# Survey - what band/performers would you go back in time to see? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 13, 2012, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736 "2012-02-13T19:37:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chef\_Troy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Chef\_Troy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chef_Troy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/41 "2012-02-14T03:25:02Z")
Stevie Ray Vaughan, of COURSE – and specifically his last show, at Alpine Valley. My Texas citizenship requires me to answer thus, although I would have anyway. As for the other two, I immediately thought of these two before I clicked on the thread – and how is it that nobody has mentioned them? [ul][li] **Oingo Boingo** , and[/li] **The Tubes.** [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Harvey\_Ferguson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/97f17d/32.png) [@Harvey\_Ferguson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harvey_Ferguson)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/42 "2012-02-14T03:41:50Z")
Johnny Cash Jim Croce Buddy Holly ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/43 "2012-02-14T10:53:36Z")
Bob Dylan and the Band (then still the Hawks) in 1966. The Who with Keith Moon. The Clash. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 11:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/44 "2012-02-14T11:04:56Z")
Well, three just are not enough, so here’s more I can think of: Elvis Costello and the Attractions in 1978. Otis Redding. The Flying Burrito Brothers with Gram Parsons and/or Gram Parsons and the Fallen Angels (with Emmylou Harris). The Beatles in Hamburg or at the Cavern Club. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/45 "2012-02-14T11:37:21Z")
Joy Division The Smiths Lush ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/46 "2012-02-14T11:46:56Z")
The premiere of Beethoven’s Ninth. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/47 "2012-02-14T13:35:54Z")
> [@Tibby or Not Tibby](#): > > Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No.2, Premiere 11/9/01, with composer as soloist “\*Rachmaninoff! \*It shakes me! It quakes me! It makes me feel goose-pimply all over! I don’t know who I am–or where I am–or what I’m doing! Don’t stop–don’t stop–don’t ever stop!” (Sorry–having a Marilyn Moment) ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/48 "2012-02-14T14:12:33Z")
I’d go with my childhood heroes: KISS, circa '77 or so. I was a serious devotee and a member in good standing of the KISS Army. Van Halen, same circa – maybe a few years later. I saw them with Sammy Hagar in the 80s and I saw David Lee Roth on his solo tour, but I would have loved to see the original line-up when they first hit their stride. And to round out, I’ll go a little later and say, Stevie Ray Vaughn, at any time in his career. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/49 "2012-02-14T14:18:37Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > “\*Rachmaninoff! \*It shakes me! It quakes me! It makes me feel goose-pimply all over! I don’t know who I am–or where I am–or what I’m doing! Don’t stop–don’t stop–don’t ever stop!” > > (Sorry–having a Marilyn Moment) Now I want Champagne and potato chips. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/50 "2012-02-14T14:52:07Z")
Charlie Parker Vladimir Horowitz The premiere of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” in 1913 which (may have) caused a riot of the Parisians as it was far above what their primitive minds could understand. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbershoot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbershoot/32/3428_2.png) [@Bumbershoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbershoot)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/51 "2012-02-14T15:08:29Z")
The Beatles Jimi Hendrix The Replacements (on a good night, with Bob Stinson) All these people saying Stevie Ray Vaughan makes me realize how lucky I was to see him perform a bunch of times, including his last show as a headliner on Aug. 24, 1990- at the Kalamazoo County Fair! I still have the ticket stub, the price was $10. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/52 "2012-02-14T15:41:52Z")
I used to say “Man, I wish all those 80’s hair metal bands I used to go see in the clubs were still around…I’d kill to see them again”. Hey, whaddayaknow, the nostalgia wave has hit that era, and I’ve been seeing a ton of them again! ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Doom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Dr\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/53 "2012-02-14T15:42:27Z")
Black Sabbath 1975 - of course I assume everyone knows Black Sabbath continued for 30 years after Ozzy left, but they were never the same. Saw them once, in the '80s, with a very forgettable lineup. Apparently there is a reunion in the works. Motorhead 1980 - with Fast Eddie Clarke. Motorhead has been up and down, hit and miss since his departure in the early '80s. Another groundbreaking band/sound. Saw them late '80s, was a great show. Metallica 1985 - with Cliff Burton. Burton’s death in '86 in a tour bus accident assumedly drastically altered the ultimate direction the band took. He was the most accomplished musician of a talented group. I saw them a few times late '80s early 1990, before the dreaded Black Album. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/54 "2012-02-14T16:05:03Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > “\*Rachmaninoff! \*It shakes me! It quakes me! It makes me feel goose-pimply all over! I don’t know who I am–or where I am–or what I’m doing! Don’t stop–don’t stop–don’t ever stop!” > > (Sorry–having a Marilyn Moment) Well, let me scratch that itch, baby. ---
**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:** [February 14, 2012, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/55 "2012-02-14T16:22:10Z")
Janis (big shockeroo there, eh) with Big Brother, natch. John Denver Jim Croce ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/56 "2012-02-14T16:24:46Z")
Benny Goodman’s Carnegie Hall Concert in 1938 The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, when Bunny Berigan was his trumpet player, on a night when they performed [“Marie”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT_SKad39uU). (Berrigan’s solo begins at 1:43, and will make your jaw drop!) King Oliver and his Creole Jazz Band, circa 1923, when Louis Armstrong was playing second cornet. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/57 "2012-02-14T16:28:23Z")
Labdad, I wish to be your date. I’ll buy the popcorn. ETA: And Spike Jones. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/58 "2012-02-14T16:34:48Z")
Simon and Garfunkel (pretty much whenever) Alan Parsons Live Project (I know they’re still touring, but I’d go back to the days of Alan, Ian Bairnson, and Stuart Elliott (and if I could get Andrew Powell in there too, that would be great)) Peter Gabriel’s “Up” tour (his live performance of “Signal to Noise” was nothing short of orgasmic) Bonus: Men at Work, Business as Usual tour (this was the first concert I ever saw, and it was great) Bonus 2: Styx’s “Kilroy Was Here” tour. I wanted _so_ much to see this tour when it was live, but I was in high school and my parents wouldn’t let me to go L.A. Bonus 3: Tom Lehrer 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/59 "2012-02-14T16:50:39Z")
Mrs. Cad and I had this conversation a while back. Needless to say, everyone in their prime. 1. Farinelli Even though there are modern-day endocrinological castrati, their style is lost forever. And even if someone finds the notes of a 18th Century teacher, there is no one with Farinelli’s ability to take advantage of it. It would truly be something that no one living has ever heard.\* \*If you want to point out Moreschi, the recordings are poor and he was well past his prime when he recorded even if his ability were not questioned. Plus his style was very different than the 18th Century opera that were the rage during the height of castrati singing. 1. Elvis - In Vegas just to experience old-time Vegas and the show but before his voice really left him. 2. Take your pick: The Beatles or U2 back when they were just starting out in the little clubs. Honorable mentions) I would have said the premier of Tosca but Toscanini was not available to perform and Enrico Caruso was not in the cast. Imagine llistening to him singing _E lucevan la stelle_. La boheme? I saw Baz Luhrman’s version of it. I took Mrs. Cad to see one of her favorite performers that she had never seen live - John Denver at the Cerritos Performing Center. It turned out to be his final show. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2012, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736/60 "2012-02-14T17:04:32Z")
Great choices, I’ve seen almost everyone at some point but as far as classic shows: Alice Cooper- in Detroit in 1969 and the 1973 shows KISS - 1976 The Ramones -1975 Van Halen - 1978 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/survey-what-band-performers-would-you-go-back-in-time-to-see/612736.md?page=4)