Biggest artists you never saw, but could have . . .

Not clear how I managed to never see The Who before or after Keiths passing (ain't The Who at all w/o The Ox).

I had Bob Marley tickets for a show that turned out to be two weeks after his death.

Not sure if he's a 'biggest artist' but I would have liked to see Tom Waits.

Other than than that, Ive seen most of the legends I care to see, I think.

 

Yeah, this is an exceedingly broad question.

I've attended more than 1000 in my 53 years - 39 of which I've been an active concert-goer - but there are still dozens of big acts I never saw...

...because I wasn't interested.

Even I restrict just to acts who toured when I was an active patron, there are still tons, and I don't regret most.

Woulda been nice to see Queen, and they did tour in my "active years". However, I wasn't a big fan, and I wasn't that active yet in 1982.

Nirvana is closer to an active regret, but I didn't become a real fan until like March 1994. Obviously I never got a chance to see them after that...

 

Fleetwood Mac in the 2000’s - Rumors lineup. Bought the tickets, but the concert (Greensboro, NC) was cancelled.

 

Tyler Childers. I had tickets to see Tyler for 10 bucks, but I was more interested in the opener (Sammy Brue), so when Sammy Brue backed out I sold my ticket. Fast forward to like a year later and Tyler is one of the biggest things in country/americana music and out of my price range. Still kick myself for that.

 

Sia at the 930 Club in DC in 2008, way before she hit it big on the Main Top 40 charts, when she was just played on AAA radio. I had tickets, but a conflict came up and I wasn't able to go to the show...

 

Had tickets for The Groundhogs in the early seventies. Turned up at the gig. Blackboard outside said cancelled. There were rumours the tickets were sold illegally.

 

Christine McVie didn't resume performing with FM until 2014. Was it that time period? Because for me, no Christine, no "Rumours lineup"....

 

I looked it up - 2009. I didn’t realize Christine was absent. Still hate that the show was cancelled. I really wanted to hear Buckingham’s guitar in person.

 

The Beatles Hollywood Bowl

 

I never got into the Grateful Dead until college and love them dearly now. I passed up a couple of times to go thinking they would always be touring. Was planning my first time to see them when Jerry passed away. Big regret.

 

McCartney in '93. My parents got four free tickets at the last minute and offered the other two to me and a friend who already had plans to hang out, but we already had a night of drinking planned and my friend wasn't much of a Beatles/Paul fan, so I declined. I chose...poorly.

 

.... conversely, there were two shows thankfully I DID go to:

-Fleetwood Mac (Rumours lineup, before LB left)
-The Eagles (History Of The Eagles tour, before Glenn Frey passed away)

Both at the TD Garden, and both around 2014/2015. Was on the fence about both shows, but ended up going to both, and so glad I did.

 

Once on a whim in the 80s (85 or 86) I bought two tix to a Bob Seger show on my way to work. I was walking downtown Pittsburgh and saw a half dozen people lined up outside a record store. I asked what they were waiting for and they told me Seger tickets were going on sale that morning. Well, the line was short and I had the time and money, so I got in line and bought a pair. The show ended up selling out, and I decided to scalp the tickets to a guy l knew who wanted them.

 

Someone told me that Van Morrison was playing at the `Town and Country Club`, a small dingy nightclub in Leeds (UK), It`s a 15 minutes drive from my house, I told them "Don`t be so Daft!" (that`s a Yorkshire expression), but of course it was true, and I lost my chance to see one of my favorite artists! I have also never managed to get to see Richard Thompson who plays regularly at the `Irish Center` in Leeds, I always seem to miss out on the tickets which sell out almost immediately.

 

An outlier to you Rock fans but for fans of Organ Jazz, I passed on The Mighty Burner, Charles Earland.
It was a situation like one of the previous posters - I had to get up early for a blue collar job the next morning and my youthful days of being a Die Hard had long since left.
Then he was gone.
It pains me still just to write this.

 

Well, maybe not as broad as you might think. Let me clarify:

My intention for this thread was not to list an occasion to not see an artist, that ever you saw later, or had already seen.

My intention for this thread was not to list an occasion of having not seen an artist for something that was out of your control. IE, If the artist died or outright cancelled, or you were sick, or did not have the ways or means, then that was out of your control.

I was definitely going to see John Lennon and buy a ticket when they went on sale, but his tragic death was out of my control.

I really wanted to go and see Gary Moore after the release of Still Got The Blues, but he came nowhere near Dallas.

So all of the people that had Led Zeppelin tickets for their 1980 NA Tour... that wouldn't apply here.

I would have liked to have seen The Wall in 1980, but I did not have the means to fly to NY or LA to see them... that wouldn't apply.

I would like to have flown to England in 1979 to see Led Zeppelin perform at Knebworth, but that doesn't apply as I did not have the means, and I had already seen LZ, so the never saw part makes this not applicable to me.

I saw The Who in 1975, so when I could have gone to see them around Thanksgiving in 1973 perform Quadrophenia, and didn't out of laziness, and not being able to find anyone to break away from being with family to go with me, I didn't. A big regret, but I did see that version of The Who with Moonie in 1975.

I wanted to see Pink Floyd tour with Animals in 1977. But I did not go because I did not have the funds to do so, as a college student, who chose instead to pay scalpers to see LZ in Ft. Worth and Houston, after having seen them in Dallas earlier that year. So the PF example doesn't qualify, because I could not go because my funds were already stretched to thin.

 

The Clash

It was so close...

 

A buddy and I went to Milwaukee in June ‘73 and got tickets for Deep Purple. The box office had tickets for Led Zeppelin, $10. Had to pass because we didn’t have the money.

 

Man. If there is a band I would have loved to have seen back in the 70's. It's the Hogs. A little before my time though.

 

From '89 onwards I could have seen the Rolling Stones, but snobbery or cheapness got in the way. I remember in the movie theater with friends thinking they were too old and underwhelming in the Let's Spend The Night Together '81 tour film. I actually enjoy that era nowadays as Keith still sings back up vocals, and from current perspective they're so young. I also own and enjoy some of the latter blu-rays like the Stripped set, but at the time of those tours I just wasn't interested. I'm also not the sort to say goodbye to old bands and most of the time am content to stick with my memories of those I did see, hence not going to more recent opportunities at an age where I'm more inclined to spend money. I probably would have enjoyed myself and experienced some good musical moments too, but no regrets.

 

I saw them a few times in the early 80's. Some of the best live experiences I've had the pleasure to witness. They really rocked.

 

I had a ticket to see U2 but unfortunately due to a misunderstanding got detained by the local constabulary, dodged a bullet there...

 

Had Tix to see Rage Against The Machine and The Beastie Boys @ RFK stadium in 2000, but Mike D hurt himself biking delaying the tour, and then Zach left RATM - never did see either band. That one hurt and still does.

 

Some of these are heartbreaking

 

Some friends of mine were going down to Knebworth to see Led Zeppelin. I said no thanks I'll catch them next time.