearing up the field that the Minnesota Twins would be playing on just days later. I will never forget the sound of 65,000 drenched teens, 20 and 30-somethings singing "Jungle Love" with lightning flashing overhead.

The Eagles has been touring non-stop since their 1976 release of Hotel California and 'new' member Joe Walsh's killer guitar work. Add to the fact that Walsh had just released his But Seriously Folks album with the hit "Life's Been Good" and you can see why we had a crowd to rival this summer's JazzFest crowd. The rain stopped as the Eagles ripped through hit after hit from their career and let Joe do Rocky Mountain Way and his new radio hit.

After that, I was HOOKED! I saw dozens upon dozens of shows through the rest of my teens and into my 20's before choosing radio for a career that has led to conservatively, 2000 concerts since that wonderful summer evening to start my 15th year.

What was your first concert? Where was it and how old were you? Leave your responses and we'll talk about them on the air!