great question. I’ve got 3:
1979 - Southside Johnny opened for J. Geils Band at the Aragon in Chicago. Honestly, my buddies and I were there for Southside, so we actually left during J.Geils’ set. We were pretty stoned!
2006 - The Raconteurs opened for Dylan at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA. My wife and I didn’t even know the Raconteurs were playing; we sat down late after grabbing a soft pretzel in the concourse since we’d both come straight from work. They launched into “Steady as she Goes” right after we sat down - cool! However, while Dylan’s voice was tough, that band! OMG! Blew the Raconteurs totally out of the water!
2012 - Arctic Monkeys opened for The Black Keys at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD. We learned that day that we’d been mispronouncing the band’s name for years. It’s actually “the aaaktik muunkees”. My middle son believes there are very few true rock n roll stars left, and two of them are Jack White and Alex Turner.
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I think it was 1972 Bob Seager and silver bullet band opened for Harry Chapin Aquinas college basketball court grand rapids michigan.
My first concert of my life at age 11.
Thanks to my older sister for taking me.
Lucky me, she again let me tag along to see Jethro Tull in 1973 at Jenison Fieldhouse at Michigan State
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The Yardbirds (with Jimmy Page on guitar) opening for … Paul Revere and the Raiders. I walked out on the Raiders.
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@ozzy: Now there's a band I would love to see live! I have six of their albums on CD, and two on LP.
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The Bottle Rockets. They were the opening act either for Neil Young or John Fogerty. (I can't remember which).
ozzy
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Quicksilver Messenger Service opened for Three Dog Night in Kansas City. Would have been around 1974? A very interesting grouping/coupling.
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I can't confirm this, but it's rumored that Keith Richards opened for Mozart on more than one occasion.
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Linda Ronstadt opened for Jackson Browne at the Seton Hall University Field House in 1973. Jackson's full band including David Lindley. Linda stayed and sang with Jackson. Tickets were $2.50!
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Stevie Wonder opening for the Rolling Stones on their 1972 tour. Stevie Wonder levitated the auditorium.
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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...
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have a couple:
1) The Eagles opening for Jimmy Buffett in Miami Stadium about 76 or 77.
2) Stevie Wonder opening for The Stones at MSG.
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So many to list, I am very fortunate to have seen so many. But I thought this was one of the most interesting.
Elton John opened for Leon Russel. Anaheim Auditorium, and I believe that was 1971.
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Fleetwood Mac opened for Ozzy Osborn 70 or 71? Bayfront Center St Pete Fla
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Mental As Anything completely stole the show from U 2 on their American small venue introduction tour at The Rainbow in Denver. Same venue, Fabulous Thunderbirds (original Jimmy Ray line up) were so dominating I can't remember who they opened for
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That should be 'high fiving'. Stupid autocorrect.
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"What kind of idiot would boo Linda Ronstadt?"
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.
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@immatthewj -
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.
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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 !
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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.
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Immatthewj, Im thinking it was mid 80's...?
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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Went to a Napalm Death show in The Whiskey in LA, around 1997/98. Was curious about death metal. Opening was no-name, before first record band called System of a Down ... The rest is history. They were light years better than the main act on which I walked out.
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@mitchagain - in 1975, Jeff Beck toured with Mahavishnu Orchestra as co-headliners, each doing a full set and alternating the order....
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@tonyrox, I saw a similar show in 1977 when Eric Clapton and Santana toured together and they took turns as the opener and headliner. It was a rather competitive situation; and, it inevitably ended with an encore of everyone from both bands on stage for a long jam to close the show.
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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.
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This doesn't really count, but Jeff Beck opened for SRV, (they were alternating headliner position). Also Jeff Beck opened for Brian Wilson when I was working at The Pearl. You might be able to tell I'm a huge JB fan.
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@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.
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@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.
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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.
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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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For me, that’s just gotta be
The Grateful Dead, October 1976 at
Oakland Coliseum.
They were the opening act for The Who!
Two wild shows Saturday and Sunday.
Quite a contrast in styles.
The Dead just were incredible!
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Kansas opened for Bad Company at The Garden. Wasn't even close. Became an early Kansas fan that night.
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Great topic, BTW. I also saw Paul Simon "open" for Bob Dylan. Simon was still doing the Graceland stuff with a big band and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. We actually considered leaving after that, but to our surprise, Dylan was ON that night, and did a much better than usual (for him) show.
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@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!
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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!
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While I love Dave Mason, Heart blew Dave off the stage when they opened for him at a concert I attended in Syracuse the summer of 1977.
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@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.
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Almost forgot this one;; Jerry Jeff Walker opening for Dwight Yoakum.
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Immatthewj, Im thinking it was mid 80's...?
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Opening acts for the Rolling Stones in Ft. Worth in 1972 were the Staple Singers and Little Stevie Wonder. He stole the show.
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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.
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Merle Haggard for Dylan. Saw this show a few times, recognizing the rarity and greatness of both.
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Camel opened for Foghat and Wishbone Ash back in 1973 or 1974 GREAT SHOW Renaissance, open for an even more amazing prog band, Gentle Giant at the AKRON CIVIC
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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’....
...and intro’ing VH, with BMG having one of the best concert mixes I’d heard.
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....
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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
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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
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69 Boston Garden MC5 and Johnny Winter opening for Led Zeppelin
Also caught Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers opening for Bob Dylan at Great Woods
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March 18, 1973 Linda Ronstadt opened for Neil Young and so began my total love affair with her. A voice that touches my soul.
@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.
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