# 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:** 3
**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, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/41 "2016-08-24T12:42:06Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > there’s nothing but a bunch of old fogeys in here. If the band is alive and current, I can just buy a ticket next time they come to New York. The OP is giving me a free pass to see any musical event in history. Of course I’m going to pick someone impossible, i.e. dead. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/42 "2016-08-24T13:50:54Z")
> [@Personal](#): > > _Bolded mine._ > > My answer word for word. I’m pretty sure I still have the stub, I’d have to check the date. VH was out, they were probably touring on VHII, memorable concert to say the least. They were absolutely cranking, all sorts of personal effects being thrown on stage when DLR called for the band to stop. He bent down and picked up a Big Bamboo-sized joint that had been tossed on stage, took a drag, says “I guess everything really is fuckin’ bigger in Texas!” (apologies to the Texas haters of the board - which is about everybody), tosses the joint back into the crowd and the band fires right back up. Place went crazy. I would like to have seen Pantera. Stevie Ray Vaughan. Bill Evans. Hendrix. ---
**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, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/43 "2016-08-24T14:48:53Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > If the band is alive and current, I can just buy a ticket next time they come to New York. > > The OP is giving me a free pass to see any musical event in history. Of course I’m going to pick someone impossible, i.e. dead. There’s a lot of space between “Alive and current” and the rock dinosaurs that seems to be \* l’argent commune \* in this thread. Which is fair enough, I think the board skews that way and I was including myself in that “fogeys”, I was just amused. Also, impossible =/= dead. The Smiths are never playing again and even if Morissey got a personality transplant and they were, I wouldn’t want to see them - I want the musical gods of my youth that I never got to see live, damn it. ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/44 "2016-08-24T16:26:31Z")
This one is easy. Simon & Garfunkel ---
**Author:** ![edwards\_beard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@edwards\_beard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/edwards_beard)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/45 "2016-08-24T16:34:22Z")
Metallica w/Cliff Jimi Hendrix Pantera With opening bands: Led Zeppelin The Doors ---
**Author:** ![somepumpkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7feea3/32.png) [@somepumpkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/somepumpkin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/46 "2016-08-24T16:46:59Z")
Jellyfish Honorable mention: Queen ---
**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, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/47 "2016-08-24T16:49:49Z")
**MrDibble:**. I’m surprised by how few of us are choosing stuff that’s NOT Old People Rock. So far just me, **Chefguy** , and **RobotArm**. I thought we had more jazzbos and classical nerds here. No one wants to be there at the Vienna premiere of _Der Zauberflote_, with Wolfgang himself rocking out on the celesta? ---
**Author:** ![Enlightening\_Meditation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecc23a/32.png) [@Enlightening\_Meditation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enlightening_Meditation)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/48 "2016-08-24T16:51:56Z")
**Pink Floyd** during the Syd Barrett UFO Club era London circa 1967. **Jimi Hendrix Experience** in early '67. **Grateful Dead** during the Ken Kesey acid tests era. \*\*Tool \*\*during _10,000 Days_ tour 2007. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/49 "2016-08-24T17:53:38Z")
My friends still give me grief about choosing to see **Shonen Knife** on one stage over **Tool** on another stage at Lollapalooza. My pick that I haven’t seen mentioned here is **XTC**. Partridge’s psych/emotional issues aside, they could conceivably play again, but probably never will. ---
**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:** [August 24, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/50 "2016-08-24T17:57:13Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **MrDibble:**. I’m surprised by how few of us are choosing stuff that’s NOT Old People Rock. So far just me, **Chefguy** , and **RobotArm**. I thought we had more jazzbos and classical nerds here. > > No one wants to be there at the Vienna premiere of _Der Zauberflote_, with Wolfgang himself rocking out on the celesta? Was the Wolfman any good on the celesta? Maybe his genius was as a composer and it took other performers to really bring something out of his music that he couldn’t. Are there contemporary accounts of his playing ability? As a piece of history it would be amazing to experience, and that was part of the reason I chose _Rhapsody in Blue_, but I think this thread has been more about the music than the history. Old People Rock has an interesting niche. It’s new enough to have been recorded, old enough to know what were the really special moments, and also recent enough to trigger some nostalgia. We know who the great performers are. I’d love to have seen all them; The Beatles at the Cavern Club, Bruce Springsteen at the Stone Pony, Harry