Bands I Wish I Had Seen

Great thread Sadoldgit.

Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Was planning to see him on his final tour, but he died before he made it this far.

Whilst I did manage to see Lou Reed, Velvet Underground would be another for me. In my mind’s eye, I’d have some chemicals rushing round my body, communing with friends, whilst swaying and grinning to Venus in Furs.

Pink Floyd. I’d come straight from seeing Velvet Underground in my adjusted mental state, and chill to a bit of this.

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Great thread. Well deserved for a vote up!

The Smiths

Nirvana

Queen

The Beetles

Led Zepplin

I’ve no idea why I missed them. They soundtracked falling in love and my first two children. Which is why if they reformed I’d probably be the kid sobbing in the audience below.

I’m going to put my head on the line and say they’re the most important band of the last 20 years (yeah - screw you, Radiohead)

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Bletch, I saw Lou Reed at the IOW festival about 10 years ago when he refused to perform any of his more well known stuff - Perfect Day, Sattelite of Love, Walk on the Wild Side etc - and, as a consequence, left the majority of the audience rather disappointed. What was he like when you saw him.?

For me, and apologies for being a predictable old bastard, but it has to be AC/DC when Bon Scott was fronting them. More than anything, I think I just would have an excellent time.

They’ve got simple song structures, rearrange them nicely for the live performances (although I think a part of that is Bon not remembering the lyrics! :D)

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He had a reputation for that I believe, but I had an almost religious experience Halo.

It was a few years back at the Hammersmith Apollo (2008?) and Reed was touring the Berlin album. Just that. Start to finish. In order.

He was backed by a local gospel choir and there wasn’t a lot of chat. As it’s conceptually a very emotional piece, it would have have been out of place to have engaged the audience.

From memory, he did a couple of encore tracks, but that was it.

Short and sweet and wonderful.

Well, short and bleak and wonderful really.

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I wished I’d made the effort to go and see Pink Floyd at Earls Court in the early 90’s. An ex girlfriends uncle also worked for Sony and I had the opportunity to go and see whacko Jacko but couldn’t be arsed because I’ve never really liked him…looking back I wish I had, just to say I’d seen him if I’m honest.

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A band that I now wished I’d seen live was one that formed the musical backdrop - usually, the unwanted musical backdrop - to many of my formative years, which is somewhat strange because, back then, very few people in my peer group, myself included, actually liked them; or, at least, were prepared to admit that they liked them. I remember a girlfriend describing her sister’s new boyfriend to me: “he seems like a nice bloke, except that …”, lowering her voice, “he likes Abba”.

Queen , zep and floyd

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Originally posted by @Sussexsaint

Queen , zep and floyd

Pretty much this

I was pretty lucky, looking back. Managed to see Led Zeppelin (not a big fan now though), The Who at the Valley, Dr Feelgood, Dylan at Earls Court, and then again at Hammersmith, The Ramones, The Jam, The Clash quite a few times, load of Two-Tone bands (The Specials, Madness, Dexys Mignight Runners and The Selecter on the same bill - hah!), and quite a few old legends no longer with us - Muddy Waters, James Brown, Curtis Mayfield…

But the one I really regret not seeing was Bob Marley. Bit too young for the Lyceum in 1975, but could have made the ‘Rastaman Vibration’ or ‘Exodus’ tours. I probably thought I’d get around to seeing him sometime but by 1981 he was gone

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Not one for the Punk Era kids but I was sorry to miss Steely Dan. A lot of the Punks I used to know at work have tempered their opinions on them in recent years. They were supposedly the antithesis of Punk but they were simply a great Rock band.

My girlfiend and I had tickets to see them at the Top Rank in Southampton around 1974 IIRC…we were walking up and everyone else were going in the opposite direction…“Forget it Donald Fagan’s got a bad throat…gig’s cancelled” :cry:

King Crimson (any incarnation) and Gong (original incarnation)

There are also a few gigs that I wish my brain had gone to while my body was there.

I do, however regret seeing Tangerine Dream at Salisbury cathedral. It was nice to take a well earned nap though.

Originally posted by @Ohio-Saint

King Crimson (any incarnation)…

Saw them on a couple of occasions…one “Lizard” era at the Old Refectory, Southampton Uni (cracking gig) and also McDonald & Giles at an open air gig in the Uni grounds.

Originally posted by @lifeintheslowlane

Not one for the Punk Era kids but I was sorry to miss Steely Dan. A lot of the Punks I used to know at work have tempered their opinions on them in recent years. They were supposedly the antithesis of Punk but they were simply a great Rock band.

My girlfiend and I had tickets to see them at the Top Rank in Southampton around 1974 IIRC…we were walking up and everyone else were going in the opposite direction…“Forget it Donald Fagan’s got a bad throat…gig’s cancelled” :cry:

With you on that one. I was playing cricket at Havant that day and got the driver to get us back at breakneck speed only to be told it was off.

Wasn’t it at The Guildhall though? Definately 1974.

Originally posted by @Lets-B-Drinking

Originally posted by @lifeintheslowlane

Not one for the Punk Era kids but I was sorry to miss Steely Dan. A lot of the Punks I used to know at work have tempered their opinions on them in recent years. They were supposedly the antithesis of Punk but they were simply a great Rock band.

My girlfiend and I had tickets to see them at the Top Rank in Southampton around 1974 IIRC…we were walking up and everyone else were going in the opposite direction…“Forget it Donald Fagan’s got a bad throat…gig’s cancelled” :cry:

With you on that one. I was playing cricket at Havant that day and got the driver to get us back at breakneck speed only to be told it was off.

Wasn’t it at The Guildhall though? Definately 1974.

It was “Top Rank”…I remember because it was very unusual…Doobies at the Guildhall around the same time. The only other rock band I saw at “Top Rank” was Focus…not sure of the date on that one.

Justin Harris in Hi Watts…hear they were a top band in Southampton. :laughing:

Beatles, Queen, Oasis and White Stripes.

Oh and Johnny Cash.

I should have added REM to my list. At their peak they were awesome.

I left The Beatles off purely because of all the screaming girlies. I went to see T.Rex at the point they stopped being a hippy duo and turned into and electric teenybopper combo. Ride A White Swan and Get It On had turned them into a big act and I was swamped with screaming prepubescent girls. Rolf Harris would have loved it!