Bands/artists you never got to see live in their heyday, but would've liked to.


Siouxsie and the Banshees (I've seen other incarnations)

Bob Marley and the Wailers

Gregory Isaacs

David Bowie

Led Zeppelin

Black Sabbath

Steely Dan

shtinkydog

Though I did see and hear a lot of those listed here (Beatles, Hendrix, Cream, The Who with Keith Moon, Janis Joplin, Jeff Beck with Ron Wood and Rod Stewart, Johnny Cash, Albert King, Big Joe Turner with The Blasters, Mike Bloomfield and Buddy Miles in The Electric Flag---fantastic!, plenty of others), I was born too late to see Elvis with Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana (Billy Swan told me that in 1955 he saw them perform on the back of a flatbed truck in Tennessee) and The Rock ’n’ Roll Trio (Johnny Burnette and his brother Dorsey with guitarist Paul Burlinson. On tape at least the greatest of the Rockabilly bands.).

I feel very fortunate in having experienced NRBQ live, twice. When David Sanborn had them on his TV show, he introduced them as the best Rock ’n’ Roll band in the world. I thought that was The Stones claim ;-) . Saw them, they sucked. Also fortunate in having seen Dave Edmunds numerous times (he plays guitar like Keith Richards wishes he could)---solo and in his group with Nick Lowe Rockpile, Ry Cooder (as a member of Little Village. OMG ;-) and David Lindley.

And though I’ve seen The Band and Dylan, only separately, not together (I know two guys who saw Dylan with The Hawks in ’65 at The San Jose Civic Auditorium. Damn ;-) . I would love to have seen and heard Danny Gatton live, but he never made it out to the west coast (and is now dead). I’m holding out hope of seeing Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, imo the current best band in the world.

Beatles    

 

Jimi Hendrix    

 

Amy Winehouse    

 

Creedance Clearwater Rivival    

 

Bob Marley    

 

Frank Sinatra    

 

Stevie Ray Vaughn    

 

Queen    

 

The Band    

 

Aretha Franklin    

 

The Clash    

 

Luciano Pavarotti    

 

Placido Domingo    

 

Joni Mitchell    

 

James Brown    

 

Elvis    

 

Marvin Gaye    

 

The Supremes    

 

 

Although I already posted a list of people or bands that I wish I had seen, I would like to add an addendum.    

Even though I saw him live before, I would really like to see the real Bob Dylan.    

What I mean is that I would like to see Dylan play all his songs as they were presented on the records I own. I know that after playing the same songs for 50 years there is a tendancy to want to improvise a bit, but when I saw him the songs were literally unrecognizable.    

Probably the most disappointing concert I have ever seen.

@shtinkydog - I suppose you got to see Siouxsie on her solo tour and with the Creatures? I loved that band - I was fortunate enough to see Siouxsie and the Banshees about 10 times over the years in the SF Bay Area...

@schubert is funny - he loves 'Arty' Shaw so much and doesn't even know how to spell his name. At least he's an entertaining troll. 

This is fun. I've seen a heck of a lot of shows going back almost 45 years but I did drop the ball on a few, notably:

Talking Heads

The Minutemen

Pete Seeger

Zeppelin

I've seen Neil but I wish I had caught some of those 1979 shows with Crazy Horse; I saw Lou Reed a few times in clubs but was too late for the Velvets; I saw the Who with Keith but wish I had been at the famous Leeds show; I saw the Clash at Bonds but wish I had seen the '79 tour; I saw Gregg and Dickey and the rest but wish I had seen those early shows with Duane; I saw the Dead in 1978 but, oh man, wish I had seen the '77 tour.... I could do this all night!

 

 

I might have mentioned this in a post, once upon a time, but I saw the Allman Bros. Band at UC Santa Barbara when I was there at college. Duane Allman and Dickie Betz relentlessly, endlessly traded riffs. It got to the point where I promised myself I'd make tracks if Duane let one more whoop-de-doodle-do lick escape his axe. He did the lick about 30 seconds later. I let my feet do the walking. My roomie showed up the next morning to tell me I missed another twenty minutes or so of blazing dual guitar breaks. I nodded my head ambiguously.

