A couple of days ago I posted another 1980s’s gig memory over on the Music In the Attic Instagram and Facebook pages. The gig in question was Phil Lynott’s Grand Slam at the Nottingham Palais on 12th July 1984.
I was just 16 at the time so this was one of my earliest gigs. It was also the first and only time I got to see the legendary Irishman and former Thin Lizzy front man up close and personal. It was a very long time ago now (39 years!) so my memories of the gig are a bit sketchy but I do recall them opening their set with ‘Yellow Pearl’ which was the Top of the Pops theme tune around that time. Don’t remember it? Here’s a link! They also played ‘Cold Sweat’ which was one of my favourite Thin Lizzy songs from my early teens. Here’s a great link from 1983!
Although I never got to see Thin Lizzy I do consider myself fortunate to have seen Phil Lynott perform live before his untimely death on 4th January 1986 at the age of 36.
This prompted some discussion on my social media channels where a number of other fans said how grateful they were to have seen Phil and/or Thin Lizzy live back in the day. Some other fans weren’t so fortunate and were a tad envious of our experience.
This got me thinking…
Whilst I’ve been fortunate to have seen some great musicians who are sadly no longer with us (Lemmy, David Bowie, Terry Hall, Joe Strummer, Eddie Van Halen, Gary Moore, Neil Peart, David Crosby, Taylor Hawkins, Ronnie James Dio, Dusty Hill, Charlie Watts, Cozy Powell, Tina Turner and Tony Bennet immediately spring to mind!) there’s also a load of great artists I wished I’d seen but never did – some of whom were performing in my lifetime. Not all of them are dead by the way. Some are just bands who split up before I got chance to see them.
Whilst this website has typically been about gigs I’ve been to, today I’m going to focus on artists I never got to see but wish I had! I’m going to start a list here and will no doubt be adding to it as I remember more. Please feel free to add some of your own in the comments…
In my lifetime but I never saw them
Queen with Freddie Mercury
Pink Floyd with Roger Waters
Led Zeppelin with John Bonham
Prince
The Smiths
Joy Division
Black Sabbath (with either Ozzy or Dio)
Nirvana
The Police
Fleetwood Mac (guess there’s still time but without Christine)
Before my time but wish I had a time machine!
Jimi Hendrix (at Woodstock or anywhere for that matter!)
The Doors with Jim Morrison
The Beatles during their ‘trippy’ period
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Cream
The Sex Pistols (first time around)
The Clash
The Kinks (although apparently I saw Ray Davies at Glastonbury in 1997 but have no recollection of it!)