My first time...

Pat Moriarity

Back in 1999, I was 14 years old and still in junior high school. I spent my days bumming around the mall and at the Vans skatepark. Well, being that I spent a lot of time a Vans it was hard to ignore all the promo for Warped Tour. I had never been to any concerts at this point and I was dying to go.

Fast forward a few weeks and I had finally gotten up the nerve to ask my parents if I could go. They responded with a big fat NO. They said I was too young. Me being a 14-year-old cheeky jerk, I started to think of ways to go without them knowing. My friend Roxi and I spent the next few days hatching a plan.

The plan was simple. I told my parents I was going to stay the night at Roxi's. Her mom was cool with her going to the concert so we just let her know that we both were going. Her mom graciously got us a cab to the venue. I was super excited.

When we got the concert it was overwhelmingly awesome. As we walked up to the gate I could see dirt bikes flying through the air on the biggest halfpipe I had ever seen. I could hear that the music had already begun, so we rushed in.

Roxi and I spent the afternoon singing, jumping around and generally being crazy. Blink 182 was headlining that day and I was obsessed with them. When they came on stage I was blown away. It was such a high energy performance. I don't remember what songs they played, but I do remember it being one of the best days of my life.

Here it is at the end of 2018, and 19 years since my first concert and I still get that same feeling every time I go to a concert. My love of music has never faded. I have to hundreds of concerts now and each one takes me back to being the 14-year-old who snuck off to see my very first concert.

What was the first concert you when to? Do you have any good concert stories? Let me know in the comments!