Best Opening Band?

[Eric***]

What's a band/artist that you've seen open (or support) for the headliner that you had previously not known about, but have come to really enjoy?

I find this to be tough, because not knowing a band's catalog makes it considerably more difficult to latch on to them.

I suppose it could be a separate question of what band that you didn't know wowed you, but I'll throw that in as well.

...

For me, I saw Bobby Bare Jr. open for Son Volt once, and while I thought he was OK, the album my friend bought turned out to be really good.

I also saw this band Everest open for Wilco and Neil Young. I thought they were pretty good, but never followed up to see if I liked their recordings.

OTOH, I liked the Bravery when they opened for Ash, but turned out to not like them so much once I gave them a listen.

[hubberjub***]

This exposes my true roots. When I was 12 or 13 my dad took me to a David Lee Roth concert. While he put on a good show, both my father and I were blown away by the musicianship and showmanship of the opening band. That band was Extreme. While I don't follow that type of music, I cannot deny how good they really were. I don't think I would ever buy a CD but Nuno is a monster player. I also saw Joe Bonamassa play with moe. back in the day.

[Eric***]

This exposes my true roots. When I was 12 or 13 my dad took me to a David Lee Roth concert. While he put on a good show, both my father and I were blown away by the musicianship and showmanship of the opening band. That band was Extreme. While I don't follow that type of music, I cannot deny how good they really were. I don't think I would ever buy a CD but Nuno is a monster player. I also saw Joe Bonamassa play with moe. back in the day.

I went to an Extreme show a couple of years ago just to see King's X open for them. The amount of jean shorts, long hair, and 40-year-old white dudes was astounding. I had to leave after about 10-15 minutes of the Extreme set because the volume was ridiculous and I forgot my earplugs in the car.

[Eric***]

I don't think I would ever buy a CD but Nuno is a monster player.

FWIW, I actually did buy Pornograffiti used for about a buck at some point too. I know this isn't the point of your post, but I do really love Hole Hearted. So corny, but SO catchy.

[tunghaichuan***]

About 10-15 years ago I went to see King Crimson in downtown Denver. They were having an off night, Fripp seemed to be having trouble with his rig. The opening band was the California Guitar Trio. They blew KC away, which had Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and Trey Gunn in the band. CGT were three former students of Fripp. They were awesome that night.

A few months later CGT came back though, and they did another great set. The opening band was Emotion. They put on a great show and I got their CD. The memorable part of the show was when the guitar play accidentally yanked the cable out of his guitar during a solo, but plugged back in and finished anyway. He got a standing ovation for that, but you could tell he was really pissed at himself. I believe they were a UK band, but I can't find anything online about them.

Finally, my wife and I went to see a show with Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Brown, Bruce Hornsby, and Shawn Colvin. David Lindley opened up for them and later joined them on stage, but his opening set was by far the best part of the concert.

[piebaldpython***]

January 1978...Philly....headliner was the Buddy Guy/Junior Wells Blues Band and they cooked. Opening act was George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers.....he put everbody's jaw on the floor. Oh baby.

Feb 2008.....Atlantic City HOB.....star was B B King.....opener was Patrick Droney, a 14 yr old hotshot. Holy smokes, could this kid play. Great tone.

[msteeln]

Kansas in '75/6 opening for Ted Nugent, before the Masque LP. Long Beach Arena.
The guy sitting next to me said Kansas would whup ol' Ted, I said no way.
I had to clean a lot of egg off my face that night, and Ted was red hot!
Instant Kansas fan.

Steve Morse, opening for masters DiMiola/DeLucia/McLaughlin. Late 80s, Waikiki Shell.
Morse was awesome. Then the masters came out and put me to sleep until they had Steve come back out at the end for a 5 min. solo encore, and he blew them away again!

[sunvalleylaw]

Hmm, Keb Mo "opening" for Bonnie Raitt? I had heard some of his recorded stuff before, but his live performance was way better than anything I ever have heard of his recorded.

