Musical Chairs

#41 A New Year's Wish

It's a new year, so let's give ourselves a little wish - the chance to hop inside a rock'n'roll time machine and imagine a handful of dream gigs. As it's 2025, I've picked five 'I wish I'd been there' moments.

Chronologically, I'll start in early 1973 and listen in on, for me, the most beautiful voices in all of music - Gram Parsons in sweet harmony with Emmylou Harris. They toured the US together in February/March - with a setlist featuring Love Hurts, Sin City and We'll Sweep out the Ashes in the Morning, I really can't think of many better places to be.

Next, I'd fast forward two years to witness the mighty Led Zeppelin touring their best album Physical Graffiti across America. At the time they were mining the richest seam of their career with emerging gems such as Kashmir, Trampled Under Foot and In My Time of Dying joining established anthems like Rock and Roll, Whole Lotta Love, Since I've Been Loving You and Stairway to Heaven. The stages of the US must have been reverberating under the sheer power of a peerless band at the very top of their game.

After giving my eardrums a well-deserved rest for four years, my next destination would be the UK and a night with Kate Bush on the legendary 1979 Tour of Life. Aged just 20 at the time, she had already written era-defining classics Wuthering Heights, The Man with the Child in His Eyes and Wow - they all featured in a performance which combined 'music, dance, poetry, mime, burlesque, magic and theatre'. Twenty four songs, seventeen costume changes, the world's first wireless headset microphone and, no doubt, an evening of pure magic.

My fourth choice reads like a fantasy gig line-up conversation down the pub. But this one actually happened. In February 1980 the following four bands played at London's Lyceum - Joy Division, Killing Joke, A Certain Ratio and Section 25. The Joy Division set drew heavily on Closer, whilst co-headliners Killing Joke played Pssyche, Change and Wardance amongst other classics. ACR had just released their debut album The Graveyard and the Ballroom and Section 25 were right at the start of their career.

Having been lucky enough to both attend the venue (which stopped hosting gigs in 1986) and see three of the four bands numerous times, I can only imagine how special this night must have been.

My final selection is the best live band I've ever seen, Bad Brains. Having witnessed them in Manchester in their 'quieter days' (1989), an evening in the CBGB mosh pit of 1984 would have been a hell of an experience - singer H.R. cites the New York performance as the best of their career so that will do for me.

Please feel free to share your own fantasy five in the comments...