Tell about a time when the opening act band was better than the band you paid to see.

[begin_within]

Sammy Hagar was better than the act he opened for in 1982 (Ted Nugent) - but that's not saying much.

[bluesbassman]

1. Reverend Horton Heat.

Opened for ZZ Top in Berkely. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge Top fan, and this show was stripped down - no moving sidewalks or elaborate stage crap. Tres Hombres- Tres Cool! But The Reverend absolutely scorched the stage.

[MrCoffee]

10. I have never seen nor heard tell of a bad Reverend show

They kill every single time they take the stage.


Love me some Reverend.

[ceile]

52. I'll tell you one!

They opened for Frank Black @ Tower Theatre (1993 or 1994)-it was so loud the songs were indistinguishable. You know, so loud that you have to plug your ears to pick up the melody. The bass was so heavy I thought I was going to puke. I blame the sound guy. But I've never had any desire to see them again.

[MrCoffee]

67. Where was that show?

I saw that show in Austin...it was AWESOME!!! If I recall correctly, it was at Lizard Lounge. I think.

[ceile]

74. Tower Theatre Houston

Was an old movie theater on Westheimer. Became a live music place, then a video store/coffee house. I think it's closed down completely now.

[MrCoffee]

79. I remember that place!

Isn't there a Tower Theater in Dallas, too? That's why I asked.


Now I'm trying to remember who I saw at the Tower in Houston. I used to go to Fitzgerald's all the time, and there was Numbers, the Mucky Duck, Catal Huyuk (I think that's what it was called)...good times.

[ceile]

90. I was always afraid I was going to fall through the floor

at Fitzgerald's-warped and bouncy. I wonder if it's still there? Saw so many good shows there....and the Axiom and Emo's. What was the name of that club on Washington near I-10? Saw Pearl Jam and the Pixies and Screaming Trees there.....

[Manifestor_of_Light]

101. Fitzgerald's is still there.

It's an old fraternal hall.

Brave Combo is playing there next Friday night.

I saw Ella Fitzgerald at the Tower Theater somewhere back there in the 70s. Early 80s?

[Beausoleil]

39. First time I saw Rev. Horton Heat

was in a tiny little bar in Deep Ellum in Dallas. About 5 people there. But he ROCKED!

[tismyself]

117. oh, the other reverend

When I saw "Reverend" I thought ya'll were talking about the Reverend Billy C. Wirtz.

Stairway to Freebird?

[greendog]

2. Muddy Waters was better than Eric Clapton.

Clapton was pretty good. Albert Lee was his 2nd guitar player. They were touring in support of the Slowhand album.

Waters opened the show and KICKED ASS!

I had 3rd row seats.:)

[begin_within]

4. ohh... I wish I could have seen Muddy Waters.

A friend of mine drove to LA just to see Muddy Waters once in the 1970s, but I didn't go.

[Shell Beau]

5. My mom's claim to fame! She had a guitar lesson from the great

Muddy Waters when she was a little girl. Too bad it did her no good and she was probably too young to appreciate it. He was one of the best.

[tigereye]

42. wow! I bet there aren't many folks that could say that!

I saw him in a college gym on a weird blind date one time. The guy I went with is probably a professor at MIT by now.

[Shell Beau]

46. I guess it was one of the perks of growing up in the MS delta.

Lots of blues greats around.

[jobycom]

56. Can I touch you?

Wow!

[Westegg]

62. I saw that tour! I totally agree!...

...and I'm a big Clapton fan. I'm so grateful now that I got to see Muddy Waters. I didn't appreciate it fully at the time, but I WAS blown away by the man.

[RetroLounge]

107. I saw that tour. 1977, i think, in Chicago.

Johnny Winter came out for the encore!

:hi:

RL

[greendog]

124. I saw it in Indianapolis.

I'm gonna say Jan.'78. No Johnny Winter though.

[RetroLounge]

132. That sounds about right...

I saw Pink Floyd in summer of '77 and this was after that.

