Friday OT - Do I Have To Pick One?

[MeanDean]

Beatles (Late '63 Sweden tour. Very tight by then but the Swedish girls weren't doing the scream thing.)
Chuck Berry (with a decent support band, not the local bar band he usually hired when he'd roll into town)
Buddy Holly
Van Morrison/Them

Edit: Saw Stones X 2, Dylan, and Bowie.
I would add Springsteen and Mellencamp on the bottom if necessary, too.

 

[wenkeej]

Queen.

Not Live Aid because that's everywhere and only 20 minutes. One of their peak late 70's/early 80's concerts that went 2-3 hours.

 

[WhatchaGonnaDo]

If I have to pick one it's Jimi Hendrix

Other contenders:
Led Zeppelin
Queen
Elton John
Fleetwood Mac

 

[cyclones500]

The Beatles is an obvious answer for me. Since it's a what-if/wish list, if I could've had close media access (photos & reporting) to be close to the stage during any of the band's stadium shows in mid-'60s, that'd be awesome (I'd be able to hear the music above the shrieks).

 

[CRcyclone6]

Ozzy

 

[BMWallace]

I would love to experience the emerging punk and new wave scene at CBGB in '74-'75. The Ramones, Blondie, Talking Heads, Patti Smith. Not necessarily bands in their primes, but the growing of a new era in music.

 

[BMWallace]

Would also like to see Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac

 

[Cupped]

California Jam. I went to California Jam II but only watched the original on TV when I was 13 or 14. Living in Southern California in the 76-79 and then again 10 years later presented nearly unlimited opportunities to see bands of that era. But some of the best concerts I attended were in Ames and the Midwest!

Some of my favs were the Rolling Stones 1978 Anaheim Stadium everyone throw your shoes show, where they played Tumblin Dice and then Linda Ronstadt came on and did her version. Grateful Dead at UCLA Pauley Pavilion NY Eve. Started at midnight, played all night then served breakfast after the show. Suffered (lol) a punctured ear drum at Neil Young/Crazy Horse Rust Never Sleeps show at the Forum in Englewood.

I like the T shirt that says, "I may be old but I got to see all the cool bands!"

 

[cytor]

Would also like to see Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac

That was my first concert I ever saw!

 

[CascadeClone]

Mostly what people have said - Led Zepp, Prince, Pink Floyd (saw in Ames in '94 but would like to see earlier version). Maybe some of the great bluesmen when they were in their prime - Ray Charles, BB King.

This is different, but I always thought it would be cool to go back and see a classical debut - like the first public performance of Strauss' Blue Danube or Beethoven's 9th. Just to see how people responded to it the first time ever, knowing it becomes not just music, but a human achievement.

 

[carvers4math]

Obvious answer for me is The Beatles.

Less obvious answer is The Band. I can hear their influences in several genres after their time.

 

[Cyclones_R_GR8]

Planning on seeing Alice Cooper in Sioux City in May (45 years after the first time I saw him perform)

 

[drlove]

Bowie, Prince, Talking Heads, The Clash, and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Any of those would really be a treat.
I'm kicking myself as I had many chances to see Bowie and Prince, but didn't go.

 

[Bipolarcy]

I think I'd go with some Motown greats like the Temptations, The Spinners, The Ojays, Smokey Robinson. I've seen most of the great acts I wanted to see, like the Who, John Denver, Elton John, Eric Clapton, Bread, Rare Earth, the Guess Who, the Beach Boys, etc.

I also wouldn't mind seeing Van Halen and Aerosmith.

 

[CYdTracked]

I think it would have been fun to see Johnny Cash live in his prime.

I kind of like seeing established bands and artists live now because they'be played the same songs for years and with the advancements in technology and trends in music a lot of them have "modernized" how some of those classic hits sound today compared to when they first were recorded. Maybe they tweeked how they sing it a bit or added a little something to the instrumentals or changed the tempo a bit to where the sound is more "crisp" to the times. I finally got to see The Steve Miller Band in concert at the Well in Des Moines not long before COVID hit and if you compare how he plays his songs now to when he originally recorded them the sound and even the tempo at times just flow so much better than the original recordings.

 

[cyclones500]

I regret not seeing The Replacements live during the band's prime.

Toward end of the band's original run --- Orpheum Theatre, February 1991 (opening act Gear Daddies)… Something didn’t mesh with my schedule. Also I might have assumed I’d catch a show “another time,” not anticipating the group would break up a few months later.

Also I think Mats had a show at The Maintenance Shop (or some other venue in Ames??), maybe late-'84 (?), some of my friends attended, I must have had something going on “academically” that week, so I didn't go (show was not on a weekend, IIRC).

I did get to see Westerberg in his early solo years, mid-‘90s, in Madison, Wis. Fantastic show, small theater venue, tight set. For some reason haven’t found my way to one of his gigs since then (but my live performance attendance has dwindled gradually in recent years).

 

[Angie]

I noticed that Tom Petty was at Wells Fargo at the last minute, so couldn't go, and that turned out to be his last appearance here.

It was legitimately a great show from a guy who we now know was clearly hurting physically.

 

[KnappShack]

Some type of Otis Redding - Sam Cooke double bill

Woodstock - all of it in my 22 year old body

Chris Cornell - mostly because he played a show and we decided not to go. "Next time he's in town"

I've been lucky to see almost everyone I'd care to.

 

[dmclone]

Would have also loved to see the White Stripes.

I saw Jack White in KC and Des Moines. A friend and I had tickets to see the White Stripes in Omaha and then Meg hung it up prematurely.

 

[BMWallace]

Since the Gallagher brothers are never gonna patch things up, I want to go back and see Oasis in '96.