Most people can recall the first concert they attended. For musicians and music lovers, it can be a milestone event in their life. Below, 15 musicians discuss their first concert.
Do you remember your first concert? We’d love to hear about it in the comment section below.
1. Dessa
Dessa’s mother took her to the first concert that made a real impression: “We sat side-by-side in a sold out theater to watch Joan Baez. I was 12. Everyone else in the room was surfing their nostalgia, but it all was new to me.” She continues, “I’d never heard her songs before, never seen a spotlight hit a famous person, never been in the same room with someone who could sing like that. Dar Williams opened for her, though I’m sure I didn’t understand what it meant to ‘open.’ After the show, I remember looking at all the albums for sale in the lobby. You could see Joan’s whole life splayed out: the round-faced youthfulness of her first album covers, the high cheekbones of her 40s, the grey haired pixie cut of her current stuff.”
The concert was at the O’Shaughnessy Theater in St. Paul, Minn. Dessa says, “I played there for the first time last year and thought of Joan Baez all night.” When asked if there were any memorable songs performed, she recalls two. The first is Dar William’s ‘When I Was a Boy’: “It’s probably too overt for my tastes now, but it hit me at the right moment, as a 12-year-old, flat-chested girl who wasn’t sure exactly how her feelings of aggression, rebellion, and angst could be portaged into her adult life as a woman.” She says, “The second was ‘Diamonds and Rust,’ a song about Baez’s relationship with Bob Dylan— devastating. Having grown up to become a musician—and date them—I’ve returned to it often.”
Dessa’s new album, Parts of Speech, was released June 25.
2. Pierre Moore – John the Conqueror 
Moore’s first concert was Too Short at the Mississippi Coliseum in 1995: “I was only 11 years old and had never heard of Too Short, but my older cousin said that we must go, so we went.” Moore recalls particularly liking his cousin, Carlton, because he was “older” and “cool.” “He was like the black, southern version of the ‘Fonz.’ No leather jacket and no motorcycle, but he did have a gold tooth and a Chevy Caprice.”
According to Moore, his mother didn’t have a problem with a pre-teen attending a gangster rap concert: “She was a different type of mother. I grew up in a harsh world and rather than pretending it didn’t exist, she guided me through it as best she could.” Once in the coliseum, the security ushered Moore to what could loosely be considered a “safe area” for children at the front of the stage. “It was probably a good idea to get us away from the erratic mob and plumes of weed smoke. Now we were literally leaning against the massive speakers that fueled the hysteria on the coliseum floor. Since then, my right ear has been all but useless.”
Moore lost all but 25 percent of hearing in his ear because of the concert. Afterwards, Moore met Too Short: “His opener let us backstage…ironically the thing I vividly remember was Too Short telling us to stay off drugs and stay in school.” Moore mentions seeing a recent viral video of Too Short running from the police after a traffic stop where the rapper was charged with DUI and narcotics possession. “[It] was the highlight of my week. He deserves it for leaving me deaf after my first concert.”
Moore would see his second concert a few months later: “Bobby Rush and his shake dancers were playing a small neighborhood festival and I was captivated. I’ve been hooked on the blues, and shake dancers, ever since. Maybe Too Short is the reason I love the blues so much. Because of him, I yearn for a simpler time. A time before six-foot-tall speakers.”
