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!
In 1969 at Memorial Auditorium in Dallas I saw Jimi Hendrix and the opening band was a new band called The Chicago Transit Authority who became just Chicago. Sat 3rd row center. Never will forget that show. In 1970 I saw The Rolling Stones at McFarlin Auditorium in Dallas and they were 1&1/2 hours late and the opening band, Chuck Berry, played for almost 3 hours and killed it. I didn't care whether the Stones showed up or not, he was that good. |
@richmon - did you happen to see Pink Floyd at the Spectrum Theater in March of '73? I was at that one.... |
Hard to say. I saw OMD open for Depeche Mode, as well as the Bjork-led Sugarcubes open for New Order, The National open for the Arcade Fire, and Nine Inch Nails open for Skinny Puppy. Perhaps the oddest was Crispen Glover do a spoken word & short movie montage open for Front Line Assembly. Some of the best multi-band stage line-ups I've seen: Pearl Jam, Sound Garden, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Ministry, IceCube/Body Count, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Lollapalooza in 1992 The 2006 Voodoo fest line-up included the RHCP, Duran Duran, Flaming Lips, Broken Social Scene, Social Distortion, and Kings of Leon.
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