OT: Missed Concert Opportunities

[HuskyHawk]

This thread topic inspired by Dolores O'Riordan. Was thinking the other day, what bands or musical acts do you most wish you saw in concert that you: (a) had an opportunity to go see; (b) never did see; and now (c) can never see. So for me born in '66, it can't be the Beatles or Hendrix. My list initially considered Guns n Roses but evidently they are back so don't qualify. Van Morrison isn't dead yet and could tour again, so he's also ineligible (and otherwise would make my list).

• Led Zeppelin
• The Who
• Queen
• The Cranberries
• The Grateful Dead

 

[Hey Adrien!]

Would have loved to see the Strokes before they got “fat and old”.

 

[mustafa]

Would have loved to see the Strokes before they got “fat and old”.

I have a somewhat distant relative who is married to Strokes lead singer Julian.

IMO, they can still play.

Good set on SNL this year.

 

[HooperScooper]

I'm about your age and out of all the bands I liked a lot the only one I never got to see was R.E.M. Had many chances but just never went.

I would have loved to see Led Zeppelin but I think they broke up by the time I was old enough to go to concerts.

 

[krinklecut]

White Stripes. Had plenty of opportunity to see them, and there's still plenty of opportunity to see Jack White, but they're never gonna get back together and they put on killer shows.

 

[Rico444]

I'm a classic rock fan and was born in the 80s, so I wouldn't have the chance to see any of my favorites in their prime. The closest would be when my father was going to see Billy Joel at Shea Stadium the year it closed, and I said I wasn't interested. In between the time he bought the tickets and when the show happened, I became a much bigger Billy Joel fan, and I regretted not getting a ticket. Then, I regretted it even more when Paul McCartney showed up that night and played Let it Be (I'm a huge Beatles fan).

 

[HuskyHawk]

I'm about your age and out of all the bands I liked a lot the only one I never got to see was R.E.M. Had many chances but just never went.

I would have loved to see Led Zeppelin but I think they broke up by the time I was old enough to go to concerts.

The timing is a close call on that. In through the Out Door was 79. I definitely could have seen The Who. Was going to when the cancelled that last show in Hartford and added one in Cleveland. REM is certainly in the honorable mention category for me.

 

[navery12]

It's Linkin Park for me, had a few chances to see them at MSG and never went. One of my biggest regrets

 

[ToolzieFan]

My parents saw Pink Floyd in 1994. I was 11 at the time, so I had been to concerts with them, but they didn’t take me. We figured I’d see them on their next tour. Of course, there was no next tour. Luckily, I’ve seen both David Gilmour and Roger Waters on solo tours.

I saw Clapton at the Garden a few years back. I wish I had seen him there when he toured with Steve Winwood, though.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Tom Petty & Jerry Garcia. My older brother promised to take me along to see the Dead in the fall of '95. Was 15 then.

 

[HuskyHawk]

My parents saw Pink Floyd in 1994. I was 11 at the time, so I had been to concerts with them, but they didn’t take me. We figured I’d see them on their next tour. Of course, there was no next tour. Luckily, I’ve seen both David Gilmour and Roger Waters on solo tours.

I saw Clapton at the Garden a few years back. I wish I had seen him there when he toured with Steve Winwood, though.

Ooh, forgot Pink Floyd, they'd probably bump the Dead on my list. Winwood + Clapton would be great to enable some Blind Faith tunes.

 

[ToolzieFan]

Ooh, forgot Pink Floyd, they'd probably bump the Dead on my list. Winwood + Clapton would be great to enable some Blind Faith tunes.

You should check out Clapton and Winwood’s live album, Live From Madison Square Garden. It’s really incredible.

 

[alexd]

Elvis 1955
Zeppelin, 1972
Jimi Hendrix, 1969
Blind Faith, 1969
Skynyrd, 1976-77
Rolling Stones, 1972
Grateful Dead 1972 and/or 1977
BB King. Any year.

 

[storrsroars]

Good thread, will be interested in replies.

Pink Floyd post-The Wall (so I'd get the Comfortably Numb solo)
Stones prior to 1978 as I can't stand most everything they did from Some Girls on.
BeBop Deluxe. Had tix to their Waterbury show in 1978, but they cancelled due to the canting of the stage. Or so they said. Never had another chance to see the amazing Bill Nelson & crew.
Grateful Dead... just to say I did, because I still don't "get it". Had tix to a show in New Haven, but Jerry was "ill" and they cancelled.
Frampton. Never got overly excited about that until I saw some of his later solo stuff on YT, then when he announced his goodbye, all of sudden wished I'd seen him.

