Glad I saw music greats before they left us

I wish I could have seen John Lennon perform. I also wish I could have seen Jim Morrison when he was sober enough to put on a decent show. If I had a hot tub time machine, I’d go see Elvis, Jimi Hendrix, Robert Johnson, Billie Holiday, Hank Williams, The Andrews Sisters and maybe even catch Mozart in action.

Alas, I don’t even own a hot tub — much less one that comes with the optional time machine feature. The best I can do is to take a bubble bath while I go there in my mind with a little help from Spotify or Pandora.

Perhaps it’s when George Harrison, my favorite Beatle died, that I was filled with regret that I never saw him perform live and never would. Never again, I thought.

Well, it’s not exactly reasonable to think I’ll be able to attend — or able to afford tickets for — all the great musical acts out there. But I’ve been able knock a few off my bucket list of shows I gotta see. And when Merle Haggard and then Prince died, I was thankful I had the opportunity to see each live in concert.

I saw Haggard at the old Silver Moon near Buena Vista back in 1994. It was a massive, wonderful honky tonk in the middle of nowhere — the perfect place to see Haggard. He looked about 79 years old then, so it was hard to believe he was just 79 when he died on April 6.

Prince, meanwhile, was my favorite musical artist of the 1980s, much to my parents’ dismay — and many folks my age can relate to that sentiment. I saw Prince as a musical genius, and they saw him as a purple pervert. A 14-year-old is not going to win that battle, so I had to wait 20 years before I finally saw him perform live in Atlanta at Philips Arena. And he did not disappoint, playing more than two hours of hits. Of the many, many shows I’ve seen, it remains the best and will be hard to beat.

Of course, now I’m a Parrothead and have seen Jimmy Buffett perform live at least eight times, perhaps more. I remember at least three or four of those shows and have pictures proving I was at the other ones. But I’ve knocked some fairly legendary folks off my list in recent years — including the Rolling Stones, Elton John, Rod Stewart and Paul McCartney, who put on the second-best concert I’ve ever seen.

I’ve seen country acts like Sugarland, Confederate Railroad, Garth Brooks, Wynonna and, naturally, Hank Williams Jr., whom I saw when he shared billing with Lynyrd Skynyrd. I haven’t seen so many rebel flags since the second Battle of Bull Run.

I’ve seen rockers like Def Leppard and the Georgia Satellites, old-school acts like Run-DMC and Kool & the Gang and a surprising amount of acts from my parents’ era — including Steve Winwood, Beach Boys, James Brown, The Spinners and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. I’ve caught loads of unappreciated acts like Taj Mahal and Fishbone, and folks you’ve probably never heard of but should have like Motor City Josh & the Big 3 and Lance Price. (Look ’em up.)

I’ve met the guys from Drivin’ N’ Cryin’ and was backstage with John Mayer — which means I have brownie points for life with my wife. Mix in everything from Poison to Lourdes to Jackyl, and I’ve seen quite the smorgasbord of shows. And I started this whole run of concerts as a junior in high school at the infamous Beastie Boys performance at the old Municipal Auditorium in Columbus in 1987.

Unfortunately, I’ve reached that point in life where I’m running out of bucket list shows and would rather be jabbed in the eye than sit through performances by Kanye West, Beyonce, Maroon 5 or almost any modern country act. About the best I can hope for now is to go to Buffett show number nine or 10. Perhaps someone will video the experience so I can see if it was any fun later.

I just hope it doesn’t take another musical legend kicking the bucket before I realize they should have been on my list.

This story was originally published April 30, 2016 at 9:43 PM with the headline "Glad I saw music greats before they left us."