Worst Didn't Go To The Show

Zepplin, I at least had ticket to twice but 2 deaths shot those down

David Bowie Is my worst where I was in control and decided not to go

Zappa 88.

Johnny Cash, around 2001, on the American III tour.

Biggest musical regret of my life

Missed Ten Years After once to go on a 1st date with a honey I had the hots for. 

Never made that mistake again.

Stevie Ray Vaughan @ Alpine Valley '89. I had Tix for that last show but something relatively minor (looking back at it anyway) got in the way and I let 'em go. 

James Brown about a month before he died.   Had never seen him but said to myself "I will go next time around."

^*Correction* Vaughan's last show was Aug '90 @ Alpine Valley.

Gotta say its the Warlock shows in Hampton 89. My sister in law who lived in Hampton at the time called me and said that she heard there were surprise Grateful Dead shows announced, and she could pickup tickets for me, and I could crash at their house. I already had tix for 5 shows (Philly thru Charlotte), and I had been to the Hampton shows in 88 so I blew it off. Big mistake. I didn't catch Dark Star until 9/6/91 (Dark Star Jam, no vocals) and full blown Dark Star with lyrics until Summer 92. By then the song had waned somewhat and didn't have the same impact as those more robust 89-90 versions.      

Grateful Dead Nassau 79. Missed Dark Star and St. Stephen. Went to the Garden, Spectrum, Utica, Springfield and decided to skip Nassau to keep a job I quit a few weeks later. D'oh!

Led Zeppelin in 77

My worst didn't go to the show was the GD at Soldier Field in 1995. I had just gone through a nasty break-up with my girlfriend of the time, and wasn't really feeling it. I'll catch them next time around, I told some friends.

Lowell George June 28th 1979 at Lisner Auditorium.  Like the OP, mom wouldn't let me go.   I was so pissed at her for a long time, Little Feat was my favorite band, and Lowell was my Jerry,  but how was she supposed to know he wasn't gonna live to see another day ?

Stephane Grappelli is number 2.    He got sick and died a month or so  before the show we had tickets for.

last laguna seca, frost and venturas...

had to work New years eve and day at the rye town Philton, 1987, after seeing NYE 82,83,84,85,...worst nye ever next time I'm quittin

Led Zeppelin in 77<<<

Same here, 77, I think it was. Had tickets for The Superdome show. Plant's son died a day or three before this show. The tour was canceled. 

. 

A few come to mind. The real Pink Floyd in LA for The Wall in 1980.

Roy Orbison shortly before he died.

Stevie Wonder in Oakland a few years ago that I was later told was ridiculously great because for some reason he was feeling great that night and played a MUCH longer set than normal.

Aretha Franklin in Oakland on her last tour. I didn't go because I worried that she would be a shell of her former greatness. I was seriously wrong about that.

Talking Heads at the Warfield in '81 & at the San Francisco Civic in '83.

But, to follow the rules of the thread, if I have to pick just one I'll say Aretha, because I heard how brilliant she was that night, and because I consider her to be one of the great artists of our or any time and I never got to see her live.

Warlocks 89. I was too into dope and couldn't risk being Dopesick in Virginia.

In 68/69, I was in the 9th grade. Had tix for Cream. Got kicked out of school for smoking THAT DAY and my Dad would not let me go. Cream in their hayday. So it goes.

I saw Led Zeppelin in 73 at Kezar and they were epic.

moe, egyptian theatre, park city

5th row centre, 3 nights

march 15thish, 2020

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/frank-zappa/1988/bushnell-memorial-hall-hartford-ct-23d0ecb7.html

Feb. 17th 1988 Zappa at the Bushnell Hartford. I was 16 thought I'd get more chances,

That's hard core, Brian.

I blew off both Zep and Marley in 75. Would have gotten backstage for Marley to boot. Just too much partying in general lead to poor judgement you might say.

No regrets now given how much I did catch. At the time I felt differently.

Grateful Dead 1st day at Laguna Seca 1988. I thought I could make some coin selling sandwiches (I didn't) and wandered around the lot getting sunstroke while they were ripping the only China>Crazy Fingers>Rider ever and that otherworldy Playin'. I did get in the other 2 days, though.

Jerry Garcia Band at the Kaiser Halloween 1988. I was at the venue with a pocket full of cash, tickets were plentiful, even waved at Jerry by his limo earlier that day, but somehow didn't go in. Why? I don't know. (It wasn't drugs).

