Dream concert

Led Zeppelin. I wouldn't care what tour, I just want to see them.

Faith No More - Angeldust tour.

If I could see both of those I wouldn't even consider complaining that I never saw Hendrix or SRV.

I would've liked to see a Nirvana concert.

Queen, circa the 'News of the World' album/tour.
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble at the Montreux Jazz Festival (where he was discovered)
Led Zeppelin, circa the 'Led Zeppelin II' album/tour.
Iron Maiden, circa the 'Powerslave' album/tour - especially one of the 4 Los Angeles shows.

eta: I saw Faith No More when they were opening for Metallica and Guns N Roses. They were touring behind 'Angel Dust' at the time and they were...bizarre but good.

Unless you frequented the bars in Channelview. Have you seen the DVD? Really, really great.

I've seen all of the SRV dvds and they are all great.

I'm proud of the fact that I saw SRV about 3 weeks before he died. He played Riverfest here in MN and put on a killer show for his 'In Step' album.

Since I've seen so many rock shows, I'd almost be more curious to venture out of the genre (although I'd love to have seen Zeppelin, the Who, Springsteen, the Replacements, U2, or R.E.M. at their peaks, of course).

Coltrane's classic quartet (I just read on Wikipedia that they only played A Love Supreme in its entirety once at a Paris show in 65 - that would have been cool.)

Nina Simone at any point in the 60s or 70s.

One of the early Naked City shows - especially if I didn't know what to expect going in.

I would have loved to see Bleach-era Nirvana in a small venue.

And I have to echo the Angel Dust-era Faith No More. I saw them when they were touring for Album of the Year, and Patton just had no energy. Bored as hell.

Like Dave B, I was fortunate enough to catch almost every act I've ever really, really wanted to see before they disbanded or died off (e.g. Shudder to Think, Jeff Buckley, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, The Pixies, Mr. Bungle, etc.). But there are a select few I would give anything to experience at a set point and time:

- Parliament Funkadelic w/ Eddie Hazel before they became the shadow of a shell of their former selves that they are now
- Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys w/ Brian Wilson and orchestra backing them up
- Earth Wind & Fire circa 1979
- the aforementioned Queen at LiveAid.

Going waaaaay out there, I'd love to have a wayback machine and see:

Caruso in his prime.
Beethoven debuting his 5th Symphony.
Mozart debuting the Marriage of Figaro.

Heh. I actually did see three of those four (and I skipped Floyd because I kinda lost interest after they lost Syd).

Of the bands I never saw, I think the top of my list would be The Velvet Underground. After that, Jimi Hendrix.

Would love to have seen The Beatles, of course, but given the screamfests their shows tended to be, I think for choice I'd have wanted to see them in Hamburg, or at the Cavern-- but then, the material wouldn't have been as strong. Of the other 60's bands I never saw, I'd probably put The Byrds and the original Fairport Convention lineup at the top of my list.

I saw a lot of the great 50's rock and R&B performers on the oldies circuit, but I'd love to have seen Elvis, Jerry Lee, Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, etc., at the height of their abilities. Buddy Holly, of course, I never saw at all.

Outside of rock, there's the obvious names (Coltrane, Parker, Armstrong, etc.), but I think my first choice would be to have seen Cab Calloway at the Apollo, followed closely by Nat Cole back in his piano trio days, before he hit the big time as a pop vocalist-- incredible musician.

And to step way outside, I'd love to have seen Leopold Stokowski conduct-- maybe a concert made up of all the music from Fantasia.

Similarly, I can't believe I forgot: the premiere of Nijinsky/Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps. Even if the stories of the riot it caused are exaggerated, how often do you ever get to see great art evoke reactions that strong?

I came here to post about Beethoven and the premiere of the 9th. Good to see I was late.

Ziggy Stardust/Aladdin Sane/Diamond Dogs-era Bowie.

Just for the historic factor, I would have liked to see the Sex Pistols at Winterland, The Doors at The Whiskey, Hendrix closing Woodstock, and Dylan plugging in at Newport.

Really would have dug seeing Mad Season at the Moore Theatre and witnessed (first hand) Nirvana unplugged. Pearl Jam played a ridiculous rarities filled set (picked by the roadies, I think) in Boston about 15 years ago. Put me down for one of the Ned's Atomic Dustbin Christmas shows a few years ago, too. Husker Du anywhere, same with The Smiths.

My dad saw Coltrane in 64 or 65 but sadly not the Paris shows. Half hour songs and lots of solos is what he remembers.

I would have liked to have seen the Funk Brothers on the Motown tour in Europe. Actually anytime in their peak years would have been awesome.

Frank Zappa and the Mothers in the late seventies/early eighties particularly post Joe's Garage.

I would also add Bessie Smith and Sister Rosetta Tharpe at any point in their careers.

Stuff I would like to have seen:

Talking Heads circa Remain in Light. I've seen David Byrne about a half a dozen times, but to see them all together at their peak...

