5. Def Leppard
Krokus
Gary MooreJune 25th, 1983
Cape Code ColiseumMY FIRST CONCERT!!!Def Leppard:Rock! Rock! (Till You Drop)
Rock Brigade
High 'n' Dry (Saturday Night)
Another Hit & Run
Billy's Got A Gun
Mirror Mirror (Look Into My Eyes)
Foolin'
Photograph
Rock Of Ages
Bringin' On The Heartbreak
Switch 625
Phil Collen Solo
Let it Go
Steve Clark Solo
Wasted
Stagefright
Travellin' Band
Krokus:Long Stick Goes Boom
Heatstrokes
American Woman
Rock City
Screaming In The Night
Eat The Rich
Stay Awake All Night
Headhunter
Gary Moore:Wishing Well
Back On The Street
Cold Hearted
Nuclear Attack
Always Gonna Love You
Guitar Solo
End Of The World
Rocking Every Night
Def Leppard:
Audio from Allentown 6/27/83 (2 days after I saw them!)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNP4-pIbNREVideo from Montreal June 9th 1983
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvDz1HXG63EKrokus:
Audio from Allentown 6/27/83
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5K5lmZJuecGary Moore:
Audio from Allentown 6/27/83
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb-HdWFu050This boot surfaced in the past year and this set from Gary Moore had kind of been one of my Holy Grail recordings.
The anticipation for my very first concert was something that I am not sure was ever replicated. I remember keeping my ticket ( which I bought with money I made covering a paper route for the person that was delivering our papers. I actually took the route over and did it for a year.) in my top bureau drawer, and I think every night I went to bed, I took it out of the Ticketron envelope and just stared at it. Just had to make sure it was still there.
I was 14 in the summer of 1983. I went with two friends and one of their father drove us. He didn't come in with us, but I think went somewhere to kill time. I remember he stood in the back of the small arena and watched the end of the show. Anyway, the fact that a parent was bringing us I think made it ok to get the thumbs up from my father.
The Cape Cod Coliseum was a very small "hockey barn". I actually played in a Pee Wee tournament two summers before. It was apparently owned by Vince McMahon, and during that tournament, we saw Vince in the lobby. I was a wrestling fan at the time of that hockey tournament, so I knew who he was, and I was struck at how tall he was.
The really cool thing about the Coliseum is that it was out in the middle of nowhere with a huge grassy area around the building which was great for tailgating. I saw my second concert there two months later, Iron Maiden, and I remember playing in a soccer game before the concert.
At this point, I was a huge Def Leppard fan. I remember them coming the previous March opening for Billy Squier. I also liked Krokus a lot, and really liked Gary Moore's new album, Corridors Of Power, still a Top 50 album to this day. So I knew all three bands, but really it was Def Leppard that I was waiting on.
This also means that the first live band I ever saw on stage was indeed Gary fucking Moore!
His band:
Ian Paice, Neil Murray, and Neil Carter. Fuck yes! I knew Ian Paice and Neil Murray were part of his band, but I immediately recognized Neil Carter on stage. An actual member (to find out UFO was done at this time) of UFO!
Krokus was really cool. I don't remember anything in particular other than them looking cool as shit. Hey, I was 14!!
I was blown away by Def Leppard. Yeah, they were never really the same, but this was pre-accident Rick Allen, and this was a great first step in my concert journey.