If you had access to a time machine, what concerts would you go back to see?

Every Dead show from 1968-71.

I have a friend who grew up in Detroit. He's about 10 years older than me, so he has regaled me with stories about some of the concerts that he saw at the legendary Grande Ballroom. I decided to do so research, and here are some of the shows that he either attended or could've seen:

10/14/67: Cream, MC5 and The Rationals
3/22/68: Eric Burdon & The Animals, Grateful Dead & Aere Apparent
3/29/68: The Fugs, Sly and The Family Stone & MC5.
4/28/68: Mothers of Invention &The Psychedelic Stooges 
6/1/68: Love, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown &  Psychedelic Stooges
6/9/68: Cream, James Gang & The Thyme
7/13/68: The Who, Pink Floyd &  The Psychedelic Stooges
7/19/68: Spirit, Fever Tree & The Soul Remains
11/24/68: Jefferson Airplane & Terry Reid
12/13/68: Deep Purple & Lee Michaels
12/27/68: Fleetwood Mac & Rotary Connection
1/12/69: Genesis & James Gang
2/1/69: Spirit, Jethro Tull & Sweet Wine
2/21/69: Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Van Morrison & The Attack
3/2/69: MC5, Three Dog Night & James Gang
4/11/69: The Velvet Underground, The Nice & Earth Opera
4/18/69: Chuck Berry, Brian Auger + The Trinity & Rare Earth
5/11/69: The Who, Joe Cocker + The Grease Band & Rush
This one is notable because it was the US debut performance of "Tommy." The Who's former road manager had taken a job at the Grande, and they wanted him to hear the first performance here in the states.
5/16/69: Led Zeppelin, Sun Ra & Golden Earring
11/7/69: The Kinks & Elton John

So, if any of this has gotten you the least bit intrigued, I suggest you check out either the documentary DVD "Louder Than Love - The Grande Ballroom Story" or the book "The Grande Ballroom - Detroit's Rock Palace." Both are currently available on Amazon for $18 & $22 respectively. 

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Beethoven’s last Akademie (1808).

Cream farewell concert 

Stevie Ray Vaughan 1990 Alpine Valley.......,

Miles and/or Trane. Any time, anywhere.

Tom Waits - The talking heads - NRBQ

I'm going for the night Liszt and Thalberg had a piano playing contest.

How do doobs get fooled into relating experiences when that was NEVER asked for?
If we have Peabody’s wayback machine I’m going with any of Beethoven priemeres in Vienna or Rach playing any if his own Concertos.

So great to see someone other than me mentioning The Blue Nile in these fora. I had the great pleasure of seeing them at a very small club in Western Massachusetts in 1996, and the same thing happened: They played brilliantly, connected with the audience, and were brought back after their encore by an audience that had had a spiritual connection with the band.

Then, Paul Buchanan sheepishly told the crowd that they'd played everything they knew, but would be happy to repeat a song or two if we'd like. The joint erupted in applause and screams, and The Blue Nile wowed us again.

Fabulous, unforgettable night.

-- Howard

@artemus_5,  I forgot about a couple of good ZZ Top stories:

1) At the 2003 SXSW Music Festival, I attended a Yardbirds show at The Austin Music Hall. I sat in the balcony, and a short time later Billy Gibbons sat down beside me. He was accompanied by two gorgeous women wearing tuxedos. It was hard to tell if they were "friends" or "bodyguards" (they were acting very serious). The Yardbirds show featured multiple special guest guitarists, including: Skunk Baxter, Joe Satriani, Slash & Steve Vai.  I asked Billy if he would be participating and he said "no, I wasn't asked." I laughed and said that if he showed up backstage, I'm sure he would get an instant invitation.

Ironically, the following year this venue limited their balcony to VIP's only. Even funnier, I told a friend of mine and her friend the whole story. What I didn't know was the friend of the friend had dated Skunk back in the day, and he didn't let her know that he was in town for this gig. She was not pleased about this......Oops, sorry Skunk!

2) My 5th concert was ZZ Top in the fall of 1973. "Tres Hombres" had not taken off yet and they were getting zero airplay in Atlanta at that time. A high school friend had spent the summer in Texas and he came back raving about the band; so, when the gig was scheduled he convinced a bunch of us to go. Tickets were only $5.00, so we figured we had nothing to lose. ZZ Top played their @sses off. While the crowd was small, they were beyond enthusiastic. Everyone was dancing (nobody sitting down) and I recall copious amounts of ganja being passed around. We had a great time and were suitably impressed.

