what was the first rock concert you attended and how old were you?

[anneboleyn]

438. I was like that too about Duran. I relistened to Rio circa '92 and it BLEW MY MIND

-- and that was in the wake of grunge. Thirty years on I am now convinced that Rio was a brilliant album, and the music was overshadowed by their looks and the whole New Romantic MTV phenomenon. That album was and is a new wave masterpiece, and it belongs up there with Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures and Closer and Gary Numan's early stuff as genre-defining pieces of work. Throughout the 80s I shunned D2 though -- I loved The Police, as Sting was SO much more intellectual (sarcasm).

Did The Cure open with Plainsong? They did in our case, and it sounded gorgeous in that huge space. Smith sang only a line or two though from Lovecats and my young heart was greatly disappointed as it was and is still one of my Cure favorites. The KROQ DJs in attendance noted that everyone (including myself) was wearing black. Of course.

I have always adored Siouxsie. I saw her at least three (maybe four...) times, and each time she put 150% into her performance -- a punk chick with the soul of a rocker and a Goth aesthetic that was at times quite beautiful. I think quite a few of today's ladies have stolen right and left from Siouxsie. I can only imagine what it would have been like to see her in England in the 70s.