The Clash, The Who, and Zep are all obvious great ideas.

Iggy and the Stooges in Detroit sometime in the late 60s.

Bird in some seedy club.

Genesis with Peter Gabriel in full-on freak mode.

Butthole Surfers in the 80s in Austin. I was too young and my musical tastes sucked at the time.

To rub it in a bit for those who missed them:
FNM on the Angel Dust tour was phenomenal. "Caffeine" in the front row nearly killed me.

Saw Nirvana on the "In Utero" tour. "Radio Friendly Unit Shifter" = holyshitholyshitholyshit awesome. Just a fantastic show, with great energy from the crowd.

Tom Waits at SXSW in Austin at the lovely Paramount Theater was everything I could have hoped for from a Waits concert.

Afghan Whigs were tremendous every time I saw them and always had the greatest selection of covers at the ready.

I got to fulfill a 'dream concert' when I saw Return to Forever on their reunion tour last June: Al Di Meola, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White for 3 hours. It was a 70s jazz/fusion dream.

I heard that the original members of Pentangle toured in the UK last year. Can't imagine they'd ever come stateside, but that's one I'd definitely be up for.

Really, there's darn few acts in my lifetime that I ever missed that I really wanted to see (and most would have been late 50's-early 60's).

I did twice have tickets to see R.E.M.-- once got sick, once the show got rained out (after we sat in the drizzle through both opening acts), and I couldn't make the rescheduled date, so I've never seen them.

Can't think of many others from the past few decades that I've missed out on.

Well, three of those four are awesome. I appreciate Corea far more then I ever want to listen to him. The guy is a great musician but something about his music always feels distant and cold to me. Can't place my finger on it, though.

I felt much the same way until I actually saw him live. The music that he generated really melded perfectly with the other musicians (especially during the long improvs). I came away from the show with new respect for him.

I saw The Chick Corea Elektric band at a high school jazz outing in 91 or 92 (which also featured a Dave Weckl drum seminar). I was probably way more blown away by technique then than I am now, and I still found it really soulless.

Oddly, my senior year in high school was probably the height of my going to see big-time "name" jazz shows. The same year, some of my classmates and I went to see Sonny Rollins, and it was a waaaay better experience.

Following most of your choices and I will pick Velvet Underground and The Doors for sure.

And I never got the chance to see Nick Cave so I will ad him to the mix.

Since I prefer the red Beatles over the blue, seeing them in Hamburg or the Cavern would've been awesome. (To be able to shout "Pete Best forever, Ringo never!)

Even the pure hysteria of Shea Stadium would have been a wild experience.

Other favorites:

Elvis in '56.

Jimi playing the clubs in London. And then Monterey and Woodstock.

Bob Dylan at the Jazz festival in '65.

Gram Parsons and the Byrds at the Opry. Or Gram with Emmylou playing small venues and radio shows.

The Allman Brothers playing live at the Park in Atlanta circa 68-69. Or just see them playing around Macon.

The Faces somehere around '71.

Willie Nelson's first free outdoor Bar-B-Q/ Outlaw concert in Austin.

James Brown at the Apollo in 65.

Rick Rubin's dorm room in the mid 80's--you'd witness the birth of a Hip-Hop movement and be in the midst of one helluva party

Kate Bush at the Hammersmith in London circa 1980, the very last time she toured.

Joy Division.
The Velvet Underground when John Cale was still with them.
Gary Numan's original Replicas tour.
Pink Floyd with Syd.
Miles Davis in his Bitches Brew/On the Corner era. I actually don't know anything about his live performances at this time, though...
Albert Ayler Trio.

But most of all, Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band in the late 60s.

I'm sure I'm able to think of more, but that last one is the worst.

Joy Division and The Velvet Underground are the ones that jump out, mostly because of how short it was, and so before my time. Talking Heads took a second, but mostly because I have Stop Making Sense.

Seeing as how I was taken on stage twice, and serenaded by my favorite band, I've had my favorite concert, so there's that.

That halftime show probably launched the same conversation in a lot of rooms.

Our room agreed on Born To Run-era Springsteen, and Prince (I'd still be happy to catch him) and Zepplin were two others that came up.

I've seen Van Hagar, and I've seen David Lee Roth solo. I'd like to have seen Van Halen at the peak of their powers.

Janis Joplin, Ike & Tina, James Brown in the early '70s (saw him in the early '90s and he was still AMAZING).

But I'd pass them all up (except maybe JB) if I could see Stevie Ray Vaughn play...

Prince puts on a great show, BrianM. Go see him if you get the opportunity.

It's a priority.

BTW, i saw Maiden on the Powerslave tour in San Antonio back in the day. It was everything a 14-year-old metalhead could've hoped for...

Was it Prince? What an image, Courtney! (Ha!)

A few more:

RUN D.M.C. at Madison in '86. Yeah, rockin the Adidas.

