# Concerts you WISH you had seen **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 1, 2005, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400 "2005-03-01T06:11:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/21 "2005-03-01T22:05:19Z")
I once declined an invitation to go see the Sex Pistols when they played in a rather rough venue in my town. I wish I’d gone. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/22 "2005-03-01T22:12:42Z")
I’m not a really big concert goer, but there are two I can think of. I wish I had seen Oingo Boingos final show. I have an album that have some selections from it. Also, a boss of mine gave me some tickets to a show and gave me a list of concerts to choose from. I wasn’t much interested in any of them, but my wife like .38 Special, so I took those. On the list was something called “Folk Rock Festival”. When I got to .38 Special, I saw an advertisment for it. The Violent Femmes were playing at it. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/23 "2005-03-01T22:29:30Z")
The Paul Whiteman Orchestra, on February 12, 1924 at Aeolian Hall in New York City, for a concert called **An Experiment in Modern Music**. Anybody know why? ---
**Author:** ![Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bb73d2/32.png) [@Dark\_Side\_of\_the\_Floyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dark_Side_of_the_Floyd)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2005, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/24 "2005-03-01T23:26:04Z")
I’d give my leg to be able to see any Floyd concert where Gilmour played. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/25 "2005-03-02T04:11:51Z")
> [@DarkSideoftheFloyd](#): > > I’d give my leg to be able to see any Floyd concert where Gilmour played. The only time I saw Pink Floyd was on the 1975 tour, about five months before _Wish You Were Here_ was released. The show opened with an hour of then-unreleased material: “Raving and Drooling” (which later became “Sheep”), “You’ve Got to Be Crazy” (which later became “Dogs”), and a long “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” with “Have a Cigar” in the middle. After an intermission, they played all of _Dark Side of the Moon_, which at the time was still their most recent album. The encore was “Echoes.” The audience was… **stoned**. The guy over my right shoulder, in particular, was _freaking out_ over the films projected during _Dark Side_. “OH WOW! WE’RE GOING TO THE HOSPITAL!!!” Distracting. Me? Of course I wish I’d seen the Beatles. But I’m all about jazz nowadays, and I wish I’d been old enough to hang out at the Lighthouse or the Village Vanguard in the '60s. ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/26 "2005-03-02T16:57:58Z")
my one big regret is never getting to see **The Who** with **Keith Moon** perform live. Of course, he had to go and die two years before I was born… ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/27 "2005-03-02T17:27:09Z")
**Bob Marley’s** last concert was in my neighborhood. I missed it. Also, wish I’d seen **Tom Waits** when he was in the area. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/28 "2005-03-02T17:33:54Z")
> [@Robot Arm](#): > > The Paul Whiteman Orchestra, on February 12, 1924 at Aeolian Hall in New York City, for a concert called **An Experiment in Modern Music**. > > Anybody know why? Well, it was an important concert for a lot of reasons, but is best known for the introduction of Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue”. Gershwin accompanied the orchestra on the piano. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/29 "2005-03-02T17:44:07Z")
I really wish I could have been at the Metallica/Guns 'n Roses concert where James Hetfield got lit on fire and Axl refused to play, resulting in a huge riot. That would’ve been a hoot. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/30 "2005-03-02T18:59:10Z")
> [@Big Bad Voodoo Lou](#): > > … I’d also catch Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli at a Paris hot jazz club in the '30s, and then take in all the big bands of the day … > > Good call on the Johnny Cash prison concerts, **watsonwil**! I’d check that out too, but preferably not as an inmate! Yet another vote for an evening (or two) listening to some Hot Jazz. Bob Wills would head my list of big bands–in a Tulsa dance hall. I saw Johnny Cash “package shows” a couple of times. Along with the Carter Family (Mother Maybelle & her daughters at that time), with the Statler Brothers (silly solo bits, but wonderful as backup singers), Carl Perkins & the rest of Johnny’s band, including a very young Marty Stuart. Really excellent. Among shows I actually could have seen but missed–the Allman Brothers before Duane died. ---
**Author:** ![TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@TheBoneyKingofNowhere](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheBoneyKingofNowhere)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/31 "2005-03-02T19:26:37Z")
Pink Floyd w/ Syd Barrett ---
**Author:** ![brickbacon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@brickbacon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brickbacon)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/32 "2005-03-02T19:45:07Z")
At the height of their respective careers, Rage Against the Machine went on tour with the Wu Tang Clan. I would have done anything to see that. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2005, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/33 "2005-03-02T22:28:01Z")
My one regret that was within my reach was in 1993 when I had a ticket to see Garth Brooks at the Rodeo (I love Country and Brooks puts on a legendary show apparently). I live pretty far out in the Suburbs and didn’t want to go into Houston on a school night (Senior yr. of High School). I gave my ticket to my buddy, and he took a date. Since then, Brooks has never returned to the Rodeo, and puts on few, if ANY concerts at all. FYI- My buddy DID gets some from the girl, so it is somewhat bitter AND sweet… ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/34 "2005-03-03T04:20:11Z")
