Concerts that you had a chance, but missed....

Believe it or not, I had FREE tickets waiting for me at will-call to see the Grateful Dead, in 1988, but I couldn't find anybody to go with me. Even going by myself, I would have had to take about an hour-and-change bus ride to get there (two buses), and I wasn't sure about getting back or whether it would be a total fiasco trying to get HOME from the Grateful Dead on the bus after it was over, would there even BE a bus at that time... I was also a little afraid the bus would be packed full of hippies, the second bus of this particular trip meant going from one end of the route literally all the way out to the other end of the line, and I just didn't feel like going by myself at that moment. I definitely regret it now. But I mean, when you mentally think of the Grateful Dead and you think of a BUS, you don't exactly think of being trapped on one for hours, filled with people, pulling the cord and stopping every two blocks!

 

Mr Bungle at small rock club around 1994. I was 15 and needed an adult to get me in.

 

I shouldn't count this as "had a chance," but it's one I wanted to go to, missed and really regret not seeing it. I was ten or eleven years old, and had seen a couple of concerts with older cousins--Grand Funk and the Alice Cooper Band with opening act, ZZ Top. Deep Purple was scheduled to play an out door show at Cornell University, around 20 miles from my parents' house. I begged them to let me go, but there wasn't anyone to take me as a chaperone. There was no way either parent would go--they were of the WWII generation and didn't like rock--particularly loud hard rock. To make a long story short, it rained, the band failed to show, and there was a riot on the field. That would have been a story to tell my friends at school.

 

I missed Oasis at the start of their "Dig Out Your Soul" tour at WaMu Theater in Seattle on 26 August 2008. Opening act was Ryan Adams and the Cardinals. I considered Oasis to sound much better in concert than on their compressed-to-death albums but had only seen them perform in recordings, never in-person. The tour, and Oasis, ended on 28 August after another backstage fight between the Gallagher brothers. Damn.

 

The "Texas" dates would have been when I would have gone.

 

Just this past summer, George Clinton and the P Funk All-Stars were playing right here in my city. That morning I got around to asking a friend if he was interested in going and he was slow getting back to me. I got to a lot of shows by myself, so I can't really use that as my excuse. But for some unexplainable reason I waited until about 2 hours before the show to jump online to buy a ticket...and it was sold out. George may not make it around again.

 

The Who - The Jaguar Club, Aug. 10, 1968, St. Charles, Ill. (just five-miles from my hometown).

Bob Dylan & The Band - St. Louis, Feb 4, 1974

The Sex Pistols - London, May 1976

I missed them for different reasons. I don't have too many Rock 'n Roll regrets because I've been blessed with tons of great music, but those three stick in my craw.

 

The Rolling Stones- surprise show at Toads in New Haven. I was interning for the local rock station at the time and had a connection to get in - but I had decided to go on vacation that week, stuck out of state and I missed out.

Years later I moved to NYC blocks away from the Beacon theater. Stones played the theater twice. Once for Clinton- no chance for that one- but it was cool to see all their gear parked on the sidewalk.
A few years later- Beacon again- when they filmed the Scorsese show - I almost got in- as an extra- they went with young clueless model types instead.

 

Yes - Union Tour 1991

My son was born late '90 and the wee git used up all the cash. I've never forgiven him.

 

Wings Over America at Kemper Arena in KC. Long story and boy do I regret it now.... oh my!

 

I wanted to see the Monkees with Michael Nesmith in 2014, but we had just been to two other concerts back to back and my wife needed a break. A shame, because their set list on that tour was one of their most interesting. I did see them in 2011, when they played almost all the songs from Head.

 

McCartney, 1989 due to poverty. Never seen him. Should have put it on the credit card. Stupid responsibility . . .

 

One of my biggest regrets in life is becoming a Who fanatic about a year too late as I could easily have seen The Who with Keith Moon in Greensboro 1975.

 

I was offered tickets to see Springsteen back in 75 and said no thanks. After hearing his first few albums I thought he was just a Dylan wannabe and I was not impressed. In hindsight, wish I would have gone for the experience and to see if his live show might have changed my mind.

 

Despite being steeped in the middle of the 80's metal scene, I always neglected seeing AC/DC. I, regrettably, took them for granted.

I also had tickets to the '87 Texxas Jam and my cousin, whom my dad bought tickets for, neglected to pick me up. Boston, Aerosmith, etc...

 

Rage Against The Machine, twice.

First time, they had a show that ended up falling on the second day of Senior Year of High School. Should have gone to that one.

Second time, actually had tickets this time. This was when they were touring with the Beastie Boys, and one of the B-Boys had injured his back. So the whole tour got cancelled. Then they broke up.

 

Queen and Thin Lizzy at Dayton Hara Arena in January 1977 due to a bad ice and snow storm. Parents wouldn't let my friends and I attempt the 60 mile drive but we were ready to hit the road and battle the weather. Our parents were right (and they were always right ). We found out later the show was cancelled.

 

REM circa late seventies ......They were headlining a gig at the Ocean Club Cardiff ......I had a ticket but had to go to work that night as I could not get a swap for my job at the steelworks .
Went outside on my break at about midnight and could hear the band playing about a half mile away .......still resonates all these years later!!

 

Almost went to see Nirvana at Roseland Ballroom in New York City in 1993.

 

When I was a youngster, I missed a package show during the summer of 1987. Headliners were New Order and Echo and the Bunnymen, and the opener was Gene Love Jezebel. But, on the day before the show, it rained more than nine inches, and all the roads were closed between my hometown and the location of the shed where the show was to be.

Years later, I was living in New York City and had tickets to a CMJ show where the buzziest band of the moment was due to play: The Strokes. Only problem: The show was scheduled for September 14th, 2001 at Irving Plaza. Needless to say, with the terrible attacks on the World Trade Center, well, that show never happened.

 

The Band. Cleveland '76. Cancelled due to poor ticket sales.
The Sex Pistols. Cleveland, '78.
Nirvana. Many times. Still have the tickets to various shows. Kept thinking I'd see them 'next time'. Oooops.
Damageplan. Columbus, Oh, December 8, 2004. Ended up not going to the show to record vocals on a cover version of
'Happiness Is A Warm Gun'. Found out when I was leaving the studio that Dimebag Darrell had been shot to death.
I'm sure there are more shows that I can't remember....

 

Led Zeppelin - April 1970 Miami Beach Convention Ctr.

Would've been my first. Had ticket. I was 14. Mom said uh-uh. I had been a bad boy.

 

I saw the Oakland show, well, the INDOOR one. It was the first time I saw The Who and it was great. Wish I'd seen the OUTDOOR Oakland show the day before as well, with The Clash (at the time I thought I was smart to avoid The Clash {didn't like them} by picking the indoor show at Oakland Coliseum Arena. In hindsight, this was a big mistake!). Of course, not as big a mistake as the one you made by missing The Who in 82 completely, geo50000.

 

Yeah, yeah...don't rub it in!

 

I didn't go but for a different reason. As I recall, the ticket price was $25 which was quite a large sum for a concert ticket in those days. For that reason and not being a huge Band fan, I passed.

There was also another I passed on that I regret (although I do have the poster). It was billed as the Northern California Folk Rock Festival in San Jose (1968). On the bill were The Doors, The Youngbloods, Country Joe and the Fish, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Jefferson Airplane, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Electric Flag, Kaleidoscope, and Taj Mahal. My friends that did go said that the Grateful Dead also performed even though they weren't advertised. What was I thinking?