Other candidates: Sonic Youth opening for REM at the Gorge in WA.

Brandi Carlile and band opening for Sheryl Crow when I took my wife to see Sheryl a year or so ago. Brandi's band features Tim and Phil Hanseroth on guitar and bass, and their Johnny Cash and Creedence covers kicked ***, and the show was way better than Sheryl's IMHO. Not at all what you hear on the radio or Gray's Anatomy.

[MAXIFUNK]

Wow this is a hard question for me to answer.

So I'll break it down this way

1. Thin Lizzy for rock/metal these guys smoked a lot of bands on tours when they did not headline. The best collection of great guitarist in rock history John sykes, Gary Moore, Brian Robertson then to have Phil Lynott on top of all that headliner killer for sure.

2. Mother Finest R&B/Funk/Rock/Metal these guys do it all they have opened up for everyone from Stevie wonder, PFunk, Van Halen, ZZ Top just to name a few and pushed them as hard as any of them could stand. one of the most under rated bands from the 70's who still put music out to this day.

3. Bar-Kays R&B/Funk the house band for Stax records killer players with a take no prisoners attitude and a list of hits as long as the headliners most of the time.

4. Primus alternative/rock before Les Claypool was a household name among musicians. I worked about 20 shows where these guys flat out killed the headliner. High energy and rawness in the early days of that band was just unreal live.

[just strum]

I've told this before, but...

I went to see Cheech and Chong (for you young folks - they are a comedy team). Well, this southern blues band opened up for them that I have never heard of - Z Z Top. And as they say - the rest is history.

[Spudman***]

I saw this little Australian band open for Aerosmith at what Areosmith termed "their worst gig ever" in Billings Montana - it was ACDC with Bon Scott. At the time I didn't know who they were as they had just come to the States.

The Jon Butcher Axis opened for The Scorpions in Rapid City South Dakota. Jon is an amazing player and great song writer. Great concert all the way around and Jon impressed me enough that I promptly went out and bought 3 of his albums.

[MAXIFUNK]

The Jon Butcher Axis opened for The Scorpions in Rapid City South Dakota. Jon is an amazing player and great song writer. Great concert all the way around and Jon impressed me enough that I promptly went out and bought 3 of his albums.

WOW that brings me back to 1982/83 or so I forgot all about that axeman he really could play. I saw him 2 or 3 times now to se if I can some of his cd's or mp3's.

[Tig***]

I'll try to remember as many as possible. Age and the use of various substances and/or alcohol made some concerts a little harder to remember.

Mid 70's... a band that was just getting noticed named Journey, opened for Santana.

I don't remember the headliner group, but do remember Edgar and Johnny Winter together, 1976 I think.

I knew all about Eric Clapton in the mid 70's, but didn't know that older black guy who opened up for him at the time. His name was Muddy Waters. My dad filled me in, and the rest is history.

UFO and Pantera opened for Ozzy in around late '81. I also got to see Randy Rhoads that night, and cherish the experience. I still think he was to most talented guitarist to ever play rock.

Thanks for taking me to so many cool concerts, Dad!

[syo***]

What a good thread.
Not surprisingly, I'm having trouble remembering most of the support acts. I do remember seeing UK (Wetton, Jobson, Bozzio) opening for Jethro Tull in Long Beach, CA ('79?). I was a big Bozzio fan after seeing him with Zappa a couple of years earlier and was happy to see him again behind the kit. Also think I remember The Steve Miller Band opening for The Dead, but I was well on my way to enlightenment that day so it really could have been someone else or maybe no one at all. Never a big Steve Miller fan anyway.

Well just looked it up. The Dead and SMB were in the desert together outside of Vegas in '92. So it was all real...

[just strum]

If you go back to the 70's there are a lot of us here that have a hard time remembering not only the opening act, but also the headliner.

