I’ve seen most of the bands I care to see, but I would love to have seen Bad Religion in their prime in the early 90s.
The earliest I could find was a mesopotamian priestess named enheduanna, so that’s who I would want to see, just the chance to hear music no human since would ever get to hear
Points for imagination! That’s somebody’s next album cover.
Woodstock '69 at the age of 19.
YES. Woodstock is also my “where would you go first if you had a time machine” answer.
- Pink Floyd c. 1979 during The Wall tour
- Portishead in '94 around the release of Dummy
- CCR at any point really
- Deftones in 2000 after the release of White Pony
- Jeff Buckley just performing Hallelujah
- Millencolin in 2000 right after release of Pennybridge Pioneers
- Bob Dylan at Newport in 1964, then again in 1965
- Nirvana at MTV Unplugged
- Hendrix at Woodstock
- AC/DC with Bon Scott in 1979
- Rage Against the Machine in 1999
This is an excellent list. I might add (just for fun) mid 70’s Deep Purple & mid 80’s Allan Holdsworth.
rockgar and the apes.
I heard they were all the rage in 4500BC.
Frank Zappa’s Roxy band from the mid 70s
Ziggy Stardust
I dunno, Beatles in either the white album or Sgt pepper era would be amazing.
Specific performance, the nirvana mtv unplugged might be a better option.
Then again, there’s a dozen performances at Woodstock that were nuts. Hendrix at that show? Fuck me, that’s a peak music experience.
I dunno man, this one is hard.
Fuck! Robert Johnson! Any performance ever. The recordings from back then are not the best possible audio, and you know that man could tear up a room. That’s my final answer.
I might be wrong, but the Beatles weren’t performing live by those albums. The closest option would the famous rooftop jam they did at the Apple studio in 69
https://archive.org/details/thebeatlesapplerooftopconcert1969fullvideo
I’d take it!
Queen, pre-80s
Right answer IMHO!
I’d like to see Zappa perform.
I got to see Kraftwerk perform Computerworld live a couple years ago and it was amazing. At this point I’ve seen the majority of my bucket list artists and I feel fortunate for this.
If I’m thinking time travel maybe an early Daft Punk show in France.
Led Zeppelin.
A classmate of mine had tickets to see Zeppelin in, I think the fall of 1980. I wasn’t into Zep much then, but I remember how crushed he was hearing that Bonham had died and the tour was canceled.
The Rolling Stones back in 735BCE
To be on the Festival Express train in 1970 and experience that rolling party/jam session with members of the Grateful Dead, The Band, Janis Joplin/Big Brother and the Holding Company, New Riders of the Purple Sage and Buddy Guy to name a few.
I really racked my brains with this one and think mostly it would be to go back and see somebody just prior to becoming big to see the embryo performances at smaller gigs so maybe Early Kraftwerk or even Sparks. Also (and I can’t believe I’m saying this as generally it’s not my genre) Focus as part of the audience for the midnight special.
Beatles rooftop concert, hands down
Beatles in the Cavern before to they got huge and before all the screaming.
Ooh you make a compelling point! But timing would be crucial - there’s only like a year there between when Ringo joined the band and their last appearance at the Cavern.
