My first concert - Heart

Heart
Spectrum Arena
Philadelphia, PA
Sunday, October 25, 1987
Section 68, Row 2, Seat 1
$15

The first time I remember being aware of a concert taking place was Bruce Springsteen on the Born in the USA tour. My mom and I were at the mall and saw people camping out - literally a huge line of people spread throughout the outdoor mall, with lawn chairs and portable grills. My mom asked someone what they were doing there and that's how we found out. I think I was 9 years old. A year later was the first time I wanted to attend a concert. Live Aid dominated the news and was being held in my town! I don't think I was familiar with a single band yet and I missed out on history.

I don't remember the details of how we decided we were going to see Heart. I saw them on MTV and liked the song Alone. They might have just been the first MTV rock band to come around after we started paying attention. I had their two popular 80s cassettes, Heart and Bad Animals. By the time of the concert, I had Little Queen too. Debbie, Susan, A, my dad, and I went. The concert was almost a month after my 13th birthday. I didn't know it at the time, but it was on Jon Day!

I got tagged with buying the tickets. It became the tradition, but I screwed up pretty bad with this one. I also don't remember how we found out information about the show - I wasn't reading the Weekend section of the paper yet. Someone told me "Tickets go on sale next Saturday", meaning the next day. I thought that meant we had a week. During that week we realized the error and we went to the ticket seller at Wanamaker's and bought the tickets. The Spectrum had floor seating and three levels of tiered seating. We ended up in the second row of the very top tier, severe side view. I guess we were just lucky that the show hadn't sold out yet.

The concert was on the night of my brother's birthday party. My dad and I left early and picked everyone up. I bought a tshirt (World Tour 1987! It seemed so modern at the time) and a program. Still have them. I don't know who the opening act was. Someone told us Richard Marx would be opening. I didn't really like him, but at least I knew a few songs. Wasn't him. Never did find out. Did I mention our seats sucked?! There were speakers hanging in the air that obstructed a lot of the view. I could only see Ann and Nancy when they came to the front of the stage.

As for the concert itself, I remember they did Alone as an encore, and everyone knew instinctively to sing the verse quietly and the chorus loud. Except me, I sang the whole thing loud. They did a lot of songs from those two poppier albums, which was good, because that's pretty much all I knew. Apparently, they did a cover of Led Zeppelin's Rock and Roll, but I didn't know that song yet!

I didn't see Heart again for years and years, but I grew more familiar with their back catalog. In the last couple years, Roy and I have seen them a couple times when they played nearby. They put on a good show when I can actually see them. I'm always impressed with how much energy Nancy Wilson has.