Which star did you see rising?

[Jimi75]

Has there ever been a musician/band of which you knew from the beginning that there is something special so you became a "fan" told your friends about him, went to concerts and were the first who had the cds, long before the hype started and this artist/band became famous?

I was into two artists before they started bigger carreers. One was Joe Bonamassa, I've imported his first album and visited his first concerts in Germany where he played in front of 35 people. The venues were totally small and after the concerts we met with the guys and had a beer and long talks. Now JB played the Royal Albert Hall :happy

Tho other artist/band was Dreamtheater. A friend brought one of their early demotape from a trip to NY and we celebrated the songs here at every party. Caught them on their first tour with James LaBrie, again in frontt of less than 40 people. Now about 25 DT concerts later, they are the kings of the prog scene. :AOK

There were definitely more that I saw come and go, but those two were definitely very special.

How about you guys? Any "stars" that you saw rising? :dude

[Robert]

Yngwie Malmsteen. I heard about him just as he had moved to L.A. and started playing with Steeler in the early 80s. Heard a radio interview with him in Sweden, and after that, I was a true fan!

[bigG]

Geez, I don't remember all of 'em, but these three stand out (especially the third one):

Saw The James Gang (Joe Walsh) in about 1965-66.

A local Miami band that sorta made it big and that I knew very well from playing many shows with them: The Blues Image ("Ride, Captain, Ride") got a recording contract and moved to California. Mike Pinera was a FANTASTIC guitarist and always played shirtless. Last I heard he was playing with Iron Butterfly. Joey Lala became a huge session cat (percussion), and was a member of Stephen Still's Manasass. Another Miami band we played with often, Fantasy (Jim DeMaio on lead guitar, Mako on Hammond B-3) had an album release and minor hit with "Stoned Cowboy", but they flamed out. Too bad - a great band.

And third: the infamous Monkees tour in which the as yet unheard of Jimi Hendrix Experience was the opening act! Infamous because it was such a terrible coupling - The Monkees and Jimi Hendrix! I saw Jimi about 2 weeks before Are You Experienced was released and , needless to say, I was floored! He mentioned during their opening set that their first album was being released in about 2 weeks, and you can bet that I was turning every musician I knew on to the band and the upcoming first album (and I jetted to the record store the afternoon it was released and still have that vinyl LP copy today).

(How did I end up at a Monkees concert? you ask yourself...well, the keyboard player in the band I was in at the time had a girlfriend who was, like, 13 or 14 (he and I were 16 or 17). Her parents wouldn't let her go see The Monkees alone with him - only if he could double date. So, he asked me if myself and my girlfriend would tag along. He was paying for a nice dinner before the show, and for the tickets, so it was a free ride all the way for me and my girl. (And, besides, I liked The Monkees! They were actually quite good in concert, but certainly a tremendous let-down after witnessing the unknown and unexpected Jimi Hendrix Experience!)

Oh, and there was a really GREAT band called The Illusion that we played with many times at The Vanilla Fudges' club (The Action House) on Long Island in NYC that did release at least 2 albums, and should have broken big, but never did. Pity, that!

Oh, again: I saw Led Zeppelin on their first US tour, shortly after the release of their first album, but I think everyone knew they were gonna be huge. I also talked to Robert Plant on the phone (got lucky on an underground FM radio show call-in while Zep was there taking calls).

And, although I saw The Byrds a couple of years after they broke in '65 (Steppenwolf opened), I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Hillman in about 2006 for a now-defunct online CD-review site. Just thought I'd mention that 'cause it came into my head right now...

That's all I can remember for now...

G

[Tig]

I've seen plenty just as they were first making it big, but just a few before it. Man, I know I saw a few bands in their pre-breakout days, but we were young and partied way too much in those days, so the memory is foggy. :beer: :nope

I do remember seeing Clint Black way before he made it in the country music world, around 1986. He was fishing buddies with a few of my friends. To this day, he's a really nice guy.
Same with Mark Chesnutt in those days. The funny thing is, I'm not really a country music fan!

[markb]

Just a little west London band called The Clash.

[MAXIFUNK]

Prince 1978
Rick James 1978
Van Halen 1978

[Dauntless]

Springsteen!