# Time Travel: What 5 performances would you see? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [September 19, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472 "2024-09-19T14:28:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**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:** [September 19, 2024, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/1 "2024-09-19T14:28:19Z")
Concerts, plays, operas, movie premiers, &c. You are limited to 5! Rat Pack at the Sands in Las Vegas. 'Nuff said. The Beatles during the early years when Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best were in the band. I’m not sure if in Hamburg or The Cavern. Recording of the performances of this iteration of The Beatles are rare and poor quality and I’d love to hear them for historical purposes. Farinelli in concert. The greatest castrato singer ever and something we will never hear in our lifetime. “But Saint Cad,” you say. “We can hear Alessandro Moreschi. And there are modern day endocrinal castrato like Radu Marian.” As for Moreschi, but the time he was recorded the techniques that took advantage of the castrato’s unique physiology re: singing had long since been lost. And modern-day “castrati” are countertenors that sing soprano arias - not the same as classic castrati. _Macbeth_ in the Globe Theater. I feel this might be disappointing given the theater going experience versus how it was in Shakespeare’s time but I’m willing to take a chance. I’m not sure what my fifth choice is yet. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/2 "2024-09-19T14:41:12Z")
1. I’ll join you at the Beatles show. 2. Talking Heads at CBGB’s, NYC, in 1975. 3. Bob Dylan at Gerde’s Folk City, NYC, in 1961. 4. The Bruce Springsteen Band, Asbury Park, NJ, 1971. Holding one more in reserve. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/3 "2024-09-19T14:53:43Z")
Honestly, mine would ALL be from the early modern era. So much to learn! _Dr. Faustus_, whenever and wherever the first performance was. Just because it has so many “OMG, how did they stage this?” and “OMG, how did people react to it?” moments. _Love’s Labour’s Won_ and _Cardenio_, our two lost probably-at-least-partly-Shakespeare plays. Of course. _The Duchess of Malfi_ at the Blackfriars in 1613. That one would be so awesomely creepy in a candelit indoor venue, plus it’s one of the few plays from the period where we actually have a cast list that says who played which roles, and it would be nice to put some faces to the names. And, of course, one Shakespeare classic. I guess I would go for _Measure for Measure_ in front of King James at Christmas 1604, because it would be super-interesting to see a court performance, and because the ending is so fascinatingly ambiguous that I would _love_ to see how they staged it. But I could add a dozen more without even trying! _The Winter’s Tale_ for the statue and the BEAR, and Thomas Heywood’s _Edward IV_ plays because I wrote big chunks of my dissertation about them and I don’t ever expect to see them, and Beaumont’s _The Knight of the Burning Pestle_ because it’s so awesomely metafictional (in ways the original audience apparently failed to appreciate, alas), and _The Taming of the Shrew_ because I want to know if / how they staged the Christopher Sly bits, and of course _Hamlet_. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/4 "2024-09-19T15:00:00Z")
1- Woodstock just to be part of history 2- The Band- Last Waltz at Winterland- 1976 3- Bob Dylan at Royal Albert Hall 1966 4- Beatles at Shea Stadium 1965 to experience the height of Beatlemania 5- I don’t know ---
**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:** [September 19, 2024, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/5 "2024-09-19T15:09:18Z")
1. The angels singing to the shepherds on Christmas Eve. 2. Whichever play it was that beat _Oedipus the King_ at its first performance. (There was a competition.) 3. A Jenny Lind concert. (I read her biography when I was a kid.) 4. _Camelot_ in its first Broadway run. 5. _My Fair Lady_ in its first Broadway run. ---
**Author:** ![dirtball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dirtball/32/18772_2.png) [@dirtball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dirtball)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/6 "2024-09-19T15:13:34Z")
I can think of three immediately: 1. Jimi Hendrix / Band of Gypsys, one of the shows in the New Year’s Eve '69 - New Year’s Day '70 run at the Fillmore, probably the second show. 2. The Mothers of Invention, one of the late sixties shows. I lean toward 1969-05-23, Appleton, Wisconsin. 3. The Grateful Dead, the 1978 performances at the Gizah Sound and Light Theater in Egypt. I don’t think any of these shows are among the band’s best performances, but I’d like to have been there for the event. Unfortunately, I was just a poor boy with no money to go flying off to another continent ☹ . ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/7 "2024-09-19T15:17:20Z")
The premiere performances of _The Rite of Spring_ (where much of the audience erupted into anarchic shouting and catcalls) and Beethoven’s 5th and 9th symphonies might be fun. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/8 "2024-09-19T15:22:23Z")
I’ll have to think about this to come up with a full list, but start with: February 12, 1924, **An Experiment in Modern Music** at Aeolian Hall in New York City. The world premiere of _Rhapsody in Blue_ with George Gershwin on piano. Maybe Simon and Garfunkel’s reunion concert in Central Park, although I did see them later on that same tour. > [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > But I could add a dozen more without even trying! _The Winter’s Tale_ for the statue and the BEAR, _The Winter’s Tale_ was the free Shakespeare perfromance on Boston Common this summer, but I didn’t get to go. Kicking myself a bit for that. ETA: Maybe the 1973 Belmont; Secretariat won by 31 lengths going away. Some bettors didn’t bother to cash their winning tickets. They were worth more as a souvenir. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/9 "2024-09-19T15:25:39Z")
