Sunday 3 February 2008

Top 5 Gigs I wish I'd been at

The slightly delayed (due to the evils of drink!) second part of this gig related topic. This one is a bit tougher. There's plenty of gigs by bands I have subsequently seen that I'd have liked to have gone to; The Pixies pretty much anywhere, Pink Floyd with Syd at the UFO club or the Roundhouse, and Guns & Roses at the Marquee in June 1987 (A gig I was very close to going to and regretted not bothering for quite a long time afterwards). The Sonics would definitely have been top had I not just got a ticket to see them in April but I've gone with bands that I have never seen and in almost all cases never will.

1. Mudhoney, Nirvana & Tad (Astoria) 3rd Dec 1989 - Breaking my rule straight away as I have seen Mudhoney, but this was the very first appearance by Nirvana on these shores. Much like the G'n'R gig I even considered going but didn't make it. A great three band bill much like the following years headline appearance where Nirvana played with Godflesh & L7 (Astoria - 24th Oct 1990). To complete a trio of Nirvana gigs I failed to attend their Reading Festival gig on 30th August 1992, would have been decent too.

2. Ramones (Roundhouse) 4th July '76 - This was the original line up and, I think, their first ever show in the UK. The one that the guys from The Clash and The Sex Pistols and many other British punk bands were said to have attended. Would have loved to have seen the Ramones in any incarnation but this would have been something special. Like Nirvana, another band I'll now never see until I get to that great rock'n'roll gig in the sky!

3. Rolling Stones (Royal Albert Hall) 1966 - This was their last tour with Brian Jones and would have been at a point when I reckon they'd have really found their stride and been playing a cracking little set as well. Just edges out seeing them play The Crawdaddy in Richmond (probably around March 1963), the site of which I often pass on my way up to town. I can't quite bring myself to pay the ridiculous price it would take to see them now.


4. Jimi Hendrix Experience (Marquee) 24th Jan 1967 - Back in the early 90's I was a regular at the Marquee, though by then it was past its prime. I spent far too much time there watching second wave prog rock bands and was briefly even a member! I went a few times to the Wardour Street site (before it moved to Charing Cross Road) and often wondered just what it would have been liked packed with the 1,400 people that had crammed in to see Hendrix play in 1967.

5. Sex Pistols (The 100 Club) Sept 1976. I think this date was with The Damned, but any of the Pistols '76 appearances at the 100 club would have been great to see.

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