Opening Acts
 

What is the best or worst opening act you have ever seen?


I have been to a lot of concerts and I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly.

I have even bought albums from some of the recent up & comers and have found new bands to like.

I'll post my list later when I get more time.

My favorite was at a smallish club. The main act was Bim Skala Bim, and the opening acts were Reel Big Fish (awesome), Cherry Poppin' Daddies (awesome), and Let's Go Bowling (um, who?). Neither RBF nor CPD had hit the radio yet.

in the early '90's, i bought tickets for me & some friends to see the chili peppers at the aragon in chicago.

the middle band was a newish local band beginning to get some good press. smashing pumpkins.

the openers were a band from seattle no one had heard of. pearl jam.

Damn red, your old school. All of those are quality.

Best opening acts I have seen are Riddlin Kids and Zebrahead, both opening for Reel Big Fish.

I saw Molly Hatchet open for REO Speedwagon years ago and they blew everyone away. Also, Kenny Wayne Shepard opened for Styx. What an awesome guitar player!

I think I caught that tour as well, but I think the Pilfers were in place of Riddlin on my leg.

Galactic - opened for the Allman Bros
Candlebox - opened for Aerosmith
Days of the New & Jerry Cantrell - opened for Metallica
The Dixie Dregs, Satriani, Queensryche - opened for Dream Theater (at various times)

Back in, um, 1990 (I think) I went and saw Danzig and they had two bands open up named Korn and Marilyn Manson. I loved both bands and hung out with the Manson Family for awhile after the show. The next day I went to the mall to buy thier albums but neither had released anything yet (atleast no lable releases yet).


Otep was the first act on one of the side stages at Ozzfest a couple of years ago. I saw the lead singer skating a halfpipe on stage and they kicked ass! Mudvayne also put on a pretty good show that day on the 2nd stage, but it was about the 4th time I'd seen them and they were starting to get pretty popular.


Also, System of a Down 3 or 4 years ago on the Summer Sanitarium tour. They were the first of 5 bands, and I felt like I was the only one even paying attention when they were on stage. I'd made my friends leave for the show early to make sure we got there in time to see them even though most of them could've cared less. Of course, now they are all huge SOAD fans.


Well, those are a few off of the top of my head. I've seen a lot of shows!

best was bad religion opening for blink-182. they were way better than the headliner :P

i also liked my morning jacket. cool new indie for me to check out :P

worse was brockwood. bad indie. music mellowed together and all sounded the same. adema was pretty bad too. limp bizkit, linkin park, opening for metallica, etc. badbadbad.

I saw a blues act called Indigenous that opened up for Johnny Lang. They were incredible. They were a brother, sister on the drums, and a cousin on the bass. They closed with Voodoo Chile, it was very well done.

All opening for Reverend Horton Heat, and all good:

Supersuckers
Nashville Pussy
Tiger Army
Hi-Fi and the Roadburners
Mighty Blue Kings

Bad opening bands:

Buck Cherry (opening for Kid Rock)
Jackyl (opening for Pantera)

Theory of a Deadman
12 Stones (both opened for 3 Doors Down)

Bon Jovi (opened for Loverboy)

The Urge (opened for 311)

Fountains of Wayne (opened for Matchbox 20)

I remembered a couple more:

Dope opening for HAtebreed. I was never a big Dope fan (the band that is) until I saw them live.

Sevendust opening for Kid Rock. That show got me hooked. I've since seen Sevendust 8 more times.

The good openers:
Opener - Headliner

Queensryche - Def Leppard
Drivin' & Cryin' - .38 Special
Blackfoot - Ted Nugent
Black Crowes - ZZ Top
Black & Blue - KISS
Michelle Penn - Pat Benatar
Dokken - several bands
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts - The Police (My first concert - 1983)

The bad:

Faster Pussycat - KISS
Georgia Sattelites - Bob Seger
Survivor - Night Ranger


The worst:

The Beastie Boys - Madonna

The backstory on The Beastie Boys is that this was 1985, before "Licensed to Ill" was released. Madonna was on the "Virgin Tour". Cobo Hall was filled with white, teenage, suburban Madonna look-a-likes. And out come three beer guzzling white trash guys grabbing their crotches and cussing. (Think what they looked like in the "You Gottta Fight" video).

Needless to say, it didn't mix well. They lasted about 4 songs and left the stage pissed.

The only good thing about the night was that Cobo Hall was filled with white, teenage, suburban Madonna look-a-likes. :D

i can´t remember any opening acts that i´ve seen... tells you how great they must have been..
but i did see a television program this evening that told me that Roy Orbison opened for the Rolling Stones when they toured Australia way back in the sixties.
now that sounds like a great show.
wish i was there.

Corrosion Of Conformity opening for Pantera in 2001. I don't really like Pantera that much and mainly went to the show to see COC.
I wished Down also performed, but they didn't :(

Also Something For Kate opening for Powderfinger in 2001 was also good.

I once saw this band, Alseep at the Wheel, open for Bob Dylan a couple years ago. They were country, but with a ZZ Top feel, and they were not bad either. Their cover of Route 66 just blew me away...

Blackfoot opened for The Scorpions in the U.K. in 1980, sure as hell changed my life.