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Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Astros Select Brad Mills As Manager

The Astros chose Mills, who has no previous major league managerial experience, after a third round of interviews over former Astros manager Phil Garner and Dave Clark, who served as interim manager for the final 13 games.

Tricky Dick Posted: October 27, 2009 at 02:06 PM | 90 comment(s)
Related News: General, Houston

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1. Dayton Moore is a Big Fat Idiot (AG#1F) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:28 PM (#3367675)

What an awful selection! Who's Brad Mills?

2. Guapo Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:30 PM (#3367678)

Brad Mills already has status as a footnote in Astros history. Do you know what it is?

3. Tricky Dick Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:37 PM (#3367687)

What an awful selection! Who's Brad Mills?

bench coach for the Red Sox. the selection could have been worse...believe me.

Brad Mills already has status as a footnote in Astros history. Do you know what it is?

Milestone strike out victim of Nolan Ryan, which moved Ryan past Walter Johnson.

4. retro-shiite Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:39 PM (#3367689)

Dammit, Tricky beat me to it.

5. Tom Nawrocki Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:40 PM (#3367691)

Let's hope they start calling him "the General."

6. retro-shiite Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:42 PM (#3367694)

Let's hope they start calling him "the General."

General Mills. Heh. Well, as noted above, he was Ryan's Special K, if you will.

7. Jason Kendall's #6,530,420,771 fan (AS) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:45 PM (#3367699)

Hopefully this guy can school the Astros on the Basic 4 (pitching, baserunning, defense, hitting).

8. phredbird

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:46 PM (#3367700)

pass

9. Tom Nawrocki Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:46 PM (#3367701)

I just noticed that Tricky Dick slyly beat me to that joke.

10. Best Regards, Larry Mahnken Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:51 PM (#3367703)

I just noticed that Tricky Dick slyly beat me to that joke.

I don't think he did. General is the default tag.

11. Jay Seaver Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:53 PM (#3367706)

Good for the Astros. Francona tends to share a lot of credit with Mills, so there's a chance he's going to be up to the task.

Now, if the Sox could give Varitek Mills' old job, they'd get all the benefit of the things he does well (preparing for games, understanding pitchers and hitters) without the drawbacks of what he doesn't (playing baseball).

12. TVerik and his cavalcade of whimsy Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:57 PM (#3367710)

I thought he played forward for the Cavaliers about 15 years ago.

Or was a reliever for the Orioles about 10 years ago.

13. Cecil Fielder's Gut

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:59 PM (#3367714)

Good for the Astros. Francona tends to share a lot of credit with Mills, so there's a chance he's going to be up to the task.

Now, if the Sox could give Varitek Mills' old job, they'd get all the benefit of the things he does well (preparing for games, understanding pitchers and hitters) without the drawbacks of what he doesn't (playing baseball).

I couldn't agree more. Mills should be a pretty good manager, but he's obviously going to have a lot of on the job training to do. Mills is a much more inspiring choice for the Astros than say, Garner or :shudders: Acta would have been.
Yeah, he has no Major League experience, but he's been working under Francona for a while and he's been a big part of their success.

14. Koot Posted: October 27, 2009 at 01:59 PM (#3367715)

Now, if the Sox could give Varitek Mills' old job, they'd get all the benefit of the things he does well (preparing for games, understanding pitchers and hitters) without the drawbacks of what he doesn't (playing baseball).

This was my first thought when I saw the headline. Didn't the Dodgers do something similar with Bill Mueller in the final year of his contract? I remember that he had been injured and was going to retire, but instead the Dodgers had offered him the opportunity to work in the front office for what he would have been paid his final year.

15. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 02:03 PM (#3367724)

They interviewed Dave Clark, eh? They must have been desperate

16. sunnyday2 Posted: October 27, 2009 at 02:03 PM (#3367725)

Congrats Brad, you're our second choice.

I assume he did NOT get 3 years.

17. Trevor Crowe T. Robot (Dan Lee) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 02:43 PM (#3367756)

Brad Mills is perhaps best known among Tribe fans for being Beau's dad.

18. vortex of dissipation Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:08 PM (#3367790)

They interviewed Dave Clark, eh? They must have been desperate.

He is a Hall of Famer...

The DC5 was the first rock show I ever attended.

19. davoarid in MN Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:13 PM (#3367801)

The DC5 was the first rock show I ever attended.

Limp Bizkit, for the win!

20. AWAChampion Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:24 PM (#3367815)

Dave Clark 5, rock show. Now that's funny.

