My First Time

Do you remember your first time? Sweaty, skin against skin, loud, and like nothing you’ve ever experienced before…

My first time was actually a bit of a false start, but in hindsight I’m pretty happy for that. Because now, decades later, when I’m asked ‘what was the first gig you went to’, I don’t have to say Melissa Tkautz.

No offence, Melissa.

I grew up in a little town in northern NSW, about halfway between Byron Bay and the Gold Coast. Let’s face it, nothing ever happened in Murwillumbah. And I mean, ever. So when I was twelve years old and the star of that brilliant *cough* song Read My Lips had a gig at the local RSL club it seemed like the logical thing to go along to it. It definitely sounded a lot more exciting than the Blue Light Disco.

So my friends and I got dressed up, in true twelve year old style (we were probably wearing fluorescent overalls – it was the 90s after all), and my mum dropped us at the RSL and walked us up the carpeted stairs, past the pokies, and right into the main room. How embarrassing, Mum. I stared at the brightly patterned carpet until she left, and then clocked that I was one of only about 20 people in the room. Yep, rookie error – we had arrived way too early. So there was a lot of awkwardly hanging around, in a mostly empty room, for what felt like hours. Mum was coming to get us at the agreed time, and as that time inched closer and closer there was still no sign of the band. I drank a lot of lemonades in that time.

Then, they appeared – the E Street Band. No, not Bruce Springsteen’s fellas – these were actors from the TV show I think… I had no idea; I wasn’t allowed to watch E-Sreet. But I do remember that the bass player was kind of cute.

And then it happened. Just as Melissa strode onto the stage, my mum appeared. It was time to go. No excuses, no extensions – curfew time! At the time I was a bit bummed that I’d hung around for so many hours and didn’t even really get to see the band, but in hindsight it was a huge blessing. Because, you see, I don’t count that false start as an actual gig. That’s fair, right?

My actual first gig experience was so much better. And it’s the reason that my life was catapulted into the direction of music… but more about that next time.

What was your first show? Worth admitting to?