by Kathleen, Lansdowne, PA

As a teenager, my first rock concert was the Atlantic City Pop Festival Aug. 1-3 in 1969, on the site of the old Atlantic City Race Track. And what an experience it was! It didn’t matter that the “Summer of Love” technically took place two years earlier on the other side of the country… this was just a total love-fest. I can’t say I was in love with my date, though I liked him a lot and we did have a total blast.

A three-day ticket cost $15, and the performers included Joni Mitchell, CSN, Tim Buckley, Iron Butterfly, Chicago, B.B. King, Jefferson Airplane, Creedance Clearwater, Joe Cocker, Santana “Blues Band,” Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, The Byrds, Little Richard… and many more in a total lineup of more than 30. And, of course, there was the requisite thunderstorm, “driving” some artists (e.g., Janis) to take a break and steady themselves with a shot or two.

So many of these artists are still around today and still recording, and some performing… the memories come back often when I hear them and recall a great weekend.

Several years later, I went to my first concert of another sort… a total theatrical experience called “Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars” at the Tower Theater. I think this was to be David Bowie’s last concert tour, and I intended to be there. Sure there had been concerts where the artists might have worn constumes, ala Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; but until then, I had never experienced a concert like this one where the artist(s) not only wore constumes and makeup, but they virtually performed as characters from the tale of Ziggy Stardust (and as you can imagine with David Bowie, it was full-on drama, with characters flying in from space).

I am so happy that David Bowie didn’t call it quits forever after that, and with concerts like that, who would’ve missed MTV! Two totally different experiences, but two incredibly memorable music moments for me.