Booker T & The MGs in the mid 90's. I mistakenly thought the club had a dress code, so I skipped. It turned out to be a show for the ages.

Dylan & The Dead shows in 1987.  I was burned out on the tour scene after 1986, and had decided to refocus on my health and college studies.  Only went to Virginia, D.C, and Maryland shows that year, and for the most part, stayed off the road.  While these choices helped bring me back from a pretty dark period, I still regret not going to any of the six Dylan & The Dead shows.

The Last Waltz at Winterland. I had 2 backstage press passes, which I gave to a friend, before I went to Texas for a job, which became another poor decision.

Englishtown

Had tickets for Jerry Band 89. Second row.  Jail instead....

mylar for the win/lose.

7/16/90 if the 63 American Motors Rambler Station Wagon got there, don't think it would have made it back

Mookie Blaylock at the Bacchanal '91

>>> mylar for the win/lose.

That's my choice, too.

Man, lots of missed opportunities, sort of like life itself.

Yeah.

Oh man, I forgot one, and I'm surprised because I've whined about it for decades.

My friends were all going to see the Grateful Dead at Winterland on 12/29/77 and they had an extra ticket, but I said no.

I think my exact quote at the time was, "The Grateful Dead sound like lumpy mashed potatoes."

Damn.

Young & Dumb.

Well, they DO sound like mashed potatoes - lumpy or smooth.

I like mashed potatoes.

Not a show, a tour and it ended up providing a silver, maybe gold lining in the end. 

I was all set to do the classic senior in high school, end of the year goof off since I was admitted to college and all that stuff. So, I was all set with tickets to take some time off and hit the spring '77 GD tour. That was until my parents thought otherwise and basically told me that if I went on tour that I would not come home to a place to live. After some heated "discussions" with my parents, I figured that I was in no position to become homeless (they would have done it) and sold my tickets and grumbled. Without a doubt, spring '77 is my favorite timeframe and I would have experienced it firsthand. 

:-(

The gold lining was in 1978, while in college and with my trusty 1973 Chrysler Newport Royal land yacht, and since I had already gotten some tickets to the Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Darkness On The Edge of Town tour that I was going on tour and they couldn't stop me. Best damn decision I've ever made. Every show on that tour was amazing. On a scale of 1 - 100 I think the worst show came in somewhere around 96 or 97. From the east coast to my first concert at Red Rocks and back again. 

I didn't do much for my college career but magic doesn't even start to cover it. Many of the band members and current tour manager all say the same thing, best shows ever. 

missed one 1990 fall msg show because of work

the branford night

lol

i was thinking of the branford MSG show too.

i saw the one before it and the one after but couldn't swing that tuesday(i think) night.

but for a tickets in hand incident in sept 99 i went to see john hiatt do a taping of session at 54th st and gave away my tix for tom waits at the beacon

two other notable misses for me was when johnny cash and wilco played irving plaza mid 90's, i knew about the show and skipped.

and in june of 95 between the dead at giants and rfk bob dylan played 2 shows at TLA in philly, i didnt even know about them til i saw bootlegs in the village months later...i learned to keep up after that

Kenny Loggins at Expo '84. A few months after Danger Zone came out. 

He's still touring jr. 

GTTS

yeah

He's Alright

in HS in Colorado in the early 80's i passed on an extra ticket a friend had ' to some Irish band or something ' because the weather sucked and it was cold....that was the U2 ' Under a Blood Red Sky ' show.

Elvis, Richmond Virginia 1976. I was 10 years old vacationing in Williamsburg with my mom and future step father. Saw a commercial on TV the night before the show at the Richmond Coliseum. Tickets still available. I begged my mom. Couldn't break her. I still give her crap about it all the time. 

Gotta be The Highwaymen @ Shoreline in the 1990s. I’m like, “They’ll be back…” DUH! We’re talking Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson all together!

Honorable mentions go to Muddy Waters and Also Les Paul who played every Monday in NYC until well into his 90’s and I procrastinated until it was too late!

Tom Waits 2013 at the Bridge School benefit.

I was still displaced because of Sandy, my dog was dying from cancer, and my wife had to travel for business... just couldn't swing the time to fly out for the show...

He'll play somewhere again... hopefully. 

When I was 21 I bought tickets for Taj Mahal, got there a day late. D'oh

Today, Phil and Friends at Cuthbert last night. Oh well.