Belafonte at Carnegie Hall, Glenn Miller at Glen Island Casino. Great is great, genre don’t matter. I had a ticket a few years ago, fourth row center, to see Ennio Morricone with a 200-piece orchestra down in Brooklyn. He had to cancel for health reasons, and another chance seems unlikely at his age. I’m sorry I missed that one. And Bob Newhart has an upcoming date here in Boston. Would have loved to catch him in his heyday, but I’m not sure if the button-down mind still brings 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:** [August 24, 2016, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/51 "2016-08-24T17:58:24Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > My friends still give me grief about choosing to see **Shonen Knife** on one stage over **Tool** on another stage at Lollapalooza. You saw Shonen Knife? Lucky dog, was it the original lineup? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/52 "2016-08-24T18:00:00Z")
> [@Enlightening\_Meditation](#): > > **Grateful Dead** during the Ken Kesey acid tests era. > > . In many of the listed artists, you can get better sound by buying a CD. But there was no better concert _experience_ than the Dead. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/53 "2016-08-24T18:31:11Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > You saw Shonen Knife? Lucky dog, was it the original lineup? Twice, once on their own tour around '89 or '90, then at the '94 Lollapalooza. So original as far as I know. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/54 "2016-08-24T19:04:06Z")
Ask me in an hour and I’ll come up with something different, but how about: Jethro Tull circa 1970 Charlie Parker circa 1945 [Leonard Bernstein’s debut](http://www.leonardbernstein.com/hc_debut.htm) (shades of Magic Johnson filling in for Kareem) ---
**Author:** ![SykoSkotty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c0e974/32.png) [@SykoSkotty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SykoSkotty)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/55 "2016-08-24T20:21:24Z")
Led Zeppelin The Doors KISS in the 70’s, the Love Gun tour. ---
**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 25, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/56 "2016-08-25T01:57:15Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > In many of the listed artists, you can get better sound by buying a CD. But there was no better concert _experience_ than the Dead. I didn’t get to my first Dead show until 1978, when I was 17, and the oldies were already saying they were past their peak. Not sure if I’d want to go to a show during the Acid Test era, because the whole band was, well, on acid. Of course, there’s that SMOKING “Know You Rider” from 1966, which showed up on the old BEAR’S CHOICE vinyl album. Just listen to Jerry’s guitar break starting at 1:24… [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6pWCFrioVzc/maxresdefault.jpg "Grateful Dead - I Know You Rider (Live 1966)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pWCFrioVzc) ---
**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 25, 2016, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/57 "2016-08-25T02:02:17Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Ask me in an hour and I’ll come up with something different, but how about: > > Jethro Tull circa 1970 > Charlie Parker circa 1945 > [Leonard Bernstein’s debut](http://www.leonardbernstein.com/hc_debut.htm) (shades of Magic Johnson filling in for Kareem) I’ll take Bird’s Town Hall concert (NYC) from June, 1945, with Diz, Al Haig, Curley Russell, and Max Roach. Parker showed up late and stoned, so Don Byas filled in on tenor for the first tune. And Big Sid Catlett took over the drumset for “Salt Peanuts” and “Hot House.” ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/58 "2016-08-25T04:56:42Z")
[ul] [li]Mozart: premiere of Mass in C minor, Salzburg, 1783[/li][li]Beethoven: premiere of 9th Symphony, Vienna, 1824[/li][li]_Dr._ Liszt: end of Lisztomania, Kiev, 1847[/li][li]Beatles: beginning of Beatlemania, Scotland, 1963[/li][/ul] (yeah, I chose 4. Sue me!) ---
**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 25, 2016, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/59 "2016-08-25T08:20:33Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > **MrDibble:**. I’m surprised by how few of us are choosing stuff that’s NOT Old People Rock. So far just me, **Chefguy** , and **RobotArm**. I thought we had more jazzbos and classical nerds here. > > No one wants to be there at the Vienna premiere of _Der Zauberflote_, with Wolfgang himself rocking out on the celesta? Personally? Nope, I’m happy with other renditions of that music - I don’t think opera, symphony or other similar, orchestrated, styles are really comparable in nature to rock, jazz or blues. Not dissing the importance of the performers, there, just noting they’re not _as_ improvisational. Also, I didn’t get the impression the OP was asking for _specific_ historic performances, just historic _performers_. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719/60 "2016-08-25T14:55:37Z")
Thanks, Ukelele Ike, for embellishing my Charlie Parker idea. Today I’ll go with: Van Morrison in 1973 Ustad Ali Akhbar Khan circa 1980 James Brown in 1995, in Barcelona (mainly because I COULD have gone to this show, but I failed to convince my mother and girlfriend to change our travel plans a bit, to my everlasting regret) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-see-any-musical-act/763719.md?page=2)