May 152009
 

Hrrundi V. Bakshi was here.

Last night, I drove the 100 or so miles from DeeCee to Richmond, VA to see a band I get kidded around a lot for ’round these parts: ZZ Top.

Some of you might be surprised to learn that this was the first time I’d ever seen the band, given my fan-boy love for almost all things Zeezy, and particularly Gibbonsian. Nevertheless, there I was, at a peculiar, very small outdoor venue (seemed more like a neighborhood park, and there couldn’t have been more than 1500 people there) — and I was frankly surprised how much the band rocked — with a weird, loping groove they seem to have developed in their dotage. I’ve never heard anything like it. If it weren’t mathematically impossible, I’d say that the whole band was playing behind the beat. Billy’s playing was especially stellar — I was worried what I might see, after witnessing some pretty shambolic TV appearances in recent years. No worries there; the Rev was ON.

Anyhow, the show was definitely worth the $20 I paid to see it, and might have even been worth the five-hour round-trip drive. But that’s not why I write!

I’m writing because ZZ Top was on my increasingly short list of “bands I really need to see while I still can/really should have seen while I had the chance.” I’m here to share my list, indicating whether or not I got to see the artists on it — and I hope you’ll share yours. Please note that historical impossibilities are not allowed — but missed opportunities are. Here, then, is my list, in no particular order, to serve as example:

SEEN
James Brown
P-Funk All-Stars
Paul McCartney
Ray Davies/Kinks
ZZ Top
Prince
Upper Crust
Paul Weller
Booker T & the MGs
AC/DC
The Minutemen
Alex Chilton
The Beach Boys
Ringo Starr
Brian Wilson
Danny Gatton
Chris Stamey
The Who
Van Fucking Halen
Eddy Grant
Elvis Costello
Burt Bacharach
Jimmie Vaughan
The La’s
NRBQ
Sloan
Stevie Wonder

NOT SEEN
Terence Trent D’Arby/Sananda Maitreya
Tom Jones
Roy Wood
Nick Lowe
Allen Toussaint
Pernice Brothers
Motorhead
Jim Hall
Jeff Beck
The J. Geils Band
The Isley Brothers
Chuck Berry
Fats Domino
Jerry Lee Lewis
Candi Staton
Merle Haggard
Rolling Stones
Supagroup
Delbert McClinton
Jason Falkner

MISSED MY CHANCE
Rory Gallagher
Johnny “Guitar” Watson
The Clash
John Lennon
George Harrison
Curtis Mayfield
Woody Herman
XTC
The Jam
Muddy Waters
Barry White

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

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  38 Responses to “Catch ’em While You Can”

  1. Mr. Moderator

    My list shouldn’t be too long – and many of my “missed my chance” artists, although I could have seen them as far back as 30 years ago, I chose not to, thinking they’d already passed the point of diminishing returns. I’m not including artists I would like to have seen since the time I turned 12 but would have been unrealistic to have seen at that young an age. For instance, John Lennon was long past touring by the time I was a teenager, so I can’t count him.

    SEEN
    Elvis Costello & the Attractions
    The Clash
    The Undertones (w/o Feargal, but it was the best I could do)
    Pere Ubu
    Television
    James Blood Ulmer
    X
    Van Morrison
    Nick Lowe
    James Brown
    PiL
    Glenn Branca
    Roxy Music
    The Roches

    NOT SEEN
    Roy Wood
    Ornette Coleman
    Neil Young
    The Residents
    Terry Riley (most recent addition)
    Robert Fripp/King Crimson

    MISSED MY CHANCE
    Bob Dylan
    XTC (missed seeing them in high school them by 2 days!)
    The Specials
    Talking Heads
    The Who
    The Rolling Stones
    Sleater-Kinney
    The Buzzcocks (can’t imagine they’d be the same reunited, old, and with a different drummer)
    The Kinks (had no interest in seeing them in high school and college days)

    WAS TOLD BY OTHERS I HAD TO SEE AND DID NOT REGRET SEEING
    Yes

    WAS TOLD BY OTHERS I HAD TO SEE AND WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE STAYING HOME AND WATCHING “TOMMY” INSTEAD
    The Grateful Dead
    Genesis
    The Boss

