the best gig i never saw...

[abby (tank girl)]

well good folks.
after the waterboys NOT playing at cornbury last night, i got to thinking about gigs i didnt see.
i dont mean the kind of 'oh i would have loved to be at woodstock' kind of thing, but something a bit more precise.

for example, at glastonbury festival some years ago, lenny kravitz was on one stage at the same time as the orb were on another.
i chose to watch lenny kravitz and was sorely disappointed so we wandered off to catch the very end of the orb and they were brilliant!
so i'm always a bit gutted that i made the wrong decision and missed a blinding set from the orb.

so, what gigs/bands have you  narrowly avoided seeing and why?

[Jim]

frank zappa and the mothers of invention , free trade hall manchester 1971/2
it was at midnight, i saw them come on, and woke up at 3 am as they finished off with "happy togther"

[Barry]

Emerson Lake and Palmer - Wembley Arena 1974.  something else came up and I chose to do that instead reasoning that ELP would be back the following year.

I did get to see them the next time they played the UK .... in 1992

[clive]

Miranda Sex Garden at the Charlotte, Leicester c1993. Got to the pub part but Mrs C decided it was a bit too hot and cramped so we left.   

It took a couple of years for GraemeH and others to persuade me to go to this festival run by a band called Fairport Convention so I missed the pre 1994 Cropredys (Cropredies ?) as well.

Spent 10 years kicking myself that I didn't see Peter Gabriel on the Secret World tour, the Growing Up tours made up for it and missed Julian Cope at Leicester Uni on more than one occasion.

[Paul]

About 4 years ago The Who played Portsmouth Guildhall as a warm up gig. I spent hours on the phone trying to get tickets, never got through.

Paul

[YaBB Master (Colin)]

Fairport Convention.
1973 November? Sunday night. Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Nine lineup.

I had been every week that month and seen some great acts, but that night was a friends engagement party.
Hughes was there. He said it was quite good.

[vikki rose]

Razorlight at Ally Pally. I bought a ticket off ebay & it never came 

Oh & biffy Clyro at Koko cause my dog died (had the ticket but to upset to go). Bought the NME & there was a full page spread about how brilliant it was which only served to make me even more miserable. Grrrr

 Vikki xx

[Karlhippy]

Prodigy 1995 @ Glasto 
Black Sabbath 2001 @ Bham Academy 

[Goaty]

Oddly enough, the last Waterboys gig at Leicester DeMontfort Hall, I had gout, my friends clubbed together and bought me a tour t-shirt though.

I remember being round a friends years ago (Johnnybmental on here), he was getting rather excited reading a review of a Ted Nugent gig as he had tickets for the same tour, which he proceeded to get out to show me.  The look on his face as it dawned on him that he'd just read the review of the gig he was supposed to be at was priceless 

[Billy the fish (Rob)]

A load of us went to see Lindisfarne at the McKinlay Theatre in Kettering. 

When we got there it was a do not stand up/no drinks in the auditorium/please clap quietly kind of place, even though it was merely a glorified school hall with a stage in it.

We happened to notice that they sold Spitfire behind the bar, so we spent the whole evening in the bar and missed Lindisfarne completely.

What a great gig that we never saw!

[David W]

If the way everyone said to me the day after the event "Weren't ..... brilliant last night?" The the best gig I never saw was The Leningrad Cowboys at Cropredy a few years back.

Jackdaw

[mrd]

Little Feat at Newcastle City Hall circa 1978.

We'd heard about their previous visit to the UK when they supposedly blew the Doobie Brothers off stage


We'd bought the albums

We'd seen 'em on the OGWT

We had the tickets

Then we had the car crash driving up there.

Then we heard about how great they'd been

Drat.

[Dad Volt]

If the way everyone said to me the day after the event "Weren't ..... brilliant last night?" The the best gig I never saw was The Leningrad Cowboys at Cropredy a few years back.

Jackdaw

Don't believe everything you hear! It was memorable for it's surrealistic qualities but apart from that don't lose any sleep over it.

[Karlhippy]

Macc Lads, 1989 @ Bham Academy
Faith No More, 1990 @ as above
QOTSA, 2002 @ as above
Levellers, 2004 @ Bham MAC
Hayseed Dixie, 2005 @ Glasto

.....and Glasto every year from 1992
*except 1996,2001 & 2006 of course*
Beautiful Days 2004 & 2005
Cropredy 2001 - Percy was on the friday I think

[steveP]

James at York Barbican Centre, quite a few years ago. The original date was re-scheduled, and for some reason I asked for a refund. Apparently they were brilliant, and the support act were some up-and-coming band called Radiohead.

[Nick Reg]

Missed the Ramones at the Viccy Hall 'anley

[kascade]

Too much lunchtime Greene King IPA at a cambridge folk festival in the 80's(84 or 85)resulted in me sleeping(!)through Lindisfarne and Bo Diddley
                                           Auntie Kas & Stanley

[Karlhippy]

anyway (as the numpty that I am) I thought
this meant the best gig you have EVER saw - doohh!!!!

therefore: Chieftains @ Glasto 1995 (got it on tape tho')

[steveP]

Too much lunchtime Greene King IPA at a cambridge folk festival in the 80's(84 or 85)resulted in me sleeping(!)through Lindisfarne and Bo Diddley
                                           Auntie Kas & Stanley

You didn't miss much sleeping through Bo Diddley. He came on after a five minute build-up by his band, complained that his amplifier was in the wrong place, grumbled about something else, chugged his way through a few songs about himself, and then left. And I am pretty sure he was on twice that weekend and did it all again the next time.

[David Delarre]

I missed most of Faithless due to my college mate throwing up for 45mintues at V Festival- was not happy.

I was also dragged along to see some dodgy 90's band- Zero 7? instead of watching Basement Jaxx....damn girlfriends...