Meme attempt

[lynxreign]

I was thinking there are concerts I really wish I'd seen. Some of them it'd be completely impossible for me to have seen, like the 1939 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert with Benny Goodman. Others are concerts where I saw the equivalent, for example I saw Sonic Youth in the early 90s, so other concerts from that era really don't count. I'm going to list the top 5 concerts I wish I'd seen with an arbitrary date of 1980 as the cutoff. I was young then, but could have been taken to a show by a parent or older relative. I did see Benny Goodman around that age. Sure, it is a bit of a stretch, but 12 is my arbitrary age.

1) Siouxsie & the Banshees around 1980. Is this the reason my arbitrary date is so early? Maybe. I never saw them, but the early stuff is my favorite. Their shows were supposed to be amazing.

2) The Talking Heads before 1986. I never did see them, though I've seen spinoff groups. Again, their early stuff is my favorite.

3) They Might be Giants any time before 1989. I've seen them a TON since then. I've probably seen more shows by them than by any other band, but I'd like to have seen one of their first shows.

4) The Soft Boys around 1980. They broke up in 1980, but they're one of my favorites. Sure, I've seen Robyn Hitchcock frequently, but it isn't the same. Heck, you could append any early Robyn Hitchcock show to this one too. Anything before say 1986.

5) Vagiant... wait, I'm seeing them Friday. Never mind.

5) Mudhoney around 1992. Piece of Cake is a great album.

Sure, there are lots of acts that vie for that last position and I may revisit this at some point, but that's where they stand today.

Should I have only listed bands I'd never seen? Early TMBG and the Soft Boys are very different from what I actually ended up seeing. Maybe the idea would be better with never seen bands only, though.

Anyway, what bands are on your list?

Comments

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Sounds about right... Sweet's pretty mainstream for WFMU. Not like Bon Jovi playing the Knitting Factory or anything, but you know what I mean.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Well, it was right after his first album.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

Do you remember if he actually had Robert Quine playing with him, or did Quine only do studio work on the album?

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

I honestly didn't pay much attention to him. After Zorn, everyone started talking and hanging out. They didn't start paying attention again until Johnny Rotten started yelling at them.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

That'll do it.

Gosh I would have loved to see Quine play live. I'd have put the Voidoids in there but I was too young during the Blank Generation tour, which is when I would have wanted to see them.

[lynxreign.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm right with you on the Voidoids.

[maps-or-guitars.livejournal.com]

The only live recordings of the band I've heard from that era are almost unlistenable, but you can get a vague sense of the degree to which they ripped it up.