by jedsoon on 29 Sep 2006 18:43
my first concert was KISS.
i was eight and my brother was seven. our mom was a tie-dyeing hippie back in the day, so she understood a little about rebellion and music and in her own way allowed us our eccentricities. she took us to see the show. this was the ALIVE tour, circa 1978, when the band were in their full original costumed glory.
it was kind of intimidating. such a huge venue, with so many people. i'd never experienced anything like it before. me and my brother were by far the youngest people i saw there, and everyone towered over us. i don't remember there being an opening act, but for all i know we may have missed them. at that age, i would have resented their presence on KISS' stage.
my KISS fandom was in full thrall at the time. to me it was the costumes and super-heroics, as they were already starring in comic books and movies where they displayed super powers. i didn't even realize they had a sexual connotation until much later, after i'd pretty much lost interest in them. they were never really very talented musically, but my attention was elsewhere.
before they took the stage, the crowd began a chant that apparenly lives on to this day among assembled rock fans: "S#!#! G@& D@%*! Get off your @$$ and slam!" this pretty much scared me outright. plus, what was my mom going to think of all this? of course, everyone was on their feet by this time, and from our vantage point and height, we could not hope to see the stage.
after the show kicked in, we relocated to seats that were positioned above and to the left of the stage. i hated that we weren't in front, but why bother going to a show if we couldn't see it? mom came up with the idea of moving and led the way. occasionally gene or paul would acknowledge the crowd to the side, which bolstered my enthusiasm.
our new seating position yielded a far more tame section of the crowd that actually remained seated for most of the show, so we had a blast! gene indulged in all his famous theatrics, which included spitting blood and breathing fire, making my first concertgoing experience very memorable indeed...
-chris