I just got into the band with Crossroads in 94, and missed out on getting tickets for the Crossroads/These Days tours. Then we had the hiatus and I was going to do the JBJ solo gig at The Forum, but my GCSE English Exam was the next day so couldn't go, and instead spent the night cribbing notes on Lord Of The Flies.
My first ever concert was, pleasantly, a Richie solo show, night 1 of Shepherds Bush Empire in 1998. I went all on my todd as no-one wanted to go with me
But it was a great night, even more so when Jon came on and joined Richie for the last couple of songs.
Setlist for that one:
Shepherds Bush Empire, London, 22nd July 1998
1. Made In America
2. If God Was A Woman
3. Stranger In This Town
4. Fallen From Graceland
5. Bad Medicine
6. I'll Be There For You
7. The Answer
8. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
9. In It For Love
10. Undiscovered Soul
11. Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
12. Hard Times Come Easy
13. Midnight Rider
14. Wanted Dead Or Alive
15. Get Back
16. Livin' On A Prayer
17. With A Little Help From My Friends w/JBJ
18. Never Say Goodbye w/JBJ
For the first band gig, it was the first night at Wembley Stadium 2000. Glad I got to go to the iconic stadium before it shut down, and really enjoyed my first ever taste of a stadium gig. I remember it being a great gig, and was well into Crush at the time, as well as hearing everything else live for the first time in the flesh, although I remember the acoustic Runaway was a bit disappointing for me at the time, I would grow to appreciate it more later.
Setlist:
Wembley Stadium, London 19th August 2000
1. London Calling
2. Livin' On A Prayer
3. You Give Love A Bad Name
4. Captain Crash & The Beauty Queen From Mars
5. Say It Isn't So
6. One Wild Night
7. Born To Be My Baby
8. It's My Life
9. Runaway (acoustic)
10. Bed Of Roses
11. I Got The Girl
12. Someday I'll Be Saturday Night
13. Wild In The Streets
14. Just Older
15. Lay Your Hands On Me
16. I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
~ Rockin' All Over The World
17. Bad Medicine
18. Shout
19. Two Story Town
20. Blood On Blood
21. Wanted Dead Or Alive
22. Next 100 Years
23. Keep The Faith
That started my addiction, with went from being 1 gig for the next few tours to multiple gigs around the country!
Credit to Seb's site for the setlist.