@bassbuyer - when I first moved to San Francisco in 1973, I went to a show at Winterland with Wishbone Ash headlining, I think. The first band came on, who I never heard of before, and they tore the roof off the sucker. Montrose. I had friends in other parts of the country who had a similar experience with the original Montrose band. If they'd stayed together, I think they could have been the American Led Zeppelin.
The best opening act you've ever seen & heard?
I have two:
In 1983 I went to see The Plimsouls (Peter Case’s pre-solo career band) at The Garage, a tiny little "club" on Ventura Blvd. The room had filled up (elbow-to-elbow tight), and the opening act started their set. My woman and I both looked at each other, our mouths agape. It was Los Lobos, and they were great! Their debut album How Will The Wolf Survive? had yet to be released, but I sure picked it up when it was.
I went to see John Hiatt at The Roxy Theater on Sunset Blvd. during his Perfectly Good Guitar tour, entering the room just as the opening act was starting her final song. The ads for the show listed her name, which was unfamiliar to me. As the song started and progressed, I was stunned; the song she and her band were performing was a great one, and I knew I had missed a quality set of music. It was Sheryl Crow, whose debut album had not yet been released. Damn it!
Showing 10 responses by larsman
@richmon - did you happen to see Pink Floyd at the Spectrum Theater in March of '73? I was at that one.... |
@jimijam - Camel is great, yeah? They played 3 nights here in San Francisco on the 'Moonmadness' tour, 2 shows per night, and I went to all 6! |
@mapman - by the time I found out about it, they were all sold out, but I managed to get a new unopened 'Air Born' box for a very reasonable price. I love these big prog-rock box sets. I've got some King Crimson ones and the Caravan one and the Van der Graaf Generator one. I've given up on finding the big Gentle Giant box set for any kind of affordable price. |
@mitchagain - in 1975, Jeff Beck toured with Mahavishnu Orchestra as co-headliners, each doing a full set and alternating the order.... |
I saw the Eagles open for Ten Years After in the early 70's. I didn't much like them and the audience of TYA fans SURE didn't like them! On the other hand I saw Robin Trower open for Sha Na Na at Winterland in San Francisco in about 1974, and poor Sha Na Na. The place just went nuts for Trower and called him back for 3 encores and would have had him play all night if he could; he conquered the rock community of SF. About a year later, Robin headlined a Day on the Green at Oakland Stadium, with Peter Frampton and Fleetwood Mac among the supports! Obviously this was right before they broke big, but that was still cool... |
@kqvkq9 - I was at a number of those shows - Who's Dead (I've seen them hundreds of times; at every one of those shows, they often stopped between songs and talk and tune up and all that. I don't think that was special for you, but who knows?), Mott the Hoople, BTW, and Aerosmith (I think that was my first show at Winterland after I moved here), the Who at the Cow Palace (I have some good photos from that one), and the DK's and the Clash at Kezar Pavilion with the bouncy floor; I still remember that! |
@alvinnir2 - I've got that immense Woodstock box set and was able to hear all the bands that played there in order; Santana was indeed awesome, and they were the first band there that actually ROCKED. |
@kqvkq9 - I moved to San Francisco in 1973 and I've been here ever since; I was in the retail and wholesale record business from '74 - '84 so I got to see a lot of shows for free. The New Riders weren't really any wing of the Grateful Dead; just good friends; they were a totally separate band except that they sometimes toured with the Dead, Jerry played pedal steel on their first album and when I saw them back in '70 or '71 opening for the Dead, Jerry played pedal steel with them there, too. After that, Buddy Cage joined, one of the best pedal steel players ever... On the other hand, Jerry Garcia Band and Kingfish were certainly wings of the Dead! I wasn't here yet in March of '73 but I wouldn't have gone to that in Berkeley anyway; I'm not much into roots/Americana; the Grateful Dead is about as close as I venture there! |
@jreiter - Styx opened for Marty Robbins??!!! That's inspired! Dang, somebody should start a thread about the most unlikely-billed shows they've ever gone to.. |