@larsman

yes!  I was 17 when i saw the Creatures at, of all places, the basketball gym at UC Irivine.  The seats were literally the bleachers.  And I saw "an evening with Siouxsie" at the House of Blues in Anaheim (downtown Disney, Anaheim).  Budgie was there, oddly enough, doing what he does best and that's blow your mind with his drum playing.  There was a Japanese drummer there, too,  (maybe more than 1) that absolutely stole most of the show.  I think they'll still do a reunion tour.  Why not?  Everyone else has!  Thanks for your input.   You saw 10 shows.  How fortunate are you??

Post removed 

@tvad, say WHAT? The Minutemen >>> Bonnie Raitt? That's more than my mind can take in!

I saw a relatively unknown Van Halen open for Black Sabbath; a completely unknown U2 play for a small crowd in a club; an up-and-coming Stevie Ray in a small club; I  sat in on a Bonnie Raitt soundcheck once which was a hoot; and so on. But I ain't never seen The Minutemen open for Bonnie Raitt!

(My wife saw the Ramones open for Cheap Trick, another combination that is hard to fathom...)

Dire Straits

Dead Kennedys

Black Flag (Ron Reyes era)

Discharge

Blitz

Doom

X-Ray Spex

Generation X

Operation Ivy

The Undertones

The Purple Hearts

Secret Affair

Toots & The Maytals

@jjss49 

I am sure Bocelli still performs. I bought one of his newest albums a few months back. I would need to travel many miles to see him I would guess. 

@shtinkydog - Heya! I don't think we'll see a Banshees reformation, as Siouxsie dumped Budgie a long time ago now, and even had songs dissing him on 'Mantaray'. How long ago was that 'Evening with Siouxsie'? I'd like to see her and Severin get back together, though. One cool show I saw here in SF was the Creatures and John Cale and his band. They joined in with each other's material, too. It was great hearing Siouxsie and John together on 'Gun'! 

@bdp24 

I’m holding out hope of seeing Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives

Marty and the Boys are currently on tour in the Eastern US. Over the next 3-4 months, they're playing 7-8 dates within easy driving distance of Cincinnati, including two nights in Cincinnati, opening for Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit. No dates for the Western US currently on their schedule.

@larsman. That was 5/23/04.

Still have my ticket.  On the reunion topic,

I sent severin a message years ago on some 

Forum, he actually replied and said  there is no

Way the banshees will ever get ,back together.  But 

How many bands have said that only to come

Back even stronger?  Keep hopeful!

+1 for the Beatles, Yardbirds, Talking Heads

I left the Beatles off my initial list because of the screaming and mayhem.  I just spaced on the Yardbirds and Talking Heads. I saw David Byrne perform solo in the 90s where he donned a huge boxy suit similar to the one he wore in "Stop Making Sense" except it was Pepto Bismol pink!

Saw The Yardbirds a couple years back.  Not the originals but they did a nice job and worth seeing. 

I recently caught King Crimson in DC at the Anthem for what might be their last US show ever.  We will see. It was off the charts.  CD release is coming out soon. 

I actually saw Them in 1966, on their last U.S. tour with Van Morrison in the group. They were pretty darn great, tough R & B. What The Stones were unsuccessfully trying to sound like. Also that year The Coasters, who had a crackerjack 3-piece white band (they sounded as good as Booker T & The MG’s, high praise in my world). Not so good imo were the doors (lower case their choice, ala e.e. cummings), whom I saw in ’68.

I somehow never saw Moby Grape live, damnit. I also missed Merle Haggard, but have a good friend who saw a mid-70’s show of his at The Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, California. We knew the guy doing the sound that night (he was our band’s sound guy in ’71-2), who asked my friend if he wanted to meet Merle. He took him onto Merle’s tour bus, were they found Merle’s band sitting around the kitchenette table, sharing the huge pile of blow in it’s center. ;-)

Wow, I had almost forgotten what a nice thread looks like with like minded people.

For some reason I got old jazz guitar slingers on my mind.

 

Django Reinhardt

Charlie Christian

Eddie Lang

Jim Hall

Barney Kessel

Bill Frisell

Tal Farlow

Herb Ellis

Freddie & Grant Green 

Charlie Byrd

Kenny Burrell

 

 

Genesis on The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour (Gabriel's final tour with the band). My best friend got sick, so I missed the show.

Renaissance and Spirit. I missed the show because I got sick. 