You are certainly not alone in 2020 being the first no-concert year since, for me, 1969. Tool and LP (Laura Pergolizzi) were on my schedule, but luckily I have seen them before.
As to concerts I wish I had seen.
The Allman Brothers "Live at the Filmore East"
Woodstock (without the mud)
Adele at Royal Albert Hall
The BBC Concerts from 1970 - 71 by Elton John, Neil Young, Cat Stevens and James Taylors. 
Any concert by Amy Winehouse.

Listening to Clara Schumann debut the A minor Piano Concerto would be one of my picks.
Bob

"After all - Mr. Peabody and Sherman did pay a visit to Beethoven."

Great call Dekay!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnmiwo79aTg

CLASSIC...HUGE fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle and company. 

mitchagain-

I guess it’s the aging/awarness thing?
Due to age-59, I was just too young to experience my R&R heroes. Had to rely on elders reliving Elvis, Beatles,Stones etc. moments.

Other than a few "2nd tier" R&R bands/guitar heroes in the 70’s, I feel kinda deprived!

Semi epic moment I have mentioned in the past.
1978 Santa Monica Civic Auditorium(SoCal)-Aerosmith Rocks tour with relatively unknown opener. No one knew who the opening act was. Dude dressed up as an English schoolboy with Gibson SG and a stack of Marshalls. Lead singer carries him on his shoulder screaming kick ass R&R-Bon Scott/Angus Young:AC/DC. My father had to drive my girlfriend and I and dropped us off early morning(no seating). Waited out front with bunch of deplorables, and kept smelling something "funny" in the air?

8 hours later doors opened, front and center against the barrier. I just remember getting crushed once the house lights went off, and the toxic twins(StevenTyler/Joe Perry) hit the stage. Good times. Another moment that probably contributed to my now raging tinnitus/hearing loss.

Opening cut-Rats in the Cellar. I was disappointed in Aerosmith after the Rocks album. Right around the corner...80’s and MTV? Yup, Aerosmith had to jump the shark. Scratched off my list.

I thought this was the ONLY AC/DC that ROCKED. They dropped off my interest list once Bon passed.

@artemus_5,  it's funny you mention Crack The Sky. They are an all time favorite of mine. Also, they were the last concert that I saw before the Covid lockdown. I flew to Baltimore to catch an acoustic show that included a 4 piece string section. It was fantastic; and, they were cameras filming it. The band said it would be released on their website; but, it has yet to become available. I'm guessing there were some kind of technical difficulties that has prevented its release. I suppose having a DVD of that show would be the next best thing to going back in time to see it again.

@tablejockey , I was wondering if anyone would go way back in time to catch some of all time great classical composers. So, congrats on being the first! (bravest?)

Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl. My sister had a friend who had a very good seat.  She was supposedly hoarse for the next several days due to all her screaming.

The Doors at the Whiskey. 

I got to say, though, that I went to lot of legendary concerts when I was, ahem, a bit younger.

Iron Butterfly - Metamorphosis Saw them in '77 for $3 fantastic
Storyville   
Crack the Sky   
Keb Mo 
The Eagles pre Joe Walsh
Rossington Collins - Anywhere, Anytime, Anyplace LOVE Dale Krantz' vocals
Mylon LeFevre & Broken Heart. Great show and music
Larry Howard - Cornerstone Blues Jam   
Black Oak Arkansas - Raunch n Roll  Tommy Aldridge drum solo one of the best
Aerosmith - Get Your Wings
Too many more to list. obviously all the classic rockers, Zep, Sabbath, Butterfly, Hendrix, etc.

One more, is the time our band was playing a club in Charlotte in '79. We were the House Band. ZZ Top's pickers came in with 2 GORGEOUS women and sat up close to the band. Hard to mistake the beards. Anyway, the 2 girls got up to dance and they shook things that I didn't know would even shake. The band dropped the music instantly and picked it up again in a split second. It was as if someone had pulled the plug and quickly  put it back. It was among the funniest things I have ever seen  or had happen in my time playing. No one in the audience ever said anything about it but I heard it. BTW I have loved playing music live and listening live & recorded. I consider it a way of life, not a hobby.

tablejockey:

Good thinking...

After all - Mr. Peabody and Sherman did pay a visit to Beethoven.

Suitable clothing (wardrobe) would take a bit of doing, but it is doable.

DeKay

A little of topic, but even as a lifetime R&R fan I would like to have witnessed performance of some of the greatest Classical pieces by the masters.

Vivaldi,Hayden,Bach, Beethoven, Mozart....

Anything else seems insignificant. Seating accommodations and no A/C  was probably awful though. Wouldn't have to stress about the guy in front of me with the Iphone recording. Are there some of THESE guys here? 

