Concerts.

Does anyone remember the first concert you went to? I'm sure you do. If it was KISS, or Aerosmith, or New Kids on the Block, you remember. I remember mine.

My first concert was in December 1990. Guns N' Roses at Madison Square Garden. I went with a bunch of my friends from high school. We didn't have tickets or anything, but we went down there looking for scalpers, and we ended up getting a good deal... there was about six of us, and we got tickets for $40 each. But the seats were spread out, and I got the ticket that was by itself, but it was on the floor, so it was worth it.

Soundgarden opened, which I would have thought was cool a few years later, but I didn't know much about them, and I thought they sucked. GNR came out late, of course, but when they got on, it was awesome. The only big crowds I've been in before were at Yankee games, and this was so much cooler.

However, my friends were idiots. They all wanted to stay together, even though we had seats that were split up. They would stand in the same row with one guy sticking out of the row, so security would come around telling them to move. After three times doing this, two of them got kicked out of the show. What sucked is that we all had to leave (I was probably too young at the time to realize that I could have stayed and gone home myself). We missed "Paradise City."

The next concert I went to was the GNR/Metallica double bill two years later. A great show, but this time I missed "Paradise City" again because Axl walked off because someone threw a bottle at him.

It was only two years after that when I became a concert freak. College years, big into music, and checking out the Village Voice to see who was coming to town. And I used to see anyone I liked who came around. Do you remember these bands (some you'll know for sure, some you've heard of, and some are too obscure):

Dig. Dandelion. Candlebox. Pennywise. Rancid. H2O. Live. Offspring. Bad Religion. Weston. Anthrax. Fight. Rollins Band. Outhouse. Mike Watt. Soundgarden. Foo Fighters. Bush. Weezer. That Dog. Everclear. Hole. The Muffs. Radiohead. The Nixons. For Squirrels. Goldfinger. Gravity Kills. NOFX. Local H. Sponge. Our Lady Peace. The Toadies. Veruca Salt. Porno For Pyros. Prodigy. Marilyn Manson. Nine Inch Nails. Green Day. Guns N' Roses. Metallica. Sleater-Kinney. The Donnas. Guster. Beck. The Ramones. And of course Pearl Jam.

I'll fill in more later when I can remember.

But I remember some good and bad moments:

• At an Offspring show, I was at the front when some crowd surfer landed on me and crushed my ribs into the guard rail.
• Ralph and I hanging out with Dandelion at the CBGB restaurant.
• Figuring out where the bands would enter and exit at the Roseland, and this is how I got to meet Dave Grohl, Thom Yorke, among others.
• Getting my glasses smashed at a Muffs show at CBGB.
• Going to see Bad Religion twice in one week, for $5 each.
• The week the Rangers won the Stanley Cup in 1994: Tuesday night, Rangers won. Wednesday night, Dig concert. Thursday night: Soundgarden concert. Friday day: Rangers parade. Friday night: Metallica concert.

There's more, but there's only so much my old brain can remember right now.