>The DC5 was the first rock show I ever attended.

21. gef the talking mongoose Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:28 PM (#3367822)

I'll see your Dave Clark 5 & raise you some Grand Funk offshoot called Flint in (I think) the fall of '77 ...

22. Trevor Crowe T. Robot (Dan Lee) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:34 PM (#3367826)

First band I ever saw live was Mr. Big.

Stop laughing, it was unintentional. They opened for Rush. And they were awful.

23. Walt Davis Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:51 PM (#3367845)

And they were awful.

How were Mr Big?

24. Phil Coorey Needs To Know How To Kill A Cat Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:58 PM (#3367853)

First band I ever saw was call 'johnny diesel and the Injectors'

kill me later

25. Andere Richtingen

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 03:58 PM (#3367854)

My first rock concert was The Greg Kihn Band, at Knott's Berry Farm. We went as a class field trip when I was in, I believe, 6th grade. We went through the fake Independence Hall, saw Greg Kihn, and then ran around in the fantastic Jungle Island. The band was pretty good, and years later they had actual hits!

26. Greg K : President of the Shooty Fanclub Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:02 PM (#3367857)

I think the first concert I went to was Edgefest 2000

Creed headlined the show, but I left right after Tea Party, who played before them. So I use that justification to say that the first show I saw was a Tea Party one.
Though technically I guess the first band that day was Goldfinger.

27. Juan V has had a good baseball year Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:02 PM (#3367858)

Metallica. Being a kid back then, the one way I could convince my mom to go was if she went with me. She is a college professor, and saw many of her students while standing in line. That was fun.

28. Trevor Crowe T. Robot (Dan Lee) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:18 PM (#3367872)

How were Mr Big?

Well played.

Creed headlined the show, but I left right after Tea Party, who played before them. So I use that justification to say that the first show I saw was a Tea Party one.

I had a similar experience with the MTV Alternative Nation tour in...'92? '93? The Screaming Trees were the first band, Soul Asylum was the second band, and the Spin Doctors were the headliners. I left about two songs into the Spin Doctors set. It was even more unlistenable than their studio work.

Soul Asylum, by the way, gets my vote for the most underrated live band in recent history. People remember them as the 'Runaway Train' guys, 90s alt-rock balladeers, but they were fierce as a live band in their prime. Blew the doors off the place with regularity. For example.

29. Elisabeth R�hm and Walter Haas Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:29 PM (#3367883)

Geggy Tah opening for Sting in the early 90s.

I saw the remnants of Soul Asylum at a free public concert in Boston this summer. I was suprised that a band playing the summer show/county fairs circuit that far past its prime with a recently deceased bassist could rock so hard. Would've loved to have seen 'em 15 years ago.

30. vortex of dissipation Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:36 PM (#3367887)

I had a similar experience with the MTV Alternative Nation tour in...'92? '93? The Screaming Trees were the first band, Soul Asylum was the second band, and the Spin Doctors were the headliners. I left about two songs into the Spin Doctors set. It was even more unlistenable than their studio work.

Soul Asylum, by the way, gets my vote for the most underrated live band in recent history. People remember them as the 'Runaway Train' guys, 90s alt-rock balladeers, but they were fierce as a live band in their prime. Blew the doors off the place with regularity. For example.

Absolutely. I saw Soul Asylum play a tavern in 1988 and they were great. Come to think of it, I saw Screaming Trees at the same place a year later...

The Dave Clark 5, BTW, were wonderful, although I was only eight at the time and don't remember many of the details. But it was in 1965, in Blackpool, England, with screaming girls galore, and the atmosphere was fantastic...

31. Jason Kendall's #6,530,420,771 fan (AS) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:48 PM (#3367893)

I was suprised that a band playing the summer show/county fairs circuit that far past its prime with a recently deceased bassist could rock so hard.

Bass: so easy, even a dead man can do it.

32. Swedish Chef Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:52 PM (#3367896)

Depeche Mode, I was young and dumb.

33. McCoy Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:58 PM (#3367901)

The first concert I ever went to was the rescheduled Smashing Pumpkins concert in Dallas. Garbage was the opening act and I left after they were done. At the time I did not like the Pumpkins. My second concert was a Sheryl Crow concert at Jones beach. Wilco was the opening act and at the time I wasn't very impressed with them. Fast forward to more than 10 years later and I would much rather listen to Wilco than Sheryl Crow. I've been to three concerts in my life and that was 2 of them right there.

