When I started to write this blog, I had no idea which concert was the first one. There were three concerts from the eighties that stood out in my memory, Sting's "Dream of the Blue Turtles" tour, George Michael's "Faith" tour, and last but certainly not least, Prince's "Sign☮ the Times" tour.
I dug around in my memory box and found the corresponding "concert scarves." Yep, I was one of those people who got the scarves. Held them up during the concert and wore them proudly afterwords. And thought to myself "one day these are going to be worth something." The George Michael scarf said 1988, so he was out. (Bad pun not intended but taken nonetheless.) I googled all three and found that George played Stockholm in 1988, Prince in 1987, and Sting in 1985.
So, my first concert was Sting at Isstadion in Stockholm, on November 22nd in 1985. This is so funny to me, because I was about to turn 15, and I would have thought I was more hip than that. Don't get me wrong, Sting is great. I'm a huge fan of The Police, and although "The Dream of the Blue Turtles" has "If You Love Someone, Set Them Free," it's not exactly what a supercool 14-year-old listened to in the eighties, or was it?
I remember everything about that Prince concert, including spending the night outside Isstadion in the freezing cold to get tickets, and almost making it up on stage to dance with Prince. The music stopped just as Jerome Benton reached his hand down to pull me up. I also remember how dreamy George Michael was when he played "Faith," of course wearing the jacket from the video. But Sting. Hmm.
Isstadion 1955, during the conversion in 1961, and today next to the Globe
The concert took place at Isstadion (meaning 'ice stadium') which has a bit of an interesting history itself. Built as an outdoor arena for ice-hockey, it opened in 1955, and was converted to an indoor arena in 1962, so that the stadium could host both ice-hockey and concerts without concern for the weather. Isstadion was Stockholm's biggest arena (holds 8,300 at concerts) until 1989, when Globen ('the globe') was built right next to it, completely eclipsing it and everything else around. In 2002 it was renovated and now has smaller concerts and ice-hockey again.
The Beatles played there in 1964 for about a dollar
But back to Sting and "The Dream Of The Blue Turtles," which was named for a dream he had. About blue turtles incidentally. I'm now listening to it. To remember something. Anything. Did I sing? Did I dance? And who did I go with? I think I went with a boy from my high school, Calle Colliander but I'm not sure, and I can't find him on Facebook to check.
I googled the set list, and it looks like it was a pretty good night.
- Shadows in the Rain
- Driven to Tears
- Consider Me Gone
- Children's Crusade
- One World
- Love is the Seventh Wave
- We Work The Black Seam
- Bring On The Night
- When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
- Moon Over Bourbon Street
- Fortress Around Your Heart
- Low Life
- I Burn For You
- If You Love Someone Set Them Free
Encore 1: Roxanne, Russians, Tea in The Sahara, Walking on the Moon, Every Breath You Take.
Encore 2: The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, Demolition Man
Encore 3: Message in a Bottle
I suppose I should apologize for not remembering enough to make this a super interesting and worthy "First" blog entry. I would have love to have written about how CRAZY Sting was on stage, how drunk we were, how absolutely hard core the audience was, jumping up and down, maybe even say something about all the shit that happened in the "mosh pit," but somehow, I doubt there was one.
What I will say is that going to this concert obviously struck some sort of chord with me, as I became an avid concert goer, first in Sweden, and now here. I stopped buying the scarves after my second Prince show at Isstadion in 1988, the "Lovesexy" tour, however, I have saved most of my ticket stubs, some of which you can see above.
I LOVE going to concerts. When I go to concerts, my whole being is elevated. I'm on my feet, singing and dancing whether it's the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paul Simon, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, or even The Police, whose reunion tour I went to a few years ago.
My Trinity
But, the artists/band I've seen the most is Prince, U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Because seeing them in concert is not just entertaining and uplifting, but it's a soulful, religious, heart opening experience, with full-on, sad days of withdrawal afterwords. For them I've driven to Anaheim, San Diego, San Francisco and flown to New York. For them I would go to the end of the world.
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