Does your favorite artist ever announce a tour and it comes nowhere near you? Maybe it does come near you, but it’s impossible to get tickets for, or maybe even you were just too young. Our staff took a few minutes to reflect on shows that they wish they could have attended.
Woodstock Music Festival
Abby Fox
Ever since I first heard about Woodstock when I was young, I’ve wished I would I been alive to experience the infamous rock festival. Coincidentally, it also took place during the week of my birthday (August 15-17), even though I wasn’t born until over 20 years later. The lineup was like no other – The Who, Janis Joplin, Santana and Jimi Hendrix would have been incredible to see perform live. I also would have loved to be a part of the crowd coming together to celebrate the love of music and the power of social harmony. I’m a big fan of concerts and music festivals, but Woodstock just seems like it would have been unlike any other.
*NSYNC – No Strings Attached
Joe Hernandez
Some of my earliest memories are sitting in the backseat of a car with a portable CD player in my hand, having one of those zipper CD cases full of discs, but only cycling through The Backstreet Boys’ Black & Blue and *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached. Both boy bands are incredible, The Backstreet Boys have a special place in my heart, but let’s be real if you’re looking for a good time and slap after slap you’re putting on *NSYNC. With classics like “Bye, Bye, Bye”, “It’s Gonna Be Me” and “This I Promise You”, *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached is a masterpiece and among their most recognized and loved albums. No shade no tea on the boy bands of today, I’m a big One Direction fan, but the choreography and production behind these 90’s and early 2000’s boy bands was unreal. Can you imagine being there and witnessing “Bye, Bye, Bye” live? Seeing JT and company in their prime and all at the top of their game? I’m already on my way to the salon to get short, curly, bleached blonde, frosted tips.
blink-182/Green Day – Pop Disaster Tour
Chelsea Gresh
I grew up listening to blink-182 and Green Day. I remember hearing their songs so frequently on the radio! As I grew older, I became a bigger fan of each band. All I listened to was Enema of The State and American Idiot. Seeing these bands in their prime would have been such an amazing experience. I have been fortunate to see each band separately but I just know that this tour would have been insane. From the crowd to the performancing to the insane stage banter, this tour seemed like the best thing for my little pop punk heart. I do not think there would be a better way to spend a summer afternoon than seeing blink-182 and Green Day. Since I missed out, guess I will just take every opportunity I have to rewatch all the videos from the tour.
Bamboozle Festival 2012
Gina Scarpino
As someone who grew up on the West Coast, I always felt robbed that I never got to attend Bamboozle as a teenager. Year after year, the festival had epic lineups that really fulfilled any pop-punk / Warped Tour kid’s dreams. In 2012, the festival had an insane lineup including Foo Fighters, My Chemical Romance, The Maine, Jimmy Eat World, Incubus, Brand New, The Gaslight Anthem, Boys Like Girls, and more. Bamboozle always kind of served as this insane precursor to Warped Tour, taking place a month or so before Warped usually kicked off. 2012 was a particularly special year for Bamboozle, while it was the festival’s 10-year anniversary, it was also the final year of the festival, so they really went out with a bang. As an emo kid, this also happened to be My Chemical Romance’s final show before their break-up in 2013 (I cried a little bit reminding myself of this). Bamboozle was a staple to the pop-punk / rock / metal genres that it catered to year after year, and I’ll always look back on my teenage years and wish that I could of attended this festival.
Warped Tour 2008-2009
Kristen Humphries
When I was younger, I didn’t go to the shows that I truly wanted to attend. My friend group didn’t have the same music taste as me and I was too uncomfortable at the time to go to shows by myself. I felt like I missed out on the whole “Warped Tour Scene” during my youth, though I would give anything to have seen the tour in 2008-2009 now. From Paramore to The Maine to Mayday Parade to All Time Low, it was a lineup of all my favorite bands growing up. I started going to pop-punk shows later in life—living my angsty teen phase in college—and since then, I’ve met some of my best friends and seen my favorite live shows. I wonder how much earlier I could’ve met this group of people that means so much to me had I seen Warped Tour at a younger age.
