i think i regarded gigs in the 1970s as somewhere to go where there were no parents ... and it was odd to me a few years back when my sis-in-law started taking my nieces to things like stadium boy band love-ins at Hampden (it had an official title but i forget) ...

the division still stands i think ... some friends take their kids to T in the Park, other sons of friends would not be seen dead with their folks at a gig (and my emotional response is "quite right too" although i'm probably wrong about that?)

Unless you count being taken to see Morecambe & Wise on stage as a gig. Lawks.

Take my sprogs to gigs all the time whether they want to go or not. Part of their education. How else would they get to meet members of East 17, Runrig & Stackridge. I have been called a cruel father at times.

...than be seen with my parents, either or both, at a gig.

Nowadays it's all rage, but then nowadays parents and children like the same music. Back then that wasn't the case. They hadn't heard of my favourites, and I had no interest in theirs.

That's all changed now too.

I (33 then) took my dad (55) to see the Richard Thompson band. I thought he'd love it.
He didn't - first, last and only father-son gig going experience.
Just to qualify, I did love it & had been going to see RT for about 11 years at this point. But it is quite a painful experience when the person sitting next to you plainly isn't enjoying it. Never again.

My Mum and Dad like music, so it's something we've never really stopped doing.
First gig I went to was Donna Summer at the Universal Amphitheater whilst on holiday there. Musical Youth supported - I was made up.
We went as a family to see (seperate gigs) Elton John, Sting and Peter Gabriel(although dad wasn't mad on Youssou n'Dour when he supported PG and went "for a walk" whilst he was on).
Since then I've taken folks to see The Blue Nile (3 times), Raul Maolo, Shawn Colvin and Alison Krauss. They go to a few on their own, as do I. I'd never dream of taking them to see Ministry or Whitehouse, but luckily our tastes have always been quite catholic, so it's worked out fine.

A-Ha in Cardiff on their farewell tour later this year. Not sure who's 'going with' whom though.

I do know one thing though, I'm not going :-)

My mum sort of gets pop music, but not really. My dad, who is a classically-trained singer and is 71, is just a smidge too old to have been the ideal age for rock n' roll. At any rate, he's just not interested. He thinks pop is repetitive, banal and boring. I could no sooner ask him to accompany me to see a band I like than to disinter my granny for a family party. He'd be horrified, and would assume it was some kind of sick joke.

Best left well alone, that one.

The first gig i went to was with my dad. I had the choice of three: Ben Folds Five, ProjeKCt One (King Crimson) or Hootie and the sodding Blowfish. Guess which one the teenage me picked and still has nightmares about now? It was fun at the time though and my dad really enjoyed the derivative bar room boogie stylings.

(I was 20) I went with my mum to see the Everly Brothers on their reunion tour. Great seats; great show; great night out. It was however a rare example of our tastes coinciding.

We are both still waiting for a Carly Simon tour.

The only other examples I can recall are that I went with my mum and dad (who has no truck with rock music at all) to see Frank Sinatra. And then as a special treat for my C&W-loving dad* we all went to see Dolly Parton last year.

*That's County & Western obviously, and not erm Chest & Waistcoat.

... the Ian McMillan Orchestra a few years ago. Thought it might be a safe gig to take a parent to, and it was - just the right mix of music, poetry & humour. I thought my mum would enjoy it more than my dad, but it was the other way round in the end.

can bridge the generational divide. I won a pair of tickets to the Invisible Touch tour when I was a kid, so my dad took me, and we both loved it.

However, both my parents slept through the sixties, so the Beatles and Stones albums that should have been my birthright never materialised - instead I benefited in a different way, from the likes of Sinatra and Nat 'King' Cole.

I love taking my folks to gigs, though. They like a 'good-time' gig and we've had some great nights seeing people like The Mavericks. They also developed a taste for Ron Sexsmith. I went to see him with my dad at the South Bank once - we had a lovely meal first, the gig was superb and that's always going to be a brilliant memory for me of one of our 'blokes let out on their own' evenings.