What, I'm gonna miss 'em AGAIN??

The Futureheads are scheduled to play in Denver on 09 October — when I'll be out of town. This makes me 0 for 4, when it comes to catching this band live when they've come through. Always something else on my calendar. Darn it!

The last band I had that kind of bad luck with was Black Flag. They used to hit Denver twice a year, but I always had some other kind of commitment in my way. I never did get to see them.

How about you? Any artist/band you've always wanted to see, who HAS come through your area (more than once), except commitments have kept getting in the way?

Ahem.

In 1985, Frank Zappa toured behind his Them or Us album (mediocre, at best). I was a sophomore in high school, and a huge Zappa fan. I was also in the jazz band (really. we used to kick ass) and almost all of us bought tickets. A week before the show, our director told us we had to play as a pep band for a locally televised wrestling match that same night and if we skipped to go the concert, we'd get kicked out. I had to play, since I was the percussionist. Never got to see him. I still hate that damned director, since we played for maybe ten minutes during the whole thing. We won the state jazz band competition that year, but most of us still held quite the grudge. I still do.

Jimi Hendrix, San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, May 24, 1969
Janis Joplin, San Diego Sports Arena, San Diego, CA, July 11, 1970

I couldn't afford to buy tickets for either concert. By the time I had the money they had run out of time.

The Soft Boys are one of my favorite bands, though I didn't discover them till shortly after the fact on their first time around, so I was thrilled when they announced the 2001 tour for Nextdoorland. Of course, both it and some other great show were in a week when I had to be out of town for work. I got some measure of redemption when I finally heard Hitchcock do "Kingdom of Love" on tour a couple of years ago.

Quote

The Soft Boys are one of my favorite bands

Me too. So when I had a chance to drive over all the way to Chicago to see them,I was elated. It was not to be, however. The driver either really got an abscessed tooth - or faked getting one - and we never went. No grudges. Life is too short.

A friend from back east sent me a t-shirt. Yippie.

...

Also missed Blur, Slowdive and Levitation at The Marquee in NYC.

That sucked big time. We stood outside for a few seconds listening to Terry Bickers singing and then went and all got drunk.

It was no big deal about Blur.



Post Edited (09-05-10 22:28)

You know, the Soft Boys show in Chicago really wasn't that good. John Wesley Harding was amazing -- frankly, one of the better sets I've seen, but Robyn and Morris both seemed too drunk to play. They kept missing notes, beats, and words, and I left after the 5th or 6th song. Kimberley Rew was awesome, though. He nailed everything, jumped up and down with his Prince Valiant haircut all shiny grey, and seemed to be having a blast. Maybe they sobered up and started playing better, but I was really disappointed.

I saw the Mekons in Norman once, and they started out too drunk, realized it, and then took a 30 minute break to sober up, all the while apologizing. Then they restarted and stomped the place.

That May 24th Hendrix show is one of the 4 cd's in the live 'Stages' box set. Don't know if it's the show in it's entirety, but it must've been pretty good.

My wife and I did this big Europe trip in '99 and The Beastie Boys played in Sydney the night after we flew out. Then preceded to play just about every European city we visited, the night before we arrived. I got sick of seeing the poster everywhere we went.
I was hanging to see them and had to wait another six years before they came back to Sydney. I thought they might have been a bit past it but it was brilliant.



Post Edited (08-26-10 20:00)

> I couldn't afford to buy tickets for either concert. By the time I had the money they had run
> out of time.

I had a similar experience with the last U.S. tour that Zeppelin booked. I got a ticket to see them in New Orleans, and then Bonham ran out of time.