What was your first Progressive Rock Concert

[Mister Triscuits]

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! )

When I saw the Who in '71 I had behind-the-stage seats, but I was on acid so I got to see them from all angles at once.

[Digital_Man]

When I saw the Who in '71 I had behind-the-stage seats, but I was on acid so I got to see them from all angles at once.

So being on acid meant you got to see them from more than just one angle?

[moecurlythanu]

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!

I wouldn't have had a great interest in Foghat, although I was well familiar with their fairly considerable radio fare, but I would have loved to see Starz. I had all of their albums released by 1978.

[dgtlman]

I would have loved to see Starz. I had all of their albums released by 1978.

I saw Starz open for Aerosmith on the Rocks tour, summer of '77. Rick Derringer was the middle act on that triple bill

[Brad 2 the Bone]

I attended very few shows of any stripe before moving to Ottawa in 1997. I saw Asia at a bar in Halifax in 1993 (Aqua tour); that was only about three months after I became old enough to get into bars so it was probably the first.

My second prog-related show was probably FM in Ottawa in 1994 (same tour that produced the "RetroActive" live album). I was still attending university in Halifax at the time but happened to be temporarily living in Ottawa for a 4-month work placement.

After permanently moving to Ottawa in 1997 I saw Rush in July, Fish in August, and Yes in November (in Toronto).

[NogbadTheBad]

If I discount Marillion at the Reading Rock Festival in 82 then it's probably Hawkwind on the Choose Your Masques tour at Newcastle City Hall October 23rd 1982.

[Enidi]

Emerson, Lake, & Palmer in 1974. I saw PFM at the Spectrum in Philadelphia around this time , perhaps I saw them first. I'm ancient fossil and my memory is decreasing in storage..

[Digital_Man]

Emerson, Lake, & Palmer in 1974. I saw PFM at the Spectrum in Philadelphia around this time , perhaps I saw them first. I'm ancient fossil and my memory is decreasing in storage..

Who played with PFM at the Spectrum?

[the winter tree]

Jethro Tull 1976. Big outdoor show at Colt Park in Hartford, Conn. with J. Geils opening. Only one person was knifed ;-) Tull were great. Ian in silver space suit and high heels.

[Shadow]

It was supposed to be Gentle Giant but they said they were sick and didn't play, so we had to suffer through Mahavishnu Orchestra the whole night. So a concert where a prog band actually played may have been The Lamb Tour by Genesis.

[EBES]

Kansas at the Central Washington State Fair in 2000, when I was 16. I'm not sure what they were touring on, if they were touring anything in particular, and I didn't know anything besides Carry On, Point and Dust, but it was a fantastic show and I enjoyed the hell out of it, as did the friends I came with, who were otherwise your standard nu-metal kids of the era. Oddly enough Kansas are probably the most significant prog band that, as an adult, I've never developed much of a taste for.

[Rogue Mail]

Rick Wakeman and the English Rock Ensemble in Liverpool Empire Theatre, UK around 1976.

What surprised me at the time was the amount of humour in the show.

Wakeman was on top form, as was Ashley Holt.

I remember Wakeman playing some really low synth notes that rattled the theatre.

And the printed programme for he show was full of jokes and bawdiness from the band.


On a side note, I used to watch a terrific blues bank in london in the 80s called Ruthless Blues, and their drummer was none other than Tony Fernández.

[FrippWire]

[QUOTE=moecurlythanu;1142085]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.

I saw the same tour in Detroit on Dec. 02 (w/Golden Earring) - one day prior to your Toledo show. Detroit was a fantastic show!

[JKL2000]

If I discount Marillion at the Reading Rock Festival in 82 then it's probably Hawkwind on the Choose Your Masques tour at Newcastle City Hall October 23rd 1982.

But if course, you can't discount seeing Marillion. Hawkwind is a pretty good second though!

[arturs]

Yes Drama tour 1980. While many of the fans were saying "this sucks" and "we want Jon," to a kid like me who only knew Tempus Fugit and Does it Really Happen? from the radio, and a few of the classics, I thought they sounded sooo good. I couldn't believe musicians could play and sing that well, at the same time! That show is probably the only reason I'm here typing this 42 years later.

[Garden Dreamer]

If you consider Chicago to be prog, then it was Chicago/The Beach Boys "Summer of '75" at Madison Square Garden.

If not, then Yes Relayer tour at Nassau Coliseum.

[Mythos]

I've stated this one many times, but here I go again.. Back in late 1973...

At 15, I won tickets from KNAC, to see Hawkwind performing their Space Ritual Tour (Yes with Stacia.... )

[Sputnik]

Yes in the round, June 1979 in Springfield, MA.

Bill

[Progtastic]

I saw lots of bands in the early 70's that might be described as prog-friendly, such as Uriah Heep, Groundhogs, Trapeze. Probably the earliest was Indian Summer who were support for Johnny Winter in Feb '71.

[SteveSly]

Yes Drama tour 1980. While many of the fans were saying "this sucks" and "we want Jon," to a kid like me who only knew Tempus Fugit and Does it Really Happen? from the radio, and a few of the classics, I thought they sounded sooo good. I couldn't believe musicians could play and sing that well, at the same time! That show is probably the only reason I'm here typing this 42 years later.

I know exactly what you mean. "Drama" was not my first prog show, but it was my first Yes show and I loved the hell out of it and still think it was a fantastic show. Squire and White were on fire that night, possibly the best I have ever seen them. I thought Horn sounded fine. I have seen Yes more than a dozen times since then, but that one still makes the hairs on my arm stand up.

[ollie woodpecker]

I went to see Iron Butterfly at the Royal Albert Hall in London in 1971 - Dada were the opening act, but Yes were second on the bill - and that is how I discovered them!

Having said that - I did see ELP at the Isle of Wight festival in 1970, so I guess that is probably the actual first! SWTx

https://memories.royalalberthall.com...band-concert-0

[TheH]

Queen (if they count) in 1982 at Cologne then Santana later that year.

[chalkpie]

ABWH, 18 August 1989, Darien Lake, NY.

[hFx]

1977 if Queen counts (No they don't!) or 1978 if ELO counts (No way!) or 1979 if Rush counts (Definitely, as it was the Hemispheres Tour)

[Conti]

Sagrado Coração da Terra, 1989, premiere of the Farol da Liberdade album in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.