What was your first Progressive Rock Concert

[Top Cat]

Genesis-Selling England by the Pound tour, Eastern Michigan University.

[nycsteve]

First concert of any type , 1977 Pink Floyd , Animals Tour. Holy shit , what a show! Inflatables , insane animations , superb musicianship and material. What an intro to the world of live rock. At Madison Square Garden in NYC.

[markwoll]

Happy the Man opening for Renaissance at Warner theater in DC, 2/27/1977
What a treat.

[mozo-pg]

I've really enjoyed reading all the great examples/stories on your first show. I did use the term progressive rock but that can be interpreted very loosely.

[rapidfirerob]

The Who, Jethro Tull, It’s A Beautiful Day, 1970 on one bill, Tanglewood. I would only count Jethro Tull as progressive rock.
Focus, 1973, Philharmonic Hall. It saddens me I’ve not had the opportunity to see them again.


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[llanwydd]

My first rock concert was Yes - 1978 at Madison Square Garden. I was in the mezzanine but that was fine. I had waited years to see Yes. The following year I was right in the front row at MSG. If I remember right, they played very close to the same setlist both years.

[rcarlberg]

I wasn’t counting them as prog, but It’s a Beautiful Day was technically the first rock band I ever saw

"Bombay Calling"? "Bulgaria"? "Time Is"? Oh hell yes they were Progressive Rock. I don't remember who opened the show, undoubtedly another local band who sank in the muck like The Canterbury Tales or The Floating Bridge.

[FrippWire]

Frank Zappa - September, 1978 - Cobo Arena - Detroit, MI

[syncopatico]

Jethro Tull in 1977, Songs From The Wood tour. Went with my older brother. Had seats behind the stage--but i didn't care! (Ian would also occasionally turn around and acknowledge us poor saps sitting back there! )

[Boceephus]

Frank Zappa - September, 1978 - Cobo Arena - Detroit, MI

Mine: November 19, 1976 at Cobo Arena, Detroit, MI.

[pb2015]

Jethro Tull in 1977, Songs From The Wood tour. Went with my older brother. Had seats behind the stage--but i didn't care! (Ian would also occasionally turn around and acknowledge us poor saps sitting back there! )

I saw U2 with behind the stage seats once, 2001. I got the tickets free so I didn't care much, but it was cool that Bono and the Edge frequently turned around to us.

[Yaman Aksu]

Maybe the Al Di Meola band around the time of the Tirami Su album (released 1987) but afterwards what I sooner ate was probably baklava. Yes it does rock (see its "Song to the Pharoah Kings" cover) and so yes it is prog rock in its own way.

[Paul]

Yes at Wembley Arena 1984

[Sturgeon's Lawyer]

Hard to determine -- in around March of 1977 I saw three shows in four weeks -- Genesis (W&W tour), Peter Gabriel (Car tour), and Utopia (RA tour). I don't remember the order I saw them in, so I can't say which was my first prog concert.

...unless you count early Chicago. I saw them on the tour for their Vth album in (I believe) August of 1972. First rock concert I ever saw, actually...

[soundsweird]

I was going to say ELP on the Tarkus tour, but Soft Machine opening for Hendrix on Feb. 15, 1968 qualifies as prog...

[JKL2000]

I was a late starter, but it was a pretty good start: King Crimson on the Discipline tour at the Landmark Theater in Syracuse (late 81 or early 82)

[spellbound]

If The Who's Quadrophenia tour counts as prog, then The Who in Nov. 1973. If not, then Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Feb. 1974.

[JKL2000]

If The Who's Quadrophenia tour counts as prog, then The Who in Nov. 1973. If not, then Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Feb. 1974.

Damn, how were your seats for The Who?

[Progbear]

I don't know if I should count Todd Rundgren in ’90 (well, he did play "Initiation"), but definitely Camel on the Dust & Dreams tour in '92.

[spacefreak]

Embryo, 1979.

[interbellum]

At 15 I saw Earth & Fire on August 2nd 1975 promoting their best album To The World Of The Future on the island Texel (The Netherlands).

https://www.earthandfire.nl/wp-conte...AND%20FIRE.pdf (page 54)

[headcrash]

Focus 1973 Asbury Park NJ Convention Hall. Opening act: Return To Forever.

[Koreabruce]

Genesis “Duke,” June 6, 1980, Richfield Coliseum, Richfield, OH

[moecurlythanu]

My first Prog-Rock concert was also my first concert. I was 17, and I guess my disapproving parents thought they couldn't say no anymore. It was Rush on the Tour Of The Hemispheres on December 3, 1978 in a sweaty little hat box in Toledo, Ohio called the Sports Arena. Golden Earring opened. I saw the same show (sans GE) the following February at the Richfield Coliseum. April Wine opened that one.

From setlist.fm:

Rush

Dec 3, 1978

at Toledo Sports Arena, Toledo, OH, USA
Tour: Hemispheres Tour


Anthem
A Passage to Bangkok
By-Tor & The Snow Dog
Xanadu
Something for Nothing
The Trees
Cygnus X-1
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part I: Prelude
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part II: Apollo
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part III: Dionysus
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part IV: Armageddon
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part V: Cygnus
Cygnus X-1 Book II: Hemispheres Part VI: The Sphere
Closer to the Heart
Circumstances
A Farewell to Kings
La Villa Strangiato
2112 Part I: Overture
2112 Part II: The Temples of Syrinx
2112 Part III: Discovery
2112 Part IV: Presentation
2112 Part VI: Soliloquy
2112 Part VII: Grand Finale
Working Man
Bastille Day
In the Mood
Drum Solo

[Koreabruce]

My first Prog-Rock concert was also my first concert. I was 17 (snip)

My first concert, though not prog-related, was also in 1978, also at that same venue, and I was also 17. It was Foghat on their "Stone Blue" tour - an excellent album, by the way - with the band Starz opening. February 20, 1978. They basically played most of that live album they'd released the previous year plus some choice cuts from Stone Blue, which at the time of the concert had yet to be released. They rocked, and Starz was actually a pretty cool live act as well. Fond memories of fun times!