Cash in Folsom

The Native Tongue Tour in '90 (De La Soul, Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Latifah)

Yo! MTV Raps Unplugged-Uncle L, the future of the Funk

Million Dollar Quartet jamming at Sun

I'm envious. I wasn't into Maiden at that time of my life (I was living in Houston, by the way), so I actually missed out on their golden years. I finally saw them live for their 'Brave New World' album and they were fantastic, but 'Powerslave' was definitely the tour to see them on.

Cocteau Twins, between 88 and 90.

Catherine Wheel, in 93, 95, and 97.

Throwing Muses on the Real Ramona tour, right before Tanya Donelly left.

Tori Amos on the Dew Drop Inn tour in 99, her musical peak.

Depeche Mode on the 93-94 tour would have been amazing, judging by the Devotional DVD. Drugs do make you a better musician.

Those are the first 5 that came to mind, better stop there.

Not Prince. Broken Social Scene, and it was Emily Haynes who sang Anthems of a Seventeen Year Old Girl to me.

I would have loved to see Blondie at CBGB.

Already some great ideas here, that I echo:

Led Zeppelin, something earlier than Song Remains the Same concert
The Clash, London Calling era
Genesis, Peter Gabriel era, especially Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot
Jimi Hendrix, always love the Live at Winterland show
Pink Floyd, either The Wall or Animals tour
David Bowie, Ziggy Stardust or Aladdin Sane
The Beatles, any show

My Holy Grail for concerts would probably be an SST Records showcase tour from 1983, Husker Du and The Minutemen played some dates together.

As far as Faith No More, I saw them headlining at a smaller theatre in St. Louis on their Angel Dust tour. It was truly phenomenal, and worth a trip back in time. Helmet opened the show, they were touring for their Meantime album.

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert back in 1992. There was a lot of talent on stage for that gig.

I was actually at the Hollywood High School show that was recorded for the EP that was packaged with the Armed Forces LP.

Yeah, I saw all the principal CBGB's bands, but only after they made it out to the West Coast, and while there were some great shows, it would have been a whole different thing to see them there at the source.

For that matter, The Dolls at Mercer Arts Center, or Thunders and the Heartbreakers at Max's.

Hendrix.

Stooges on a very good night in 1970 (it would be fun to see them on the kind of night where Iggy pukes all over the crowd and passes out, but to see them when they were really ON would have been amazing).

One of Zappa's Halloween shows at the Palladium in the 70's.

The Cramps opening for the Ramones at CBGB's--the ultimate rock n roll double bill!

James Brown w/ the original JB's c.1969, and again w/ Bootsy'n them in 1970.

Bad Brains c. 1983 (as a consolation prize, I'd take seeing them c. 1989, touring for Quickness, but it would be cooler to see them in the hardcore days).

Funkadelic doing an all-night freakout jam in the early 70's (I saw a documentary where Wayne Kramer was saying there used to be MC5/Funkadelic/Stooges shows in Detroit in the late 60's--can you imagine?) (Parliament on the Mothership tour would be cool, too).

Electric Miles, maybe c.1974.

I guess my biggest dream would be to just go to NYC c.1974 and stay there for the next 4 or 5 years, watching all those CBGB bands develop.

Oh, that's a good one I hadn't thought of.

Dream Concert: Louis Armstrong with Fate Marable’s Band, summer 1921, a riverboat somewhere on the Mississippi River. Granted, this is Armstrong as a young man, just finding his voice. But I’m a sucker for ambiance. Imagine leaning out the window of the dancehall to catch a breath of the night air, sipping a whiskey, while that music wafts over you.

Nightmare Concert: Furtwängler conducts Beethoven's Ninth for Hitler's birthday celebration in April 1942. Furtwängler’s wartime Beethoven was special, and this archival glimpse suggests an incandescent, anguished reading. There has probably never been more dissonance between a piece of music and the circumstances of its performance.

Also, If I’m making the trek to Hamburg in the sixties, I’d much rather see Jerry Lee Lewis than the Beatles.

And early seventies Zeppelin would be nice.

This is easy for me:

Blondie anytime during the '70s.

Van Halen right when their debut hit.

Mahavishnu Orchestra
I would've loved to see this band perform after their debut hit the shelves, I've read their concerts were almost a spiritual experience but it must've been something else to hear that for the first time and have your mind blown.

Pink Floyd
Any performance from Meddle era.

James Brown
I saw him a few years back and he put on a high energy show but I would've loved to see him perform with the JB's (Bootsy and Catfish era)

The Who
This was tough but I'd have to go with any performance during the Tommy era, they were full of so much energy during that time and they must've been so fucking loud you'd be deaf for weeks.

AC/DC
Any performance with Bon Scott.

Fleetwood Mac
I would've loved to see the Peter Green era Mac just for the intensity. They fucking rocked.

I do believe that the loudest sound I ever heard in my life was on their '71 tour: Daltrey's scream, with the band crashing in on top of him, after the synth break in "Won't Get Fooled Again."