When people are asked and share their memories about Jimi Hendrix and best opening acts, I'm hoping someone will reminisce about seeing Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees in 1967.
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!
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@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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I saw the amazing prog band, Renaissance, open for an even more amazing prog band, Gentle Giant at the Shrine Auditorium here in LA. This was in 1976. Annie Haslam’s 5 octave voice, with near perfect intonation, power and emotion, was always an amazing experience. At the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1978, I saw the band U.K. (Bill Bruford, Allan Holdsworth, Eddie Jobson, John Wetton) open for Al De Meola. As much as I love De Meola, U.K. was the better band.
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A couple: In July 1978 went to a Day on the Green in Oakland, CA. Playing were Aerosmith, Foreigner, Pat Travers and Van Halen. Opening was a relatively unknow "punk-ish" rock band, AC/DC. They came out and literally/utterly destroyed the place. Jaws dropped. Not many had seen anything/anyone like Angus before. The energy was incredible. It was an amazing day.
In July 1982 went to see The Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, MDC and the Detonators at the Barn in Torrance. Opening was again, a relatively unknown band this time from Indy, the Zero Boys. These kids came out looking kind of dork-ish, (not the typical punk rock "attire" of the day) and just shredded the place from their first song to their last. All bands were exceptional that day, but the Zero Boys blew them all off the stage. They were new, fresh and just a GREAT band. If interested, check out their Vicious Circle LP. One of the best of the genre. |
In 2000, at the House of Blues on Sunset Blvd, I saw Porcupine Tree open for the French band, Magma. As much as I love P-Tree, they couldn't hold a candle to Magma. Magma was so intense, the musicianship was at such an extreme level, the way their music builds and releases tension and other emotions, they left it all on stage. |
@pdspiegel's listing of Dwight Yoakam opening for Nick Lowe in 1983 reminded me that I saw the legendary songwriting team of Dann Penn and Spooner Oldham open for Nick and his band in the late-90's at The Pantages Theater on Hollywood Blvd., an incredible Art Deco theater. Nick has great taste in opening acts! Dann played acoustic guitar and sang, Spooner played his trademark Wurlitzer electric piano and also sang. Fantastic!
I also saw Dylan at The Pantages, during his five night run there in the early-2000's. He was great that night, and had a killer band. On each of the five nights he had a different opening act; on my night it was Beck, whom I found underwhelming. I wasn't alone---the audience response to his set was tepid. I had seen Dylan ten years earlier at The Greek Theater, an outdoor venue in L.A. That night he stunk, as did his 3-pc band.
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@simonmoon Unfamiliar with Magma, which LP would you recommend for starters? THX! |
@larsman - yes indeedy, they were working out the material that would become Dark Side and handed out a pamplet call Eclipse 'a piece for assorted lunatics' which was their working title for dark side. Of course my pamplet fell by the wayside. Fast forward 50 years, I'd loaned my spinclean to a friend who had bought a collection from a widow who's husband had passed and was cleaning them. He holds up this pamplet he found in The Wall and says whats this? I almost fell down, it was the concert pamplet. I've got it framed in my music room. |
Freddie King opening for Elvin Bishop (if you think it should’ve been the other around, I agree). I was in high school -- it was either ’73 or ’74. That was some of the most intense Blues guitar playing I’ve witnessed in person, culminating in "Goin’ Down". I know Blues scholars prefer his earlier work with the cleaner-sounding P90 equipped Gold Top, but not me. I like the nastier tone he sported later on, with those big ol’ semi hollows and more gain. There’s a youtube video from some outdoor gig in Texas, I believe, from around that time, with a great version of "Ain’t Nobody’s Business". My favorite of the three Kings.
