Since this was Covid Summer of 2020—The Summer Without Live Music—I have paused my story and am presenting the second of two podcast episodes devoted to performances that were missed rather than remembering those I attended.
In this episode, I pick the 20 artists from the past who I would most like to have seen between the 1920s and 1980 but have now sadly missed forever.
Hindsight is 20/20, or so the saying goes. So, for my Concert no.020 entry in the original blog series, I published a two-part tribute looking back and honouring what DIDN’T happen: one entry (Episodes 9A & 9B; concert no. 020B) remembering 20 specific performances/concerts I was slated to or wanted to see—but didn’t or couldn’t—from 1980 onward, and another listing for the 20 Acts I Wish I’d Seen, which I discuss in this episode.
Join me as I time travel back to the 1920s and then take a chronological journey through decades and genres (jazz, pop, r&b, rock, reggae, psychedelia, afrobeat, glam, punk, and post-punk), revealing the artists I’d most like to have seen perform live, such as Billie Holiday, The Sex Pistols, Fela Kuti, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, and more.
I also talk about why I am picking each of my choices and what their music has meant to me along with where and when I would most liked to have seen them. For some of the artists, I have selected specific concert dates.
Get your party favours in order and come with me on a musical ride, revisiting some of the most interesting and iconoclastic live performers and performances of the mid-20th Century.
So, who would you most like to have seen?
NEXT PODCAST: I’ll pick where I left off after the Elvis Costello show in November 1978 (EP8: This Year’s Model), with this thrilling gig from UK Mod-Punks The Jam. It also coincided with a fresh tray of live concert firsts (A gig outside of London! In Toronto! At a tiny theatre! With an authentic ***punk*** audience!).
Between 1978-82, Weller & Co. shared the “My Favourite Band” mantle along with The Clash (Joy Division made it threesome by 1980), and so I was almost verklempt at getting to see my fave raves, who were so obscure over here while they were stars in the UK, in Toronto.
And boy did they deliver!
Tune in for winklepickers, opening act confusion, and … the magic returns.
EP 12 (no.004) This Is the Modern World: The Jam with The Dwight Twilley Band, Rex Danforth Theatre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday April 10, 1979 (Get a sneak preview by reading the original 2011 blog entry here.)