Seeing Nirvana Live
Sam Aneed
I always have heard how iconic Nirvana shows were. I think for me that is a show I wish I could have experienced. Seeing a show like that would have been a life changing experience I feel like. I have watched multiple videos of them performing back in the early 90’s and I love the way how they are on stage, their stage presence is something indescribable. They can go from jumping around and screaming to completely calm and chilled out for their next song if they wanted and I love how there weren’t any effects just the band doing what they love. I love the Nirvana and their music so seeing them life back then is just something I wish I was alive to have done.
Katy Perry – Witness Tour
Blake Charles
Few things are more crushing than buying tickets to a concert months in advanced, only to later find out that you can’t go due to unforeseen circumstances. That was my unfortunate reality earlier this year when I had to miss out on seeing Katy Perry’s Witness Tour for a volleyball tournament. Katy Perry has been one of my favorite artists since I was in middle school, and I have wanted to see her live for as long as I can remember, so knowing that another year would pass without me seeing her was crushing. To make matters worse, her opening act was Carly Rae Jepsen, another one of my all time favorite artists. I mean, just thinking about hearing “Run Away With Me” and “Teenage Dream” live in the same night is giving me goosebumps. Because I bought the tickets with my parents, they went to the show without me, and sent me videos of some of my favorite Carly and Katy songs while I was trying to keep my composure on the way to the tournament. Tears were shed, jealousy was felt, and dreams were put on hold.
One Direction – Up All Night Tour
Alicia Rangel
Back in 2011 when One Direction announced their first headlining tour I was ecstatic. I had been following the band’s journey on X-Factor and seeing them live was on the top of my bucketlist. When you find a band that you really like and follow from the beginning of their journey, it makes sense that you’d want to see them on their first tour. At the time the tour was announced I was a sophomore in high school and in love with music, as I still am today. Unfortunately for me, this tour only consisted of TWO dates in Texas. Houston and Dallas. Both these cities were over six hours of travel time away from me. I didn’t have a car, I didn’t have a job and I didn’t have anyone to drive me 6 hours away to see one of my favorite bands live. I’ve always wished I could see this tour live because it was the beginning of a big journey I would go on with this band. In 2014 I saw One Direction in Houston at their Where We Are tour, and all I could think about how far they’d come and just how amazing it would’ve been to see them in a much smaller venue. On the brightside, though it’s not the same…Up All Night is on DVD.
Panic! at the Disco – Nothing Rhymes with Circus Tour
Delaney DeAngelis
A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out is probably my favorite album of all time. I think I was in fourth or fifth grade when it came out, so I was pretty young when this tour happened. I’ve always wished I could have seen this tour live. The music, the original Panic! at the Disco lineup, the costumes, the theatrics. Everything about this tour seemed so fun and exciting and I really wish I could have seen it in person. I’ve seen Panic! at the Disco many times, but I really feel like this one would have blown me away. When on tour now, they only play a few songs from this album, so I really wish I had the opportunity to hear more of my favorite album live.
Citizen – North American Tour ‘16
Stone Fenk
Technically, I attended a show on this tour, but I wish I attended more dates. This was ten out of ten, the perfect line up. Honestly, I can’t think of a better tour than this, within this music scene, other than Basement and Citizen coming up close behind it. This tour had turnover playing a full set of songs from “Peripheral Vision”, Citizen playing “Everybody Is Going To Heaven” with a mix of classics from “Youth” and Sorority Noise playing all their catchy yet sad bangers. Sad to say this line up will never happen again, I wish I could have seen it more than once.
Beyoncé– Coachella 2018
Nicolita Bradley
I’ll be the first to admit this pick is basic, but there isn’t a bone in my body that doesn’t wish I could see her nail this performance live. This was the first time a black female ever headlined the Coachella festival. It was glorious to watch via live stream. I can only imagine what it was like to see perfection perform right before my eyes. Beyoncé performed for 2 hours, singing 26 songs and brought out Solange, Jay-Z, and reunited Destiny’s Child. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah – she also broke the record for most watched live stream performance ever.
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool Album Tour 2016
Addie Whelan
For Radiohead being one of my favorite bands, it’s almost starting to get ridiculous how hard it is for me to see them live. Earlier this year, they announced two Chicago dates and of course, tickets were impossible to get. With five people on my side, I still was unable to get tickets. In 2016, Radiohead released A Moon Shaped Pool which somehow became an album that I listened to almost excessively for about six months. Performing the album in Europe, the band opened with my favorite song off of the album, Daydreaming, to massive amounts of fans and still, it remains a tour that I watch videos from on YouTube constantly.
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