I wrote yesterday that I had crossed Aerosmith off my
concert bucket list. Of course, I didn’t
literally have one, rather a mental reckoning of those acts I would love to see
before my time is up.
But there is a real danger attached in creating this list
should “M” ever read this. It could be she will refer to this whenever I tell
her about plans to buy a ticket to future gigs with an immediate riposte of “it’s
not on your bucket list”. Now she’s never
actually denied me the opportunity of attending any show I really want to see,
but you can’t foresee everything in the future.
Accordingly, I look upon this post as a form of “gig insurance”.
And to further insure my attendance at a range of future gigs
by favourite artists, I’d better set out my criteria for inclusion on this
list. “M”, if you’re reading, this list
includes ONLY acts that;
1.
I have never
seen before live2. who regularly perform around the world (This is insurance against the possibility of a now
defunct or retired act reforming or deciding to hit the road again. I shall call this my Television rule.)
3. who I never spurned an opportunity to have seen live in the past, or
4. I have been prevented from seeing live in the past owing to unfortunate clashes, my being overseas or ill, their gig selling out before I could get a ticket, my not having developed an awareness or taste for their musical abilities, their appearance in an otherwise crappy festival line up or due a failure of my brain. (I shall call the latter the Lyle Lovett clause. I still don’t know why I didn’t go even with the opportunity of half price tickets.).
Now I didn’t have much time to listen to stuff today courtesy
of a half day corporate strategy planning session but decided to play material
staring with act No 1 on my list:
(# 325) Van Morrison –
No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)
I love Van the man – his Have I Told You Lately? was “M”
& my wedding dance tune – and this
is my favourite album of his. Magnificently
produced with musical backing that firmly put the spotlight on his remarkable
voice, this is arguably one of the more logical entry points into his daunting
catalogue due, in some part, to lyrics that are less oblique than on other
albums. The best tracks – Foreign Window, In The Garden, Thanks For The
Information and the incredibly literal Ivory Tower – ranks with the best of his
career. Even the two bonus tracks on the
reissued version, especially Lonely At The Top, are worth hearing.
Morrison has only ever toured Australia once, well before I
developed an appreciation of his work. I
know he can be quite mercurial live but, in the end, I don’t care. I just want to hear THAT voice and phrasing
in a live environment, preferably Hamer Hall. Seeing him live would also enable me to finally stop
grumbling about stepping out of the main train station in Vienna on my 1990
trip, finding myself staring at a poster for a Morrison/Dylan gig and realising
it occurred the previous night.
And so, on to No. 2 on my bucket list:
(# 326) Tom Waits –
Small Change (1976)
I’ve always loved Waits’ lyrics but, more importantly, the
way he juxtaposes his voice against whatever musical background he
chooses. And the instrumentation used
over the 20 years or so has been nothing short of staggering, an triumphant
union of rhythm and noise. This album,
though, places that voice against lush orchestration and a batch of some of his
greatest songs – I Wish I Was In New Orleans, The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not
Me) and the title track. And as an
Australian, just hearing that voice do a portion of Waltzing Matilda on Tom Traubert’s
Blues, makes the hairs stand on the back of my neck every time.
Tom is number 2 for the very simple reason that since the
last time he toured Australia he has released Heartattack And Vine,
Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Bone Machine, Mule Variations…….Do I need to say anything more?
And now to the remainder
of my bucket list:
3. Aretha Franklin - To the best of my
knowledge has never toured Australia. She is probably not likely to as well so
I’ll have to fluke a rare gig in the States.4. Television - Yes I bought the ticket to their show in the reception place in Altona later in the year but things can still happen. Not to be crossed off the list until Tom Verlaine walks online and starts strangling his guitar.
5. Willie Nelson - I’ve twice held tickets to gigs which have been cancelled. He is now 80 and so I’m confident he'll be off the list in the next decade or so.
6. Camper Van Beethoven - I had a ticket for the show they were going to perform in Melbourne on 24 May 1990. It got cancelled because the band broke up. They’ve since reformed and I’m still waiting to sing along to Live Is Grand.
7. Boris - I only discovered the Japanese 3 piece noisemakers a couple of years back and have spent quality time catching up on their formidable back catalogue. A tour will top off this voyage of discovery nicely.
8. Mogwai - The Scottish alt-instrumental genii have been victim to clashes. I also missed out on seeing them at a Belgian music festival in 1998 as they appeared on the day I didn’t get to.
9. Richard Thompson Band - Ordinarily, I rate one of the present day masters of the guitar higher, but for the fact I’ve seen him at least twice in the past. However, each occasion has been an acoustic affair, the latter at least with Danny Thompson on bass. I’m not complaining but I do want to hear Valerie in its electric glory…and I Can’t Win...and Calvary Cross…and, well you get the idea, electric guitar solo heaven.
10. Swans - It was only due to their tour after their reformation, that I really listened and started to truly appreciate their music. Since then I bought up the key parts of the catalogue and was hoping for a return visit…..only for tickets to go onsale and sell out whilst I was blissfully ignorant overseas.
11. Paul Westerberg - Paul. Pick up your guitar, hop on a plane and come here. You’ll like it. Really. Come as Grandpa Boy if you like. Surely you’ve had offers? And The Replacements never toured her either, so some of their/your tunes would be appreciated as well. Hell, we were able to lure Alex Chilton to play here before he died and we didn’t mind (well, too much) that he didn’t play any Big Star stuff.
12. Bad Brains - I don’t know whether they’ve toured Australia and that’s a good enough reason to have them on my list.
13. Van Halen - They have never played Melbourne with David Lee Roth. Just recently did a single Australian show at a Sydney Festival along with Aerosmith. What, Ed are we not important enough? May you continue to find brown M & Ms in your backstage bowls until you rectify this injustice.
14. Lyle Lovett - What can I say other than I’m sorry - again.
15. Kate Bush - Kate would be much higher on the list if not for the teeny weeny, insignificant minor detail of not having gone on tour for at least 30 years. Gets on the list solely as extra extra extra insurance should she ever decide to give it a try. (I call this the Kate Bush rule.)
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