Wednesday, August 12. It was a Thursday 50 years ago when my sister Annemarie took me to my first rock concert. Elton John at Madison Square Garden. It was a graduation gift. My world revolved around Elton back in 1976.

My bedroom had posters on the walls, and my brother Frank was supplying me with Elton records. Annemarie saw Elton on Thanksgiving 1976, the concert where John Lennon made an appearance for 3 songs. I recall Annemarie waking me up back then and telling me that bass players were sexy.

She promised that she would take me to see Elton John the next time he came around. So in 1976, Elton was playing 7 nights at Madison Square Garden, which was a record at that time. It was not consecutive nights, though; the old girl needed a night off now and then.

Billy Connolly opened the show in banana-shaped boots singing a parody of Rhinestone Cowboy which was a hit at the time, Billy sang it as Half Stoned Cowboy. I did not pay any attention to Billy Connolly, I was there for Elton.

It was also the first time I saw people smoking pot, mainly in bowls. I am not sure if Brian or Annemarie partook, though they both did at that time; they might not have wanted to be seen getting high by me. Elton appeared at the top of the stage dressed as the Statue of Liberty, torch and all.

Then they launched into Grow Some Funk of Your Own from their latest LP, Rock of the Westies. I was disappointed that it was not the Elton John Band that I loved; Dee Murray and Nigel Olsson had been fired and replaced by new faces that I did not care for. I liked them, but I wanted the guys who had been playing for years.

I got over it; I had no choice. Elton was in top form. Maybe I had a contact high but most of the night was a blur. Elton was the orange-haired ant running around a piano ringed in neon. The only people I recognized besides Elton were Davey Johnstone (who I met 25 years later) and Ray Cooper.

Kiki Dee came out and sang her hit, I Got the Music In Me and her duet with Elton Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. It was the beginning of a change for Elton though. He was soon to come out as bisexual and I was also discovering my own nascent sexuality. My world was about to turn upside down.

The next day I think I had a mini-breakdown of sorts. Annemarie was going to see Jefferson Starship at the Nassau Coliseum and I really wanted to go see Elton again, but that was not going to happen.

I remember being in tears in the bathroom on Riverview Avenue dealing with my hormones and desire to go to a concert again. Plus, High School was looming on the horizon and I had no idea what to expect.

Overall, I did not know much of anything.