1980’s
January 13, 1983
Aerosmith with Pat Travers
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Scott only. This was actually my first rock concert on my own. Aerosmith went through some changes and Joe Perry and Brad Whitford were not in the band at this time. I remember making the mistake of buying a bootleg t-shirt in the parking lot instead of getting one of the official ones inside the venue. It was the Rock in a Hard Place tour. Here is a video of the song Lightning Strikes.
July 21, 1983
A Flock of Seagulls with The Fixx
Albuquerque Civic Auditorium
Scott only. How can anybody not remember A Flock of Seagulls, that hair! After the show we actually got to meet them. I had them autograph a tee shirt for my sister. It was also the first time I saw the Fixx live and they were awesome.
March 13, 1984
Pretenders with The Alarm
Albuquerque Civic Auditorium
Scott only. Well if anybody knows me they know that The Pretenders have been a favorite of mine my whole life. At this show we were amazed at how tall the bass player for The Alarms hair was. It was a great night and we found their tour bus but the band had left for the airport to go to NY I believe or so they told us.
May 2, 1984
Judas Priest and Great White
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Scott only. This was my first “Metal” show. It was the Defenders of the Faith tour. This show they actually recorded for the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Great White opened the show and it was the first time seeing them. Down the road 68 Guns got to open a few shows with Great White in Phoenix. They opened with Love Bites here is the Love Bites Video.
June 7, 1984
Van Halen and Velcro
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Scott only. The 1984 tour and DLR’s last with them. I remember everyone booing the opening act. I cannot imagine having to be the band before Van Halen. This was when the big debate of Eddie playing the keyboards was going on. Totally cool show that shook the walls of Tingley!
December 8, 1984
Aerosmith, Black ‘N Blue and Stone Fury
El Paso County Coliseum
Scott only. This was Aerosmiths Back in the Saddle tour that marked the return of Joe Perry and Brad Whitford. The show opened with Stone Fury which had Lenny Wolf and Albuquerques Randy Castillo was the touring drummer! (RIP) This was my first exposure to Lenny who went on form Kingdom Come which is one of my all time favorite bands. Black ‘N Blue went on second and they were so cool, still are! Check out Stone Fury’s Break Down the Walls video here.
February 5, 1985
Kiss with Queensryche
El Paso Convention Center
Scott only. This was my first time seeing both bands. KISS was not in makeup and Bruce Kulick had recently joined them. It was the Animalize tour. Queensryche opened the show. They were and still are awesome!
March 8, 1985
Iron Maiden with W.A.S.P
El Paso County Coliseum
Scott only. Ok this was the first time seeing Iron Maiden it was the Powerslave tour. I was blown away, they had a killer stage set and were just so awesome! W.A.S.P opened the show and they were rad. They threw out raw meat! Those were the days! I remember Chris Holmes drank out of a JD bottle then threw it on the crowd. Some of it got on my hands and arms and behold it was flat Coke!
August 29, 1985
Motely Crue and Loudness
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Wendy only. This was Wendy’s first rock concert. This is where it all began.
October 2, 1985
Night Ranger and Cheap Trick
El Paso County Coliseum
Scott only. This was a cool show. Night Ranger had guitars that lit up as they played them. Cheap Trick opened the show.
October 27, 1985
AC/DC with Yngwie Malmsteen
El Paso County Coliseum, ElPaso TX
Scott only. AC/DC was on fire as they usually are! What a fun show it was the Fly on the Wall tour. Yngwie Malmsteem opened the show. Check out AC/DC Fly on the Wall video here.
December 21, 1985
Ratt and Bon Jovi
El Paso County Coliseum, El Paso TX
Scott only. Ok so this concert was a blast! I actually got to meet all of RATT afterwards in a bar at the top of some hotel. The first time I met Wendy I told about that night and the rest is history.
December 22, 1985
Ratt and Bon Jovi
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Wendy only. Wendy’s second concert and the beginning of a life long following of RATT.
November 30, 1986
David Lee Roth with Cinderella
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Scott only. The purple night! Cinderella opened the show and blew me away. They were flipping their guitars and were just flat out awesome! Then DLR came out and WOW! What a treat to see that band it was truly an epic night! Fast forward years later the band I was in Lost Dog opened for Cinderella at the Cajun House in Scottsdale, AZ. It was so cool! Check out DLR’s Yankee Rose video here.
December 17, 1986
Ratt
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Wendy only
June 22, 1987
Motely Crue and Whitesnake
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Wendy and Scott both went but had not met yet
February 15, 1988
Def Leppard with Tesla
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
Both of us went but did not know each other yet. In the round! This was our first time seeing both bands! Tesla was so cool. Tommy came out with the lights on and with his hair up in a ball cap and started playing coming at you live. The house lights went out and the rest of the band joined him it was one of those moments! To this day Tesla is one of our all time favorite bands. Def Leppard were on the Hysteria tour and put on an excellent show!
*May 13, 1988
David Lee Roth with Poison
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
This was the first concert we went to together. Second time seeing DLR. I remember he was riding a surfboard across Tingley and also had some sort of boxing ring dealio above the crowd too. Sadly I don’t have much memory of Poison on this tour.
August 15, 1988
Scorpions with Kingdom Come
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque NM
This show was the night before Wendy left to go to a semester of college out of state. Needless to say it ended up with one crazy phone bill while she was gone. It took some time to pay that sucker off! The show was awesome but she was leaving so it had that undertone. KC sure has a place in our hearts. Check out Get it on video here.
July 15, 1989
Tesla, Great White, Kix
Tingley Coliseum, Albuquerque, NM
This was an awesome show. Don’t really remember any details though.
July 18, 1989
Warrant and Kingdom Come
Paolo Soleri Amphitheatre, Santa Fe, NM
This was in a small outdoor amphitheater. Kingdom Come Opened the show and they were awesome. When Warrant came out Janie Lane get grabbing himself to the point of we left. We went across the street to a Denny’s and while we were eating JB Frank, KC’s bass playing came in and I said hey look its Tesla’s bass player as we had just seen Tesla a few nights ago. Lol! Anyhow he was cool we said hello and went on eating.