Band/Musician Bucket List

After “watching” the 2015 Grammys on Twitter last night thanks to the massively tape-delayed broadcast on the west coast, I decided I need to update my band/musician bucket list. I’ve had the list for quite some time now and just never published it or shared it for whatever reason. The list goes back to about 2002 when I first got to go to South By Southwest in Austin. I don’t have everyone on the list here but these are my favorites.

I’ve had the chance over the last decade to mark some of these off while others remain. It’s nice to have a job to be able to afford some of these now cause back in 2002 when I made the list, I sure didn’t have any cash flow.

1. AC/DC – Hands down my all-time favorite band. I can listen to any song off their many albums an automatically go in to high gear. I don’t know what it is about their chord progression but as simple as it might be, it’s just energizing to listen to. I wanna still learn how to play AC/DC songs and even have a SG guitar at home. Saw them during their triumphant rerun to El Paso in 2009 and I’d pay to see them again and again and would fight to be front row if I had the chance. In fact, I’m listening to them as I write this.

2. The Beatles – Okay, so obviously I can’t see The Beatles perform unless I create some kind of time machine but they are on my list because of the remaining living members. I never got to see George play before he passed but I did finally see Paul in 2014 at the final show to be hosted at Candlestick Park. It. Was Amazing.

3. B.B. King – Not many people know I love the blues and I’ve always wished I could play the guitar like the King. I’m always memorized when he plays. I’m lucky to have seen him twice, once in El Paso and a second time in Ruidoso, NM.

4. Stevie Ray Vaughan – I knew when I added him I would never get to see him and I think my justification was “if time didn’t matter” then he would be at the top of the list with The Beatles. Next to AC/DC and B.B. King, I wished I could play like SRV. Someone told me it would be just as cool to see his bother Jimmie but I disagree.

5. Michael Jackson – Another that made my list back in the day and sadly I won’t be able to make it happen. I still enjoy listening to all the music he created from the Jackson 5 up until he passed.

6. Led Zeppelin – This one almost came true a couple years back when they played the one-time reunion show. I thought for sure I was gonna be able to see them live after that because such a big to-do was made of them playing. I’ll have to just stick with watching the concert online or something.

7. Stevie Wonder – When I was learning to play piano as a kid, one of the first songs I wanted to learn was “I Just Called to Say I Love You.” I thought it was awesome listening to the inflections of the piano he played and love the way he composed his songs — everything was always upbeat! I finally got to see him last fall. He was amazing.

8. The Rolling Stones – I remember listening to them a ton in college when WinAmp was the big thing and there was no consequence for sharing music. There was someone at ND who had the whole Stones collection as MP3 and I remember playing it over and over when I was doing homework at my desk. I saw them in El Paso in 2006 thanks to some last minute tickets I got hours before the show. Bonus was seeing the Dave Matthews Band as the opening act.

9. Johnny Cash – Love the man in black. This one was a long shot when i added him to the list because he was already much older and June has just passed. Didn’t know at the time he would pass so quickly but I knew I had to add him anyway.

10. Elvis Costello – I had him on the list leading up to the SXSW trip I was about to take because I knew he was going to play that week. It was pretty amazing listening to him play for a solid 2-hour concert at La Zona Rosa. It was the best deal I’ve every paid because it was a wristband show and my best friends Nate and Rudy were with and I think Nate paid $40 to get in with us. So much fun.

Outside of this list other musicians include (in no particular order):

– The Black Keys (fav band)
– Imagine Dragons
– Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (saw them in Austin, 2012).
– Jack White (saw him as part of the White Stripes but wanna see his solo act now)
– Aerosmith
– Alabama Shakes
– Pharrell
– Pitbull
– Bleachers
– Chicano Batman
– Bon Jovi
– Fleetwood Mac
– John Mellencamp
– The Brian Setzer Orchestra
– U2
– Eric Clapton
– Harry Connick, Jr.
– Jack Johnson

1 comment

  1. Steph Reply
    February 9, 2015 at 5:58 pm

    What no new kids on the block! 🙂

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