# If you could see any musical act... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2016, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719 "2016-08-23T05:23:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6bbea6/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ace)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/21 "2016-08-23T19:29:10Z")
Zep with John Bonham. Queen with Freddie. Big Brother and the Holding Company with Janis. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/22 "2016-08-23T19:43:50Z")
> [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > I’ve seen just about all I want to see, but I missed Alice Cooper. Gasp!! This must be corrected! So do it. Do eeeet now!!! 😉 Okay, so he tops my three, only I wish it was '72 - '73 during the Billion Dollar Babies tour. Which I’m sure is what I say every time this topic comes up. He is THE man. #2 is Pink now because I adore her and she kicks ass, and #3 would’ve been Keith Green before he died in a plane crash. When I was a teenager and heavily into Christian music, I was devastated to find out he was gone after loving several of his songs. He seemed so genuine and sincere in his spiritual beliefs (and that felt like a much more innocent era), I still would be thrilled to have seen him in his heyday. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/23 "2016-08-23T19:50:40Z")
I would kill to go back in time and see the Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall. Miles Davis when he had his nonet with Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, et al. Or the sextet with Coltrane and Cannonball Adderley. Janis Joplin for the energy blast. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/24 "2016-08-23T19:51:56Z")
Even though the Beatles aren’t even close to being the best group ever, I would’ve loved to be on that rooftop in 1969. Hendrix Steppenwolf ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/25 "2016-08-23T20:17:07Z")
First, without a doubt, Aretha Franklin. In any time of her career. Sigh, it’ll never happen, she won’t tour Europe again in her lifetime. Second, the Beatles 1962, either at Star Club, Hamburg or at the Cavern. Third, Van Morrison with the Caledonia Soul Orchestra on his 1973 tour, which is documented on his 1974 live album _It’s Too Late To Stop Now_ (and lately completed with the fantastic 3-CD set _It’s Too Late to Stop Now…Volumes II, III & IV_) That’s Van at his peak with a dream band including brass and string sections, pure magic. Alternatively his 1980 performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was almost as transcendental. I’ve seen him live in 1992 in Cologne and though it was a solid concert, the former magic was somehow gone. He was always and foremost, since the age of 15, a working musician, but he, well, transcended this on these former concerts, whereas that gig at Cologne and footage of later concerts I’ve seen or heard since then (for instance the 1994 live album _A Night In San Francisco_) felt always like going through the motions. And hundreds more, but we were restricted to three :). ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/26 "2016-08-23T20:18:54Z")
Hamilton, original cast. Simon and Garfunkel. Ookla the Mok ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/27 "2016-08-23T20:20:54Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > **Van Halen circa 1979.** I could only afford one concert that year, and it was between VH and Cheap trick. Not that CT wasn’t good - they were. But I wish I could have gone to both. > > Blue Oyster Cult circa Agents of Fortune. > > Led Zeppelin. I was going to go to the In Through the Out Door tour, when it got cancelled permanently. > > Honorable mention: The Violent Femmes at Century Hall. I saw about half before I fell asleep. What I saw was great, though. _Bolded mine._ My answer word for word. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/28 "2016-08-23T20:21:07Z")
I would have loved to attend the[Last Waltz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Waltz) in 1976. It could have happened. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/29 "2016-08-23T20:27:02Z")
> [@NeonMadman](#): > > I saw Bob Dylan and Joan Baez in the Rolling Thunder Revue, so that more or less fulfills it for me. Aaargh, and this, first leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue or even better, Bob Dylan and the Hawks 1966 in England, preferably Manchester Free Trade Hall. (Well I’ve seen Dylan in 2000 in Oberhausen, but that was a different thing, a different voice and a different time. But it was good). ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/30 "2016-08-23T20:32:31Z")
I’ve seen Yes five or six times, but as I was born the year _Fragile_ was released, it was their later incarnations I saw. I would love to see a show with the classic _Fragile_ lineup, or even a '70s show -Bruford +White. I did see ABWH in '89, and the Union tour in '91. At one point during the latter show, the _Fragile_ lineup (only) played “Long Distance Runaround.” That’s the closest I’ll ever get. ☹ And now that Yes is basically a cover band led by Steve Howe, I won’t be seeing them again. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/31 "2016-08-23T21:07:26Z")
David Bowie, Diamond Dogs Tour (1974). Coked to the gills, but IMO at his peak as a live performer. And I’ve seen him in concert four times, each one was great, but Diamond Dogs show was (from what I have heard) amazing. Queen with Freddie. Any time. On a completely different type of music - Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny. Or maybe Ella Fitzgerald in her prime. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/32 "2016-08-23T21:08:43Z")
Beatles Sex Pistols Ziggy Stardust '72 ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/33 "2016-08-23T22:33:31Z")
Again, assume perfect conditions\*, and the set list can be anything from their repertoire. So, no screaming teenies at the Beatles, and they’d be performing anything that they worked on together. Perfect conditions would be a large crowd for most groups - well behaved, but into it. Others may be a small coffee house setting. ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/34 "2016-08-23T23:08:12Z")
The 1/30/1969 rooftop concert. It was short, but of any Beatles concert that’s the one I’d want to be at. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2016, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/35 "2016-08-23T23:17:49Z")
Ooooh, a good runner up might’ve been the Doors concert where Morrison decided to let the Lizard King out. ---
**Author:** ![dada2fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ccd318/32.png) [@dada2fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dada2fish)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/36 "2016-08-24T00:24:14Z")
Bowie Ziggy Stardust Tour '72 Bowie Diamond Dogs Tour '74 Roxy Music any show of first two tours with Brian Eno Pink Floyd The Wall tour '80 since I could’ve went but like an idiot, didn’t ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/37 "2016-08-24T03:11:25Z")
Kesha (already seen her four times, and hopefully many more in the future) Tom Petty (ditto, except two instead of four previous times) Michael Jackson (never saw him and never will) ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/38 "2016-08-24T03:20:59Z")
Bix Beiderbecke and his Wolverines in the 1920s. Bix died at 29, but they say his cornet sounded like a girl saying “yes.” I’ll share a table with **Chefguy** at Birdland for one of the only two live performances of the 1948 Miles Davis “Birth of the Cool” nonet with Gerry Mulligan, JJ Johnson, Lee Konitz, Bill Barber, John Lewis, etc. The 1905 premiere of Richard Strauss’s _Salome_ in Dresden. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/39 "2016-08-24T04:44:03Z")
Genesis. Probably on the Abacab tour. Marillion. After Clutching at Straws, before Fish left the band. Pink Floyd ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/40 "2016-08-24T07:36:06Z")
Joy Division The Smiths Shelleyan Orphan None of mine are current but damn, there’s nothing but a bunch of old fogeys in here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719.md?page=3)