  2. SEEN

    Bob Dylan (About 10 times)
    Willie Nelson (About 8 or 9 times)
    Paul McCartney (2002 & 2005)
    Neil Young
    Booker T & the MGs
    Alex Chilton/Big Star (three times)
    Brian Wilson
    The Who (2000 & 2006)
    Elvis Costello (Solo twice, once with Allen Toussaint)
    Allen Toussaint (Solo)
    Dr. John
    Sonic Youth
    Tower of Power
    Marshall Tucker Band
    Steppenwolf
    Joan Jett (twice)
    The Pretenders
    Roger McGuinn
    The Police
    R.E.M.
    Simon and Garfunkel
    Paul Simon
    Bryan Adams
    Def Leppard
    Whitesnake
    Metallica (Justice and Black Album tours)
    Motley Crue
    Blondie
    Great White
    The Cult
    Warrant
    Steven Curtis Chapman
    Phil Keaggy
    Michael W. Smith
    Third Day
    Elton John
    Billy Joel
    Ben Folds
    Oasis
    The Donnas
    Ben Kweller
    The Watson Twins
    Ben Lee
    Merle Haggard
    Randy Travis
    The Magnetic Fields
    The Mountain Goats
    Del Amitri
    The Connells
    Wynton Marsalis

    (and probably some others that I either can’t recall or remember, but really may not matter)

    NOT SEEN
    Chuck Berry
    Fats Domino
    Jerry Lee Lewis
    Rolling Stones
    Jeff Lynne/ELO
    Peter Gabriel
    Michael Nesmith
    Ryan Adams
    Will Oldham
    The New Pornographers
    Weezer
    ZZ Top
    Prince
    Aerosmith
    Tom Petty
    Pearl Jam
    Bruce Springsteen
    Fleetwood Mac
    Weird Al Yankovic
    Stevie Wonder
    Beck
    AC/DC
    U2

    MISSED MY CHANCE (assuming this would be a wish list due to being born too late or the group no longer exists)
    Warren Zevon
    The Clash
    John Lennon
    George Harrison
    Roy Orbison
    Pavement
    Harry Nilsson
    The Jam
    James Brown
    Johnny Cash
    Jimi Hendrix
    The Who (circa 1969-1970)

    TB

  3. I could add Van the Man to my list of NOT SEEN. Would definitely see Van given the chance. Also add The Raconteurs and The White Stripes to the list. Plus, Loretta Lynn. Okay, that’s all.

    I also have a list of WOULD NEVER SEE IF THEY WERE PLAYING AROUND THE CORNER OF MY HOUSE FOR FREE:

    The Beach Boys
    Kenny G
    Davy Jones
    Mariah Carey
    Billy Ray Cyrus
    Michael Bolton
    Celine Dion
    Oprah Winfrey (okay, she souldn’t count, but I really can’t stand her)

    TB

  4. diskojoe

    SEEN

    Kinks/Ray Davies
    Devo
    Robyn Hitchcock
    Elvis Costello
    R.E.M.
    Brian Wilson
    Booker T. & The M.G.’s
    The White Stripes
    The Replacements (as opening act for Elvis Costello)

    NOT SEEN

    Bob Dylan
    Belle & Sebastian
    Martin Newell

    MISSED MY CHANCE

    The Ramones
    The Jam
    The Undertones

  5. sammymaudlin

    Is the SEEN list supposed to be all inclusive like everything I’ve seen for all time and stuff?

  6. SEEN
    Blur
    Crowded House
    The Kinks
    Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
    Wilco
    Sons and Daughters
    Cheap Trick
    Bob Dylan
    Jarvis Cocker
    Westerberg
    Sonic Youth
    Neko Case
    Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci
    Quasi
    Elvis Costello
    Electrelane
    Richard Thompson
    Randy Newman
    R.E.M.
    X
    Roxy Music

    NOT SEEN
    The Divine Comedy
    Teenage Fanclub
    Morrissey
    David Bowie
    McCartney

    MISSED MY CHANCE
    Pulp
    XTC
    The Replacements
    The Smiths
    The Beatles