RL

[Kat45]

129. I saw that tour too.

Loved them both. That was the second time I'd seen Muddy Waters. The first time was a few years earlier at an outdoor concert with Freddie King and Roomful of Blues. Great show!

[Initech]

3. Flaming Lips opening for Beck

They were both the opening and back-up band for that tour. And then the Flaming Lips were upstaged by Gnarls Barkley at USC.

[LynneSin]

6. Son Volt opening for Black Crowes - earlier this year

I love Son Volt and their set was way too short.

Black Crowes decided to make every song into a 20 minute anthem which after awhile gets annoying. Plus Chris Robinson does exactly 6 dance moves which I documented during on especially long song including the "I'm a lil school girl see my undies" "Look Left Look Right Look Left" and the classic "Running in Place in a Burning House" dance

[underpants]

118. We saw the Black Crowes on the 5th

the opening act (forgot the name) was much better. The Crowes just don't rock anymore. I had heard that and when I saw the crowd (lots of jamband tshirts) I knew what was coming. A good time anyway.

[madinmaryland]

7. Joe Walsh leading for Foreigner in 1984.

[MissMillie]

11. I saw that tour!

it was the same weekend I saw Robert Plant.

I think I had a birthday that weekend.

[madinmaryland]

16. I was them in Hartford. We were three rows from the stage.

Pretty cool!

[MissMillie]

25. we may have been at the same show

:headbang:

[bif]

8. I thought Rachael Yamagata was as good as David Grey

Not better, but as good.

[SacredCow]

9. I'll get flamed....

But I saw Primus open for RUSH...

I don't argue that RUSH has some serious talent going, but their music just doesn't appeal to me all that much. My favorite RUSH album is the one that most of their die-hard fans like the least.

[southpaw]

14. Hmmmm... I'm gonna guess...

Hold Your Fire


if not, maybe Presto

on edit: possibly Roll the Bones

[SacredCow]

15. The edit is the correct one. n/t

[begin_within]

28. Primus sucks

[SacredCow]

31. Disagree

[begin_within]

32. Then you're not a Primus fan

The whole "Primus Sucks" bumper sticker campaign was started by Primus as a publicity stunt

[SacredCow]

36. Oh, yeah.... I vaguely recall that...

But you're right- I'm not what you'd call a die-hard Primus fan, either. But on that night (it was RUSH's Counterparts tour, I believe- Probably 1994) I thought that Primus mopped the stage with the headlining act.

[jobycom]

57. I'm not a big Rush fan. They are musically good, but bore the hell out of me usually.

Except Peart. I hate Lee's voice, and half their lyrics sound like something a high school sophomore thinks sounds cool while playing D&D on a Friday night while smoking clove cigarettes. Like they heard Dylan and Morrison and Lennon and thought they were writing lyrics to sound complicated, rather than expressing complicated thoughts as simply as they could.

I saw them back in the 80s, around Tom Sawyer era. Can't remember who opened for them.

[SacredCow]

83. I think that sums it up fairly well....

My highest complement to the band goes to Alex Lifeson. His playing is really quite phenomenal- his solos are always very melodic and appropos to the piece being played.

[southpaw]

12. 1984 Motley Crue opening for Ozzy Osbourne

Ozzy was touring behind Bark at the Moon and was fresh out of Betty Ford.

Crue were supporting Shout at the Devil, and they were still hungry.



Side note... I wouldn't look out my back door to see either of these bands now... as a high school senior in 1984, seeing Ozzy and Motley Crue together was mondo rad!

[MrCoffee]

13. Soundgarden opened a show for Guns N' Roses

Soundgarden killed; G'N'R not so much.

[Whoa_Nelly]

17. Yes was better than Black Sabbath

Tucson, '71 or '72

Yes was unheard of, new, fresh. Audience called for them to return three times for encore, and they did. Black Sabbath came on stage. A whole bunch of people left. People were still calling for Yes to come back on stage.

[tigereye]

43. how about Blue Oyster Cult better than Black Sabbath?

