Oh, man, how could I have forgotten Alice? I would kill to have seen him on the Brutal Planet tour!
I’m assuming you meant Monk and Coltrane. Monk and Brubeck would be. . .odd.
Eva Cassidy at Blues Alley or Pearl’s.
Willie Nelson, but only if it is just him and his guitar.
Elvis with back-up singers. Singing spirituals.
Bruce Springsteen in Dublin with the full band he had when performing folk songs.
Slight nitpick: that was the album’s release date. Today is the anniversary of the actual show as seen in this youtube clip.
Sounds like the perfect occasion to do some time traveling. I seriously considered including The Who on my list. I would love to have seen them with Keith Moon.
The Clash
The Ramones
The Cramps
Elliott Smith - when he was sober enough to remember his songs.
Kate Bush back in 1979 during her one and only tour. I’d cheat and see every show on the tour. I’d assume that if I could afford the time machine, travel and tickets would not be an issue.
Todd Rundgren with his very first Utopia tour, where he opened solo for Utopia.
Peter Gabriel on the Security tour. I was there, my future wife was there as well, but it was a month before we had met. I’d fix that.
Frank Zappa - I had free tickets from the venue for repairing their microphone snake that some moron had driven a forklift over. And I had to miss my only chance to see him due to the actions of a different moron.
I’ve seen Alice about 20 times since the late 70’s, I keep going because it is such a show and I keep thinking “This may be the last time he comes on tour”… yet he keeps coming back!
JSB would be the top of my list, except that I’m sure I’d be disappointed by 18th Century performance styles, and instrument quality. Which would be my failing, of course.
This is by far the top of my list of performances I’d go back to see. Day One of the 20th Century in classical music. BTW, my impression from what I’ve read is that a significant portion of the audience reacted favorably, appreciating the import and wonder of what they were hearing.
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I’ve only seen him once, circa 1986, and it really was a fabulous show.
Pink Floyd, in their late pre-Dark Side era ( the ‘at Pompeii’ special would be about perfect).
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Van Halen around 78,79,80 before they got too drunk and dysfunctional to play.
A bunch of the folkies in their prime (or at least alive), like Jim Croce, Harry Nilsson, Cat Stevens
Damn near anyone who was performing before the advent of recorded sound. Buddy Bolden, to hear what the fuss was all about. Scott Joplin, to hear what the friggin’ tempo is really supposed to be. Any anonymous mediaeval or renaissance composer. Bach or Buxtehude improvising. Bruckner improvising. John Dowland playing anywhere, any time. Those evenings at the Schumann’s house when young Brahms would drop by. First night of ‘Das Rheingold’ at Bayreuth. Any concert with Berlioz conducting. The list goes on…
Franz Liszt.
In particular, I’d love to hear the infamous “piano duel” between Liszt and Sigismond Thalberg.
Elvis, between the 1968 Comeback Special and 1972
Gang of Four
The Misfits (or the Clash, since I can only pick 3)
To be honest this didn’t really happen until fairly recently, maybe mid-2004 tour and especially the 2007 tour. I’ve seen them on every tour since 1982 or so and those were the only times where there was a problem with Ed’s actual guitar playing.
If you’d have said before the egos, power struggles, artistic differences, and personality clashes, I’d agree %100.
The early years of Jack Johnson’s career were something to experience in small venues or with college audiences, everyone in the crowd would sing along with him for every song.
That’s a pretty short liszt.
mmm
David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust tour.
Thelonious Monk
Johann Sebastian Bach
Nikhil Banerjee
The Stooges on their first album
Peter Frampton on of course the Frampton Comes Alive tour
The Who, anytime with Keith Moon
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life