Also a couple of "I saw them, but it was bad timing" gigs...
Wish I'd seen the Replacements in a club instead of at Lake Compounce where they played an aggressively awful set opening for Tom Petty.
Wish I'd seen The Who on a night when their sound system worked. But Golden Earring opened and was terrific.

 

[HooperScooper]

The timing is a close call on that. In through the Out Door was 79. I definitely could have seen The Who. Was going to when the cancelled that last show in Hartford and added one in Cleveland. REM is certainly in the honorable mention category for me.

I saw The Who in Foxborough in the summer of 1989. It was supposed to be their farewell tour. Lol. I saw them again a couple years ago at Fenway. They were surprisingly much better than I was anticipating. Not exactly in their prime but they were good.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Who I have seen is pretty amazing & wonderful. And there are some I didn't see and don't care, most notably Zeppelin, Bowie, Pink Floyd, and, I suppose, Queen (who apparently qualify as a big deal).

Friends have convinced me in the last decade that my indifference to McCartney was an error by saying, "It's the closest you'll ever get to seeing/hearing the Beatles live," which, when considered, has to be correct.

Note: I was just a bit too late for Hendrix, Doors, Joplin, and anyone else from or close to that class of early exits. And, I obeyed my parents when they told me I was too young & couldn't go to Woodstock the summer before I got a driver's license.

I saw ABB's first post-Duane tour, and my first Dead concert during Pigpen's hiatus though he was still alive. This all reminds me that my first full opportunity to see Clapton would have been his "461 Ocean Boulevard" comeback/reboot. A ticket to anything past Derek & the Dominoes (even w/o Allman) has never much interested me. Missing Watkins Glen is totally on me, so no Band either (oops).

Here's my answer as to lost opportunities, including who remains a possibility:

LARGE-SCALE ARENA/STADIUM
U2
Peter Gabriel
REM (though I moved from New Haven 6 weeks before they played Ron's Place and I no doubt would have been there)

MEDIUM SCALE
Aimee Mann
Bryan Ferry
Ry Cooder
Replacements
Husker Du
Pretenders

There must be somebody missing from this list who I still could see, and would want to.

Bob Mould and Chrissie Hynde definitely qualify as available solos. Ian Hunter too, even more than w/ Mott. Sadly, not Adam Schlesinger, though he fits with another list below.

TOO-BRIEF MOMENTS IN TIME, SO I CAN'T HOLD IT AGAINST MYSELF
Sex Pistols
Television
The Las
Stone Roses

ANYBODY I FIRST HEARD OVER 40, OR WAS INTRODUCED TO BY CHILDREN I LIVED WITH DOESN'T QUALIFY, BUT STILL...

Nirvana
Radiohead
Fountains of Wayne
Radiohead
The Strokes
Arcade Fire
White Stripes
Death Cab for Cutie
The National
Beastie Boys

I was the chaperoning/driving parent for Weezer (w/Dashboard Confessional) at the Meadows in Htfd one year, and bought a scalped ticket. I sat separately (in a better seat at lower cost), rather than waiting for hours in the parking lot.

Contextually, as to bands listed just above, it's weird that my point of entry to Dropkick Murphys, Luscious Jackson, Pinegrove, Sunflower Bean, and some other performers is through knowing parents of key members.

All things considered, I think this turns out to be more of a gratitude meditation than a list of regrets.

 

[HooperScooper]

Ooh, forgot Pink Floyd, they'd probably bump the Dead on my list. Winwood + Clapton would be great to enable some Blind Faith tunes.

Saw both Pink Floyd and The Dead (separately) in Foxborough. I wasn't a big Dead fan but my druggy friends said I had to experience it at least once in my life.

 

[HooperScooper]

Elvis 1955
Zeppelin, 1972
Jimi Hendrix, 1969
Blind Faith, 1969
Skynyrd, 1976-77
Rolling Stones, 1972
Grateful Dead 1972 and/or 1977
BB King. Any year.

1955? Dude, you weren't even born yet so how could you miss it?!

 

[alexd]

1955? Dude, you weren't even born yet so how could you miss it?!

I still missed it didn't I?? LOL

 

[storrsroars]

Friends have convinced me in the last decade that my indifference to McCartney was an error by saying, "It's the closest you'll ever get to seeing/hearing the Beatles live," which, when considered, has to be correct.

