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Team IMAGE share the first concerts they ever went to
Westlife, Boyzone and the 2009 Cheerios Childline Concert are among the IMAGE staffers' first forays into the live music scene. Here, we're reflecting on the magic of attending our first concerts way back when.
Sophie Power, Chief Operations Officer
My first gig was going to see The Corrs, it was right at the height of their fame, around the time of ‘Runaway’ which I adored. I think I was around 10 years old and I was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere in The Point and in seeing them all sing live (even Jim!). Definitely a night I won’t forget.
Dominique McMullan, Editorial Director
My first gig is the reason I cry whenever I hear the words “Chica Cha Ha Ha”. My life changed after seeing Boyzone with my mum at the tender age of fourteen. I knew every word to every song, from the tape that I played on repeat in my mum’s car on the school run. I still remember every detail of that evening, from what I was wearing (tear off Adidas tracksuit bottoms and a purple Biba top) to the row I was sitting in (ten rows back from the front). That last detail is especially relevant because of the most special moment of the night, the moment I replayed in my mind for months. Stephen Gately — love of my life and poster boy above my bed — looked “directly at me”. I wept and wept in the car home, determined to find a way to bring us together. Alas, it was not meant to be. But Stephen Gateey (RIP) will forever have a space in my heart.
Emily O’Neill, Marketing Account Executive
Mine was of course Westlife in The Point back in June 2002. I was only five at the time and I still have the physical ticket! My cousins and I went to see them nearly every year after that. I was very lucky to grow up in a music loving household, so we’ve been to see so many incredible artists over the years.
Sarah Finnan, Deputy Editor, IMAGE.ie
My first concert was a Westlife gig with my mum. She gave me four tickets for my birthday — one for her, one for me and then two spare for friends. At 12 years old, Westlife was the epitome of cool to me so I couldn’t fathom why my friends even contemplated missing the concert because it clashed with football training.
Thankfully they saw sense and both agreed to come. I don’t think they were quite as thrilled by the whole thing as me or my mum were but I left with a new T-shirt and renewed conviction that I would one day marry Mark Feehily. I guess some dreams aren’t meant to be realised…
Leonie Corcoran, Business Editor
It was probably my pinnacle of cool. It was 1996 (I had to Google that). I was 13. I was with my friend Ciar. And we were at an Oasis – Prodigy – Bootleg Beatles gig without any parents. I suspect my dad heard the word “Beatles” and was okay with us going from Wicklow to Cork for the concert, but the clincher was probably Ciar’s “cool” uncle who was home off the cruise ships and accompanying us.
I actually have no idea how it all unfolded but all I know is we were there and it was the first of many times I danced with abandon at a gig. It was impossible not to – the energy of ‘Firestater’ pumped through the stadium setting the crowd up for the dynamic duo who, at the time, could do no wrong. And that night, they did no wrong. They were on fire, their voices incredible and they were in top form. There was a celebratory feel as they celebrated their Irish heritage with family in the crowd. I remember it being sunny, in contrast to the many rock concerts that followed, but I’m open to being fact checked on it. I do know the tickets were less than £25 and I know it’s still up there in my Top 10 of gigs over the years.
Sarah Gill, Features Editor, IMAGE.ie
My first gig was You Me At Six, an English rock band that I was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with. The year was 2012, I was 14 and had just finished plucking away most of my eyebrows, my hair had achieved the perfect degree of cherry red saturation, and my bright green Converse boots were ready to stomp. I remember queuing around the side of the Olympia, the mission of getting to the barrier, and actively enjoying banging into people. The nostalgia of that music really, genuinely, makes me feel quite lonesome for the past versions of my sister and I, two teenage girls trying to hold their own in the mosh pit. That band was our thing, and no one got them quite like us.
Same goes for All Time Low, an American pop-punk band we saw together later that same year, but in the intervening few months our dad had passed away and we were pale, depressed and confused, trying our best to get to grips with life again. I suppose when we were bashing into people in the crowd, my sister protectively pushing them away from me, we were a little team finding a way to externalise how we felt to the music we loved. On a lighter note (not me trauma dumping in the team guide?), I would also like for the record to show that that same year I also saw Charli XCX in The Academy, so I was doing brat summer before any one of you.
Meghan Killalea, Marketing Account Executive
As much as I want to say that Taylor Swift’s Speak Now Tour was my first ever gig, my first official gig was actually the Cheerios Childline Concert in 2009 in the O2 (now the 3Arena). The line up was a naughties fever dream, with Westlife, Cacasda, JLS, and The Saturdays among the acts featured. Given the fact that my favourite album at the time was Now That’s What I Call Music 74, which featured a lot of the aforementioned artists, little 10 year old me had the best time. Although the same can’t be said for my poor parents!
Sandra Horan, Art Director
I was 13 and I went with my two best friends to Sunstroke ‘95, a day-long indoor rock festival in the RDS. I remember getting dropped off outside by my friend’s mum and the giddy excitement of finally going to a gig (I had begged to go the year before but quite sensibly been denied).
It was an epic day with sets from Mudhoney, Pennywise and White Zombie, but Soundgarden headlining was everything. I’d never experienced anything like it. That voice, those piercing eyes, there was no one like Chris Cornell.
I can still feel the thrill of the bass and the drums in my chest, the long haired boys and the sweat on the walls. The hanging around chatting between bands, making friends with randomers through mutual love of music, belting out every word to every song and the camaraderie of it all.
Now I find it hard to believe that my parents let me go — three underage girls and not a mobile phone between us — but hey, it was the ’90s. I’ve been to many different types of gigs over the years but I have to say you can’t beat a ’90s rock crowd!
Shayna (Sappington) Healy, Branded Content Editor & Wedding Content Writer
My first concert was SO noughties-esque. It was my 15th birthday and my favourite two gifts were crackled nail polish (remember how cool that was?!) and tickets to see Glee in concert – yes, I was a major Gleek. For those too cool to know what show that is, it follows a cringe-worthy high school teacher as he puts together a talented Glee Club, who experience all the awkwardness of teenagehood.
On the day, my mom dropped my friends and me off just outside the theatre, where we were met with a sea of tracksuits (an ode to the iconic Sue Sylvester) and red foam fingers in that signature ‘L’ shape. The atmosphere was buzzing with teen excitement and when the cast took the stage, it was just like watching the show live.
They remained in character throughout the concert, and their singing and dancing were phenomenal. We sang along all night, belting out Lady Gaga, Journey, Rihanna and Usher to name a few, then raced to the merch booth to snag t-shirts and signed CDs, both of which I still treasure to this day.
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