> [@fusoya](#): > > my one big regret is never getting to see **The Who** with **Keith Moon** perform live. Of course, he had to go and die two years before I was born… I saw The Who on several occasions, first in 1968. If you have never seen this DVD, I highly recommend it, especially if you’re a Moon fan, it has lots of good Moon footage. > **[Amazon.com: The Who - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 : Roger Daltrey,...](https://www.amazon.com/Who-Live-Isle-Wight-Festival/dp/B0002GTX8C)** > > In 1970, 600,000 people came to the Isle of Wight to attend a music festival. At 2 A.M., August 30th, The Who appeared and gave one of the most memorable performances of their career. LISTENING TO YOU: THE WHO AT THE ISLE... Probably the best Who concert I saw (maybe the best concert I EVER saw, and I have been to tons of concerts) was in the early 70s. Lynryd Skynryd opened for them, that was awesome. Then The Who did their thing, at the end of the show, their last song was … listening to you, I get the music, gazing at you, I get the heat … well, as you can imagine they whipped the crowd into a frenzy. Did Pete have his amps cranked to the max? You bet he did. There was a great light show going on at the same time, the whole arena was filled with flashing colored lights and beaming spotlights. Everyone in the place was standing and screaming and dancing around. Then the song ended, but the chaos didn’t. The band left the stage, the house lights came on, but everyone in the crowd kept standing on their seats screaming hysterically for at least another 20 minutes. Finally an announcer came on the stage and said they’re not coming back out, they didn’t do encores on that tour. That concert was definitely in the awesome category. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/35 "2005-03-03T04:30:44Z")
The single event I dearly wish I’d seen was [Rennaisance Live At Carnegie Hall](http://www.nlightsweb.com/lib/gallery/carnegi2.jpg). It was in 1975. -sigh- The LP was worn out by my brother and I. The second pressings were slightly re-engineered, and not as fine. The CD is hard to come by. God, what a show. Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/36 "2005-03-03T08:10:36Z")
> [@RobuSensei](#): > > Peter Gabriel-era Genesis. Almost any of those must have been mindblowing… I was lucky enough to see them twice after becoming a fan in December 1973. I first heard of/saw them when they appeared on The Midnight Special TV show and became instantly besotted. Within a few months I saw the **Selling England By The Pound** tour and then the next year I saw the **Lamb Lies Down on Broadway** tour, and I will attest, they were indeed mindblowing. Too much so in fact. My memories of them are blurry and photoflash, partly as a result of some fairly decent LSD and lots’o’pot. If I could go back and do it again, I’d stay completely straight so I could remember everything better. By now I remember more from the videos I’ve seen and the Musical Box performance (of The Lamb) than the actual concerts. I do remember being awestruck though. I didn’t want to talk to anybody after the shows because that would have lessened the experience. No one in my circle of friends who went with me were affected as deeply as I was. The band changed my life, literally\*. My answer to the OP would be **Kate Bush** (no relation, thank goodness) in any of her full-fledged British or European concerts during her one and only tour in 1979. As long as wishes are horses, I’d also like to have seen some of her dates playing pubs with her brothers before she became “Kate Bush” as the KT Bush Band. My husband and I went to a fan convention in 1990, and she was there, and she sang to us, so I can die happy, but it wasn’t a concert, so she’s still my answer. \*If I hadn’t become a Peter Gabriel Genesis fan, I wouldn’t have met the woman who introduced me to Kate Bush, and if I hadn’t become a Kate Bush fan, I wouldn’t have met my husband of 22 years. ---
**Author:** ![sleeepy2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@sleeepy2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleeepy2)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/37 "2005-03-03T11:41:35Z")
> [@Winnie](#): > > **Guns and Roses** back in “the day”. I was a little young (11 or 12) when they were first touring in the mid-80’s so I wasn’t able to go (or rather, wasn’t _allowed_). My husband is a few years older than me, though, and got to see them when they FIRST came to DC. Even at the age of 15, he said he knew he was in the midst of greatness. He’s seen hundreds upon hundreds of live acts since then, and said nothing EVER compared to the first time he saw GNR live. > > **Elvis Presley** at any point in his career. My parents saw him in the early to mid 70’s, when he was in the fat, bloated period and said he still knocked their socks off. I saw GnR open for Aerosmith on the Permanant Vacation tour, and yes, they were the real deal. Also saw them headline w/ Soundgarden opening for them, and even after Steve Adler and Izzy Stradlin left the band, they were still the kings of stadium rock. _FYI_ the best live band in the world right now is **My Morning Jacket**. Miss them at your own risk. Their album work is a bit mellow, but live is an ass-kicking experience. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/38 "2005-03-03T12:23:21Z")
> [@pinkfreud](#): > > I once declined an invitation to go see the Sex Pistols when they played in a rather rough venue in my town. I wish I’d gone. I feel your pain. I had the possibility to see them in Southampton in '77. I knew it would be trouble, so I stayed at school. My pals went and got thumped by Hell’s Angels - but all reckoned it was worth the lumps. I would have love to have seen Elvis in around '68 before he got super-fat. The only person that I haven’t seen, and desperately want to, who is still active is Neil Young. ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/39 "2005-03-03T15:59:13Z")
Had tickets for the shows Nirvana were supposed to do before Cobain smacked himself out of existence. Led Zeppelin The Pixies, when they played last year. The Replacements Screaming Trees while they were still going The Clash I have a big list written somewhere at home of bands I want to see before either they die or I do. I know AC/DCs high on that list, can’t remember the rest ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2005, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400/40 "2005-03-03T16:09:23Z")
The Grateful Dead at the Theater of Light and Sound at the foot of the Great Pyramid Cairo, Egypt September 1978 By all accounts the concerts were not their best, but still… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/concerts-you-wish-you-had-seen/292400.md?page=3)