I was young and didn't "know any better" at the time. :rofl:

[redwitch]

18. David Bromberg was better than Jesse Colin Young.

Cal Poly, SLO, 1976? 77?

[Beer Snob-50]

19. a couple of years ago

i saw peter frampton as the opening act blow away the headliners journey (and yes, my main reason fro being there was to see frampton)

[SoxFan]

20. The Alarm vs. Pat Benatar

The Alarm opened for Pat Benatar in 1986. The Alarm was always known for powerful live performances. Their eight or nine song set actually managed to attract the attention of the 90% of the crowd who had no idea who they were. I saw them at the Cap Centre outside of DC (I was actually there for The Alarm), and the show a week earlier in NJ was written up in Rolling Stone, basically saying that the boys from Wales stole the show.

I'm not sure who came up with the idea of pairing an operatic hard rock diva with a spiky haired Welsh folk-punk band...

[Rhythm]

21. Faith No More... opening for Metallica and Guns 'n' Roses

Mike Patton was all over the place, the set was tight, and got the crowd all wound up on a hot-as-hell labor day in Columbia SC.

[LeftyMom]

45. I was SUPPOSED to see that lineup.

But nooooooooooOOoOoooo, they rescheduled the date and there was a conflict and somebody else opened the Oakland show, and yes, I am still bitching about it 16 years later.

[Rhythm]

47. That was the weekend that we moved into our new house...

We had just gotten everything moved into the new house outside Charlotte, and the wasband and i had a bunch of friends in from out of town (3 from DC, 2 from Fayetteville NC), and at the last minute managed to get enough tickets for the show at Brice Stadium for all of them.

We actually decided to leave before GnR hit the stage, because none of us were especially big fans, and I had to drive the ones from Fayetteville to Greenville NC the next day, so that they didn't miss any of their classes at ECU.

Longest 24 hr period of my life.

round-trip between Norwood NC and Columbia SC
then
Round-trip between Norwood NC and Greenville NC

about 700 miles of driving, PLUS the show...*whew*

[LeftyMom]

48. I was in junior high. My Dad told the school people I had an orthodontist appointment

and picked me up to take my sister and I to Oakland for the show.

My Dad used to scalp tickets, and I'd do the calling and ordering them (back when you'd have to call a million times until you got a live person, so you'd be on the phone for an hour and a half at 9 am on a Saturday) so every once in a blue moon as payment I'd get tickets to a show I wanted to see.

[BurtWorm]

22. The Feelies were better than Sonic Youth, in my opinion

But I didn't pay for the tickets. It was a free show on the Fourth of July.

[AwakeAtLast]

23. Goo-goo Dolls were better than Gin Blossoms

The Gin Blossoms broke up about a month after.


Now for the ultimate flame starter: Seven years ago I went to an alt-rock festival. A band by the name of Nickelback opened the day long event. They blew everyone away until Stained closed it out. I don't really remember the rest of the lineup. They really were good then!


:hide:

[ghostsofgiants]

27. What a shitty festival that must have been.

:P

[AwakeAtLast]

33. LOL! You have a point!

I bought the tickets for my (then) hubby of almost a year as an anniversary present. We had an O.K. time. Watching the crowd was almost as fun as watching the acts!

[ghostsofgiants]

50. Shitty post-grunge "alt. rock" is the bane of my existence.

[racaulk]

24. I wouldn't say "better than," but once I saw an opening act that was just as good as the headliner.

Back in 2000, I saw Tina Turner in concert and Lionel Richie opened up for her. They were both incredible!

[DS1]

26. Pantera kicked the shit out of any chance of Suicidal Tendencies rocking

Pantera. Man. What a show.

[Resuscitated Ethics]

29. Foghat kicked Framptons little tail

Frampton comes alive sucked, talk about a one hit oneder (of course the one hit was a huge double record but I despised it) I was a fool for the city!!!