  7. I’ve not listed every show that I’ve seen, just shows that were on my list of folks to see before one of us dies.

    Seen:
    The Replacements
    Paul Westerberg
    Tom Waits
    Television
    Guided By Voices
    Plimsouls
    Rolling Stones
    Chuck Berry (with Ron Wood)
    Spinal Tap
    ZZ Top
    Bruce Springsteen
    Los Lobos
    Tom Petty
    The Beat Farmers
    The Band (alas, about 6 months after Richard Manual hanged himself).
    Grateful Dead
    J Geils Band
    KISS
    AC/DC
    Daniel Lanois
    Elvis Costello
    Alex Chilton
    Aerosmith (kind of)
    Kinks
    Cyril Jordan
    Lou Reed
    Wilco
    Hoodoo Gurus
    Paul Kelly and the Messengers
    Jimmy Cliff
    Peter Tosh
    Neil Young
    Sonic Youth
    U2 (not a big fan but I always suspected that they would be really good live. I would not have paid but I got free tickets, excellent show.)

    Not Seen (tickets would have to be well under $100, and not for nose bleeds either):
    Yo La Tengo
    The Raspberries
    Prince
    Steely Dan
    Mott the Hoople
    Willie Nelson

    Missed My Chance:
    George Jones
    The Who
    The Clash
    Bob Marley
    Sex Pistols
    Francis Albert Sinatra
    Lynyrd Skynyrd (had a ticket but the plane crashed)
    Darkness-era Springsteen (had a ticket but also had a bad report card so was not allowed to go. Heard a bootleg from that tour and have still not forgiven my parents.)

  8. Mr. Moderator

    As I listen to my Guided By Voices “best of” I’m reminded that they should have been on my list of WAS TOLD BY OTHERS I HAD TO SEE AND WOULD HAVE BEEN FINE STAYING HOME AND WATCHING “TOMMY” INSTEAD. I really like most of the 30 or so songs on this GBV collection, but they sucked when I saw them live.

  9. hrrundivbakshi

    Oats, come on! How old are you? You didn’t “miss your chance” to see the Beatles, surely!

  10. hrrundivbakshi

    To be clear:

    SEEN = bands that are/were on your list of “bands I MUST see while I have the chance” that you have seen

    NOT SEEN = bands that are/were on your list of “bands I MUST see while I have the chance” that you have NOT seen. Note: these have to be bands that you *could* see, today.

    MISSED MY CHANCE = bands that were on your list of “bands I MUST see while I have the chance” that you didn’t get to see before they broke up/died/whatever. I’d prefer not to include artists that used to be good, but now suck. At the very least, they would have had to be good during a time frame in which you *could’ve* seen them live — and *should’ve*, and wanted to — but didn’t.

  11. Just being thorough and honest! Not being born yet counts as “missing” in my book.

  12. alexmagic

    Oats is older than you think. He doesn’t like to admit it, but he was in an office building down the street when the Beatles did the rooftop concert, but he couldn’t be bothered to look out the window until they’d been shut down.

    I liked seeing Guided By Voices live just to see Pollard casually putting back all the booze he did during the show. I was impressed and it upped my respect for the guy.

    NOT SEEN
    Bowie
    Prince
    Radiohead

    WOULD HAVE SEEN BUT TOUR WAS CANCELED RIGHT BEFORE IT GOT HERE
    Lynne’s ‘ELO’ tour from a few years ago

    HAVEN’T SEEN BUT WILL NEXT TIME THEY COME BACK
    Dirtbombs
    King Khan

  13. Mr. Moderator

    Hrrundi wrote:

    I’d prefer not to include artists that used to be good, but now suck.

    Come on, man. You take Lennon off your list and I’ll take The Kinks, The Stones, and a few others off my list. When did Lennon last play live, outside of joining Elton John on stage in 1976 or so, like 1974? You’re telling me your 10-year-old self even conceived of having seeing Lennon live? I say that qualifies as not having had the chance to see him live!

  14. Hurrndi also wrote:
    “SEEN = bands that are/were on your list of “bands I MUST see while I have the chance” that you have seen”

    This is relative and that’s why my list of “Seen” bands is so long.

