Bob Dylan.

That was my first, real concert. Bob Dylan at Alpine Valley, I think it was '87 or '88.

We were talking about best concerts this morning on Daybreak, because Gotter admitted his first show was DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. Nice.

My story is starts in middle school. My father is a huge Bob Dylan fan. I grew up listening to that tinny, whining sound of Dylan's folk rock. I grew up wondering why anyone would choose to listen to this if their dad's didn't make them.

So one summer my dad decided to invite me to attend a Dylan concert with him. I'm surprised to this day that I had the intuition to recognize it was something a man just wanted to do with his son. I didn't really want to go. Didn't sound like much fun to an 8th grader, but somehow I could see he needed that happen.

Dylan was awesome. I mean it. Great show. Played with G.E. Smith, formerly of the Saturday Night Live Band. Amazing music. Amazing sights from the Dead Heads (same weekend as the Grateful Dead show) selling all sorts of garbage in the parking lot... to the pot smoking in the seats. An amazing evening I will never forget.

So that's in my top 5 shows of all time. Rounding out the list in no particular order:

Bon Jovi, Summerfest 1993

Prince, Summerfest 2005

Marc Cohn, Madison New Year's Day 2005

Black Crowes, The Rave Halloween 2006

emails: vvitrano@todaystmj4.com