Stephan Grapelli. A friend went, I was in line with him, but I thought I might get laid if I hung out at a certain place and ran into a certain woman. Didn't happen. .. Still kicking myself years later.

Some of my lost opportunities: Floyd, Genesis (just post-Gabriel and still palatable)...

The Dead (I wanted the experience of a Dead show!), Miles Davis (within a week of the deaths of Jerry and Miles I said to a friend, on two separate occasions, "I need to see [Jerry, Miles] before he kicks off," which scared me a little )...

Oh, and IVY! ...just after their first little EP, which I have. I missed the show but afterward stole the PHOTOCOPIED flyer that "borrowed" art from (the ORIGINAL, totally cool, Liquid TV, dialog-less shorts of) Aeon Flux and featured the main act as a then totally unknown Everclear (pre-fame, pre-girlfriend beating, etc.) I only regret missing Ivy...

And, damn, did the Smoking Popes get back together? 'Cuz I ALMOST saw them just pre-breakup.

;-(
!

I saw, maybe, 23 Dead shows. . you can have one of mine. . .preferably the one in the rain where I got a bad cold.

Replacements. Beacon Theatre. Final Tour. I lived two blocks away at the time, but I was flat broke.

Replacements. Beacon Theatre. Final Tour. I lived two blocks away at the time, but I was flat broke.
posted by jonmc 04 October | 09:58

Definite grounds for clinical depression, if only for a few days.

As previously mentioned: Drive Like Jehu. Also: Jawbox.

Happily, there are more bands that I wish I saw more of, but I at least saw once. I guess maybe that's bittersweet?

Man. I had tickets to Nevermore/Evergrey at Jaxx in Springfield (3 1/2 hour drive) a few months ago. It was on a Monday (Sunday?) night. When the time came to leave and head up there I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

AH! It *was* a Sunday night and the day before my new special project started this summer. I just couldn't see myself getting home around 4am the day of a new project. But Nevermore is one of my four "Patheon" bands, I've never managed to see them live, and I've regretted not going ever since. Dammit.

I was to see Madonna's Drowned World Tour ...

on September 11, 2001.

Back in the 80s there was this weekend I was the 22nd caller TWICE to radio station XL102, but you had to be the 23rd caller to get the Springsteen tickets.

The Fall in NYC in the 80's. There were a bunch of us (college friends), and the drinking age in NY state at the time was 19, and one of our friends was 18, so she couldn't get into the club. We didn't want to abandon her all alone in the East Village, so we went somewhere else instead.

I also never saw the Pixies in the 80's, but my husband went to a couple of shows that I was just too tired to tag along to.

Never saw the Stones... now, well, not quite the same...

Did get to see the Ramones, though... my first concert with jon... the BEST... I was screamin' "Joe-y!" by the end of it...

(jon, love, that Replacements story always gets me... truly tragic...)

My biggest regret is that a douchepag pal of mine went to see Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros on their second tour, and DIDN'T ASK ME IF I WANTED IN. He went with his then brother-in-law, and they don't even talk anymore. I repeat HE DIDN'T EVEN TELL ME HE WAS GOING until AFTER they got back. Man, what a douchebag. I'm gonna yell at him next time I see him. He even stuck around and met Joe. Argh.

Everything, sigh. I'm like the only Deadhead in the world who never saw the Dead: somehow, it just never worked out. But most particularly I regret missing Joni Mitchell at Red Rocks in CO years ago - she cancelled & we turned our tickets in for the refund, then she rescheduled! But we didn't have the money anymore! And then Lucinda Williams here in Asheville - I had my tickets and I was SO looking forward to it. . . and that was the morning I woke up with a temperature of 102. Damn.

Could've seen Pearl Jam in Omaha just as they were on the cusp of getting huge, but at that point the thought of driving into the big, scary city just to see some band that my friend said was cool didn't seem worth it. For a couple of years, I was all broken up about missing the show, but these days I don't care too much.

I missed a George Michael performance when his "Lewd Conduct" Rest stop tour was going through L.A., the same night he was arrested. We drove right by the exit, even though I had to pee.

The Fall in NYC in the 80's. There were a bunch of us (college friends), and the drinking age in NY state at the time was 19, and one of our friends was 18, so she couldn't get into the club. We didn't want to abandon her all alone in the East Village, so we went somewhere else instead.

this doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand, but here's my imitation of mark e. smith at a mcdonald's:

i would like-uh... a big mac-uh... medium fries-uh... and a medium spry-tuh.

anyway, in my senior year i turned down a free ticket to see the smiths. at the time i was just too addled by punk and speedmetal to fully appreciate them. they later became one of my favorite bands.

Joe Jackson during his 'Jumpin' Jive' phase. I was visiting my sister. He was performing in the town that night. My sister had a tantrum when I said I wanted to see JJ and to keep the peace I had to go to the local Working Man's Club with her and whoever it was she was married to at the time (she's had six husbands, I lose track) and listen to vile racist comedians and atrocious singers.

Sometimes I think I am such a snob, I am proud of my working-class roots but, God, I'm glad I clawed my way into a different life

Zappa 1988 tour. Had tickets for Chicago but couldn't go. Arghh.

Oh, I just remembered a real one - The Butthole Surfers and The Cramps at the beautiful Warner Theater in DC on New Year's Eve (late 80's, early 90's). I still here about how great that show was.

John Cale. I. Missed. John. Cale.