I’ve seen most of the bands I care to see, but I would love to have seen Bad Religion in their prime in the early 90s.
Nothing at a stadium. I have gotten to see a lot of bands on the way up, in small venues, can’t complain. So I’ll go with the NIN show at the Ritz theater, or maybe Lady Gaga, since I’ll never get to see them anywhere small, and could have.
My mom ran away from home to see Elvis in a high school basketball gym, that always struck me as much cooler than I would have thought her.
It would be great to hear some of that Baroque music back when it was new, Bach is so good.
I really racked my brains with this one and think mostly it would be to go back and see somebody just prior to becoming big to see the embryo performances at smaller gigs so maybe Early Kraftwerk or even Sparks. Also (and I can’t believe I’m saying this as generally it’s not my genre) Focus as part of the audience for the midnight special.
The earliest I could find was a mesopotamian priestess named enheduanna, so that’s who I would want to see, just the chance to hear music no human since would ever get to hear
Points for imagination! That’s somebody’s next album cover.
To be on the Festival Express train in 1970 and experience that rolling party/jam session with members of the Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Buddy Guy to name a few.
- Pink Floyd c. 1979 during The Wall tour
- Portishead in '94 around the release of Dummy
- CCR at any point really
- Deftones in 2000 after the release of White Pony
- Jeff Buckley just performing Hallelujah
- Millencolin in 2000 right after release of Pennybridge Pioneers
- Bob Dylan at Newport in 1964, then again in 1965
- Nirvana at MTV Unplugged
- Hendrix at Woodstock
- AC/DC with Bon Scott in 1979
- Rage Against the Machine in 1999
This is an excellent list. I might add (just for fun) mid 70’s Deep Purple & mid 80’s Allan Holdsworth.
Nirvana around '92 or '93
I got to see them in a club down here, and am so glad. They drove a tiny white van all the way across the country. There were like 30 people at that show.
I got to see Kraftwerk perform Computerworld live a couple years ago and it was amazing. At this point I’ve seen the majority of my bucket list artists and I feel fortunate for this.
If I’m thinking time travel maybe an early Daft Punk show in France.
Crazy Town, circa 2000. I want to be there for that first tour just after Butterfly released and experience the paradigm shift for myself. If I have to pick a single show, let’s make it the November 29th WBCN X-Mas Rave at the Avalon Ballroom in Boston, where you’d not only get to experience Shifty Shellshock in his prime, but also P.O.D. and Insane Clown Posse. In one night.
Electric Warrior, Devotional Tour, Hendrix
I dunno, Beatles in either the white album or Sgt pepper era would be amazing.
Specific performance, the nirvana mtv unplugged might be a better option.
Then again, there’s a dozen performances at Woodstock that were nuts. Hendrix at that show? Fuck me, that’s a peak music experience.
I dunno man, this one is hard.
Fuck! Robert Johnson! Any performance ever. The recordings from back then are not the best possible audio, and you know that man could tear up a room. That’s my final answer.
Woodstock '69 at the age of 19.
YES. Woodstock is also my “where would you go first if you had a time machine” answer.
I don’t really like concerts, but I really would love to see GWAR. I don’t know if they still tour; I had heard they retired but they also made a music video within the last year or two so IDK if they plan on coming back or what. I don’t follow music as much as a friend I haven’t talked to in years did.
I got dragged to a Gwar show in college. I was warned about the blood, but nothing can really prepare you for that.
I don’t even wanna go for the music; the show they put on itself looks awesome from the few tapings I’ve seen.
I got dragged to a Revolting Cocks concert. Nothing prepared me for the giant phallus the lead singer pulled from under his kilt and squirted a foamy liquid over the front row audience. It was a fake one not his own, but I was a bit like wtf.