Badfinger on my 18th birthday, had to be 21 to get in. State lowered the drinking age to 18 the next year....a year too late for me.

The Who (but my hearing thanks me. For a while they were loudest band in the world)

Pink Floyd

Talking Heads mentioned a lot here, but I did see them during their 'Stop Making Sense' tour, and David Byrne has to be the most entertaining front man I ever saw.

Also saw the original King Crimson line-up in 1971, another terrific show.

What a great thread!

1968-69 Beatles 

Allman Brothers, with Duane.

Bill Evans

Diana Krall

Dire Straits

Ella

Genesis with Peter Gabriel

Genesis after PG, with Phil Collins

and many many more!

Thin lizzy

 

the doors

 

ac/dc (Bon years) B Johnson is ok, but I wish Marc storace took the job!

b Johnson sounds like he hasn't taken a sh*t in a month. 

 

CCR. went to CCR revisited years back, glad I went!

 

Bathory

 

uriah heep

 

nazareth

 

zeppelin

 

mountain

 

Paul Samson!!

 

gary Moore

 

Tank

 

Riot

 

dark Angel (darkness descends tour)

 

coney hatch

 

janice joplin

 

the cure (guilty pleasure)

 

stevie wonder

 

clarence brown

 

the beatles

 

john lennon 

 

david peel

 

Melanie (hott)

 

thr runaways (Joan Jett ! Yum)

 

spartan warrior

 

crossfire

 

john denver

 

jerry reed

 

MDC

 

The exploited

 

ramones

 

black 47

 

satan jokers

 

blackfoot

 

lynyrd skynyrd 

 

rolling stones

 

Black Sabbath (seen Dio, martin and gillan)

 

trust

 

tankard

 

NWOBHM bands (ALL)

 

Yakuza (went to high school with Bruce)

 

holy moses

 

50 more bands...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They always say that the two people I most regret never seeing

live are :

Cab Calloway

and 

Rocky Erickson 

Cab was playing what very well might have been his last concert in NYC but my girlfriend at the time didn't want to see anything that wasn't classical. 
and I don't think Rocky ever came to NYC while I was living there. 
I wish I had seen:

Al Jolson

The Happiness Boys

Alberta Hunter

Sophie Tucker

Sonny Boy Williamson 

Big Mama Thornton 

Hank Williams

The Maddox Brothers and Rose

The Clash

The Jam 

The New York Dolls

The Feelies

I wish I had seen The Cramps and the Ramones more. 
 

But let's be honest, I can't really remember any of the great concerts I saw… For obvious reasons, and the ones I remember were not so great.  

While I've seen Steely Dan multiple times, I sure wish I could've seen the 2018 tour with Larry Carlton as Walter Becker's replacement.

The Doors

Janis Joplin

 

But I did see:

 

Gram Parsons*

Bruce Springsteen*

Tim Buckley**

Jimi Hendrix**

Jefferson Airplane (many times)

Cesora Evora

Astor Piazzola

Gypsy Kings

Philip Glass (Einstein on the Beach, at Lincoln Center)

and a number of others

 

* at Max’s Kansas City

** at The Filmore East

 

@misterspooky - I saw the New York Dolls, I think at the Santa Monica Civic. They were awful. All posing. No talent to speak of. I actually sold my New York Dolls record soon after seeing them. I later saw David Johansen solo. Yeah he was actually good. I still enjoy his only(?) elpee.

Blue Cheer(1968) My curiosity wants to know were they really that loud and skilled live or is it just a baby boomer tale?

I would not have wanted to see the Beatles in concert - girls shrieking in my ears over a crap-sounding PA for 40 minutes would not be my idea of a good time; the band didn't even like it. So glad they went for studio magic instead. 

I do wish I'd seen Nirvana, though - it was always 'next time they're back'.... 

Good observation about the NYD’s, @edcyn (The Sex Pistols also sucked live). When I was living in NYC in 1982 I saw Jerry Nolan’s pink Ludwig drumset in a pawn shop. Guess he needed a quick fix.

@larsman: Seeing The Beatles live was not about actually hearing them (they were barely audible when I saw them in San Francisco in ’65), but about the entire experience. I was about 10 yards away from John Lennon, and seeing him up close brought him down to human level for me. By the way, though it may be sacrilege to say it, they were not that good a band live. Honest. Now NRBQ, THERE was a great live band.