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

The Beach Boys in the early 1980's at a private concert at their Santa Barbara home. Actor Leif Erikson was also in attendance and since my brother set the whole concert up for a commuter airline that my family owned at the time, I could have damn near sat on the stage, if I had wanted to. There was one huge problem, the day of the concert, my wife and I both woke up with the stomach flu, and there was no way I was going on an airplane and to a live concert on that day. I think my brother spent like $50,000 on that concert event, and he also did a lot of trade outs to get it done.

 

the clash.....BOND...nyc....may/june 1981....still have the unused ticket

 

Me too.

I still regret that, but anyway 1979 was my best concert year ever until recent years, and probably still holds up because the artists touring in this century don't equate in my eyes and ears.

That year I saw the Jam, The Who, the Damned, Graham Parker and the Rumour, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Kate Bush, the Boomtown Rats, Squeeze, the Tubes and Fairport Convention on their 'farewell' tour with Bert Jansch opening. And a few others.

 

David Bowie
Van Halen
Roy Orbison
Paul McCartney

 

Quite a few. The main concert I really regret was The Rolling Stones in 1981. I thought $18 was an absurd amount to pay for a ticket.

 

My friend Terry can beat that - she opened for the Clash at Bond's early in the run with her band The Sirens. When Grandmaster Flash had to pull out of the Saturday night opening slot, the band wanted the Sirens to open for them again, so they called up the band's manager who was living with another band member. They turned the offer down since they already had tickets for the opera that night.

Terry was...annoyed. To put it mildly.

 

Rolling Stones, when they were in town earlier in the millennium. Up-close was too expensive and I didn’t want to shell out to watch a Jumbotron with a bunch of middle aged drunks.

Bauhaus, during their first reunion tour - had tickets, but a flu virus had other plans for me.

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - they played the Ottawa Bluesfest shortly before he died and I intended to go, but, well...

 

Your clarification left me more confused!

 

Eagles
Jimmy Buffett
Jackson Browne
Elton John

 

I was on holiday in Nerja when ZZ Top played Liverpool in 2003.

I had tickets for Neil Young & Crazy Horse in Liverpool in 2013 but Frank Sampedro broke his hand. The rescheduled gig clashed with the world cup final in 2014 so I got a refund.
After a month of being glued to the box, I missed Gotze's brilliant extra time goal when I got up to turn off my speakers that I was streaming the live commentary through...

I only found out about Cheap Trick playing the Cavern 2 years ago when reading a review online. It sold out on the pre-sale and Bun E had left by then but even so, I may have been lucky. I've seen them 3 times in Manchester in the past but had to drive so not under any influence.

 

I made a pact with myself maybe 20 years ago that I wouldn't miss the chance to pay and see any artist that's in the RNRHOF if they came through my city.

Since then, I've missed (through lack of funds/motivation) about 90% of those acts. I really shouldn't make pacts with myself.

 

Abba - was at the box office at the Glasgow Apollo and saw the tickets...
Johnny Cash - assumed there'd be another show...