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Before they're dead: People to see.
eHero
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've been around 34 mostly conscience years or so, and during that time, a lot of musicians, orators, comedians, etc have died that I never got a chance to see live. Now while it sucks that I'll never be able to see the Beatles or Led Zeppelin live, I'm mostly okay with that, because I don't feel like I missed them. I was three in 1980. The choice was pretty much taken out of my hands (though I did see Eddie Rabbit when I was five, so that's something?). My regrets come from not seeing people who I'd like very much to see live before they die. Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Blind Melon are all bands I never saw, even though I grew up around Chicago. Don't even get me started about the Ramones. I didn't discover Mitch Hedberg until after he died. So I'd like this thread to be less about regrets, and more about, "You really need to see these people before they die!" I mean honestly, how long can Lemmy really have? Ironically, aside from Eddie Rabbit, everyone I've seen in concert is still alive. Who'd have thought Trent Reznor would still be around? And thankfully Iron Maiden is coming to Indianapolis with Alice Cooper. Two birds!
So give me your must see's. The geniuses of their brands. Is there a Buddy Rich out there I'm unaware of? Maybe we can all enrich our lives a little more and have a story or two come out of it!
I'll start. I saw Cake in 1998 in a dive bar in South Carolina. If you like Cake, then you should absolutely see them live, because they're perfect. It sounds just like the albums.
So give me your must see's. The geniuses of their brands. Is there a Buddy Rich out there I'm unaware of? Maybe we can all enrich our lives a little more and have a story or two come out of it!
I'll start. I saw Cake in 1998 in a dive bar in South Carolina. If you like Cake, then you should absolutely see them live, because they're perfect. It sounds just like the albums.
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My advice, don't let your brain start treating them like stuff you buy that you can just buy more of whenever.
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I'd say David Bowie, but he's being an attentive father these days and it's hard to tell if he'll ever return to the stage at this point.
When I was 14 I bought The Presidents of the United States of America, the PopLlama release, before they signed to Columbia. It got so used and passed around it became unplayable, so I bought another copy. I bought all the albums. I loved every song. All I wanted to do was see them live, but they never came anywhere near me, and broke up when I was 18. When they re-formed and released Freaked out and Small, I bought it, but still never got to see them live, and they broke up again. It became my white whale, the concert I would go to if I ever got the chance, no matter the cost. They got back together in 2004, and I waited for my chance. I moved to Chicago in 2006, and two years later I happened to check the site and see they were playing a show in south Milwaukee. Tickets: Bought. Work: Called off. Wife: made her go.
There were about 500 people there but it felt like a packed arena, every person knew every song and the band played like it was the most important show of their lives. It was, and I use the word in its most literal sense, epic. I only had to wait 14 years for it.
If Eddie Vedder drowns under the weight of a ukulele, it will be tragedy. Especially if you failed to go see him live.
You have to like them, but it's kind of like that PotUSA post above: small, packed venues. Everyone is a fan.
I saw TMBG in 2004 and can attest to this. They played "Everybody Conga" and everybody congaed.
When I saw the American Carnage Tour they (Testament, Megadeth, and Slayer) all played much better than the records, put on an entertaining show, and I got to see that Mustaine really IS able to pull off that ridiculous shit on guitar.
I saw Cold live and it was their first ever acoustic show (which was only done because the stage wasn't large enough for a drum kit). It was amazingly performed and very touching, with a tribute to Layne Staley of AiC (who had just died).
I still haven't seen Pearl Jam (probably my favorite all around band) and with a kid on the way I'm not sure I ever will. Makes me sad.
Seeing a band Live is definitely worth it if they are a solid band. Generally they will sound infinitely better than any record.
Maybe it's because all of the shows I've been to have been small and medium sized club shows, but even when a great live band doesn't sound better in concert than they do on record, they bring a level of energy and excitement that, when combined with a receptive audience, makes the experience much more involving than simply sitting at home listening to a record.
TylerJ on League of Legends (it's free and fun!)
Got to see Boris ( Japanese metal band) when they came nearby, and it was the definition of face melting and was the best concert I ever went to.
I saw MC Chris at two separate shows, first one he was an hour and a half late to and it was pretty good. The second one he answered his cell phone and had a conversation with hi SO while on stage for about 5 minutes and it wasn't that great. Guy's known to be kind of a dick, and I am kind of over his music now. You can only scream "im not a geek/nerdcore" when releasing an album in 3 parts about obscure bounty hunters from star wars, while rapping about shitty high school life at age 35 for so long.
