Your Missed Live Acts Regrets/Successes

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I was stunned to hear Justin say he never saw ACDC live. What are your regrets?

EDIT: meaning shows you could have easily seen but did not.

My Top 2 are Dio and Blackmore. And then this year I did not go to see Steve Lukather.

I missed Dio. I was a big fan in the late 1980s/early 90s and then went back to Dio as one of my favorites from the early 2000. I had a shot at seeing him in the late 90s and just decided not to go. Ouch. So that’s my biggest one.

I don’t know that I have ever had a chance to attend a Ritchie Blackmore show without much travel. But it surely is a huge miss because when I was a teenager, I was listening mostly to Blackmore.

Finally, earlier this year (!) I did not go to see Steve Lukather. I had not yet picked up guitar and I was like “man, this is not really TOTO, so…no.” I month later I bought a guitar and signed up for Justin. Which changed everything about my perceptions. Ouch. Hopefully, I will get another chance.

In terms of live acts I did see, I consider myself fortunate for various reasons. Limiting to those I consider the most important to me:

Whitesnake (with different lineups)
Van Halen with Sammy Hagar (yay!)
Steve Vai
Deep Purple with Steve Morse
Jethro Tull

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Great topic there Steve, here goes mine!

Biggest regrets is not seeing live shows or Nirvana or Queen. Not much I could have done it since they never had a show in my home country and in once case I was pre school age and second I wasn’t in my parents plans yet :laughing:

As to successes - I pretty much saw every band from my top of the top list, some even twice. One I want to highlight is that I managed to see Chris Cornell… twice! One as a solo gig and once with Soundgarden, especially seeing Soundgarden was pretty cool as I never imagined they will reunite :slight_smile:

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I’ve seen a lot of bands,…but like anyone with a wide taste I haven’t been able to see most i like a lot …only I don’t do regrets… but I enjoy what I do I have seen, and who knows what I will see in the future,…and there are many people Adrian who think they will ever see Queen in the original setting :grin:…
I was happy with the video recorder, then the DVD came and now I am as happy as a child sometimes with you-tube,… :sunglasses:
Greetings,…

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That’s great. Yeah, I meant things that were surely doable but we did not do them:)
In terms of reunions, I never dreamt I would see Whitesnake 6 times, nor did I think I would be able to see Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. In fairness, those were far from Eddie’s best years, Sammy says he had to sometimes sing to Mike Anthony cause Eddie was totally out of tune, but it does not really matter (Right Here, Right Now is a Top 3 album for me and i have heard it a ‘million’ times; the point was to see them in action).

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For me, it would be Queen too. In my teenage years, Freddy Mercury used to stay in Munich several times, but I was too young at that time.

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I’m incredibly lucky, having come of age in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 70s early 80s. That allowed me to see a ton of amazing music live. I was born in Detroit and have a lot of love for Motown and much Michigan music. A few years ago I was at a conference that offered a musical event for attendees: Stevie Wonder. I did not attend. I can’t really call it a regret - I had dinner with a very special friend (he actually hosted my wedding reception) and had a wonderful night. But I still feel a twinge thinking about having been that close to seeing Stevie. (Attendees were admitted with their conference badge - no plus ones allowed. :frowning: )

As for successes: I saw Queen - I think it was 1977. Huge indoor arena show in Oakland, but somehow I scored 3rd row seats. I even caught one of the carnations Freddie threw to the audience! I kept that thing until it disintegrated. :smiling_face:

And pure luck: my friends and I used to usher at Winterland (as I said, incredibly lucky). We weren’t paid, but when the main act came on we were given access to the seats behind the stage to watch the show. Worked the December 16, 1978 show Springsteen show (the night after the famous last radio concert) - including Clarence as Santa!

Thank you for the opportunity to relive these memories!

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My ones that I shall miss (down to my health) is Nightwish later this year, I had tickets but won’t be able to see them so I sold the tickets, also The Warning who I think are going to visit the UK next year.
My most memorable are The Beatles and The Stones in my teens, Cream (the last concert at the Albert hall), Led Zep and Slade in my late teens / early 20’s, Duran Duran and Dexy’s midnight runners in my mid / late 20’s then marriage and babies got in the way :joy:. Since then I’ve not seen much live other than Sky, the Shadows and the occasional cover band in pubs or art centres.

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I had an opportunity many years ago to see firstly Genesis then Phil Collins play live - I was a squaddie at the time and thought concerts could wait, I should have gone to them as the chances to do so disappeared in later years when they stopped performing

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I had a chance to see the reunited Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails on the same bill, when I was living on Long Island, NY, USA.

Venue was literally 5 miles away…can’t remember why I didn’t go…probably just stupid procrastination.

And within a year or so, Chris was dead.

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I had a ticket to see Bob Marley in Dublin in in 1980 on his last tour. But i sold it to a friend because i was able to take his shift as a security guard which was on the same evening. At the time student jobs or any jobs where impossible to get in ireland. unfortunately i did not get any more shifts.

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I was quite lucky as I grew up in a village called Knebworth, about 30 miles North of London.

They used to hold big concerts in the grounds of Knebworth House, the nearby stately home. I didn’t actually go to that many gigs there, which is a regret, but I heard loads.

Probably my biggest regrets were never seeing Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin. I’ve also not seen AC/DC

I went to a Deep Purple gig in Knebworth in 1985 in torrential rain, possibly worse than the Green Day gig I was at last month (and that is saying something as we were wading in mud there). Luckily we only had a 20 min walk home to where we could clean up and get dry and warm.

