Your Ultimate Gig Line-Up

[BONES]

I was listening to Play Dead on the way home last night and had this idea about what my ultimate line-up for a gig would be and I thought it might make interesting reading to see who others would want to see. Because life without rules would be chaos (as opposed to anarchy, which is desirable), here are the rules -

1. The line up must be contemporaneous. i.e. Acts that were together and performing at the same time. So you can't have Billie Eilish supporting Billie Holiday, for example.

2. Maximum of 5 acts on the bill, ranked from the headliner (first) down to the opening act (last).

3. You can nominate the year you would have liked to have seen them if you want to.

Me first!

Year: 1984

Killing Joke
Play Dead
The Danse Society
Opposition

I wanted to squeeze Modern English in but 1984 was the year they released Ricochet Days, so I don't think they'd have fit with the others. OTOH, Killing Joke had released Fire Dances the year before, Play Dead released From The Promised Land that year, The Danse Society released Heaven is Waiting and Opposition released Promises, all of which are in my all-time Top 20 albums.

Of the four, Killing Joke is the only one I have seen. I didn't even know about Opposition until a few years ago but they've become one of my favourite bands since then.

[AnX]

Off the top of my head...

1985

Depeche Mode
The Cult
Sisters of Mercy
Killing Joke
New Order

The order doesn't really matter. I actually saw them all that year, except new order.

[raiderpdog]

since we can ( I guess?) time travel in this and go to things we may have been too young to actually go to, I am going to try something different for myself here. I pretty much am an alternative/post-punk/indie/new wave/electronic/post rock/industrial/noise type guy and have seen most of who I wanted to have seen, so instead I would like to try to go to:

1972 or so:

(order is Can is first, Bowie is headliner)

Can
Roxy Music
Genesis with Gabriel
King Crimson
Bowie

Would have loved to have caught all of these right around this time.
Also, in this version of myself, i am going to be wearing bell bottoms, a weird 70s jacket, long hair, beard kind of like Robert Plant in the early 70s, and finding some really, really, hot Hippie/Glam Chicks to hang with at these shows, too. Gotta go all out in this version of time travel.


I also would like to have traveled back into the late 50s, early 60s and see some of the Easy Listening/Exotica acts of the time, I loved that stuff too. Martin Denny, Ray Conniff, Percy Faith, etc. That would be a whole different affair, suits and sophistication. And beautiful Lounge music Women. Again, time travel must be used wisely.

[BONES]

I've got another one for a local gig, something that might have been achievable -

Year: 1982

Midnight Oil
The Angels
Hitmen
Sunnyboys

[vurt]

bjork
spiritualized
sigur ros
super furry animals
stereolab

now would be as good as any time

id have to think on historic ones, to check possibility and such.

[gaggle of hermits]

1993 and it's a kind all-night gig - cope could do three sets in one night in those days and orbital's what you want to go into the small hours. and before you get all smart and go "wtf, it's the '90s dude, no velvets", they did indeed reform and tour that year but i stuck them on early so they could get some cocoa.

orbital
julian cope
the velvet underground
nick cave & the bad seeds
bjork

[raiderpdog]

Thought of another round I would have loved to see:

Say around 79-81 (however it works to make the years fit best ).


The Fall
XTC
Bauhaus
Joy Division
PiL

Also on standby in case of cancellations: Echo and the Bunnymen, Magazine, Wire.

I would be happy interchanging most of these listed, truthfully. I've seen a few of them in their later years and with different members, etc., or members from these bands solo or with different projects (Love and Rockets, New Order, later PiL, later Echo, Wire) but would have loved to see these all at their early brilliance.

[vurt]

Thought of another round I would have loved to see:

Say around 79-81 (however it works to make the years fit best ).


The Fall
XTC
Bauhaus
Joy Division
PiL

Also on standby in case of cancellations: Echo and the Bunnymen, Magazine, Wire.