Head to the Netherlands and catch a performance by The Analogues. I went to the Abbey Road 50th anniversary show in Antwerp back in 2019. They have no equal when it comes to performing late-era Beatles (Revolver and later) as they approach the music like a philharmonic orchestra approaches classical music.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Good thread, will be interested in replies.

Pink Floyd post-The Wall (so I'd get the Comfortably Numb solo)
Stones prior to 1978 as I can't stand most everything they did from Some Girls on.
BeBop Deluxe. Had tix to their Waterbury show in 1978, but they cancelled due to the canting of the stage. Or so they said. Never had another chance to see the amazing Bill Nelson & crew.
Grateful Dead... just to say I did, because I still don't "get it". Had tix to a show in New Haven, but Jerry was "ill" and they cancelled.
Frampton. Never got overly excited about that until I saw some of his later solo stuff on YT, then when he announced his goodbye, all of sudden wished I'd seen him.

Also a couple of "I saw them, but it was bad timing" gigs...
Wish I'd seen the Replacements in a club instead of at Lake Compounce where they played an aggressively awful set opening for Tom Petty.
Wish I'd seen The Who on a night when their sound system worked. But Golden Earring opened and was terrific.

My rationale for Grateful Dead is the same as yours. Saw Frampton 3-4 years ago. It was just like Frampton Comes Alive. He hasn't lost anything and really transports the audience to the 70's. It's like a time machine.

On the bad timing front, some friends and I were invited by UConn friends from Cheshire to go to Toad's Place one summer. We knew the Stones were holed up at The Gunnery School in Washington CT (because my roommate worked at the only liquor store in town). The girls went to Toad's, we didn't join them. This is what they saw.

 

[Waquoit]

it's AC/DC for me. And I regret missing Paul McCartney when he played the HCC. I was too cheap.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

Oh wait...

I DID see REM in 1983, opening for Joan Jett, and then The Police...at Shea Stadium. Their brief set was hampered by rain, and unmemorable.

A better add-on is the time we traveled from Rochester to Cornell to see Bob Marley & the Wailers on their first US tour, a month before the release of "Burnin'." To my tastes, they were miscast as an opening act for Sly & the Family Stone, even though they were quite obviously the lesser-known act, and Sly's most recent album was the very fine "Fresh."

When we got there, they announced Wishbone Ash as the substitute opening act. Most of the crowd couldn't care less (note: some in the Boneyard "could" care less). This disappointment was never remedied.

That night, Sly was so 'self-incapacitated' that the most memorable thing about the show was the steady stream of departing audience members that began very early on.

The most memorable thing about the night overall was my sharing the back seat for the 90-minute ride back home with someone from my home town who had been my high school buddy's one-time girlfriend, whom he had called "Little Cutie." Now she was less than 2 months into her freshman year where I was a junior. With neither advance planning nor a single word spoken between us before/during/after, we advanced from cuddling to kissing to her skillfully silent climax, with the front seat passengers suspecting nothing. It was so spontaneous & stealth that we never debriefed it in any way or ever had any follow-up. It was a complete one-off, and this might even be my first telling of the tale. For all I know, it was some kind of bucket list-ish item she needed to get out of the way before Thanksgiving break, in the aftermath of an all-girls secondary school experience.

PS - Last week, after meeting up with a lawyer-turned-record dealer classmate last week, I spent a few hours researching Discogs average values for some of my remaining LPs. Mid-COVID, I attended a back deck/nobody-inside/socially-distanced party for a friend's 70th birthday, and I gifted him the original US release of "Catch a Fire" with the Zippo lighter cover. I just checked and saw (depending on the pressing plant) a $60 or $87 value. My friend is more than worth it.

 

[Improviser]

Dion as a solo act which friends of mine saw at Mohegan Sun a few years ago. They did not let me know about it until after they saw it, and told me how good Dion sung acapella.

Some friends!

I think he is retired and no longer performing. He is at least 80.

I did see Del Shannon at Milford Jai Alai maybe 30 years ago or more. Now dead, but was a great performer.

Sorry most of you probably derivatively heard of these singers through you parents or maybe not , because not everybody even then liked the 50's and 60's stuff.

I saw the Beachboys at Oakdale a few years ago and they were not nearly as good as they were with the original performers. I think some of the Wilson and Love family still perform with the group today. I glanced at a YouTube for a show they did at Dallas this year. Not bad, but not as good as they sounded in the 1960's.

Yes, there is YouTube to catch a lot of these performers in their heyday, and unfortunately to catch those today who should have stopped performing a long time ago.

Got to know when to let go.

 

[wheelerdog]

Bob Seger
Queen w/Freddy Mercury
Elton John
Prince