1981 - AC/DC, "For Those About To Rock"

I was 13.

There were huge banks of cannons hanging from the ceiling, and every time a cannon goes off in the song, one of the cannons hung from the ceiling went off. Huge clouds of white smoke. Fantastic.

"Hells Bells" of course started with this HUGE bell being lowered onto the stage, and Brian Johnson hitting it with this huge hammer that was almost as big as him.... unfortunately, the bell made a high-pitched "ting!" sound when he hit it, and not the "BOOOOOONG!" sound you hear on the record. So it looked kinda silly.

But what really blew me away was Angus Young, standing on top of a sheet of plywood, that was being carried on the shoulders of four security guards. They walked through the crowd from the back of the stadium (the Colosseum in Seattle), to the front, while Angus played a ridiculously crazy solo standing on top of the plywood! It was nuts.

The show was sweaty, loud, and every single think that rock-n-roll has ever promised. It smelled like leather, and sweat, and Marlboros, and it was FANTASTIC. I was a rocker for life, and I still regularly listen to that album today.

(Of course, this was my first "I want to go to X concert, and I bought the ticket, and I went on my own volition" concert. I had been to many concerts before that with my parents, but this one was ALL MINE.)