Sticking with Steve's original stipulation that I had the opportunity to see them, didn't go to the show, and won't get a second chance this side of the afterlife, the only two I can think of are The Grateful Dead and The Seldom Scene.

I've passed up several chances to see Dylan, but just don't like the man enough to spend the money. It's possible that one day I'll regret it, but I'm not losing sleep over it.

On the flip side of the coin, the one person that I never got an opportunity to see but would not have missed if the opportunity had arisen was John Fahey.

Overall, I've been very fortunate to have been able to see most of the people whose music has been important to me at the various stages of my life and musical interests: The great rock guitarists of the 60's (Hendrix, Clapton, Zappa, Duane Allman, Johnny Winter, Jimmy Page) - The great flatpicking wizards in the 70's and 80's (Doc, Tony Rice, Norman Blake, Dan Crary) - Most of the great bluegrass bands (Monroe, Lester Flatt, Jim & Jesse, Osborne Bros., Ralph Stanley, Country Gentlmen) - The major progressive acoustic bands (Grisman, Newgrass Revival, Flecktones, String Cheese Incident) - Great one-man folk acts (John McCutcheon, John Hartford, Mike Seeger, Tom Paxton).

Regretfully, the big name Celtic bands don't generally have our humble hometown on their iteneraries, so I guess if I'm ever going to see Altan or The Chieftans I'm going to have to make a road trip to a big Celtic festival somewhere.

Bruce