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Musicians to see before they die


jeljms

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BB King's death got me thinking about missed opportunities to see music legends playing live before they die.

 

Personally, I'm still kicking myself that I missed James Brown on every opportunity that I had to see him but who are your ultimate musicians you'd like to see before they pop off?

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The musicians I wanted to see the most, before they or I passed, were the Beastie Boys. Finally checked them at Red Rocks in 2007, before MCA's illness escalated. They played like a handful of shows that tour, only in NY, CA and Colorado, so felt super lucky they stopped here. Best concert I've ever been to.

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Funnily enough I saw the Beastie Boys for the first and only time in 2007 too, in London at the Camden Roundhouse and they rocked it. So glad I did. Also, about ten years earlier I was on a flight coming back from New York and Adam Yauch was on the same flight and I had a brief chat to him. Seemed like as nice a guy in person as he appeared to be from the work he was doing in his later years.

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I was on a flight coming back from New York and Adam Yauch was on the same flight and I had a brief chat to him.

Damn, that's f'n awesome. I would love the chance to speak to one of those guys in person, especially Adam.

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In 2002 I went the biggest sham excuse for a day festival - Essential Festival 'Roots Day' in Bristol.

 

Here's someone else's review

http://www.ukhh.com/oldreviews/live/1014.html

 

Generally it was bullshit, 2/3 of the billed acts weren't actually there. We barely even managed to fill our day with acts we were interested in.

 

But I did at least get to see James Brown not only before he died, but while he still had a bit of life left in him. A friend saw him on this tour and in subsequent ones and confirmed this was pretty much his last UK tour where he still had a bit of life left in him.

 

It had been a long disappointing day and by the time he came on stage I had a banging headache. It started fairly badly with his tight but boring touring band, plus two very second rate dancing girls, propping him up through a few fast numbers. Whilst it was by no means an embarrassing spectacle, it wasn't really hitting the spot either and while it still sounded like James it sounded like he was using most of his energy to keep up rather than nail it perfectly. The bright lights and barrage of loud brass stabs were hurting my head too. Then, just as I was accepting this was as good as it was going to get and contemplating wandering off, they dropped lights and James delivered the most beautiful rendition of It's a Man's Man's World. Proper chills down the spine moment. Without the brass section and faster tempo to contend with, his voice still stood up really well and while he was still decades beyond his prime all the soul in his voice was still there. While I was born far too late to see the immense performances of James and his band(s) in the sixties, thanks to that one song at that one shit festival, I did get to really see James Brown.

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BB King's death got me thinking about missed opportunities to see music legends playing live before they die.

 

Personally, I'm still kicking myself that I missed James Brown on every opportunity that I had to see him but who are your ultimate musicians you'd like to see before they pop off?

 

 

 

My bucket list (seen crossed off and too late now in red)

 

James Brown

George Clinton

BB King

Beastie Boys

Lee Scratch Perry

David Rodigan

Willie Nelson

Johnny Cash

David Bowie

Talking Heads/David Bryne

Roger Waters

Jerry Garcia

Bo Diddly

Rolling Stones

Prince

Rage Against the Machine

DJ Shadow

NIN

The Cure

Fleetwood Mac

Steely Dan

Portisehead

Bjork

Kraftwerk

The Roots

STS9

2Pac

NWA/EZE

Daft Punk

The Prodigy

Red Hot Chili Peppers

U2

Billy Idol

Outkast

Iggy Pop

Patti Smith

Tom Waits

Cab Calloway

Police

The Psychedelic Furs

Mad Professor

Ryan Hemsworth

The Clash

St. Germain

Air

Mark Farina

Mark the 45 King

Buckethead

Dam Funk

Craze

Qbert

Prefuse 73

Violent Femmes

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Can't argue with that. At a very young age, they teach us in school that the band was just a facade invented by Island Records to sell to the 1/3rd of white America that count themselves as Irish.

 

Nothing reminds them of 'home' quite like some corporate dross rock.

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Yeah pretty much. They were informally banned from playing Austin (where I live) for a long time after this ...and when they play it's always expensive so have never made it to Houston or wherever to see them. My mom used to go watch them play in little honky-tonks before they were big.

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I've seen two of the holy trinity of hip hop pioneers - Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. Seeing Flash again in a couple of weeks time as well, so Kool Herc would definitely be on my list. But he rarely seems to leave New York.

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Artists I really wanted to see, but ended up walking out halfway through...

 

ICE-T

De la Soul

Asap Rock

Charlie Tuna

Del the Funky...

 

Artists that kept me glued to the set...

 

DJ Relm

Beat Junkies

Michael Jackson

Electric Skychurch

Whiskey Blanket

and mos def the Beastie Boys

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