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First concert I attended, everyone sitting on the floor in the gym at WSU in Pullman WA where loaves of bread, bottles of wine and joints were freely passed around. Warm up was a one man band, Duster Bennett, very fun performance, then John Mayall and his superb band. Tommy Bolin, around 1974, terrible venue when it could of been in the really great opera house in Spokane WA, amazing performance from all members, warned up for Rush. Most were not paying much attention to TB but went nuts when Rush came on stage and quite frankly, they sucked, I had to leave. I really did not get it how little the audience understood the talent of TB and his band. I was standing in line to buy tickets to see Jimi Hendrix when someone came out to tell us he had died, that was a sad, sad day. Rick
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@wharfy , was it Daddy's Little Pumkin? I like Josh Ritter a lot. Girl In The War back in '07 is what turned me on to him. But sadly, I haven't followed up on him much. |
@winoguy17 , Steve Earle is one of my favorites; I would have loved to see that. What year was that? |
@tony1954 , and Linda Ronstadt is another one of my favorites! I remember seeing a documentary about her (I think it was on CNN) and I kind of remember that the documentary talking about that tour (Young & Ronstadt) and saying that she did such a great job as an opener that Young had her alternate with him on who would open and who would headline. If I remember correctly, he could get some extra rest this way. |
Not and opening act, but... I saw Bonnie Raitt playing unannounced/unadvertised @ the Airliner Bar (Iowa City, IA) on Friday March 29, 1974 with no cover charge. Was walking down the street, heard the music and then saw her on a little pool table sized stage through the window. She was a backup musician for Muddy Waters who played Iowa City's Hancher Auditorium the following evening (Saturday).
DeKay |
J. Geils Band opened for Humble Pie - 1972 James Gang (Tommy Bolin version) opened for Beck - Bogart & Appice - 1973 New York Dolls opened for Mott the Hoople - 1973 ("Halloween on acid") Mannfred Mann's Earth Band opened for Blue Oyster Cult - 1974 China Crisis opened for Simple Minds - 1984 The Silencers opened for X and Warren Zevon - 1987 Richard Thompson opened for Bonnie Raitt - 1989 House of Freaks opened for Concrete Blonde - 1989 Pylon opened for R.E.M. - 1989 Hunters & Collectors opened for Midnight Oil - 1990 Wendy MaHarry opened for The Blue Nile - 1990 The Go-Betweens opened for Lloyd Cole - 1991 Sam Phillips opened for Bruce Cockburn - 1991 Dada opened for Sting - 1993 Ivy opened for Lloyd Cole - 1995 Mark Eitzel opened for Everything But the Girl - 1995 |
Back in Houston, E & I noticed the Blue Man Group was slated for one night at the Cynthia Woods north of town....Venus Hum the opener for the show.... Enjoyed the BMG antics on the screen since they were still new to people, new enough that the CWPavilion was 1/3 full, with plenty of ’closer locales’. VH was a solid opener....looking ’geeky’ on purpose, but tight and a good listen. It’s the Pre-Opener-Act that was hilarious and set the tone for the night. On time, a pair of LED reader boards, one stage left with the other at right began to greet the crowd followed by some banter between that drew participation and laughs from the crowd. This lead to the 2 units having a hissy fit, one whining about how the other was rude, back ’n forth, finally ’making up’.... With that much percussion ’horsepower’ from the band behind the Blues’, it had to be.....including this little number... Terrific show....came back to town a few months later, this time in Houston at the city’s main auditorium for 2 shows.... ...that sold out in minutes. Word had got around.... Ah, well....RIP, BMG.... |
The year was 1984. I saw The Waterboys open for U2’s Unforgettable Fire tour at the Fox theater Detroit. They brought the heat that night. Couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I had never heard of them before that night. But didn’t want their set to end. They left me slack-jawed in awe of ferocity of their scorching set. Been a fan ever since but have never seen them capture that intensity again. |
@maskmann , I was at that show (2nd row center) and you are correct, The Waterboys were fantastic! I almost included that show in my list, but I couldn't bear mentioning U2 in the same sentence, probably because of the way the crowd tried to climb over my friends and I as if we were some type of human fence. One the bright side, that show made me focus on attending shows in venues that seat 1,000 people or less. That is a habit that I continue to this day. |
The Schaefer Music Festival was an outdoor concert series in Central Park, NYC, that had very random pairings. The most (in)famous was in 1974, when Bruce Springsteen opened for Anne Murray, who had a hit song with "Snowbird"! The following year, I saw The Deadly Nightshade (three women rockers all in leather) open for Poco! |
@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! |