Jim’s Hendrix, late 60s NYC “Purple Onion” Club in Greenwich Village

In order that we be responsible audiophiles I suggest that we only time travel back to concerts that we DID NOT attend (in order to maintain time/space continuity).

This said, I would like to attend good concerts by artists that I never saw live.

The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Gram Parsons come to mind.

DeKay

Would like to have been there when Jimi opened for the Monkeys. Pat Benatar, The Go Go's, Pretenders...

Crucial Taunt 1992 at Gasworks. 

The two shows that I regret missing that I actually could've seen were:  1) Genesis on their last US tour with Peter Gabriel in 1974 (a friend of mine got sick)  2) Renaissance in 75 or 76 (this time, I got sick). To make matters worse, Spirit was the opening act.....ARRGHH!!!

@roxy54 , I know what you're talking about when there's that rare spiritual connection at a concert. For me, that was the Blue Nile in 1990. They played every song from from their first two albums and it was magical from start to finish. Then they ran out of material. The audience refused to let them leave; so, they played a few more songs a second time. Cameras were there filming it, but it was never released. I ran into Paul Buchanan at the 2005 SXSW music festival and he said he never heard why that show or any other show from that tour didn't get released on video. To top it off, the opening act was Wendy MaHarry who was also excellent. She only released two proper albums + a live album with demos from her never released third album. So, I consider my self lucky that I got to see her. I would have no qualms at all going back in time to see that show again!   

Woodstock 69’

 not to be confused with the violent crappy music at the so called Woodstock in 93? 94 ? I forget.

 Ac/dc with Ron Scott (Bon)

 Every rock/prog/heavy metal/thrash metal concert held from 1978 - 1995. Minus that Woodstock garbage show. 
Also, I would be friends with Brian Johnson, and get him blasted on Bushmills, so he missed the audition, and make sure Marc storace showed up!


  Get every autograph I could, and stop at every comic and baseball card shop, and load up.
and find the Honus Wagner card for cheap, and buy it.

The Allman Brothers Live at the Boston Tea Party. The first and best concert I ever saw. Duane was still alive.

The worse? Bob Dylan. He was in is country phase back then. We left after four or five numbers. It was pitiful.

Top concerts = The Dead (when they were hot), Little Feat, Radiohead, Tina Turner, Pat Benatar, The Stones (when they were hot), Death Cab for Cutie (what a name?), Richard Thompson Electric Band, Richard Thompson Solo, Carmina Burana, Beethoven's 9th

Creedance Clearwater at Woodstock, August '69! I had to be at work that weekend so no could go! 

Jimi Hendrix Band of Gypsies at the Fillmore East New Year’s Eve 1969! Instead I and three friends from Greenwich High went to the Dead show there a week earlier! I could easily have bought the Hendrix tickets when I went down to the Fillmore box office four weeks earlier! $3.50, $4.50, $5.50 - early or late show! Instead I got three tickets for the Dead early show. 

Benny Goodman January 16, 1938 Carnegie Hall New York

Stravinsky May 29 1913  Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris

I'd go back for:
Springsteen 1976, Palladium Theater NYC.
Blondie 1976, the Village Gate.
Led Zep 1977, MSG.
Roxy Music 1983, Tower Theater Philly.
Sisters of Mercy 1984, The Ritz.
Buddy Rich w/ Maynard Ferguson ~1975, Felt Forum NYC.
Elton John w/ John Lennon 1974, MSG.
https://youtu.be/JtL_w62Y2RU

Mike and the Mechanics, Tower Theatre in Philadelphia around 1980. Not my favorite band, although I do love them, but it was one of those magical nights concertgoers rarely experience when the band and audience make an almost spiritual connection. When that happens, it's joyous and unforgettable. 

Zeppelin... fortunately I have had the opportunity to see just about every band I’ve wanted to see in my life. Zeppelin is the hold out.

@artizen65  I saw him on that tour too, really amazing! I would have liked to see young Steve Winwood.

’70
Spirit, Santana and Zeppelin at the Kinetic. $5

Jellyfish and Toy Matinee any show

If I had access to a Time Machine first I would go back and tell myself to not go see Neil Diamond in 1989. Then I would go back and watch his Hot August Night performance. Or maybe warning myself would change time and then I wouldn't want to go see Hot August Night? So I should do that first? Dang this time travel stuff is hard. Maybe I should just go watch Predestination instead?

The year was 1984.  Dan Fogelberg "Solo Acoustical Tour"  Him a grand piano and 6 guitars.  Maybe the best 3 hours ever spent.  Although Elton John was pretty good.