    Bands like Paul Kelly and the Messengers might be a footnote’s footnote now but I was really psyched when I saw them in the mid 80s. Paul Kelly was unknown here and from Australia, so the fact that he made it to Philly with the Messengers was my own personal cause for celebration.

  15. sammymaudlin

    SEEN
    The Who
    Rolling Stones
    Cheap Trick
    The Boss
    Meat Puppets
    Minutemen
    Replacements
    Husker Du
    Red Hot Chili Peppers
    REM
    X
    Pere Ubu
    Feelies
    The Clash
    Eleventh Dream Day
    Stooges (reunited)
    Elvis Costello
    Pink Floyd
    Pavement
    Dinosaur Jr.
    Neil Finn
    Talking Heads
    King Crimson
    Sex Pistols (reunion)
    English Beat (reunion)
    Spinal Tap
    Roxy Music
    Robyn Hitchcock
    Devo
    Crowded House

    NOT SEEN
    The High Dials
    New Order
    The Residents

    MISSED MY CHANCE
    Queen
    ELO
    Kinks
    Police
    The Specials
    Buzzcocks
    Undertones
    XTC

    SEEN BUT REGRETFULLY TOO HIGH TO REMEMBER
    PiL

  16. Mr. Moderator

    Hrrundi, I’m intrigued by this notion of all three members of ZZ Top playing behind the beat. Sure it seems to be mathematically impossible, but I wonder if this concept could be tested out in RTH Labs. See what your friends over there think about it.

  17. I will just do the one in each category that stands out to me:

    Seen (Saw?)

    Ted Hawkins. Complete happen-stance in the early 90’s at the exact moment I was obsessed with his “Watch Your Step” album. It was in a firehall basement in Ballard, WA. He was dead months later.

    Not Seen:

    Macca

    Missed My Chance:

    The Ramones. They played the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver every year. I always intended to see them the next year. Until there was no next year. Shit.

  18. hrrundivbakshi

    Mod — you’re right; Lennon was way off base. Charge that one to my heart, not to my head.

  19. mikeydread

    SEEN:
    The Clash
    Morrissey
    Van Morrison
    New Order
    Leonard Cohen, circa Various Positions
    The McGarrigles
    Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

    Missed my chance
    Talking Heads, circa Fear of Music. For which I will never forgive myself and have never had the heart to see David Byrne since.
    Pulp. We lost the general admission tickets. Grrr.

    cdm, Paul Kelly is still alive and well and gigging his little heart out in Australia. He supported Leonard Cohen on the recent tour here.

  20. BigSteve

    An interesting exercise. I’m sure I’m missing some, but this started to get out of control when I began looking at other peoples’ lists. Only people I really like are listed (so no Cactus, Jethro Tull, Bloodrock, etc). Some dates approximate, included only to indicate it wasn’t later, inferior version of the artist I saw.

    SEEN

    Jefferson Airplane
    Grateful Dead ( 70 and 77)
    Stooges/ MC5 (71?)
    Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green version, Danny Kirwan version, Bob Welch version, and impostor version)
    Allman Bros, also Allman Bros + Peter Green
    Procol Harum (69, 71)
    Geils
    Mott the Hoople (72?)
    Roxy Music (76)
    Meters (73, 75)
    Bob Dylan (75, 08)
    Byrds (71)
    Jackson Browne
    Stones (75)
    Beach Boys (74)
    Ry Cooder
    Bruce Springsteen (75, 79)
    Tom Petty (77)
    Rockpile/Blondie
    The Clash
    Talking Heads
    Professor Longhair (79)
    Bob Marley & the Wailers
    Elvis Costello (w/ Attractions — This Year’s Model, Trust – with Confederates — King of America — also with Impostors in the 00’s)
    Nick Lowe solo (86)
    Marshall Crenshaw (3x)
    Cheap Trick
    U2 (80)
    Police/Specials
    XTC
    Squeeze (80,81)
    Plimsouls
    Beat Farmers
    NRBQ (twice late 80s)
    REM (81, 84)
    X (5 times)
    King Crimson (first Belew version)
    Minutemen
    Husker Du
    Cramps
    English Beat
    Dave Edmunds
    King Sunny Ade
    Bow Wow Wow
    The Fall
    Alex Chilton (3 times?)
    John Cale (2 or 3 times, 70s/80s)
    Pretenders
    Gang of Four (4 times, reunion gig canceled due to natural disaster)
    Prince (Controvery tour)
    Devo (80)
    Kinks (75, 77)
    Snakefinger
    James Blood Ulmer
    Cecil Taylor
    Old & New Dreams
    Neil Young & Crazy Horse (90)
    Yo La Tengo
    Richard Thompson
    Mekons
    David Lindley
    Randy Newman (4x)
    Everything But the Girl
    King’s X
    Radiohead
    Caribou
    American Music Club, also Eitzel solo
    Richard Buckner (last week)