Wow, wow, wow, so many shows here I would love to have seen! Thanks for the memories, folks. Among my favorites: My first large concert on a visit to Phoenix, 1970, Blues Image, whom I’d never heard of, knocked my stuffing out, I never knew there were bands that good. Followed by Three Dog Night. The next year, my second large concert, another visit to Phoenix, the headliner again was Three Dog Night. Opening act was the basically unknown band, The Doobie Brothers. Fast forward a lot of years, there were: Rufus with Chaka Kahn and the Charlie Daniels band opened the Stones’ show in 1975? An unknown Lyle Lovett and a cello player opening for Bonnie Raitt Chesapeake opening for Doc Watson Jerry Jeff Walker opening for Delbert McClinton
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Another post for me. On September 19, 1980, I and my future wife saw Bob Marley and the Wailers as the opening act for the rhythm and blues band The Commodores. 75% or more of the garden was there to see Bob. Many left before the Commodores performed. Dreadlocked youth toking God’s weed (ganja) made gave a smoky translucence to the stage view. Great performance induced a dance bouncing to the rhythm. If I remember my rock history, Bob was hospitalized after the series with cancer. |
@larsman @jimijam have you seen/heard the extensive new Camel box set? I’m jealous of anyone who saw Camel live in their prime. That is a first class opening act for sure. |
@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. |
Also Prince Rogers Nelson opening up for the Rolling Stones for me and 80,000 of my friends at the Coliseum in LA. BTW, the people down front were throwing trash at him and booing, it was awful, especially considering he was playing straight ahead R&R. I was a lifelong Prince fan after that day. I was working in a record store, and we had those early albums on in pretty good rotation, and sold a bunch to people that had never heard of him. |
18 March 1972 San Diego Sports Arena The Bill: Wild Turkey/YES/Black Sabbath Little known opening band YES absolutely killed it! Way beyond Wild Turkey and Sabbath! Still have (somewhere) color Ektachrome slides ("pushed" development for low light) of the band. Was UCSD photog for a stint. https://www.concertarchives.org/concerts/black-sabbath-yes-wild-turkey?photo=332135#setlist-section |
@mitchagain - in 1975, Jeff Beck toured with Mahavishnu Orchestra as co-headliners, each doing a full set and alternating the order.... |
Maybe it was during his Guitar Town heyday, @winoguy17 ? I know that he went on to say something to the effect of "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world, and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." I heard him interviewed sometime after that and he walked it back a bit, saying that at the time Townes was in a rough period and that he was just trying to bolster him up. I saw another interview on youtube, and Steve said that Townes said something to the effect of being appreciative, but considering Bob Dylan's bodyguards, maybe he ought to reconsider. Steve said that he has seen Bob Dylan's bodyguard and he wasn't worried because he (the bodyguard) was nothing special.
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@tonyrox I was at that concert at the LA Coliseum in 1981, and I remember the booing and someone throwing a bottle at Prince which essentially ended his set. The following year he released “1999” and had the last laugh. In 1982 I was back at the LA Coliseum and saw the Clash open for the Who. |
1972/73 I had a single ticket for the Loggins & Messina concert at the Berkeley Community Theatre - which was actually attached to Berkeley HS. and at that time one of the nicest rock venues. The Opener was a guy I'd never heard of and the Grand piano sitting on one side of the stage didn't shed much hope for a great rock experience - the guy finally came out with just a lead guitarist and a drummer, sat down at the piano and busted out "Travelin' Prayer" and then pretty much the entire songbook from his first record that hadn't yet been released (Piano Man) - Never felt the same about Rock & piano players after that - Really couldn't tell you much about Loggins & Messina's performance either - 52yrs later - still my favorite concert ! |
I don't remember the song they played together. Looking through setlist.fm it probably was "Daddy's Little Pumpkin". "Girl in the War" is one of my wife's favorite Ritter songs. He's quite a songwriter and performer. Last Spring he did a small solo tour, road testing new songs and playing older ones. Wow, wow, wow... Sermon on the Rocks and Gathering are terrific, if you get the chance to hear them. |
Probably the ones who came down from Massachusetts. They’re like that. Billy Squier opening for Queen right after his ’Don’t Say No’ album came out, Hartford Civic Center. Collective Soul opening for 3 Doors Down, at Mohegan Sun Arena. Left after Collective Soul. Side note; Went to see Flock of Seagulls on Panama City Beach. Leaning on center stage and high diving the lead singer throughout. Final song, he bent down and asked me if I knew it. I said yes, and he motioned me up on stage to do a duet with him before ushering up the hot girls in the crowd to dance to it. Don't judge me. |
