OK, let's say you never got stuck on that desert island with ten CDs and a pack of gum but instead stumbled across a time machine. Of course, it's a pretty crappy time machine, so all it can do is take you back in time to see one concert. (Don't worry--it will return you back to the present day after the concert is over, and nothing you do at the concert will have any effect on history--just trust us on that one.)

What band would you go see, and in what year? (You can name the exact show if you want, but otherwise, the year will suffice.)

And yes, you can bring your gum with you.

I've actually thought about this subject a lot and while there are so many moments that would mean a lot historically or personally, I have to say Benny Goodman, January 16, 1938, Carnegie Hall. THE live jazz concert. Great musicians on hand all around, they continued to challenge the color line, and despite the fact that the music was being presented as a "legitimate" art form, it lost none of its fire and passion.

If I could have one moment in time in music, that's the one.

Now Playing: "Ha Ha Thisaway" The Rooftop Singers _Best of the Vanguard Years_ (Vanguard)

I've thought quite a bit about this as well. I'd either want to see Jimi Hendrix perform on the last day of Woodstock, or see Led Zeppelin peform at the Fabulous Forum in Los Angeles in 1975... Two acts at the peak of their powers.

Id see Led Zeppelin in 1967 at one of the shows they recorded "How the West Was Won" from.

That, or a Prince concert in the mid to late 80s.

My first response is the Let It Be sessions on top of Apple Studios, preferably at the closest building which was at a comparable height. After that, any Who concert in the mid-60s, or maybe Live at Leeds will do. Modern-day, I think I have to go for any Radiohead concert, since I've been shutout so far.

Let's see ....

Mozart - 1762 - 1773, the child prodigy

Billie Holiday, twice once in the '40s and once in the mid-late '50s to compare before and after all the drugs, etc.

The Beatles in Hamburg in 1960 ... to see them evolve into the band everyone fell in love with.

Nick Drake, anytime 1968-death

Velvet Underground 1965-1967

Sex Pistols 1978

Prince - any year

Talking Heads/Ramones - CBGB, 1975

Joy Division - 1979

My Bloody Valetine - '91
Black Flag - '82
The Clash - '79
Elliott Smith - '00
Bill Evans - '61 (village vanguard)

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison 1968
Then get me the hell out of there!
Maybe...
Muddy Waters in 1956 in a small venue
Mozart wherever, whenever...
Dead Kennedys in 1987 San Francisco
Ramones/Talking Heads/Blondie at CBGB's 1975
Mahavishnu Orchestra in Paris mid 70's
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan in his prime in Pakistan
Peter Tosh/Bob Marley early tours
Patsy Cline 1962 Grand Ole Opry
P-Funk Earth tour 1977
Kool Moe Dee late 80's N.Y.
Masada in Jerusalem 1999
sitting with the Beatles watching Pink Floyd play live!

St. Ides...I saw Elliot Smith live, and I liked the records better.

KT...I saw Prince in '89,'91, and '93 or '94 and he was amazing each time.

Who would I want to see?

The Jam, sometime between '78 and '80.
The DM3/The Stems, anytime, somewhere in Australia.
The Birthday Party, same.
Madness, any venue, any time.
Uncle Tupelo, the last show, St. Louis. (I saw UT live, but bootlegs of the last show make it a must see)
Elvis Costello and the Attractions, circa 1979.
The Smiths, anytime.

Current band I haven't seen but really want to see: Lambchop.

Pink Floyd, The Wall live at Earls Court, London. Back in 1979 or 1980

Didn't the mod say one concert?

Anyway, Hendrix at Monterey.

well its really hard to pick one but my first choice would probably be the cure ( obviously) during the prayer tour wich i think was like 87 ish?
any others would be nirvana right when they were first promoting nevermind,
especially since they really didnt tour that much then,
i would have loved to seen zeppelin probably when they were touring for the zoso album wich is my favorite of theres so far also would be really curious to watch joy division play live cause they werent around long enough to have any kind of live records or videos that i know off

quote:

Originally posted by curefreak:
well its really hard to pick one but my first choice would probably be the cure ( obviously) during the prayer tour wich i think was like 87 ish?
nirvana right when they were first promoting nevermind,
especially since they really didnt tour that much then,

Oddly enough, I saw both of the tours. Even more odd...I really am not a fan of either group. The Prayer Tour was 1989. I saw the show (at Lakewood Ampitheatre) in Atlanta because I was dating a goth girl, and she dragged me to see it. It was actually pretty good, and I began to like the Cure more after it. She also dragged me to see Love and Rockets in '89, and there was this little indie band called the Pixies that opened the show...

I saw Nirvana in October of 1991, at the Masquerade in Atlanta. Nevermind had been out, as I recall, for less than a month. I got my copy of the record signed by the band. The signatures include "Kris" and "Kurdt", not the more familiar "Krist" and "Kurt." Another pretty darn good show from a band that, honestly, I don't care that much for.

wow !thats interesting!! what did you do with the signed record eric?

also did love and rockets bring any auxillary people to help flesh out there sound? i mean theres only three of them after all.

I thought about selling the signed Nirvana disc (I once had a kid who shopped for Nirvana bootlegs offer me $500 for it!) but I've held onto it all these years. I don't listen the album very often, but it's a keepsake. It's one of the autographs I have that I can really flaunt (along with Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello, and Shane MacGowan) to other collectors. I'm not an autograph hound, I just get them from musicians (on vinyl or CD) at shows.

Love & Rockets had a band. It was the Motorcycle record tour (the single was "So Alive") and I think they had 2 extra guys on stage. It was hard to tell...they also had strobe lights and a smoke machine!!!

i dont think i could hold onto that for so long without selling it so bravo to you! besides you can always sell it when you really really need to right? kinda like a rainy day guarantee..

i saw peter murphy at cains ballroom when he had a hit for "cuts you up" it was probably my first "cool" concert and ill never forget that whole experience it was magical.
strangely i always like the solo projects of bauhaus than the band itself together, bauhaus to me was always a bit too "artsy" for me sometimes

Queen, during "night at the opera"-era. one of the greatest singers, guitarists, and bands in history.

quote:

Originally posted by Metal Head:
Queen, during "night at the opera"-era. one of the greatest singers, guitarists, and bands in history.

I did see Queen, but it was The News of the World tour. It was at the Long Beach Arena, and we weren't sitting on the floor, but the sound was good and I could see what was going on OK. I suppose that would be a decent concert to go back to, too?

Neutral Milk Hotel, late 90's, without a doubt. Anyone whose heard and liked their albums would give their left nut (or tit) to see Jeff Mangum and the band live. The emotional energy from those songs could fill an arena, and to see them in the small venues they were playing at the time would've upped the fervor concentration in the air well beyond the legal limit. Jeff Mangum's subsequent disappearance (at least from music)/mental breakdown seems to make a time machine the only way anyone will ever have a chance to see them live.

KT also made a good call on Nick Drake. He would be a close second on my list.