When my friend posed the question, I immediately thought: Van Halen on their 1981 concert tour in support of their Fair Warning album. For whatever reason, I totally missed the boat on seeing Van Halen live back in the day. I guess their shows sold out so fast I had no chance at all. Anyway, some folks might scratch their head at my "dream concert" choice and ask "But why not their tour for their album 1984?" That was their final album with David Lee Roth, and it included some of their biggest hit songs ever, including the only Billboard charting #1 song they ever did - Jump.
Here's my reasoning: Fair Warning is my favourite Van Halen album. Yes, their debut album is just about as amazing (as are Van Halen II and third LP Women and Children First), but Eddie's sound and technique and songwriting had hit a new level on their fourth release, Fair Warning. It's hard to define and explain, but I just felt Ed's instrumental prowess was by this point rivalled by even wilder and more compelling compositions than ever before. As much as I like 1984, it's not quite the same Van Halen as we got on Fair Warning, which was a dark and gritty album, mean and nasty, and Eddie's sound was still heavy and metallic.
1984, on the other hand, while instantly likable, was a touch softer, a bit brighter in tone, lighter and smoothed over for instant radio airplay. And yes, that more pop-oriented hard rock approach worked wonders for the band's success. Big money. And big troubles. Van Halen was experiencing a lot of internal friction around that time. Musical differences, among other things, were plotting to spoil the fun.
So... also bypassing the even poppier 1982 album Diver Down, I'm going back a little further to that Fair Warning release. I examined the setlist from that tour and noted that it is packed with the songs that I love best, both from Fair Warning and all their previous albums. Fair Warning alone provided six tunes for the live show: Unchained, Mean Street, Sinners Swing, Hear About it Later, So This is Love?, and Sunday Afternoon in the Park. And of course, Van Halen's earlier material was durable hard rock heaven, with such faves as On Fire, Runnin' With the Devil, Everybody Wants Some, and You Really Got me.
There you have it, classic live Roth era Van Halen, and without the middling lightweight 60's pop covers from Diver Down. I can easily forego some 1984 songs to get this choice setlist and a band still hungry and climbing to the pinnacle. What a party that show would have been!
I invented this hand thingy... and everything else in the world
My second choice, or at least the second idea I came up with, was to see Kiss on their Destroyer tour back in '76. I would have been only 12 years old at the time, and there was no way my parents would have let me go to a rock concert at that age. Yet I was a big big fan of their hard rockin' style, not to mention their fire-breathing comic book image. For a kid that age, this was the ultimate! Some of my very first records as a kid were the early Kiss albums, and I grew up with the band's progressing sound, culminating in the explosive Destroyer... and the subsequent afterthoughts Rock and Roll Over and Love Gun, sort of ushering me out of my Kiss fandom. That was fine, for these LPs comprised the classic Kiss era.
As much as the debut Kiss album is a fond and nostalgic trip for me, it was - and still is - Destroyer that instantly sets my blood a'pumpin'. There are Kiss fans who poopoo Destroyer, saying it's a bloated, overproduced mess. But I'm of the other school, totally in thrall to its massive, slick, majestic wall of sound. The raw and ready first three Kiss recordings had their charm, but this, to me, was the dragon bursting from its chrysalis.
Looking back at the Destroyer tour setlist, I saw that nearly the entire album found its way into the live show. Yeah, that would make me very happy. All of my fave Kiss tunes are on Destroyer: Detroit Rock City, King of the Night Time World, Flaming Youth, and Shout it Out Loud. Not far behind are Sweet Pain and Do You Love Me. Then there were the earlier gems, like Strutter, Cold Gin, Deuce, and Black Diamond (all from their first album, incidentally).
If I had been able to see Kiss at that time, I might have slapped some Gene Simmons "demon" make-up on my face for the near-full effect. Probably no costume, but whatever. Sigh.
Then, after dreaming about time travel back to that 70's Kiss show, it occurred to me that I would also definitely have to see one of my current (for several years, actually) favourite bands, Megadeth, back in their prime. That would have been on the European leg of their Rust in Peace tour, specifically at London's Hammersmith Odeon Theatre on September 30, 1992. I can be so precise because I have watched the concert film on Youtube many times. What a blast! The thrash metal masters were at the peak of their powers, especially with gifted musicians Marty Friedman on guitar (who left the band in 2000) and Nick Menza on drums (until 1998... RIP, dude).
I have never had the opportunity to see Megadeth as a headliner. The best I ever got was catching them as warm-up act for Heaven and Hell (the Dio-fronted Black Sabbath) back in 2007. A much too brief set, though it was jammed with epic Mega-tunes. Mustaine and Company, that opening gig aside, have never graced a stage here in my fair city. Come on, Dave!
This Hammermith Odeon show, on the other hand, looks to be the perfect thrash metal event, with plaid shirts and every head a-banging. From opening song Holy Wars... The Punishment Due to near-closer Peace Sells, it's a killer show. The final tune, their cover of Anarchy in the UK, was obviously thrown in for the English crowd, though I think it's a weak song to wrap up the night. Still, overall, a solid set with Mega-classics Wake Up Dead, Lucretia, Hangar 18, and Tornado of Souls. The boys deliver a sweaty, blistering performance that charges the hall packed with enthusiastic fans.
Now... time to rev up the old time machine and set it to... ?
Feel free to post your own Dream Concerts below - I'd love to hear them!
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