So pretend it's sometime in the future and scientists have just had a break through that allows for time travel.

What now-dead musician would you travel back
in time to see in concert if you had the ability to?

Duh.

Amadeus.

OR that first asshole that tried banging two sticks together.

Insanely obvious answer, but let's get it out of the way: Jimi.

I bet he'd have been fantastic. I would have said Dimebag too, but I saw him in 1998 anyway.

well, only one of them is dead, so this may not count, but I will always feel bereft not having been there to see the Velvet Underground play during their prime.

If I could go back in time there's plenty of other things I'd be doing. I've spent some fantasy time imaging this. Would be my wish from a genie.
Could buy stock. As far as concerts go...you know how you have "newer" friends and you discover you attended the same "so and so" show years ago.
Well, I'd go back in time to that show. Find the friend, who'd be a stranger at this point and introduce myself, freak him/her out with all sorts of details about their life and tell them we'll be friends one day.

OK...so I have some crazy fantasies.

Senior (citizen) privilege.

Good call on the Velvet Underground and Jimi i'd prolly do both of those. I'd also add Queen.

Does it have to be a dead musician? I'd love to go back to the early 80's and see R.E.M. circa Murmur.

The Ramones and The Clash sprang immediately to mind.

GG Allin

Otis Redding or Sam Cooke.

Syd with The Pink Floyd on a good night at The UFO.

Jimi.

Brother Ray.

Zappa (with the Mothers circa 68, then the '88 tour)

I would choose The Ballet Mécanique World Premiere in Lowell, Massachusetts, November 18, 1999. Although within my lifetime, technically, the composer - George Antheil - had been dead 40 years. Maybe I'd bring him along, then, to see his work finally performed the way he had intended and written.

The Minutemen
Miles Davis '72-'75
Brainiac
Arthur Russell
Flipper (original lineup)
Pink Floyd '66-'67
Jimi
Velvets (WW/WH era)

Yeeeah.

Dammit Paves, what about Thin Lizzy circa 74?
Muddy Waters vs. Howlin' Wold blues battle, whatever year that was
Also, Chicago 1969
and obvs. Zeppelin 1969

Bach.

Patti Smith.
(Ok, not dead but she looks it. I want the young one.)

Bob Weir

Genesis 1973

Talking Heads 1976-1981

Good call by Paves on Minutemen.

I feel deeply privileged to have seen Husker Du on their final tour; the one where they played Warehouse straight through. My first concert, my best concert. Followed closely by Pavement with Guided by Voices in 1994.

Sam Cooke or James Brown

Mid 80's Raplacements
Zep

Elliott Smith and Queen

aside from many already mentioned, nirvana would be a must see

and someone like leadbelly or robert johnson that not many people EVER had a chance to see

sex pistols w/ sid, buddy holly, joy division, nick drake, the doors, the who

and, uh, bob marley. and that band john lennon and george harrison were in together. maybe elvis

those Gene Vincent/ Eddie Cochran concerts in europe just before the car accident

Miles David and his Kind Of Blue crew, Coltrane, Adderley, and Bill Evans

Bon Scott-led AC/DC

Led Zeppelin

Robert Johnson

Parliment/Funkadelic

Velvet Unerground with Nico

Jeff Buckley

Beatles.................I guess

Lot's of good mentions that I won't repeat, but some others that I would love to have seen:

Thin Lizzy
Lynryd Skynyrd
Metallica with Cliff Burton
Johnny Cash
Hank Williams
Dead Boys
Patsy Cline
T-Rex
The Who with Keith Moon (and John Entwistle)

#1:



#2:



And I can think of a specific tour as well, which would cover both artists: the '67 Hendrix/Floyd tour:

Buddy Holly was the first person that came to mind, but hell yes!

I'd also love to be able to take the wife to go see Roy Orbison. She wanted to go see him the last time he came through town and for some reason I said nah. What the hell was I thinking?

I'd love to be able to see Elvis way back when -- hell, how about when Buddy Holly first saw him in Lubbock?

I also agree with whoever said Otis. Man.

In the still alive group, I'd love to be able to go back and see Bruce's run at The Bottom Line. Also, my brother was at a show at The Earl of Old Town way back in the early 70s and Tom Waits came up on stage between sets and started banging something out on the piano. This was pre-Closing Time. That would have been fun.

Finally, it would be great to go back and see some of the great big bands during their heyday.

Love
Amon Duul II (during the phallus dei era)
Comus (First Utterance of course)
Fela Kuti
Flower Travellin' Band
Mingus
Les Rallizes Des Nudes
Linda Perhacs
Muslimgauze
Nick Drake(obvious)
NWA
Pentagram
Throbbing Gristle
Trees
Whitewood
Wu-Tang with ODB
Yellow Magic Orchestra

(not sure if all these are dead, but I assume some band members are)

Thelonious Monk. At any number of clubs on 52nd St. in New York. Ideally only if I could go there with a "beginers mind", so to speak. Like, if I could somehow hear his music--as it was happening--for the first time (ears not cluttered by having listened to his recordings for years). That would be something.

I'm sure we all wish we could go in time for whomever has hit our artistic barometer, whether its The Beatles in Hamburg, Germany or DaVinci hanging out his paintings to dry.

Actually, I'd love to go back and see The Beatles in Hamburg knowing that Lennon would become a self-righteous bastard who abandons his wife and son. Talk about some material for heckling!

Bob Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue

I'd like to be able to see the Lizard King make a complete ass out of himself.

And the Doors, if anyone were to actually go back to that era I bet they wouldn't pass up seeing The Doors.

Winner.

Frank Zappa