The 1960s changed music—perhaps more than any decade over the last few hundred years. Indeed, it was a revolutionary time when ideas sprang to the forefront along with seemingly boundless creativity and experimentation. Social norms were uprooted and precedents were set that have since spanned decade after decade.
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Wouldn’t it be great to go back in time and check out a few shows from the era? If you could, who would you go back in time to see? What concerts would you fork over cash to secure a ticket for? Below, we wanted to highlight three acts that we would most assuredly check out if we had access to a time machine. These are three 60s bands we’d want to see live if we could
The Beatles
This is an obvious one. In fact, perhaps all the acts on this list are. But that’s just a testament to how great and transformative the 1960s were. The Beatles were the most significant band of the decade and may just be the most significant band ever. Not only were the Beatles excellent songwriters, but their chemistry, their backstories, their personalities, and their personas were huge draws, as well. But if you could go back to, say, 1965, and hear them at the top of their game just before they stopped touring in 1966? Well, that’s priceless.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan changed the way people thought about songwriting. He brought poetry to folk music and then to rock music. He brought vivid imagery and mind-expanding ideas. He brought storytelling to audiences like no one had heard before, and for those reasons and many more, we would like to hop into the nearest time machine and go back in time to see him play one of his many groundbreaking shows of the 1960s. Perhaps the first stop would be Newport in 1965, when the Bard famously went electric to a confused audience. What fun it would be to see all that go down in real-time!
Jimi Hendrix
What would you pay to see the man who changed the way people thought about guitar? Probably a few billion, if you could, right? While Jimi Hendrix’s music career only spanned a handful of years, he somehow was able to turn the music world upside down with his electric six-string playing. With songs like “Purple Haze” and “Foxy Lady”, Hendrix turned the instrument into a psychedelic tool that continues to bring joy to fans today. To see the artist, who sadly died at just 27 years old, do his thing live? That would be a dream come true.
Photo by Chris Burnett/Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
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