[Rambis]

30. Tom Petty smoked Dylan

GE Smith ruined the Dylan show by playing way to fucking loud-

[PVnRT]

70. Which is why SNL finally fired him as well

[Dora]

34. Alabama 3 kicked Spacehog's ass.

It was a SXSW showcase, and I was there for the Spacehog. I had a transformative A3 conversion experience and left at Spacehog's second song.

Go forth and sin no more: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBDup8MVtTM

[Samurai_Writer]

35. Beastie Boys

They were way better than Queensryche. What a bizarre combination for an opening act and headliner anyway!

[sniffa]

88. Beasties here going on before Smashing Pumpkins

Pumpkins = worst live band ever. Seriously.

Beasties were fucking incredible though. They even came back for about a 45 minute encore too (eating up more time from SP's 4.5 song set).

[KG]

37. Joe Ely and Steve Earle both opened for mary chapin carpenter

actually, i went to see the opening acts both times.

it was funny, the time steve earle opened. it was a show put on by the local 'country' station, most of the crowd was there for the lovely, sedate MCC. when steve got done rockin' the joint, there were some eyes as big as saucers. they weren't sure what they just seen.

[tigereye]

44. she puts on a pretty good show, though

that woman can really write!


I can't remember who opened for her that time, but they were very good - it was an alt country band that later became pretty well-known.


I could see that Earle would be excellent - sadly I keep missing him when he is here.

[old mark]

84. Steve Earle opening for Mary Chapin Carpenter?

Whose bright idea was that?

mark

[Blue-Jay]

38. Ziggy Marley was better than the B-52's.

Saw Ziggy open for B-52's at some outdoor venue in Nashville in the late 80's. He was better (to my tastes), but they were still awesome.

[Beausoleil]

40. Probably the Doobie Brothers (original lineup, no MM!)

opening for T-Rex back in the early 70's. T-Rex had their amps turned up to 11 (to the 11th power). It was all noise. My ears rang for a week afterward.

[tigereye]

41. pianist Gerri Allen before a really uninteresting jazz singer

:wtf:


I think they were buddies, but the singer was still really dull, IMHO.

[bif]

61. Gerri Allen kicks butt!

And she's from my hometown!

[tigereye]

91. she got her Master's here at Pitt -

she does kick butt, doesn't she? I saw her play William's Zodiac Suite last summer - with Andrew Cyrille on drums. It was stellar!


She has the coolest looking silver hair. I love that woman. Amazing. I've seen her about 3 times, and each time had a wonderfully different feel to it. She also played a Williams tribute here some years ago, with some other great female jazz pianists, not something you often see. (including Dorothy Donegan, no less!)


:hi:


Now what I wanna see is her and Don Byron here playing a gig together. Swoon. Sigh.

[Tikki]

49. Actually we went to see Graham Parker....

open and he was amazing...but we had high hopes for the
headliner Rachel Sweet....not so good, you know...

The Tikkis

[tismyself]

51. Fred Eaglesmith

Fred Eaglesmith opened for someone at Be Here Now or the Town Pump a few years back. He was so good, I can't even remember who he opened for. Loved his bus!

[Tikki]

53. Hello tismyself......

Welcome to DU....Welcome to the Lounge...
and yes Fred Eaglesmith is great...

Tikki :hi:

[tismyself]

59. thanks!

Oh I thought Fred was just wonderful, I really did. Is he still playing?

Tell you who else I've always liked too is the Goose Creek Symphony.

[Tikki]

71. Ah ha ha....love this song by...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09MwIE0aN90
Goose Creek Symphony...thanx for the heads up...


Tikki

[tismyself]

72. the Goose is on You Tube?!

I had no idea! I can't believe it, this is great!

[Swede]

113. I love Fred Eaglesmith.

Here's Rodeo Boy -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4M9cS_7lqs

[tismyself]

115. wow

I feel so out of it, all these folks on You Tube.

The Queen is even on You Tube for the love of life.

[Swede]

116. Oh,and welcome to DU.

I think you'll enjoy.

[tismyself]

119. why, thank you kindly

So far so good, I haven't gotten asked to leave yet at any rate!