Also assuming I could have a good vantage point…I’d love to say Nick Cave at Glasto, the source of that YouTube vid where he performs Stagger Lee, but if I’m a mile back, what’s the point? 1. Nirvana at the club Foufounes Electriques in Montreal, fall of 1991. 2. The Iggy Pop tour in the late seventies with Bowie on piano, one of the German dates. 3. U2, Zoo TV tour. 4. The Clash on the London Calling tour: a better breadth of material than the first couple of years, but not Shea Stadium scale yet either. Seems the right balance. 5. The Velvet Underground at Max’s, 1970 or so. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2024, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/10 "2024-09-19T15:27:45Z")
1868-1872-ish: One of Mark Twain’s Lectures May 1893: Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show at the Chicago World’s Fair April 1964: Keith Moon’s first performance with The Who January 1969: Beatles rooftop concert (on the roof, not in the street) May 1971: Humble Pie at the Fillmore ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/11 "2024-09-19T15:35:25Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > ETA: Maybe the 1973 Belmont; Secretariat won by 31 lengths going away. Some bettors didn’t bother to cash their winning tickets. They were worth more as a souvenir. If we are accepting sporting events I have an appointment in Mexico City in 1986… ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/12 "2024-09-19T15:38:45Z")
Good Friday, 1865, The Ford Theater, _Our American Cousin_. I figure if I shout out, “He’s going to shoot the president” at the right time, that’d spook John Wilkes a bit. ---
**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:** [September 19, 2024, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/13 "2024-09-19T15:39:52Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > I have an appointment in Mexico City in 1986 1986 or 1968? > [@veryfrank](#): > > U2, Zoo TV tour. I would say an early U2 concert but considering they have the California Hall 1981 on youtube and Red Rocks, I would not waste one of the precious 5 on this. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/14 "2024-09-19T15:46:44Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > 1986 or 1968? Specifically June 22, 1986. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/15 "2024-09-19T15:48:23Z")
Pink Floyd at Pompeii during the recording of their concert film. Jimi Hendrix during his 1967 tour supporting his first album, Are You Experience? Led Zeppelin in Boston, 1968. A 4 hour show, their entire first album, many songs that would appear on later albums and covers of songs from the 20’s to the 60’s. Van Halen in San Diego, 1978. It was at a small 2000 seat theater. I had a ticket to the show but missed it when I was assigned duty that night. One of the things one has to deal with when in the Navy. It was the 3rd show of the tour promoting their first album. Soundgarden at Sodo Showbox for the release of their 3rd album, Badmotorfinger. Only about 700 folks saw that. For those that chose the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965, read the reviews. I saw some of the reviews recently, they are not good. 30 minutes of 55,000 fans screaming which drowned out the band. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/16 "2024-09-19T16:07:01Z")
That was my first thought as well but I figured what if Lincoln hadn’t died and history was different enough so that for whatever reason my ancestors didn’t meet and I was never born, creating a time paradox and pictures of me would disappear. I think for my 5th choice I’d go to Simon and Garfunkel’s Central Park concert. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/17 "2024-09-19T17:02:29Z")
_Our American Cousin_ in its original New York run. James Kirke Paulding’s _The Lion of the West_, whose character Nimrod Wildfire was a caricature of Davy Crockett. William Gillette playing Sherlock Holmes. Julie Andrews on Broadway. Not sure if I would choose _My Fair Lady_ or _Camelot_. The original cast of _Oh! Calcutta!_ ---
**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:** [September 19, 2024, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/18 "2024-09-19T17:02:53Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Specifically June 22, 1986. You’d shout out, “He used his hand!” and have them reverse the goal? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/19 "2024-09-19T17:04:15Z")
I’d also go see: Prof. Peter Schickele & Co. performing _Hansel & Gretel & Ted & Alice_ live. _The Mikado_ at the D’Oyly Carte, but a couple weeks after the premiere, so they’d be over their opening nerves. _Ziegfeld Follies of_ pick any year. The Beatles playing at The Kaiserkeller in Berlin, before they became famous. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472/20 "2024-09-19T17:07:34Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Good Friday, 1865, The Ford Theater, _Our American Cousin_. I figure if I shout out, “He’s going to shoot the president” at the right time, that’d spook John Wilkes a bit. I’d bring Lieutenant Oliver Wendell Holmes along, since Lincoln would recognize his voice yelling once again [“Get down, you damn fool!”](https://www.shapell.org/manuscript/get-down-you-damn-fool-abraham-lincoln-battle-of-fort-stevens/) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-travel-what-5-performances-would-you-see/1007472.md?page=2)