    NOT SEEN

    Pere Ubu
    Tom Waits
    Robyn Hitchcock
    Van Morrison
    Sonic Youth
    Lou Reed
    Paul Simon
    David Bowie
    Los Lobos
    Wilco
    ZZ Top

    MISSED MY CHANCE

    Beatles
    Hendrix (never played in my area)
    The Who (don’t know why I missed an early 70s date)
    The Band (76, date canceled due to poor ticket sales)
    Little Feat (78, date canceled due to rain)
    Sex Pistols
    The Jam
    Buzzcocks
    Smiths
    Blur

  21. mikeydread

    Regrets, I’ve had a few…Never seeing The Chills. Their LP Soft Bomb had come out, they were touring Australia. I was in the right city (holidaying in Melbourne) at the wrong time. They were playing in Perth, my home town.

  22. Alex, I was all set to see Lynne/ELO on that cancelled Zoom tour! How disappointed was I when it got canned due to lack of sales on the new record. I hate to say it, but Jeff should have considered something smaller like the casinos. I know this is probably a “step back”, but that tour seemed too ambitious from the beginning.

    A band I would like to add to my list of Never Seen/Missed My Chance would be Led Zeppelin. I would pay good money to see Page/Plant/Jones and the Bonham kid. I would.

    I would love to have seen Pink Floyd with Roger Waters, but that’s a reunion that will never happen now. So, I missed my chance there, too.

    TB

  23. SEEN – Everybody (seriously)-every major artist that I have had any interest in seeing I have seen (If they toured between 1984 and 2009)

    Page +Plant, Who , Kinks, Stones, Floyd, dylan, petty, springsteen (10x) john lee hooker, james brown, fogerty, The Band, clapton, mc cartney, zz top, van halen, ac/dc , aerosmith, Run DMC, Queen, cheap trick, Big Star….can go on and on

    NOT SEEN –

    David Bowie
    Ozzy Osbourne
    Neil Young
    Brian Wilson
    Oasis…..that’s basically it

    On ZZ Top

    Saw them in 1987, 1990, 2003 — ’87 was for Afterburner and was more of a “show” than a concert (special effects + lasers + drum machines) 1990 was the Recycler tour (the night Black Crowes got kicked off the tour for raggin’ on Miller Beer banners all over the arena) and 2003 was with Ted Nugent..and to a much smaller crowd (9,000 instead of 15,000+) They deliver the goods every time. The boots from the 70’s are better, but that’s true for just about anyone. The DVD from 2008 is pretty good. I think if you were AT that show you would like it better than watching it on TV (which has too many close ups)

    yes they all play WAY behind the beat (and yes that does appear to be mathematically impossible) but it gives the songs a strange sluggish quality and also makes it groove like a rattlesnake

  24. Mr. Moderator

    Snakefinger! Very cool, BigSteve.

    I’ll add Lou Reed to the list of artists I really should see but have never had the balls to go out and see. (I don’t want to ruin my love for that early ’80s concert tape from The Bottom Line.)

  25. “cdm, Paul Kelly is still alive and well and gigging his little heart out in Australia. He supported Leonard Cohen on the recent tour here.”

    Yeah he occasionally makes it back to Philly but not with the Messengers (or the Colored Girls, for that matter). I caught him once solo and he was good but it wasn’t the same.