[Starry Messenger]

54. Debbie Harry opening for Tears for Fears

She slayed them.

MPK

[ceile]

75. I remember that tour.

She was very good.

[Midlodemocrat]

55. Can't remember the year, late 70s, but

Van Halen rocked the New Haven Coliseum and Black Sabbath was meh. Ozzy was stoned out of his head and spent most of the night swearing at the crowd.

[sasquatch]

100. You listened to Black Sabbath in the 1970's

:rofl:
OMG no wonder you're such a hellraiser
;)

[Blue_Tires]

58. Rare Essence opening for TLC

at Norfolk State University...('92, maybe?)

my opinion of TLC was not improved by the fact that they were two hours late and a lot of people had already left...it was almost 1 a.m. when they took the stage...

[jobycom]

60. I saw Van Halen practically throw their opening act off stage once.

And I can't remember the band. Probably 91 or 82. I'm not even sure they had any hits--I remember not knowing who they were at the time.

When they left the audience was so loud they played another set--encores for opening acts were pretty rare back then. The crowd was still fired up after that, and they tried to come back out, but someone turned out the stage lights and brought up the house lights while they were setting up.

So the crowd booed Van Halen when they came out. Didn't last long, though. That was when Van Halen was still good.

Also, I saw the Babies and Journey together, and the Babies were way better, but I never liked Journey that much, anyway.

[jobycom]

68. After Googling, I think it might have been the Fools.

And after watching them on Youtube, I don't know why the crowd liked them that much if they were.

[Kat45]

130. The Fools were really popular in Massachusetts, don't know about other places.

I saw them a number of times and they were good. They had humorous songs and the music was good. They did one countryish song called "Life Sucks and then You Die." If it had been a few years later, the song could have been a huge hit, but back then the word "sucks" was not able to be used in the media/popular culture like it is now.

[tismyself]

63. crap

I just realized I don't recognize 8/10ths of the musicians or bands listed here.

I remember the day when sitting in traffic behind a car loaded with bumper stickers that I didn't know what a damned one of them meant. It was worse than being called "mam" for the first time.

:nopity:

[Manifestor_of_Light]

86. Tell me about it.

I have to ask my college age daughter about bands and male movie stars.
I ask her, "Is _______ hot?".

She didn't think Heath Ledger was hot. At least back when I asked her, after I rented "Monster's Ball".

[tismyself]

114. Heath was absolutely hot!

My almost daughter-in-law turned me onto Heath about 2 years ago, and I had a lot of fun following his antics. He seemed like a really cute, happy kid. Reading about what he was doing and where he turned up dressed how?! brightened up my day.

The kids caught me doing my most amazing air guitar routine to Temptation Eyes not too long ago! Hah! The looks on their faces... worth it!

TEEEEMMMM-TA-SHUN IIIIIIII'S LOOKIN THROUGH MY MY MY SOOOOOOO-OOOOOL :headbang:

[Westegg]

64. Garbage was better than Alanis Morrisette.

[Zavulon]

65. One year I saw Queensryche open for Kiss.

It was no contest. I believe it was 1983, but am not 100% sure. Queensryche was promoting their second record (first full-length album, "Warning"). Kiss not only sucked, but didn't even bring their stage show along.

[El Fuego]

66. KISS was better than Aerosmith, believe it or not.

[Shell Beau]

69. Really?

Very surprising.

[El Fuego]

73. Yes, it was!

After Kiss, Aerosmith was kind of anticlimatic. Kiss' performance was pure joyful rock energy, and Aerosmith seemed a bit tired and (ahem) "Jaded" by comparison.

Or maybe it was just the really cool Kiss pyrotechnics. :P

[Mad_Dem_X]

76. Everclear was better than Matchbox Twenty

My sister asked me to go see Matchbox Twenty with her; I only went to see Everclear. They rocked the joint. Matchbox Twenty...not so much.

[bbernardini]

77. Peter Frampton opening for Journey. Also, Styx opening for Journey.

First one was a John Waite/Peter Frampton/Journey package tour. Frampton kicked Journey's ass all over the place. Second was REO Speedwagon/Styx/Journey. Admittedly, I'm one of those strange people that doesn't mind Styx without Dennis DeYoung, but that particular lineup of Styx (Shaw/Young/Gowan/Burtnik/Sucherman) wiped the floor with Journey.

[Alexander]

78. Zombeast was better than the Misfits.

Saw them both last November.

Jerry Only is the last remaining original member of the Misfits.

Zombeast rocked.

The Misfits played and I couldn't even tell which songs they played, the mix was so bad.

[Eurobabe]

80. All I remember was Santana, I was 13-14?

Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) I think Gilbert O'Sullivan was on that night too? (Alone Again, Naturally)

[malta blue]

104. SPAC???

Are you a SPAC local?

I have seen Santana there too :D

:hi:

[fight4my3sons]

137. Santana at SPAC was one of my first concerts

my aunt and uncle live two blocks away

:hi:

[HughBeaumont]

81. A few . . .

Mr. Bungle opening for System of a Down, Incubus and Boy Hits Car. System was only OK that evening but the bands that went on directly before them sucked furious amounts of ASS. Why Incubus got immensely popular besides the lead vocalist being a jeans-creamer is beyond me completely. That was the WORST ersatz-Def-Leppard-covering-the-Chili-Peppers crap I've ever seen in my life. Their hour seemed like days. And Boy Hits Car was a forgettable half-drunk embarrassment. Bungle is such a great collection of talent and composition and the audience knew it. They were chanting their name throughout other band's sets.

Nine Inch Nails as the middle act on Lollapalooza I. NIN in a Cleveland return. Terrible Lie started and turned the entire Blossom music center into a riot and the pavillion area into a giant mosh pit (which included several hundred people from the lawn). Not even Jane's Addiction, whom I love to death, could top that performance.

The Melvins opening for Tomahawk. I like most Mike Patton bands, but Tomahawk makes merely average music considering who's in it. And the Melvins shouldn't play second banana to ANYone. Period. Wasn't even a contest.

Every band that preceded the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lollapalooza 1992. My first and last Chili Peppers show. Weak sound, indifferent and obviously high Anthony Keidis, non-energetic show, total disappointment. Among the acts that blew them away that day: Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Ice Cube, Ministry (and they didn't even bust out "Jesus Built My Hot Rod") . . . I even thought LUSH was better than them.

Mastodon opening for Killswitch Engage. No small wonder why Mastodon is going to be the next huge metal act, as their riffing, sound, songs and stage presence made KE's metalbore sound plain in comparison.

High on Fire opening for Mushroomhead. WHY they went on this tour I DO not know. Possibly one of the loudest and most metal bands in existence opening for a band of 499 costumed clowns that play 10th-rate FNM throwaways mixed with Peabody's-core (Clevelanders will get that joke). An insult. Lots of mallgoths covering their ears. It made me laugh. Having to sit through Mushroomhead's non-educated 'Crombie-core fanbase cover their ears while HOF blew them off the stage was truly amazing.

Helmet opening for Faith No More. To FNM's credit, it's really REALLY hard to upstage them live, but Helmet had such perfect sound and vibe that night that they did. Plus FNM's classic line-up (Bottom, Patton, Bordin, Martin and Gould) was on their last legs, as there was lots of in-fighting and you could tell.

Primus opening for Fishbone. Fishbone is a way better live act than they are a studio one, but Primus was coming up through the ranks with Sailing the Seas of Cheese, one of the 1990's best albums. They owned that sold-out night.

Neurosis opening for Integrity. This was in 1996. That isn't a typo. Some brain surgeon actually scheduled Neurosis, one of the best live bands like, EVER, to job for Cleveland-core heroes Integrity. To the uninitiated, 1996 Through Silver and Blood-era Neurosis is as close as you're going to come to hearing a nuclear war accompanied by tribal juggernaut beats. It took all heavy music that was coming out back then and squashed it like a mere grape. And this was the first time I'd ever heard anything by Integrity. It was like following the DC firework display with backyard bottle rockets.

Forced Entry opening for Atrophy. FE were miles ahead of their time in 1989, but things simply didn't pan out for them. Their off-time heavy thrash served as a blueprint for many bands of this day and age. Anyway, Atrophy were nothing spectacular and they should have been placed lower on this bill.

Obituary opening for Sacred Reich. First Cleveland Obituary show. They turned the whole Agora ballroom into a giant pit and upstaged Sacred Reich and their pissy-pants frontman Phil Rind.

Napalm Death opening for Sacred Reich and Sepultura. This tour featured a Max-fronted Sepultura and Napalm Death was still the best act on that show. WAY more memorable than SR and just as good as Sepultura. That was a very riotous evening, as fans and the jock security butted heads quite often.

DBC and Forbidden opening for Sacred Reich. One of the best metal shows I've ever been to. Both openers scorched SR. Sacred Reich was the pushed underground metal act of it's day, but they didn't really endear themselves to crowds much (not Cleveland's anyway), so they didn't pan out. The frontman always yelled at the audience and was completely condescending for no reason.

Battles opening for Lightning Bolt. I'll go see Lightning Bolt again because they just piss energy, but Battles sonically outshone them.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

95. WOW! Battles. I'm impressed........

I first heard them last summer on the way to a TOOL show and I was blown away. I've heard they are as tight live as they are on record.

This calls for a Battles video:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IpGp-22t0lU

[BrotherBuzz]

82. Any band the opened for The Charlatans

Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and the Holding Company come to mind. Heck, even Dan Hicks and his Hot Licks was a better act when they opened for The Charlatans, and Hicks was the drummer! :rofl:

Oh, I didn't pay to see these bands back then. Instead, I caught them in Golden Gate park at the Tuesday afternoon free concerts sponsored by the Chronicle.

[JoePhilly]

85. George Thorogood, 1981, over Journey and the Stones

It was an awesome concert ...

[Manifestor_of_Light]

87. Climax Blues Band (middle act) for BTO.

About 1974 or 75.

Opening act: Styx.

Middle act: Climax Blues Band

Headliner: Bachman-Turner Overdrive (Takin' Care of Business, Every day).



Nowadays I tell people that I'm so old I saw Styx when they were an opening act. And I started going to concerts way before that. First one was the Righteous Brothers in 1964!!! :D

[Deja Q]

89. The Monkees, covering for Jimi Hendrix. Mind you, I was a 12 year old girl at the time...

:evilgrin:

[tismyself]

120. yep

If that was when and where I think it was, Jimi was booed off the stage sad to say. I always liked his music.

[leftyclimber]

92. Duran Duran

Better than Bowie (1987) on the Glass Spider Tour. I actually fell asleep during part of Bowie's set. Sound was bad, lighting failed, tons of production problems. DD OTOH was simple, clean, and had fantastically engineered sound.

[latebloomer]

93. Bruce Springsteen opening for Bonnie Raitt, Harvard Sq. Theater, 1974

I still love Bonnie, but Bruce- a relative unknown at the time- blew us all away.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

94. Melissa Etheridge opening for Stink (umm... I mean Sting)

Circa 1994, Gulf Coast Pavilion. Melissa rocked, Sting was much too busy being pompous to rock.

[begin_within]

98. I don't like Sting either.

His voice grates on me.

[medeak]

111. Mr. I sing the same words over and over

and three notes?

yeah... I hate him too.

[ok_cpu]

96. Summer before last Michael McDonald

killed Steely Dan. I didn't even really want to see Ya Mo B There but he was great and The Dan were way off.

[CreekDog]

112. Interesting considering that McDonald also killed the Doobie Brothers

:rofl:

[ok_cpu]

122. Ha. I wanted no part of watching him open that night

But he really was good. Maybe it was his birthday.

[eyesroll]

97. Poster Children, opening for Tammy and the Amps.

A Kim Deal side project--she was falling over drunk the whole time. It was kinda painful.

1995 or so, somewhere in the Dayton-Columbus-Cincinnati areas.

[u4ic]

99. Chalk Circle blew Crowded House off the stage

[Dukkha]

102. Metallica before Dokken, Scorpions, and Van Halen

NONE of them had a chance! This was right when '...And Justice For All' came out and they showed everyone what real heavy metal was. Metallica rapidly rose in popularity after that.

[Inspired]

103. Cheap Trick was better than Arrowsmith in a 1980 concert I went to.

[Common Sense Party]

106. Cheap Trick is better than Aerosmith any day of the year.

Cheap Trick is better than 99.5% of all the bands that made it much bigger than they.

[Inspired]

121. Yes and I can't even spell 'aero'smith, can I? Good grief!

[Common Sense Party]

128. Quite all right. We all knew who you meant.

And I like Aerosmith--OLD, seventies Aerosmith. Under the influence Aerosmith.

I just think Cheap Trick is 50 times better a band.

[Common Sense Party]

105. Saga blew Quiet Riot off the stage.

[RetroLounge]

108. Oh, several...

Muddy Waters opening for Clapton.

Soundgarden opening for Danzig.

Dirty Dozen Brass Band opening for Black Crowes.

Jet opening for some other australian babd I can't remember.

Tim Finn opening for Blue Rodeo.

Scorpion *and* Judas Priest went on before Heart.

Donnie Iris opening for Eddie Money.

Twisted Sister opening for Queensryche at a small club in Palatine Illinois...

:hi:

RL

[CreekDog]

109. Like that time when Gallagher opened for Whitney Houston

little bit better. :crazy:

[medeak]

110. Cyndi Lauper twice

opening for Tina Turner and then Cher

[behave]

123. some glue sniffing losers before Ted Nugent

[mulsh]

125. Dizzy Gillespie schooled Joni Mitchell

'79 UC Jazz Festival. Lots of skinny blond girls in the audience saying "Dizzy who?" He could hear it from the stage.
I heard it from the wings and decided to wander through the Greek theater. Most of the audience were chatting and ignoring him. He played an awesome set. more or less a short history of jazz from swing through bebop and contemporary, with a very funny narrative.

Joni followed, she was the headlienr. she played one of the crappiest, shortest sets I've ever had the misfortune to see. she had joco pastorius & pat matheney with her she was doing her tribute to Mingus stuff. what little she did play was delivered with very bad attitude, as if she were doing the audience a favor by allowing them to pay to see her.
she should have been on that stage for over an hour. she only did about 20 minutes then left the venue.

It would have been nice if she had acknowleged her audience, since most people were there to see her.

[aquaman]

126. I saw Helmet open for Faith No More many years ago....

Went to see Helmet, thought I might give Faith No More a chance. I left in the middle of the Faith No More set, horrible. Helmet sounded like a damn machine.

[OmahaBlueDog]

127. Foghat

I saw a triple bill at the Cap Center in 1981 of Shooting Star, Foghat, and (the headliner) Blue Oyster Cult. I was a huge BOC fan back then.

Foghat played one of the best sets I've ever heard, culminating (of course) with "Slow Ride" I don't know if I just caught them on a good night or what, but they were incredible.

[Orsino]

131. Sea Level was better than the Cate Bros. Duh.

ca. 1977.

[TommyO]

133. Midge Ure opening for Howard Jones

Ure was incredible, we walked out on Jones (and I was a huge fan of his music).

[TroglodyteScholar]

134. Back in the late 90's I went to a 311 concert

The opening band was Fishbone--they were FANTASTIC.

Of course, I had gone specifically to see Fishbone. I couldn't stand 311. I left about 10 minutes into their set.

[Roon]

135. I didn't actually see the concert, buy I know it was the case

When the Violent Femmes opened up for the B-52s

[colinmom71]

136. 1994 - The Breeders opened for Nirvana...

And they were great! Alone they were worth the ticket price... While Nirvana was good, The Breeders outshone them by a mile. IIRC, this was about six months before Kurt Cobain died...