Music bucketlists

Yesterday it was announced that the Cure would play three shows at the Sydney Opera House for the Vivid Sydney Festival. They will play three consecutive nights playing Three Imaginary Boys, 17 Seconds and Faith in consecutive order. This does beg the question, which night would you go to given the choice of the three nights? I'd tend towards Faith because that was the real beginning of the downbeat, moody stuff that defined their sound.

Katie pointed out that it could be incredible or terrible depending on how the band plays. Recent albums aren't really a patch on their definitive period and as some crueller people have observed that once Robert Smith got chubby, happy and comfortable was when the music started to decline. I'm pretty sure any genuine Cure fanatic would jump Smith's bones in a heartbeat regardless of what he looks like or what music he makes but I have too much affection for the band to be so mean about them.

The main reason why I'd want to see the Cure though is because I haven't seen them and they're on my music bucket list, essentially bands I'd like to see before I depart this mortal coil but haven't yet. There's some bands who I would like to see even if they are a half arsed, shitty reunion version of themselves - sometimes you have to take what you can get (except the Sex Pistols - that was weird and the current version of the Dead Kennedys who are touring without Jello). Most of them are older groups and I think that's understandable as most bands that are still touring regularly I've had a chance to see.

My music bucket list would also include AC/DC, Future of the Left, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Magnetic Fields, Motorhead, My Bloody Valentine, and Pixies to name a few. I haven't seen some of these bands out of pure bad luck - Motorhead and FOTL toured this year but I didn't get round to seeing them and I had a ticket for the Pixies last year and threw my back out at work and could hardly walk, let alone stand at a gig (that was the third time I missed them).

My bucketlist doesn't include bands which seem likely never to reform: Hüsker Dü, Jawbox, Jawbreaker, The Jam or those containing a bunch of dead people like Pink Floyd. Sure I have a list of bands I'd like to see if I created a time machine but that would be just silly to speculate on because a time machine cannot work in a space which contains no matter with negative energy density. Just sayin'...

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