This Ain't No Disco

So in the past eight months or so Lesley and I have been lucky enough to attend concerts from some or our favorite bands. After a few years of seemingly no one coming to Utah, EVERYONE decided to come this last year. Arcade Fire, Interpol, Menomena all came within 5 weeks of each other last fall, and we saw Death Cab on Memorial Day. In June Elvis Costello is coming. Really been a great year for concerts.

But all of these great concerts led me to think about concerts, that for some reason, I'll never be able to see. Whether people are dead, or the band broke up or whatever. So let's list in reverse order the concerts I wish I could see, or could've seen. And I'm just going to ignore The Beatles, they're a bit obvious, yes?

5. that dog.

Brandy astutely called that dog the female version of the Beach Boys. Songs mainly about the opposite gender sung with lots of three part harmonies. Anyone even remotely familiar with their albums should agree that "Retreat from the Sun" was their best album, and had they produced a few more...who knows.

The problem/fun with a that dog concert would be to see if the band could play their instruments and sing their parts live. For all I know they could totally suck, but alas it's an experience I'm afraid I'll never have.

4. The Guess Who.

Who saw this one coming? Yeah, when I think about those old fogy tours where one or two of the original band members are still kicking and they assemble a band to back them up and call themselves the old band name (like Guns N' Roses) this group would be great fun to see. Think about it, they start with 'These Eyes', go onto 'Laughing' and 'No Time' probably play some covers of the period, 'Magic Carpet Ride' and the like, and then for the encore 'American Woman'. Tell me that wouldn't be a fun concert. That would be a blast.

Even better would be if they open for The Who. You could call it the Two Who's tour. Come on! The Two Who's!

3. Morphine

Morphine would have been fun just for the sheer experience of seeing a band that's made up of a three stringed slide bass, a bari sax and drums. And with an impressive catalogue at their disposal they could've played a two hour set without playing a bad song. Alas, The lead singer, Mark Sandman, died ON STAGE in 1999, thus ending the possibility of me seeing them.


2. Soul Coughing

Kara, Brandy's wife, has a great story about seeing Jeff Buckley in concert and Soul Coughing OPENED FOR HIM. If there's ever been a mis-matched opener, main act combo THIS IS IT. Needless to say the Jeff Buckley fans HATED them, and basically booed them off the stage. But Soul Coughing is one of these groups that always pop up on my ipod to my sheer delight. Very re-listenable time and time again. And with their non-sense lyrics I can only hope they'd have a show filled with nonsense to confuse and confound the audience. They broke up in 2000, and apparently don't care much for each other, that coupled with rather low audience demand makes a come back tour unlikely at best.

1. Talking Heads

I think there's a better chance of John Lennon and George Harrison coming back to life and the Beatles reuniting than the Talking Heads. And it's a shame, with tons of good songs, and the showmanship of David Bryne it would sure to be a mind blowing experience.

But the band hates each other, when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame in 2002 it was PAINFULLY obvious that the other band members were still just a little ticked at David Bryne. They did play together, then, so maybe it's not entirely out of the question.

Watching "Stop Making Sense" eases the pain a bit, but it also makes me yearn to see one of the most inventive/strange/exciting bands perform live.

Did I miss anyone?