34. Dock Ellis on Acid

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 04:58 PM (#3367902)

Soul Asylum was my first show! And Matthew Sweet opened, so I guess he was the first live band I saw.

35. asinwreck Posted: October 27, 2009 at 05:11 PM (#3367918)

Cheap Trick at Chicagofest. They were great.

36. Steve Parris, Je t'aime (M. Valentin) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 05:47 PM (#3367935)

Gin Blossoms! Thanks, I'll kick my own ass now.

37. kilgore trout Posted: October 27, 2009 at 05:49 PM (#3367936)

Just to get this back to the Astros...
I saw Cheap Trick play outside the Astrodome at Chilifest (or something like that). June of 1988. The next day Craig Biggio made his MLB debut.

38. Andere Richtingen

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:02 PM (#3367944)

Soul Asylum, by the way, gets my vote for the most underrated live band in recent history. People remember them as the 'Runaway Train' guys, 90s alt-rock balladeers, but they were fierce as a live band in their prime. Blew the doors off the place with regularity. For example.

I saw them open up for X once. I had no idea who they were, and was one of about three people who showed up early and saw them.

39. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:05 PM (#3367953)

I saw The Measles--Joe Walsh's first band--pre James Gang

40. Lassus Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:06 PM (#3367955)

I was dragged to see Loverboy at the New York State Fair (my brother) and Men at Work at SPAC (my mom), but I don't count those. The first show I CHOSE to go to (I had to be driven) was in 1984, Duran Duran at the Carrier Dome. Billy Idol opened, and high off his gourd, climbed onto the drum set, fell, and broke his arm, feeling probably nothing.

Anyone who makes fun of me should remember the "Girls on Film" video and the utter urban sexy dystopia such music promised to a boy in a town of 1,500.

I wore a thin tie.

41. Walt Davis Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:12 PM (#3367960)

Well ...

the Monkees. For all I know with Jimi Hendrix opening. I was 5 or 6 and it was my sister's birthday present of some such. I fell asleep.

then Linda Ronstadt as a teenager. I think the Bellamy Brothers opened. I had a mad crush on the girl I went with -- I was going with her, her boyfriend and some other friend of hers so that will tell you how pathetic I was.

The first rock band probably would have been something at ChicagoFest or one of the Midwest territory bands (Sawyer Brown maybe) in college.

That's OK -- that Rock'n'Roll era Mekons show more than made up for all the lame shows I've been to.

42. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:15 PM (#3367963)

Well ...

the Monkees. For all I know with Jimi Hendrix opening I was 5 or 6 and it was my sister's birthday present of some such.

we got my sister a birthday present to go see Billy Joe Royal ("Down in the Boondocks")

43. Lassus Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:18 PM (#3367965)

the Monkees. For all I know with Jimi Hendrix opening. I was 5 or 6 and it was my sister's birthday present of some such. I fell asleep.

I tried to convince my mother to let me go with my friend and his parents to see one of what must have been these two KISS shows:

04.13.76 Utica,NY,USA,Memorial Auditorium
12.16.76 Syracuse,NY,USA,Onondaga County War Memorial

Sadly, my mother was against it. Me being in first grade might have had something to do with it.

(I had similar problems getting her permission to go see Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life" six years later.)

44. xdog Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:26 PM (#3367972)

Christ, some of you guys are young. Creed? Depeche Mode? The last time I heard either of those bands I was lugging my 8-yo nephew to Chuckie Cheese.

The DC5 could rock fine, they just couldn't roll.

45. Where's Vince Lloyd Now That We Need Him?(sjs1959) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:26 PM (#3367973)

July 4, 1975 - the Stones at the Liberty Bowl, with Charlie Daniels, J Geils and the Memphis blues legend Furry Lewis opening for them. There was apparently some discussion about Furry - I guess the promoter hadn't gotten Furry's guitar out of the pawn shop - and they wouldn't go on unless he went on before them. It was awesome.

46. Pasta-diving Jeter (jmac66) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:35 PM (#3367980)

sjs--that sounds like a hellavu show actually--woulda like to have seen Charlie fiddling with the Stones on Sympathy

47. Zac Schmitt Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:41 PM (#3367983)

for me, it's Van Halen... in 1998. So yeah.

July 4, 1975 - the Stones at the Liberty Bowl, with Charlie Daniels, J Geils and the Memphis blues legend Furry Lewis opening for them. There was apparently some discussion about Furry - I guess the promoter hadn't gotten Furry's guitar out of the pawn shop - and they wouldn't go on unless he went on before them. It was awesome.