    Speaking of excellent down under bands, the Hoodoo Gurus played here last year. I saw the twice back in the day and they were fantastic but I just couldn’t rally this time.

  26. jeangray

    SEEN:
    Elvis Costello & the Attractions
    David Bowie
    Pink Floyd
    Todd Rundgren
    Adrian Belew
    Mark Eitzel/American Music Club
    Neil Young & Crazy Horse
    Lou Reed
    Aimee Mann
    Brian Wilson
    Built To Spill
    Silkworm
    King Crimson
    Ringo & His All-Starr Band
    The Who
    Stanley Clarke
    Dizzy Gillespie
    Patti Smith
    Pretenders
    Cheap Trick
    Devo
    B-52’s
    Jeff Beck
    The Tubes
    Peter Gabriel
    Tina Turner
    Lindsey Buckingham
    The Posies

    NOT SEEN:
    Nick Lowe
    Prince
    Stevie Wonder
    Bob Dylan
    Willie Nelson
    Radiohead
    Los Lobos

    MISSED MY CHANCE:
    The Clash/Joe Strummer
    Queen
    The Cars
    Frank Zappa
    Kate Bush

    Perhaps we need to do a thread about artists we were really excited to see that turned out to be terrible live.

  27. saturnismine

    these lists are boring as fuck to read. i won’t burden you with my re-shuffling of the above named bands, most of which fall somewhere on my own lists (although there *would* be a lot more hardcore and indie rock acts).

    but i want to say something about how thinking about this question made me react.

    when i saw the dead in ’83 at the old civic center, i had already become jaded about big concerts in arenas. i wanted intimate experiences in crappy clubs, old abandoned theaters, and vfw halls.

    so i really enjoyed being unexpectedly blown away by the moment when the dead took the stage and felt the excitement of the crowd around me.

    that’s what i love about seeing bands. i really AM looking forward to that moment when they hit the stage, in order to see if it makes my pulse quicken, especially if i didn’t expect it.

  28. hrrundivbakshi

    That’s TWO sniffing put-downs in one day. Well done, Sat!

    See what you think of this. This guy’s also clearly got King Kong-sized BALLS, just like you:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nx64_N4AA04

  29. saturnismine

    hvb:

    omg! i know right? rotfl, lmao!

  30. hrrundivbakshi

    Sat: you have the last word again! Well played!

  31. saturnismine

    “last word”? those aren’t words. besides, that’s your specialty. i was just responding in kind.

    but really, now: care to say anything about *the rest* of my comment?

    i mean, did you read to the part where I said “these lists are boring as fuck” and then go off to some quiet place to inflict small wounds on yourself, or did you read the rest?

    did your pulse quicken when zz hit the stage in a way that you didn’t expect?

  32. hrrundivbakshi

    Settle down, Sat. Sheezus!

  33. saturnismine

    i’m settled. i have been the whole time (i say lots of abrasive things calmly…it’s my way…so read this with the soiund of a slow, calm deep voice in your head).

    okay, let me see if i’ve got this straight.

    i post a valid criticism of this thread (that lists of classic rock bands are a boring read…and as a rth aside, only townsman kilroy can make a list that i want to read). then, in the same post, i offer some thoughtful comments on what i see as the really valuable point of this thread , which is not its result, a number of “been there, done that” and “shoulda, coulda, woulda” lists, but what it brought to my mind that is truly compelling about seeing a band: the feeling it gives you to see them take the stage and hear those first notes fill the room and rattle one’s ribcage.

    you, all hurt and bothered, post a rico suave video, to which i respond with good nature, and then ask if you have any thoughts on the *other* part of my post, to which you respond by telling me to settle down.

    i’ll ask one more time: do you care to actually have a conversation about what it’s like to *see* bands play? if you feel that it’s another topic for another thread, fair enough. i thought maybe you’d be into discussing that. you seemed so excited to finally see zz!

    as an olive branch, i’ll make use of your list to ask you another question: of the acts you’ve seen, which ones were in your prime, and gave you the most unexpected thrill? which ones were disappointments?

  34. sat,

    I completely agree. This shouldn’t be about filling your dance card. Rather, it’s the experience of the concert itself.

