Best concert you never saw

Blitz, you'll be happy to know he wasn't any better the other two times I've seen him, either. Best/worst part of that first one you're talking about was him trying to sing the Garfunkel parts along with Paul Simon during their five-song duet interlude between the two sets.

 

I saw B.B. King 20-odd years ago and he was terrific. Haven't seen him since but I'm sure he's way past his prime.

I saw Sinatra twice very late in his career. The first time he was fantastic and my Sinatra-crazed buddy said he did a lot of songs he normally didn't do at that stage of his career. The second time was lousy. I think he was hammered. He certainly made enough trips to that bar cart he kept on stage. Either way, quite an experience.

 

Even if B.B. has lost much of his game, he's someone worth seeing just to say you did. I checked him off my list years ago, and it was cool just to be in the same (albeit incredibly huge) room with him.

 

Stadium/arena/ampitheater division:

The Who circa '79. Never forget your first concert

Talking Heads in '83 or thereabouts, on the "Stop Making Sense" tour. they were at the top of their game then

the Who again in 89 and 95, then again in 06 at the Virgin festival in B-more, where it was just great to see them still breathing (2 of them anyway) after all these years

Van Morrison

RIP Division:

Miles Davis at DAR Constitution Hall in DC

Dizzy Gillespie at symphony hall in boston

small club division:

The Band

Steve Earle

The black keys

The Rev. Horton Heat

The Ramones at The Channel in Boston. Kept the crowd waiting until about midnight before they came out. The place erupted.

 

Sometimes I wonder whether people even read the title of a thread, much less the thread, before they post.

 

No, I really don't think they do. Unless long snapper knew what happened at these concerts and just wishes he could have been there.

 

I got something a little different out of the thread title.

The best concert I never saw, I was at.

Patty Smyth and Scandal at a small rock club in 1981. I was, uh, sloshed, plastered, etc.

I do remember stumbling near the stage to get a close look at Patty. She did look good.

I also remember standing on a table to get a better look at Patty. She looked good there, too ... until I fell off the table and onto two others.

I woke up 2:30 the next afternoon on my couch, and my arm felt sore. I went to the bathroom, and the entire inside of my biceps was purple from where I fell.

But Patty Smyth looked really good. I think.

 

Guilty as charged in this case. My bad.

Best I never saw: Led Zeppelin. Me and thousands of others. Had tix but tour was canceled when John Bonham died.

I'll crawl back into my hole now.

 

Blitz, I too was at The Who "farewell" tour stop in Birmingham. Remember it well because of a rainstorm of biblical proportions that night. Thought we'd never get to the BJCC.

The best concert I never saw I still have two unused tickets for. Dire Straits in Birmingham, November 1980. Tickets were $7 each.

I also missed a J. Geils Band show in a 300-seat club in Memphis in '81 or '82. The opening act was U2. Good friend who was attending Rhodes College at the time had an extra ticket, and I didn't go.

 

When I was 18 or 19, my friend and I had that same thought. So we made a mental list of all the bands we needed to see: Green Day, 311, Blink 182, Less Than Jake, Pennywise, Rancid, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Offspring, MxPx, NOFX, Bad Religion, Dropkick Murphys, No Use For A Name and Piebald.

Thankfully for us, the Warped Tour made a few stops around us before we each moved away from home. After 40-plus concerts in which I've seen more than 70 different bands, I've only got the Dropkick Murphys, No Use For A Name and the Mighty Mighty Bosstones -- who broke up for four years and is now back together -- left on my list; he needs those three and MxPx (in case you give a shit).

We didn't want to let what happened to Nirvana and Sublime or even a natural break-up deprive us from seeing our favorite bands.

 

You must have been drunk.

 

Yes. Every time I see McEnroe in a commercial, I think of how drunk I was.