What a good thread.
Not surprisingly, I'm having trouble remembering most of the support acts. I do remember seeing UK (Wetton, Jobson, Bozzio) opening for Jethro Tull in Long Beach, CA ('79?). I was a big Bozzio fan after seeing him with Zappa a couple of years earlier and was happy to see him again behind the kit. Also think I remember The Steve Miller Band opening for The Dead, but I was well on my way to enlightenment that day so it really could have been someone else or maybe no one at all. Never a big Steve Miller fan anyway.

Well just looked it up. The Dead and SMB were in the desert together outside of Vegas in '92. So it was all real...

[M29]

I remember back in the 60's/70's seeing Rush open for Bob Seager, Ted Nugent and other local bands from around here.

[Ch0jin]

I saw this little Australian band open for Aerosmith at what Areosmith termed "their worst gig ever" in Billings Montana - it was ACDC with Bon Scott. At the time I didn't know who they were as they had just come to the States.

Wow, that must have been amazing! As you can imagine, AC/DC (Akka Dakka) along with Cold Chisel and the Angels are revered as near religious icons over here.

I missed out out seeing AC/DC with Bon Scott, but I saw Cold Chisel recently (a one of gig as they have long ago stopped playing as a group to pursue solo careers) and Ian Moss (Mossy) blew me away. That man can play a guitar. I'm not talking all screaming solo's and associated wankery (not that there's anything wrong with that) I'm talking a mature guy who puts all his heart and soul into his playing. If you're into blues/rock style guitar then seek him out and thank me later

As to discovering new artists playing as support acts I've found plenty, but none of the calibre mentioned here. I tend to frequent seedy grunge bars and whilst some of the bands I've discovered in this manner have had limited international success, none of them are household names like the examples you guys have. I'd like to say Wolfmother as my example, but whilst I was lucky enough to catch them in their original lineup before they broke large, they were always the headline act. I also remember seeing Silverchair back when they were only well known enough to secure the 10:30AM slot on a side stage at an all day music festival (BDO), but I knew who they were before hand so that doesn't count I guess. I did discover Nitocris playing early on at an alt music festival back in the '90's (4ZZZ Market day) and became a lifelong fan, but I'm betting not many people outside of the east coast of Oz even know who they are/were.

[msteeln]

Black Sabbath for Alice Cooper, early '70 @ The Whisky. The Sabs came out in full white tux' w/top hats and immediately launched into Paranoid.

Captain Beyond for Alice/JoJoGunne, and again a month later for Sabbath/Gentle Giant, both @ The Hollywood Bowl, '72.
CB could hang with anybody.

Yes w/Bruford for Sabbath, The Forum, '71.

Foghat for Humble Pie, Long Beach Arena, '73.

Golden Earring for Robin Trower @ Santa Monica Civic, '72.

Emmylou Harris w/James Burton for Golden Earring, The Shrine, '74.

Lynyrd Skynyrd for Sabbath, San Berdoo, '74.

Carl Perkins for... The Judds..., late 80s, Waikiki Hilton. Total class kicker legend.

The Tubes for Led Zep, Kezar Stm./Frisco, '73. Way before they broke, and almost stole the show.

Stevie Ray Vaughn for The Police, Aloha Stm., '84., then again for ZZ Top in '87.
Fabulous Thunderbirds for SRV, NBCenter/Honolulu, late 80s.

[Guitar50]

Here's two more....

Van Halen for Black Sabbath in late 70's. This was just after their first album came out and all I knew about them was their version of "You Really Got Me". Ozzy and company was good, but VH just blew them away.

I went to a Blues show featuring John Lee Hooker back in the late 80's and one of the opening acts was Robert Cray. He was awesome and shortly thereafter "Smoking Gun" started to get a lot of airplay.

Here's one that doesn't count: I went to see Be Bop Deluxe in '78 or so when they came to the states as the opening act for a Blue Oyster Cult tour. Got my tickets, took a bus home from college, got settled in my seat and waited....and waited.....waited...until they announced that there had been an accident on the NYS Thruway involving Be Bop Deluxe's equipment truck, and that they were unable to play that night. Arrrrgh! But BOC played an extra long set and they were pretty good (small consolation!)