Got to see anamanaguchi at the first paxeast and got to hear them do mermaid live. That was awesome. Wish they were coming back this year, but I am excited to see frontalot. I started listening to Random and I hear he will be there(although not performing) and I am kind of hoping he shows up for the 1-2 songs he does with front.
The Beach Boys are coming around this summer, i've always wanted to see them, but I will be gone
edit; god sometimes i forget that I saw Donald Glover/Childish Gambino.... that was such a cool experience.
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
But yeah, small post-hardcore bands aren't for everyone. Rammstein's live show is amazing. Even when I didn't know the song they were playing (which was like half the set), the spectacle was incredible.
In terms of bands I wish I could have seen but wasn't around to: Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Hendrix, Velvet Underground, Nirvana (I was alive for them, but too young when Cobain died), and probably many others I haven't thought of.
Bands/people I want to see live: Gogol Bordello (I'd loooooove to see them live, their shows are insane), Blue Scholars, The Black Keys, Cheeseburger, and Daft Punk (I will see Daft Punk live one day, I have to)
Bands/people I saw live that I'll always remember: The Sword, Infected Mushroom, and Chris Isaac (I imagine he doesn't have too many performing years left). I'm especially glad I got to see Chris Isaac.
I'm seeing Sleigh Bells soon and I'm really psyched for that.
My first concert was Smashing Pumpkins on the Mellon collie tour.
I've seen plenty of others though, most of the big ones that are probably going to croak soon. Motorhead's off the bucket list. Seeing Maiden for the fourth time this summer so that's done. Saw AC/DC a few years back. Yeah. There isn't any really big ones.
Concerts own.
I guess I'd like to see James "The Amazing" Randi as he is aging, but getting the money to go to TAM is not really workable at this point.
Less urgently, given his youth, I am very keen to see Sam Harris present or debate.
That said, I generally do not subscribe to the "see them before they die" attitude. To do so would require me to feel a special connection to an album and in the end, music is just music. It doesn't lessen the magical experience of seeing great artists playing live, but I am pretty sure I will survive if I don't happen to catch one of their concerts before they stop playing. Their music will still be around long after they have passed on (Whitney Houston).
I had tickets to see H&H support Iron Maiden in July 2010. Ronnie passed away in May.
I would very much like to see a few bands and artists who are very young, but I guess that by the time I can be bothered to visit a show of them they are far past their prime. :? I mean, Kaiser Chiefs was awesome, but now they're kinda forgotten and didn't make any interesting music in years.
another band I'd like to see, but who never come to the states, is The Kinks
I saw Roger Waters do Dark Side of the Moon, and while it was great and I'm glad I saw it, it still wasn't Pink Floyd. Honestly, I'm not sure if I could have even told the difference between Gilmore being there and not, so maybe seeing the Who these days would be like that? I also find it funny that no one's mentioned the Rolling Stones. They're not really my thing, but I've never known anyone who saw them live.
nah, they were excellent.
Tho this does make me realize that whereas I've listened to a LOT of his spoken word - I've never seen Henry Rollins do anything live.
I saw the Stones live and it's easily one of the most intricate shows I've seen. They sounded great and about halfway through the show, the stage opened up and a huge walkway that was lit to look like a massive snake emerged and connected with a smaller stage in midfield. Mick walked over the snakeway and did a few songs on the small stage.
the video they showed during 'Honky Tonk Woman' was downright pornographic.
Rammstein is pretty worth it.
Saw em on the Pledge of Allegiance Tour in 2001. They signed my copy of Mutter.
On the first Lewis Black Comedy Cruise, George Carlin's daughter hosted a retrospective of his life.
It was exceptionally good and she really went into how he went from a safe traditional comic in the days of black and white television to the comedy legend we remember to the really angry comic towards his final years.
She was using that cruise as a dry run of a future show (she does a variety of stuff herself) and if you have a chance to see her talk about her dad in an extended format like that I really really really suggest going.
A comic you should see before he dies is John Pinette. Sit front row and hope he is having an "on fire day". He was "the headliner" under Lewis Black on that cruise. Two things I can say: off stage he was an unstoppable juggernaut of self destructive behavior and on stage his closing set was seriously the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. You couldn't catch your breath he was so funny, like everyone in the theater was in pain because they were laughing so hard. It may have been a once of a lifetime performance by him but holy crap no one else on the boat could follow that.