Rebel Kicks - FIRST CONCERT EVER

In this First Concert Ever segment, Anthony Babino, from the pop rock duo, Rebel Kicks, talks about the story of his first experience with live music. You can check out the story below:

My first concert ever was seeing the band Chicago with my Dad, but my second concert was the first live music experience that my brother and I shared, and among the most significant. It was April 17th, 2002, and we saw Paul McCartney on his "Driving USA Tour" at Continental Airlines Arena (now the Meadowlands Arena) in East Rutherford, New Jersey. McCartney is both me and my brother's favorite artist, and in fact, we share very early memories of being in the car with our Dad listening to Paul McCartney, so his music has literally been with us for nearly our entire lives. Needless to say, when our parents said that they had gotten tickets and were taking us to see him perform, we were absolutely ecstatic.

I remember the almost palpable excitement in the air as we walked into the arena; thousands of people buzzing in anticipation of seeing McCartney perform for the first time since his last world tour in 1993. There was an incredible pre-show that featured Cirque Du Soleil performers on stage and in the audience, with a huge screen at the center of the stage displaying surrealist imagery, and accompanied by a soundtrack of ambient remixes of McCartney's music. That soundtrack continued to build and build in intensity, as did the speed of the images on the screen, until it climaxed in a chaotic, cacophony of sound. Then suddenly: a huge, distorted open G chord rang out, and in perfect unison, the screen projected the silhouette of McCartney's iconic Hofner Bass, and seconds later, the man himself. As the crowd erupted in a deafening roar, the screen floated up into the rafters of the stadium, revealing the entirety of the stage, and Paul McCartney and his band launched into The Beatles classic "Hello Goodbye", followed by the Wings hit, "Jet". To this day, when I think back on it, I can clearly remember the nearly indescribable thrill of that moment.

For close to 3 hours, Paul McCartney played songs from his unparalleled back catalogue that spanned the entirety of his career with The Beatles, Wings, and solo, including songs from his then new album "Driving Rain", as well as several that he had never before performed live. My brother and I were completely captivated, on our feet and singing along to everything. Anyone who has attended a McCartney concert in person can attest to the inherent unifying, magical quality of those songs; thousands of voices singing in unison, sharing an incredible communal experience, to which there's no better representation than the song "Hey Jude". Then, at the very end of the show (after not one, but two encores), like a mission-statement that's, on the whole, representative of what he and his music have always stood for, he appropriately sang the classic lines from "The End": "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." Simple, and yet deeply meaningful, even to my young mind.

Since then, we have been lucky enough to have seen McCartney a dozen or so more times, all of which have been beautiful and unique in different ways, but the first concert was a truly profound experience for me and my brother. Also, talk about setting the bar high...in the words of Larry David, "Pretty, pretty, pretty good."

Keep up with Rebel Kicks on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok.