Missing Persons "Spring Session M" Tour 1983

The first concert I ever attended was by the band Missing Persons. It was their Spring Session M tour at it happened in December 1983, I was 15 years old. Their concert was held at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Since this was my first concert ever its hard to remember how we purchased the tickets, I may have won them off the radio but it's a blur as to how I got them. My twin brother and I went because we saw their video on MTV (Music Television) and New Wave music was popular at the time so, why not? We arrived via the parent's station wagon and I remember it was cold so we wore our heavy jackets. Once we got inside and saw the merchandise booths we bought our $10.00 t-shirts and found our seats. We were on the balcony level but we didn't really care, we had a good view of the stage.

I cannot remember the opening act, must not have been that memorable I guess. After the first band played there was an intermission. I think we went and got something to drink and found our way back to our seats. Then, the lights went down and everybody started to cheer, I'm sure this was a cue to everybody else to rush the stage and we took it as a chance to leave our seats and run down there too. If you know anything about Missing Persons you probably remember that the lead singer, Dale Bozzio, appeared in Playboy. I'm sure most guys went to the concert to see her, I'll admit a woman in a Plexiglas bra was intriguing but I was just getting into guitar music so I was really there to see Warren Cuccurullo play guitar.

I found my way to the right side of the stage where Warren was and I sang along with their hits; "Windows," "Destination Unknown," "Walking In L.A.," and "Words." Dale Bozzio had a quirky kind of voice so I couldn't hit the high notes but I knew all of the choruses by heart. I spent most of the time at the stage; I was also oblivious to the drugs that were all around me. For me, it's about the music; I really didn't care about the rest of it. Missing Persons played for about an hour, it was their first album and its only 43:46 in length. Dale talked to the crowd and played it up with her funky hair and sexy outfit. Each member did a solo take and Warren was way ahead of his time, he played something awesome and I just marveled in amazement. He had played with Frank Zappa's band so he knew some weird guitar licks.

After the concert was over we headed back up to the balcony to get our jackets, luckily there were still there. We then headed outside and noticed the 80 degree temperature difference. My older brother met us at the front and told us we reeked of dope. Since it was all around us we really didn't have any choice what we would smell like but my dad didn't seem to care. We rode home that night talking about how cool it was to rush the stage and see a "rock band". The next day we wore our concert t-shirts to school. Mayfield Jr. High knew at least two people who went to see Missing Persons.

Side Note: Dale Bozzio is credited as inspiration to Gwen Stefani for her vocal style. Also, I think that Lady Gaga has totally ripped off Dale Bozzio's style, give acknowledgment when it's due Stefani Germanotta.