I would be happy interchanging most of these listed, truthfully. I've seen a few of them in their later years and with different members, etc., or members from these bands solo or with different projects (Love and Rockets, New Order, later PiL, later Echo, Wire) but would have loved to see these all at their early brilliance.

big regret i never saw joy division
i did see magazine, but it was fairly recent comparatively speaking, when they reformed.
never seen pil, but did see jah wobble a fair few times, and had a few smokes and chats with him at a friends house, hes f**king mental

mark e smith, met him quite a bit, the band used to rehearse at a friends place, hed occasionally turn up, have a go at them for being shit, then piss off to the pub.
we were once having a smoking session, and he came and at next to me, passed him one id just rolled, he nipped the end, put it behind his ear and f**ked off
once saw him in a yates wine bar, walking up to tables, saying hello to someone, picking a drink up, then f**king off...
total arse!

[raiderpdog]

he reminds me he would do that stuff

Very cool that you got to interact like that, I would have probably clammed up and minded my own business. And then still get heckled by him for not talking

[vurt]

90s through noughties, great time to be in manchester.
lots of the madchester scene, after break ups, starting new bands, djing whatever!
met loads of them, because my mate ran a rehearsal studio, with a load of rooms.
as well as his errr less legal business
both of which, attract musicians!!

[raiderpdog]

An awesome time to be there!

[BONES]

If it wasn't for EBM/Electro-Industrial, I don't think there'd have been any good music in the 90s. There cetainly wasn't anything coming out of the UK, except maybe PWEI and Cubanate.



Your beauty on my skin like oxyacetelene. It's beautiful stuff.

Thought of another round I would have loved to see:

Say around 79-81 (however it works to make the years fit best ).
The Fall
XTC
Bauhaus
Joy Division
PiL

Also on standby in case of cancellations: Echo and the Bunnymen, Magazine, Wire.

Very, very cool choices here. I was in England and saw Bauhaus on the Spirit Tour in 1982, it's one of the greatest experiences of my life! I saw The Fall locally and was unimpressed. I saw XTC twice, the first time being supported by Magazine. Believe it or not, I'm not a fan of Joy Division but I've seen PiL half-a-dozen times over the years. I went to see Echo & the Bunnymen in 81 or 82, but only because their support act was a band from Melbourne I really loved (MEO245), and they absolutely blew me away. I've seen Wire a couple of times, too, but only in the last 20 years.

[raiderpdog]

Yeah, you caught Bauhaus at a great time, I would have loved to have seen that one too, I am sure it was a great night. I liked their new song I heard last week, it was a pleasant surprise, and I was interested to read how they recorded it using the old surrealist "exquisite corpse" technique.

XTC would have been one I really wished to have seen before they retired from touring. Wire I lucked out and saw at the Depeche Mode Rose Bowl show way back. It had Wire, Thomas Dolby, OMD and Depeche. PiL have seen with INXS, and then again on their own.

This was a great thread idea, Bones. I can literally keep thinking of different bands/eras pretty much as soon as type another list. It makes me realize how much stuff was/is out there that is still influential to me today.

[BONES]

Yeah, it's disappointing when you see so many brainless threads that go for hundreds of pages when something like this, that I'd expect every music-lover to want to contribute to, goes mostly unnoticed. When I formed the idea, I got so excited because it's one of those great mental exercises that makes me feel so good about all the incredible music that's out there, that I've been fortunate enough to discover and enjoy for almost 45 years now. And, just to prove it's not all nostalgia, here's a line-up I'd love to have seen before Holygram broke up a couple of years ago -

Year: 2019

Genepool
Holygram
Whispering Sons
Moving Units
Actors

Actors would probably want to be further up the bill but I'd have them on first because they're a bit poppy. And Genepool have been very quiet for a few years so I'm not sure what's happening with them, either, but that's a line-up I'd fly overseas to see.

[AnX]

1994

Skinny Puppy
NIN
Front 242
Frontline Assembly
Young Gods