Good post/discussion Batgirl.
Yeah shame for AC/DC their recent issues but reckon they’d have more kudos cancelling these gigs and waiting (if possible) for Brian Johnson to recover rather than recruit somebody like Axl Rose. Could be wrong but given his recent (i.e. last 20 years) experience with Guns ‘n’ Roses I think AC/DC should’ve waited before rushing in recruiting him for these gigs.
Anyway a few on my hit list are as follows.
Stones/The Who/McCartney/Elton John etc. Yeah they’re pretty much on their last legs but can see in the case of the Stones it’s more an 'experience' people want rather than anything relevant musically which probably left them by the early 1980’s. The Who are a borderline one and I did consider seeing them recently (think to be fair they are calling it a day soon). Maybe I should’ve seen The Who a few years earlier before the session musicians, playback and the mixing desk (more) covered up Daltry and Townshend’s flaws. McCartney as a solo artist never interested me in and looks like (a trying/failing to be trendy) version of Ken Dodd the older he’s gets. LOL!
Kraftwerk. Love them with a passion but with only one original member left (Ralf Hütter) and no new material for 13 odd years it’s probably best I call it a day with them and enjoy the two times I saw them – once with Florian Schneider in the line up and once in their native city Düsseldorf! Still if you’ve never seen it the ‘live’ 3D multimedia show is something to see… Do something new lads.
Blondie. Yeah you’re right about those BBC performances Del. Debbie’s vocals are now flat but she’s over 70 and now and not many performers would/could be in the same bracket as what she’s doing at the moment so fair play. Suppose they’re enjoying themselves and reaping a nice payday too but I feel the time I saw them in 2003 was about the best time to have seen them - I was unable to first time around, when they restarted again and the 2003 line up did have Jimmy with Chris and Clem not the session band (although alright-ish) they use now.
The Human League. Harsh as they did a good album in 2010 with Credo and glad I saw them in 2003 (with John Foxx). However I just feel they're going through the motions these days and wish they didn’t appear on tour/festivals with tosh 1980’s pop acts I couldn’t care less about. Shame they don’t revisit their earlier material live and do something (if they could get them to agree) with more cutting edge electronic bands from Sheffield like Richard H Kirk (Cabaret Voltaire etc.), Mute records Daniel Miller etc.
PiL. Unless they reunite with the original line up (very unlikely) I’m not really interested but… John Lydon (?) like him or loathe him he is always interesting!
Many other punk/new wave acts could easily fall into this category too.
The Stone Roses/Happy Mondays/Peter Hook etc. Again bands/artists I really, really like but even I admit their time has past. It just seems like they’re on a pay day for me when they should have taken less drugs and/or stopped falling out with each other and made some decent music in the mid 90’s – instead of letting Blur, Oasis etc. stealing their limelight with the more diluted Britpop sound that followed them. The Roses are rumoured to have new material but I feel can live without ever seeing them. Regretfully I should have done Spike Island if I really wanted to see the Roses! The Mondays aren't that bad these days but wasn't their balance between brilliance and shambolicness what made them special in the first place?
As for Peter Hook enough of the Joy Division/Hacienda eulogies. Good/interesting at first but nearly 10 years later it's not really anything other than a pay day being honest. Do some
new material Hooky if you're so much 'better' than your ex-band mates as what you did with David Potts in Monaco proves you can do this... when you want to!
McFly/Busted/McBusted. Or whatever the **** they are calling themselves. Posh/rich British public schoolboys trying to be Emo punks in the early 2000’s was crap then and even worse now that they’re approaching middle age they also seem just as manufactured as any boy/girl band out their too, in fact the latter is probably more honest! Perhaps again being harsh but the likes of Blink 182, Linkin Park, Limp Biskit and Green Day from the States fall into this category for me too.
Take That/Boyzone etc. etc. Cringeworthy sugar coated pap pop 1st/2nd/3rd or whatever time around for them. There's many other just like these boy/girls bands but one word. Ignore!
…and a borderline one
New Order. If they hadn’t come back with such a good album as last year’s Music Complete I’d have included them in this list but that album and the live shows I’ve seen proves there’s still some life in the old dog yet.
Still it all hinges on whether they (as rumoured) come up with some new material continuing this good form and don’t go stale live as to whether or not I’d like to see them one (or more) last time.
...and one you should see
The Fall. Imagine one of the tightest bands you’ve seen with a lead singer (Mark E. Smith) who looks and acts like Alex ‘Hurricane’ Higgins +10... drunk as a skunk and off his head and you’ve got The Fall. Okay Smith may hire/fire his band members like a change of socks and has had some horrific gigs in his time but I guarantee you see them at least once as the band, music, crowd and even Smith himself will make it one of the best gigs you’ll ever do!
Still it’s all a matter of opinion. One mans great gig is another’s crap one. As long as you enjoy the music and the night it’s all that matters when said and done.
according to 
Many other punk/new wave acts could easily fall into this category too.