...and in the pawn shop there's this great, big bloody bengal tiger.

48. Adam M

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:45 PM (#3367987)

My first show was the Violent Femmes at the late lamented Ranch Bowl, Omaha's finest bowling alley/live music venue back in the day.

49. Young Blasarius yonder

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:49 PM (#3367990)

First concert I saw was freshman year of college in 1994. Pennywise, Offspring, Rancid. Iguana's in Tijuana. Amazing show. Onstage for Bro Hymn. Best show I've ever been to hands down.

50. Ned Garvin: Male Prostitute Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:52 PM (#3367992)

When I was in high school, I had marching band camp in late August at the old Sand Point Naval Base in Seattle. Across a chain link fence was a big park (anyone know what I mean, I don't recall much), where there was a big concert with a bunch of the Seattle grunge bands that had made it big in the previous years. Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, etc. So we listened to the concert for free (actually it may have been a free concert anyway) instead of marching. That was my first rock concert. First time I paid to see a "rock" band - George Clinton.

51. toratoratora

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 06:52 PM (#3367994)

Chicago back in the 70's
Went with my parents

First concert of my own volition was Tom Petty on the Damn the Torpedoes tour

52. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Griffin (Vlad) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 07:25 PM (#3368011)

My first was Jethro Tull, in 1990 or somewhere therabouts.

53. vortex of dissipation Posted: October 27, 2009 at 07:33 PM (#3368017)

When I was in high school, I had marching band camp in late August at the old Sand Point Naval Base in Seattle. Across a chain link fence was a big park (anyone know what I mean, I don't recall much), where there was a big concert with a bunch of the Seattle grunge bands that had made it big in the previous years. Pearl Jam, Mudhoney, Soundgarden, etc. So we listened to the concert for free (actually it may have been a free concert anyway) instead of marching. That was my first rock concert. First time I paid to see a "rock" band - George Clinton.

Magnuson Park, September 20, 1992.

54. baseball chick (now, with NEW blog) Posted: October 27, 2009 at 08:41 PM (#3368059)

sigh

i should have known there couldn't POSSIBLY be 53 posts about the houston astros or brad mills

sigh

55. Kid Charlemagne Posted: October 27, 2009 at 08:44 PM (#3368060)

Although I'd been to a few musical performances before this, my first real rock concert was REM in a 2,000 seat venue at SIUC; I think they were on tour for their first (maybe 2nd) album - it would have been Fall of '84 I think. Can't recall who opened, or if they even had an opening act. I think I paid $11 for 3rd row seats.

56. vortex of dissipation Posted: October 27, 2009 at 09:29 PM (#3368079)

sigh

i should have known there couldn't POSSIBLY be 53 posts about the houston astros or brad mills

sigh

Well...what was your first concert?

57. DL from MN Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:20 PM (#3368088)

I can probably out indie-cred everyone here. My first rock show was a local act playing their first show at a local venue. The ticket was $5 and they covered "Boys Don't Cry".

I gotta say that I'd rather have heard Cheap Trick.

58. PH Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:26 PM (#3368092)

Chicago back in the 70's
Went with my parents

First concert of my own volition was Tom Petty on the Damn the Torpedoes tour

Chicago for the same reason. They Might Be Giants for my first real one.

59. Crispix Attacks is in the best shape of his life. Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:29 PM (#3368094)

I can probably out indie-cred everyone here. My first rock show was a local act playing their first show at a local venue. The ticket was $5 and they covered "Boys Don't Cry".

Blink 182?

60. sunnyday2 Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:35 PM (#3368095)

The Box Tops, before Alex Chilton was really Alex Chilton.

Best: Springsteen 1975 Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, first show of Born to Run tour.

61. dangnewt

Posted: October 27, 2009 at 10:38 PM (#3368096)

Boz Scaggs in 1978 - I just graduated from high school and brought a date. First rock show was the J. Geils Band a couple of weeks later; the warmup band was pretty good too, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

62. Joe in Springfield Posted: October 28, 2009 at 02:49 AM (#3368196)

My first show was the Replacements' last at Grant Park in Chicago for Taste. Yep, that's the one where they quit on stage.