    For me, a huge disappointment was the Stones, Steel Wheels Tour. From the moment Jagger emerged in a green waistcoat to the perfunctory renditions of the classics, it was a letdown. The only cool thing I remember was an epic sounding “2000 Light Years from Home.”

    I was blown away by Black Mountain a few years back. It was like Pink Floyd met Black Sabbath in heaven. They sound great on record, I have since found, but there is no substitute for seeing them live.

  35. hrrundivbakshi

    Oh, come on, Sat and Dr. John. You’re saying neither one of you have had any bands at all on the “gotta see ’em before one of us dies” list? Sat, you mean to tell me you’ve never made a point of seeing, say, Neil Young *simply because it’s Neil Young*? Hogwash.

    Obviously, the feeling you get from actually attending a show is of vastly — hell, infinitely — greater importance than the fact that you’ve carved another notch in your rock pistol butt. And you may find the reading of these lists boring. My purpose in asking my question was not to find out whose live show attendance dick was biggest; it was to see which artists were considered “must-sees”, both in the past and in the present.

    Sat, I jumped on your shit because of the humorless, disdainful tone in your initial responses to the last two new threads. You might not have intended to, but you came off like you were way too cool for RTH school, and my intention was to haul your ass back down to the rest of us in the bottle cap-snapping cheap seats.

    As to your follow-up question, I offer this — another list!

    James Brown — disappointment
    P-Funk All-Stars — met expectations
    Paul McCartney — barely met expectations
    Ray Davies/Kinks — Ray met expectations; the Kinks were a disappointment
    ZZ Top — exceeded expectations, but my expectations were so low that wasn’t hard
    Prince — vastly exceeded already high expectations
    Upper Crust — exceeded expectations
    Paul Weller — exceeded expectations
    Booker T & the MGs — vastly exceeded expectations
    AC/DC — disappointment
    The Minutemen — exceeded expectations
    Alex Chilton — disappointment
    The Beach Boys — disappointment, even though I exected to be disappointed
    Ringo Starr — met extremely low expectations
    Brian Wilson — met expectations
    Danny Gatton — exceeded expectations
    Chris Stamey — disappointment the first time, met expectations the second
    The Who — barely disappointed
    Van Fucking Halen — barely disappointed
    Eddy Grant — exceeded expectations
    Elvis Costello — met expectations
    Burt Bacharach — met expectations
    Jimmie Vaughan — disappointment
    The La’s — exceeded expectations
    NRBQ — disappointment, every time
    Sloan — disappointment first time, met expectations the second
    Stevie Wonder — barely disappointed, but my expectations were huge

  36. saturnismine

    hvb, are you even reading my posts?

    i never said i don’t have a list of said bands. i just think these lists are a boring read. and, dude, i like to read.

    your interpretation of my posts as “too cool for rth school” says more about you than it does about me.

  37. saturnismine

    oh, i forgot: thanks, dr. john!

    hvb, i’m not finished with you (again, read with a a calm, deep voice in your head):

    i’m “too cool for rth school” because i don’t like a piece of shit tune by jason faulkner (like most of the rest of the people who posted in that thread, i might add) or reading lists that say “elvis costello…led zeppelin….neil young…etc.” in various combinations (and you do)?

    you martyr yourself and then wrapped your bloody carcass in the rth flag over *that*?

    you pass diva 101 with honors! good show.

    heaven forbid i actually give a crap about your thread and try to steer it in a more conversational direction.

    if i was ‘too cool’, i wouldn’t have posted at all.

    love ya, dude.

  38. saturnismine

    hvdiva…i’m surprised to read that your expectations for zz were low.

    how come? we’ve shared plenty-a-youtube of them over there years where they sound great.

    was it just the age factor you cite in the thread starter, or were you afraid your heroes would disappoint? they really are a great live band. i’ve even heard live recordings of them playing “afterburner” era stuff i don’t even like and it sounded *better* than the canned stuff!

    was v-fucking-h on the recent david lee tour?

    i saw them on the ‘diver down’ tour, and dude, you *wish* you could time travel back to this show. un-friggin-believable from start to finish.

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