Pink Floyd, June 19, 1977, Soldier Field
Above are two ticket stubs from the 1977 Pink Floyd concert held on June 19 at Soldier Field. The left stub is mine, the right one is my mom’s. The person who ripped our tickets in half at the turnstile that night returned each of the other’s half, making for a whole ticket when joined together. To me, these two ticket stubs symbolize my mom’s dedication to my love for seeing live music—she is, what I call, a Concert Mom.
When we saw Pink Floyd that night, I was twelve years old, but this wasn’t my first concert. I had seen the Eagles at the Chicago Stadium six months earlier when I was eleven. My dad had become sick the day of the Eagles concert, so I went to the show in his stead. Our seats were in the mezzanine, not too high up, and overall, they weren’t bad seats. I don’t recall the opening act, but I vividly remember the Eagles taking the stage and opening with the song “Take It Easy.” The bass and drums had a profound effect on me, vibrating through my body. During the encore, fans held up their cigarette lighters, creating a sea of little glowing lights. I had never seen anything like it. As we were leaving the Stadium, my mom bought me my first concert T-shirt. It was powder-blue fabric with an iron-on image of the band’s On the Border album cover, which I proudly wore to school the next day. I was the only sixth grader wearing an Eagles concert T-shirt.
The Eagles, November 11, 1976, Chicago Stadium
From that point on, the groundwork had been laid. I was hooked on live music, and lucky for me, my mother assumed the role of Concert Mom. My mom became my ticket broker, my transportation, and the most dependable chaperone for me and my friends. I know many mothers currently that have taken up this role. Recently, a friend of ours told me how she managed to get tickets for her son to see his favorite artist, Ed Sheeran, who was in town for one night only. It was his first concert. At the Harry Styles concert I attended over the summer with my wife and daughter, we saw many moms holding their young daughters’ hand to make a quick bathroom trip in between songs, while laughing as they ran so as to not miss much of the show. These mothers encourage and support their child’s love of music.
Below is a list of the concerts my mother took me to see:
- The Eagles, Chicago Stadium, November 11, 1976
- Pink Floyd, Soldier Field, June 19, 1977
- Summer Jam I, featuring Aerosmith, Foreigner, AC/DC, Walter Egan, and Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush, Comiskey, August 5, 1978
- Boston, Chicago Stadium, March 15, 1979
- The Loop’s A Day in the Park, featuring Journey, Santana, Thin Lizzy, Eddie Money, Molly Hatchet, August 5, 1979
- Chicago, ChicagoFest, August 12, 1979
- ZZ Top with the Outlaws, Alpine Valley, August 31, 1980
- Yes, International Amphitheatre, September 22, 23, 1980
As you can see from this list of concerts, the service of a Concert Mom is short lived, maybe four years at most. My mom still paid for tickets and gave me money to buy a concert T-shirt, but the need to come with me ended when my friends and I were old enough to take ourselves. Our last concerts together were the two Yes shows in 1980. That’s right. We attended both Yes shows in Chicago, for reasons I describe in my book, Ticket Stub Stories: A Memoir of Live Music.
When I retell the stories of my mom and I going to concerts, I usually get the comment, “You have a cool mom”. And I do. And she is. To hear the story from my mom’s point of view, listen to S01E04 – The Concert Mom of Seeing Them Live, and you will get it. Do you have a Concert Mom story? We would love to hear it.