I’ve not seen Whitesnake, but I did go to see Bernie Marsden at a small event in Guildford several years ago.

I was lucky enough to see Queen’s last ever concert with Freddie, at Knebworth in 1986.

I’ve seen Genesis a few times, starting with a gig at Hammersmith Odeon in 1982 and more recently in Liverpool last year. I never got to see Phil play outside of Genesis. They were always a great live band and it’s a shame about Phil’s declining health.

I also saw Marillion a few times with Fish as the front man, and they were amazing live.

Other memorable gigs include the Corrs and Gloria Estafan, both at Wembley Arena.

I also went to a small gig at the Indigo club at the O2 arena a few years ago and saw a number of decent bands including the Hoosiers and The Feeling. That was a good gig.

Recently I saw the Black Eyes Peas and Green Day over a weekend.

I’ve never seen Guns ‘n’ Roses. I should probably remedy that…

Cheers,

Keith

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I’d say my biggest regret is not seeing Rush.

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I’ve seen a lot (most) of the biggest reggae artists in the 90s and 2000s, and I’ve seen quite a few rock and metal bands during the 90s too, like David Bowie, Neil Young, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Sepultura, Rage Against the Machine, The Offspring, Therapy?, REM, (or just check the line ups of the festival Torhout/Werchter as from 1994 to 1998 Torhout Werchter 1994 Setlists | setlist.fm ) , but I regret that I’ve never seen before, although I had plenty of opportunities:

Metallica, missed them in 1993 and 1999 at Werchter and never had another opportunity
and Iron Maiden, coming to Belgium in 2023, again, but unsure if I can make it, again…

Regrets that I wasn’t old enough to have ever seen them, Bob Marley and Queen…edit: and Nirvana :wink:

I used to be a heavy concert and festival “go-er” in my late teens and early twenties, until I quit school and became pretty poor

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That’ll do it. My problem was I became a student and became pretty poor. Then I got a job and was slightly less poor, but very busy. Then marriage, mortgage, kids, etc…

I suspect many of us have had similar issues.

I would categorise this under “life gets in the way…”.

Cheers,

Keith

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Yeah, I do miss going to concerts more and more, the older I get… :smiley:

My last concert was a tribute to Pink Floyd band, it was good, but not the real stuff…oh and a local Irish folk band :slight_smile: last week…

I should make more time for it now that I can afford it more or less. Where you went to a big headliner 20 years ago for 15€ or 20€, you now pay +50€, which is still ok as the bands expenses went up too.
My goal for next summer is to at least go to 1 rock festival and Iron Maiden, maybe, please… :smiley:

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I saw a Fleetwood Mac tribute “Rumours of Fleetwood Mac” not long ago. They were amazing (and, endorsed by Mick Fleetwood). Some of the tribute acts are really good.

Err, a lot more than that in my experience!

Cheers,

Keith

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For me, its Nirvana. I had chance to see them before they became famous but I never heard of them, so I declined.

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Interestingly enough, Steve Lukather says that his expanses nowadays are so much lower than in the heyday of TOTO that he makes the same money despite playing much smaller venues.

So expenses are not necessarily up. However, venues probably do charge more. Plus, considering that the average age of the fans of my favorite bands is somewhere between 50 and 70, the bands can easily charge WAY more than when the fans were in their 10s and 20s.

Prices are pretty insane here in the US for the better seats in a small venue. I have tickets for Joe Bonamassa next week. Looking at the price chart right now, available tickets range from 87 to 782 $.

I went to Steve Vai a month ago (similar prices, fantastic small theater, all seats close to stage) and also to Joe Satriani a little earlier in September (terrible venue, a big rectangular room better suited to dining). While Satriani tickets could be had cheaply (40sh), the upper end still went into the hundreds even though the venue was dreadful.

On a different note, it was interesting to see that the Joe Satriani audience was very homogenous. At age 47, I was among the very youngest. By contrast, Steve Vai’s audience was mixed (I had my 11 yo but he was not the only one under 20) and it also felt more diverse in other ways as well.

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The only band I wish I could have seen was the original Lynyrd Skynyrd but the plane crash in 1977 put an end to that. Other than that I’ve seen every band I wanted to that made it to Alberta and a few I wish I hadn’t. :hear_no_evil:
Richie Blackmore although a great guitar player to listen, was the most boring one I ever watched live. You could draw chalk lines around his feet when he was playing brilliant solos. Saw Van Halen 7 times. Once with Sammy. The rest with David.

Seen Slash with both GNR and Miles Kennedy. Never got to see Led Zeppelin but did see Jason Bonham’s tribute band to LZ. They use to have great Rock festivals in Calgary in the mid 80s to the early 90s where there would be 10 or 20 bands over 1 or 2 days got to see a lot of band I wouldn’t pay to see but glad I got to see them live.
So I wouldn’t say I’ve have any real regrets but a lot of successes.

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My regrets are too many to count, but the most recent would be the Stones in 2019 (while Charlie was still alive) and the Who just last week. While I would have loved to see them in their heyday too, those shows both got rave reviews from everyone who saw them. Also sad that I never saw Tom Petty before he died.

As for successes: I was happy to have been at Sun Devil Stadium when U2 were filming Rattle and Hum (as well seeing them a couple other times), seeing ZZ Top at their peak, Heart (especially Nancy) on a big birthday, and Clapton a couple of times. My favorite current band to see every time they come to town is the Tedeschi-Trucks Band. Derek is a monster player and I love Susan’s voice.

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