63. Elisabeth R�hm and Walter Haas Posted: October 28, 2009 at 08:40 AM (#3368282)

My first show was the Violent Femmes at the late lamented Ranch Bowl

I'm not much of a concert-goer/music-maven, but Violent Femmes at Berkeley Greek Theatre was one of the finest performances I've ever seen. The Horns of Discontent were the icing on the cake.

64. franoscar Posted: October 28, 2009 at 08:44 AM (#3368286)

Ray Charles? or Simon & Garfunkle?
In the 60's, at Purdue, there was a concert/performance at the Music Hall in the evening after each home football game. I think 1 of the above was the 1st one I went to. They were great. I remember Bob Hope (1968?) and a Beach Boys concert around then too.

65. Shooty Did Not Kill McGurk

Posted: October 28, 2009 at 08:50 AM (#3368298)

My first show was the Replacements' last at Grant Park in Chicago for Taste. Yep, that's the one where they quit on stage.

I really like Chris Mars' solo album. I actually like it as much as The Replacements. I never would have figured that when I bought it.

66. OsunaSakata Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:32 AM (#3368342)

Now that the thread's been hijacked, did pop music history end with Nirvana? I could just be getting old, but I couldn't think of a single inner circle RnRHOFer since then. The most significant figure in music post-grunge is Steve Jobs.

67. retro-shiite Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:38 AM (#3368347)

Aerosmith, with Joan Jett and the Blackhearts opening.

68. SoSH U at work Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:40 AM (#3368349)

Now that the thread's been hijacked, did pop music history end with Nirvana? I could just be getting old, but I couldn't think of a single inner circle RnRHOFer since then. The most significant figure in music post-grunge is Steve Jobs.

That's just a cry for a Pavement highjack around here.

I'd say Radiohead has also forged a place in that hallowed corner of the RRHoF (actually there are no hallowed corners in that sorry excuse for a Hall).

69. kthejoker Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:45 AM (#3368362)

Nada Surf, Rilo Kiley, The Impossibles, Ozma, and Recover. I only went to see Nada Surf, and got 3 awesome bands and some crappy emo as a bonus. The Impossibles brought the house down with Never Say Goodbye.

Oh yeah, that was at Fitzgerald's in Houston.

70. Dock Ellis on Acid

Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:46 AM (#3368364)

The most significant figure in music post-grunge is Steve Jobs.

Disagree. Shawn Fanning.

71. Edmundo is Super Average Man

Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:49 AM (#3368367)

Interesting choice for Houston, at least it's not some retread.

Back on topic, Iron Butterfly, All-University Weekend at Penn State, 1969. I came down from the Erie campus for the weekend -- football game & concert & coffee-houses and the like for the satellite campuses. It was a zoo, although not as zooish as the following year with Jefferson Airplane and a very pregnant Grace Slick. About 4000 extra students crashed the gates of the 9000 seat Rec Hall. No more big-name concerts until Springsteen in spring of '75 and he wasn't really big name yet. 2 months later he was on the covers of Time and Newsweek as his career exploded.

IB was ... as expected. 35 minute In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida (sp?) with a 20 minute drum solo in the acoustically challenged Rec(tum) Hall.

I had passed up an earlier concert at the Erie campus -- The Lemon Pipers (Listen while I play-yaaaay-yaaay, my "Greeeeeeen Tamboriiine") about 2 years after their only hit.

72. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:57 AM (#3368372)

did pop music history end with Nirvana?
No. No. Noooooooooooooooooo. No.
BTW, do you mean 'pop' or 'rock'? (Surely, you're not ruling out subsequent developments in R&B;, rap, etc...)

First show I ever bought tickets for and was excited about may have been this guy.

73. Edmundo is Super Average Man

Posted: October 28, 2009 at 09:59 AM (#3368376)

First show I ever bought tickets for and was excited about may have been this guy.
Was he the boyfriend of That Girl?

74. Der Komminsk-sar Posted: October 28, 2009 at 10:04 AM (#3368379)

Heh. That was supposed to be a link, not italics.
Anyway, it'd be unlikely...

75. kthejoker Posted: October 28, 2009 at 10:12 AM (#3368390)

Inner circle Hall of Fame is your criteria for pop music history ending? That's a tight reckoning. Way to also diss all of hip-hop.

Radiohead
The Beastie Boys
Mariah Carey

Inner circle (jeez, that lady sells a lot of records.)

Pearl Jam
Green Day
Dr. Dre

have done enough to get in the Hall of Fame.

Coldplay
The White Stripes
Jay-Z
Outkast

are a couple of albums away from ensuring their place (if The Doors can make it ...)

