If you could go back in time, what artist or band would you see in concert? Let's hear your top 5

MC5 at Ungano's 1969/70.
The Stooges at Ungano's 1970.
Velvet Underground EPI show at The Dom, Summer 1966.

 

Strawberry Alarm Clock
Iron Butterfly
The Moody Blues
Cass Elliot
The 5th Dimension

 

May 7, 1824, The Kaerntnertor Theater in Vienna. And yep, that would be a top time-capsule show for sure...
Thelonious Monk/Coleman Hawkins Quartet, October 19, 1944, Minton's Playhouse.
Duke Ellington, 1956 Newport Jazz Festival
Dylan, 1965 Newport Folk Festival
Fairport Convention, 1970 Maidstone Festival.

 

Ambrose Slade 1969
XTC 1980
Sensational Alex Harvey Band 1973
The Move 1971
Cheap Trick 1978

 

Jimi Hendrix

The Doors

Cream

Janis Joplin

Canned Heat

Too young to see any of them,when I was 13 I asked my Mom if i could go to Atlanta to see Jimi Hendrix she asked how would I get there I responded by bus.

Her answer a flat NO.

Oh Well....

 

Ramones at CBGB, before signing to Sire Recs.

AC/DC - any tour with Bon Scott on vox

Raven - the "Kill'Em All For One" tour with Metallica as opening act (would that count as two of my top 5? haha)

KISS - Destroyer/Rock and Roll Over era

Black Sabbath - a 1971 gig at a movie theater in my home town of Paramus, NJ... I was not in attendance due to the fact that I was an infant at the time, but ever since I learned of its occurrence I have been fascinated by the idea that Black Friggin' Sabbath once set foot in the same building where I went to the movies countless times as a kid.

 

The Beatles (Hamburg, Cavern, and DC in 1964)
Fleetwood Mac - '75
Wings Over America tour
Simon & Garfunkel '69 tour
Eurythmics - '89 tour

 

This is really hard:
Frank Sinatra (1960's)
Led Zeppelin ('75 tour)
Michael Jackson (Bad Tour)
Deep Purple (Mk II 70's)
Queen (Magic tour)

 

Ones I could have seen but skipped:

Pink Floyd The Wall 1980
Springsteen '78
Beatles '64, '65 and '66 (I was a little kid but my parents could have taken us to the Hollywood Bowl or Dodger Stadium, but refused)
Led Zeppelin '70 and '71 (same story as the Beatles)
Talking Heads "Stop Making Sense" shows at the Pantages (went skiing instead, figured I'd catch the next tour)

If I had a time machine and geography wasn't a problem:

Any Beatles concert
Still Springsteen '78, but most likely the San Francisco show
Zep's '77 LA run
Dylan's "Judas!" show
How can one turn down Woodstock?

 

Revised list:

Nirvana - 1991
The Who - 1971 @ Young Vic
Jimi Hendrix Experience - 1967 @ Bag O' Nails
Rolling Stones w/Brian - 1963 @ Station Hotel
The Beatles - Any concert

 

Paganini
Chopin
Bach
Coltrane
Art Tatum

 

The Beatles - any concert
Jimi Hendrix - preferably Monterey
The Mothers of Invention - saw FZ several times but would like to have seen the original group
Jefferson Airplane - saw JS, Jorma, Jack but original was better
Dylan - I have seen him regularly from 1978 onwards but would like to have been anywhere in '65, '66 or '74

 

Townes Van Zandt
Muddy Waters
Howlin Wolf
Hank Williams Sr
Jimi Hendrix

 

Led Zeppelin
Tool w/ King Crimson
Emperor
The Deli Ceeps

 

Grateful Dead - London, 5/26/72
Zappa - Roxy, December '73
Dylan - Manchester Free Trade Hall, 5/17/66
King Crimson - Mainz, 3/30/74
Coltrane and Dolphy - Village Vanguard, November '61
I can't believe I couldn't work Sun Ra in there...

 

1. Jimi Hendrix, obviously....

2. Muddy Waters OR John Lee Hooker in the late '70's (I DID get to see Hooker once, but 10 years earlier woulda' been incredible, right around the time when he did that cameo in "The Blues Brothers"... He was perfect at that point... His guitar skills were still fresh as they ever were in that performance, and THAT'S the John Lee Hooker I want to see most... It's like Muddy AFTER he recorded "Hard Again", where he had really found his fire again... Hooker HAD done "The Healer" in the '80's, plus that soundtrack for "The Hot Spot" that he did with Miles Davis and a few others, so he still had it, but in the late '70's, he was still the OLD John Lee Hooker and not "The Healer", you know what I mean?).

3. Tower Of Power in '73 or '74 (I might say '72 or early '73 if there was a point where Rick Stevens AND Bruce Conte were both in the band at the same time, otherwise it would be the S/T album lineup)

4. Isaac Hayes back in 1974 (Doing "Shaft" and "Truck Turner" stuff? Forget about it. That would be too amazing for words.

5. Al Green in the '70's OR the Pat Travers Band in 1979 (w/ Pat Thrall on 2nd guitar).

Best I could come up with on short notice, but I think its fairly-accurate, more or less. I couldn't make up my mind on

 

Genesis, 76-77

 

John Coltrane in the late 50s/early 60s
Grateful Dead in the late 60s, preferably 68 but I won't be too picky
Led Zeppelin mid 70s
Pink Floyd early 70s
Tony Rice in the late 70s

 

2/13 & 2/14/70: Fillmore East: Allman Brothers/Love/Grateful Dead

Plus 5/2/70 Harpur College and at least a dozen 68 & 69 shows

1957 Monk @ Five Spot with Coltrane

Chris McGregor's Brotherhood Of Breath circa 1970 with Dudu Pukwana, Mongezi Feza, Johnny Dyani, Louis Moholo augmented by the great crew of great Englishmen

Of all the other great rock bands of the 60's & 70's probably the Crimson Larks Tongues in Aspic band with Jamie Muir.

Too many others to count but certainly Zeppelin in 70/71, Little Feat 77, Genesis Lamb tour, Floyd Dark Side tour 73, Stooges 70, Can 70/71 in Europe, etc.

Happy I don't dwell as my favorite live music is avant-garde jazz and I'm going to 2-3 shows this month and my experience tells me at least one of the nights will be exciting and invigorating. My guess is both shows at The Stone 6/21 & 6/24 will kick ***.

 

• Clash - Bonds Casino residency
• Stones - '69 tour (not Altamont)
• The Who and Zeppelin at the height of their powers
• Ramones at CBGB

 

Saw them 78, I think - Duke Tour. Good - not as great as they must have been right before and after Gabriel left. My favorite Genesis music was all pre Duke - really Trick of The tail back

 

The Association 1969
Joni Mitchell 1968
Rotary Connection 1967
Spanky and Our Gang 1968
Steely Dan 1972-73 (before David Palmer was fired)

 

Elvis Presley 1969 or 1970 in Las Vegas

 

The only thing good about being old and I mean the ONLY thing is
I have seen most of the bands on these wish lists ...

 

CCR, 1970-ish
Pink Floyd after Animals, before The Wall
Led Zeppelin early-mid 70s
U2, one of the early shows in Dallas, not their first, maybe 3rd-ish
Dylan shortly after Desire