Top 5 missed gigs

Basically, what it says on the tin.

The acts or gigs you somehow avoided and wished you'd been at.

Mine alphabetically:

Be Bop Deluxe
Greedies (Lynott, Downey, Jones and Cook)*
Live Aid**
Rush (late 70s)
Status Quo (70s)

* I had tickets but was recovering in hospital after an accident
**Mrs.Tikka's firm owned Wembley, and the day before (when she wasn't in) they went round the office handing out free tickets

Led Zeppelin - Rotterdam 1980. Waiting for coach at midnight in Worcester city centre, sober, with passport and lots of money only to be told that my name wasn't on the ticket list even though I'd paid a deposit.

Ramones - Hummingbird, Birmingham in the early 90s. Did have a ticket for that but got too drunk during the afternoon and missed my lift.

Goes without saying there's lots of bands/artists I'd love to have seen but they were either well past it or had split up by the time I got into their music.

David Gilmour on the Blue Light Tour when he played in Queens University Belfast. It was £8 a ticket, or something in that region, and I thought that he would not be up to much, despite me loving Floyd. What a duh.............The bootlegs that I have heard from that tour make the duh quality of my decision even more apparent and painful.

Rush, the only time they played Ireland, and I was out of the country :-(

Neil Young @ Birmingham NEC on the Trans tour in 82 or 83. Three of us had tickets, my mate from Sheffield was going to drive over to Grimsby in his elderly mini, pick up me and the other half and then tool on across country to Brum (a ridiculous round trip for him of 450-500 miles but we were young and he was up for it). Before we got to Lincoln (<30 miles) his car spluttered to a halt but we managed to get it going again but it died again just outside Newark (<50 miles) so we limped the car to Newark station got a train back to Grimsby, stared at our useless tickets and wept copiously! He got rid of the car shortly thereafter!

I have seen NY just once but on his last tour I baulked at £75 a shot- wish I'd splashed out now!

I refused to go with my GF to see Genesis in the relatively intimate confines of Sheffield City Hall circa 77/8 bcause I was into punk and metal. Apparently a stellar time was had by all.

I nearly refused to go with her to see Pink Floyd do the Wall at Earls Court in 79/80 (really didn't like the whine-a-thon nature of the album) but curiosity got the better of me and, while I still think it's one long whinge, it is definitely one of the top shows I've witnessed.

Loads I would have liked to have seen. But I do recall that in 1977 or 1978 a couple of friends and I joined a queue outside the Edinburgh Odeon thinking that it was for Bad Company tickets. When we discovered that it was actually for tickets to see Van Morrison, we repaired to the pub in disgust. Thus missing out on an opportunity to see Van the Man at the height of his powers. D'oh!

As I've mentioned before, I missed Arcade Fire (in their early days & only £10) at Sheffield Leadmill because I didn't fancy being in a dodgy area late at night.
The one that's really annoying me is one I'm about to miss. I really want to see Andrew Bird at Glasgow Fruitmarket but it's standing only and I can't stand for long periods.
I think this is discriminatory - they probably have to have wheelchair space but there's no provision for people with health problems who need to sit down.
I'm getting angry again just writing this!

Lez - I may have mentioned that I DID see Arcade Fire @ the Leadmill, the area's not that dodgy as there are few other bars nearby!

Agree with you about all-standing venues, Lincoln Engine Shed (Students' Union) has a small raised area of seating at one side for the less than sprightly. I can stand for a few hours, it's just the bending of the back to get into the car at the end of the night that's the problem! I take a precautionary 600mg Ibruprofen before gigs these days.

Whitesnake 1980 ready n willin tour had ticket/ not well couldnt make gig,still gutted
Van Halen uk tour 1980 no money
ac'dc/y& t uk tour 81 , thought those gigs would always be around doh,i would catch them next time.
Queen ingilston '79, i think, didnt fancy the travel doh!!
Kiss Wembley 1980 ,schoolmate had a spare ticket!!!!,didnt want paid for it, i was booked on a family holiday to... New York !!!!!

Gang Of Four's first gig at The Corn Exchange, Leeds 1997
Led Zeppelin- Bradford St Georges Hall 1972
Jimi Hendrix - The Troutbeck Hotel, Ilkley 1967
Compulsion - Leeds Cockpit 1994
The Beatles - The Alhambra Theatre Bradford 1964

I cant belive to this day that i didnt go see Manowar a few months back when they played in Leeds at the small O2 building!! seen a few bands there incl Porcupine Tree but for my eternal shame missed Manowar prob the biggest Metal band in the world.

Gigs that i would have given my right arm to have seen from the past? Hawkwind performing the Space Ritual in '73

Mr.B, if it was '79 it might've been what was billed as the 'Crazy Tour' in London. Saw them at Lewisham and they were excellent. Mrs.Tikka finally realised why I loved them.

Still regret not seeing (what became) their last tour in '86.

Missed all the Rebellion festivals from over 5 years ago cos I didnt know about them, got to the Limit doorway having queued from the bottom of Sheffield West Street to see the B52's and didnt get in. Got a ticket to see Squeeze in 1980 and caught Chickenpox of my niece and finished up ill in bed. Drove to Scarborough Penthouse to see the UK Subs they did 2 songs and the place errupted in fighting, needless to say the gig was cancelled.
Missed a Smiths gig cos my mate who went to get the tickets decided to go for a drink first and when he got there the City Hall was sold out.

"L'enfer, c'est les autres" eh Wobbly ("Hell is other people.")

T'Limit club's only abaht 5 yards from t'end o' West St (but it was a small club)!

Two regrettable lapses.

1) Leicester Polytechnic Student Union, late 1970s: heard the headline act (Climax Blues Band), turned up too late to hear the support act (a fledgeling Dire Straits).

2) St Albans, late 2008: missed my last chance to hear John Martyn.

[Deleted by the author on 14 Jul 2012 23:27:34 BDT]

1995 pj harvey - she was ill
1996 pj harvey - i was ill

2010 soulsavers - i was in the wrong hall, waiting for the support to finish their horrible set which never seemed to end, just to learn that this was the main act on THIs stage...and of course, the soulsavers were finished by then as well...how stupid am i?

I really wanted to see the Velvet Underground at Wembley Arena in 1993, but as I was fighting to get my rent-rebate and living on pot noodles, it really couldn't happen. Still bitter even now!

The Nolans reunion tour in 2009

A close shave rather than a missed gig surely?

I would put the bitter aftertaste down to the Pot Noodles, Ms. F ;-)

Not so Brass Neck...at least my boyfriend at the time bought me the DVD of the concert as an Xmas present.

.... explains why he's not Mr x now?!! ;¬)

I missed Roy Orbison and Jimi Hendrix on the same bill at the Southampton Gaumont [now the Mayflower]in 1967. I had a ticket ,but sold it because i was short of money. God What a Plonker.

Neil Young at the (then) Hamersmith Odeon on his Rockin' in the free world tour