Blur
Oasis
Sonic Youth
Beck
The Foo Fighters

are probably borderline cases (and Sonic Youth will still be building on it well after they're eligible.)

And lots of bands are building underground cases that might get them in 50 years a la The Ventures (Wilco, Yo La Tengo, Spoon, Modest Mouse, The Flaming Lips)

Plus, you've got some people who might make longevity cases (Usher, R. Kelly, Mary J. Blige, No Doubt, Sheryl Crow, Dave Matthews Band) when all is said and done.

But really, Nirvana just killed grunge, and hip-hop more than picked up the slack.

76. SoSH U at work Posted: October 28, 2009 at 10:16 AM (#3368394)

(and Sonic Youth will still be building on it well after they're eligible.)

Sonic Youth has been eligible for a couple years. Considering their peak (Daydream Nation), prime and career length (a few dogs, but no real REM-like decline phase), their continued non-consideration is absurd.

77. Posada Posse Posted: October 28, 2009 at 10:33 AM (#3368406)

Whitesnake, with Steve Vai playing guitar, at the old Spectrum circa 1989-90.

78. Insert clever/punny handle here (oi!) Posted: October 28, 2009 at 12:05 PM (#3368522)

First band I ever saw live was Mr. Big.

Stop laughing, it was unintentional. They opened for Rush. And they were awful.

I saw Rush on that tour. And I concur, Mr. Big was awful.

79. Insert clever/punny handle here (oi!) Posted: October 28, 2009 at 12:11 PM (#3368534)

As to my first concert, I think it was the Beach Boys at Stone Mountain Prk in the late 70s or early 80s. Followed by either Starship or Sting at the Fox in Atlanta (they were both freshman year at school, but I don't remember which came first).

80. Fumbduck Joe Bivens Posted: October 29, 2009 at 06:14 PM (#3370806)

'72 or '73....Chicago, w/ Springsteen as the opener.

Best: Iggy and the Stooges, 2008.

81. phredbird

Posted: October 29, 2009 at 07:27 PM (#3370891)

um ... foghat in i believe 1972.

in thibodeaux, louisiana.

this was back when their hit was 'i just wanna make love to you' and their lead guy had some kind of mirror guitar.

82. AJM Posted: October 29, 2009 at 07:34 PM (#3370906)

First band I saw live was...Live.

83. Monty Posted: October 29, 2009 at 07:48 PM (#3370927)

My first concert was the touring Fresh Festival in San Diego in 1985, which included Run-DMC, Whodini, the Fat Boys, and LL Cool J. And possible a few of the less-well-known groups of the era.

84. vortex of dissipation Posted: October 29, 2009 at 08:53 PM (#3371071)

But really, Nirvana just killed grunge, and hip-hop more than picked up the slack.

Not for those of us who detest hip-hop with every bone in our body.

85. Ball Point Pen Guy (Will Young) Posted: October 29, 2009 at 10:06 PM (#3371390)

My mom brought me to see Raffi when I was about 5.

86. Cuban X Senators Posted: October 29, 2009 at 10:40 PM (#3371473)

Del Fuegos at the U of Md when I was a sophomore in high school. Couldn't believe there weren't chicks there.

87. The George Sherrill Selection Posted: October 29, 2009 at 10:40 PM (#3371474)

R.E.M. at Bumbershoot '99. My ears rang for days. Great show.

88. Steve Parris, Je t'aime (M. Valentin) Posted: October 29, 2009 at 10:40 PM (#3371476)

89. if nature called, ladodger34 would listen Posted: October 29, 2009 at 10:50 PM (#3371483)

Garbage was the opening act and I left after they were done.

I've never quite understood this. Unless the opening act never appears in my area and they are a group I really want to see, I generally avoid going to a show just to see the opening act(s)*. Their set is usually truncated and it just isn't as good as seeing them do their own show.

* festivals are exempted from this because all the bands sets are usually shorter

As for Soul Asylum, I saw them back in my "metalhead" days and they were really freaking heavy. Can you believe that Radiohead opened up for them? How times have changed.

90. Gold Star 4 Robot Boy Posted: October 29, 2009 at 11:58 PM (#3371522)

First concert: Van Halen, on their 1984 tour, on my 13th birthday.
Opening act was a rockabilly band named Velcro - Phoenix crowds were notorious back then, and the M-80 that blew up a monitor didn't help our reputation any.

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