If you had to name only one (1) live concert that you could have gone to see anywhere, anytime but did not, what would it have been? (No list . . . No honorable mentions . . . Only one.)
My 50th birthday. Prince is in town playing a small venue The Showbox for $250 apiece. Had to miss it for dinner with the family. Apparently not only was the show fantastic; the after party was epic. Never got a chance to see him again
While in college, around 1985, I had the opportunity to see Sun Ra and his Arkestra in Philadelphia, and I chose to go to a party instead. Retrospectively, had I been exposed to the music then, I think I would have developed a taste for Jazz earlier, and would have chosen to see many more artists that were still performing up to the late 80s. So it would have had a "snowball" effect. Also, I could have seen John Gilmore on tenor saxophone...
Stevie Ray Vaughn headlined a Greenpeace organised festival in Auckland NZ 1989. The girl I was with at the time didn't fancy travelling the couple of hours on the back of my motorcycle, tempted to go in any case but didn't
Mahler 8 - CSO, Solti on a Saturday in 1977.
Had tickets, but Solti was injured that morning.
When we got to the door - "Cancelled".
The concerts went well on the preceding Thursday and Friday.
The chorus director Margaret Hillis did not feel that she could do it that night. But she worked with Sir Georg and successfully conducted on Monday at Carnegie Hall.
I recently saw the bound score in the CSO archives.
Though I did see SRV in Austin TX, and I saw Jeff Beck with The Jan Hammer Group in Boston, JB and SRV did a double-bill tour together. I knew they were coming, but...
I saw SRV several times in Austin nightclubs when I was stationed in Austin in mid-to-late 70's, and a couple times afterward. Alpine Valley, in retrospect, would have been epic.
For my vote, I'd put down Monterey Pop Festival, with Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Otis Redding being introduced to a largely unsuspecting crowd.
In '75, my oldest sister introduced me to Bob Marley. A year later, he would be in NY for a concert and she asked my Mother if I could go. As she didn't like Rasta's(and still doesn't even though she was born, raised and returned to Jamaica 25 years ago), she said "no".
This was the Sinatra's first live album that was commercially released. He was accompanied by Count Basie and his orchestra and the charts were arranged by Quincy Jones. It was recorded live in the Copa room of the former Sands hotel and Casino in Las Vegas in January, 1966.
1985 Rock in Rio de Janeiro with Scorpions, Queen , AC/DC , Iron Maiden etc.. I was too young to fly arround the world (14) If there were a time machine, I would go back there.
Also a double-booking regret. Had tickets for a Mark Morris show and Haitink doing Bruckner 4 as part of his 90th birthday tour. We went to Mark Morris, which was terrible. Haitink then went and died. Big mistake, especially as his previous gig (Mahler 1) was exceptional.
