Celebrating the Anniversary of My First Concert: Skid Row February 10, 1992

I keep track of birthdays on my calendar.  Anniversaries too.  Not just weddings, but anniversaries of live shows I've attended.  It's important to look back and remember these concerts.  Then of course think how long it's been since we've added anything to the calendar and it's time to stop reminiscing.

I'm not the only one that romanticizes their first concert.  I can't be. It really was an awakening of sorts.

The year previous...a few of my close friends went to see Guns N' Roses kick off the Use Your Illusion Tour at Alpine Valley.  So, it was 9 months of listening to stories of seeing live music that made it a necessity. The idea of watching a band perform songs that had been drilled into my head every night through my headphones was incomprehensible.

Plus the fact that my friends got to see my favorite band was infuriating. We wouldn't be able to see GNR until they played in Indianapolis that July (with Metallica).

So, when we heard the announcement on 97X that Skid Row was coming within driving distance we were all in!

We stormed the customer service ladies at Bergner's at the mall where the Ticketmaster lived.  Those gals would come to hate us because we were there all the time buying tickets.  All they wanted to do was collect a paycheck until the government said they could retire, but instead had to deal with long hairs buying concert tickets being way too giddy and loud.

The Quad Cities was the "big city" in our eyes.  Coming from a town of 1,100 people (or 1,200 depending on which way you came into town) made downtown Davenport feel like Chicago.  But we were given strict instructions to not talk to strangers and don't leave the building until the concert is over.

We were good boys, dammit, so we did what we were told.  But as the girl behind us was snorting cocaine off the bench I wondered if mom had anticipated THIS scenario.

Soundgarden opened up the show with "Searching With My Good Eye Closed". My first memory of a live show was the "See & Say" intro music ("the Devil says..."). This band would become my top 5 ever and totally eclipse the headliner eventually.

Skid Row came on with Slave to the Grind and I'm pretty sure my ears are still ringing.  They busted through a ton of songs from the new album and almost all of the debut and sounded great.  Sebastian Bach's vocals were on point and the band sounded like a freight train.

Then the next day we woke up and went to school wearing our new concert t-shirts.  Tired as hell.  And couldn't wait to do it all over again.