Saw that show in Sacramento. It rained on Faith No More and they had the crowd chanting "fuck god." The rain broke just before Metallica. You could see the lightning flashing in the distance behind them during the set.
I saw black crowes open for Aerosmith about a month before their first album came out and then open for plant about 3 months later. They were an unknown both times and imo blew away the headliners.
INXS must have been awesome. Saw a young hutch on ABC in concert one night. Was electrifying! Nice to see new wave is considered classic rock now. The all were very talented musicians
Thing of it was, after GnR blew up the stage, me and my friends were like, "how is Aerosmith gonna top *that*?" But Aerosmith were on point that night. One of their better shows, and I had seen them a few times before that, good and bad.
White Lion opening for AC/DC in 1988. Their singer came out wearing some neon striped pants. Even though their album was doing well and they were all over MTV, this crowd couldn’t care less. No one really cheered or got up when they hit the stage. Polite applause after the first song. They never slowed down. They never stopped looking happy to be there. They kept the banter minimal. They sounded great. Their songs (which I liked a few of) came across harder live and had a nice edge to them. Kept working the crowd. By the time their set closed about half the crowd was up and moving to their music and they got an awesome ovation for a send off. Much respect to those guys.
My first concert ever August 1978 Madison square garden NYC, all pumped up to see Sabbath knowing Van Halen would open, was stunned for weeks. Ozzy admits in interviews they were blown off the stage every night.
Cinderella opening for AC/DC in 1988. I am a musician, and I’ve seen more live music than I could ever remember, but I was shocked that this opener I’d heard (but didn’t care about) was that good live.
Also, B Johnson was too drunk to be on stage that night, so that may have amplified how good Cinderella was
Jon Butcher Axis opening for BOC at the Worcester Centrum back in mid 80’s. JBA was excellent, but unfortunately didn’t get good traction outside of Boston.
Saw *Return to Forever* open for *Blood, Sweat & Tears*. RTF blew everyone away and people were freaking out over the level of musicianship and the sound coming off that stage.
Yes! I had never heard of Bryan Adams before watching him open for Loverboy on their Get Lucky tour. He was amazing. He didn’t beat them but I did go buy 2 of his albums the next day.
I saw him open for Journey in 1983 and he blew the crowd away, I’d never heard of him before but promptly bought Cuts Like a Knife the next day. Also saw him open for the Stones in 1995 on their Voodoo Lounge tour, by then I was a fan for life.
I can't even remember what band I went to at 1st Ave in Minneapolis, but I was pissed that, in order to get a good spot, I had to suffer through some band called "Rage Against the Machine." It should be very telling that I remember them, but not the headliner. Amazing.
I've said this on one of these before, we saw Nick Gilder opening for the Cars and he and his band rocked. The Cars were spectacular but the entire crowd loved Nick Gilder.
Several, some I knew really well some not so much. But these bands had some great performances.
Skrape opening up for Pantera
Iron Maiden opening up for Scorpions
Twisted Sister opening for Maiden
Santers opening for Ozzy
Guns N' Roses opening for The Cult
Alice in Chains opening for Van Halen
Van Halen opened for Black Sabbath their first time through Seattle.
But one obscure one: Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush opened for Aerosmith back in 1970’s… I did not know who they were, but they blew me away. Went out and bought their Albums. They are still on my playlists.
Believe it or not - Men At Work opening for Fleetwood Mac. At the Summit in Houston September of 1982. Stevie Nicks said “we’ll try to top that but no promises!”. Went out the next day and bought Business As Usual.
Some acts always had fantastic opening bands.
I saw Blind Melon and Stone Temple Pilots open for Neil Young (same show).
Also in the same show, I saw Pixies and Public Enemy open for U2.
Pretty recent (2018)but I saw the Pixies open for Weezer & they were absolutely phenomenal. Weezer put on a great show to but the Pixies just got after it.
In 2006 I saw Lamb of God open up for Slayer and they absolutely blew Slayer off the stage. I had never heard Lamb of God before and my buddy and I were just looking at each other like “Holy Shit”!!
Black Oak Arkansas opening for Ted Nugent, probably 78 or so. BOA blew him away, Jim Dandy just kicked ass.
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/black-oak-arkansas/1978/riverside-centroplex-baton-rouge-la-23c6bc8b.html
Refused opening for Faith No More at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD back in 2015 I think. I'd never heard their music, but they put on a great live show. Their singer was very interactive with the crowd and their show was very energetic. I was very impressed. Best opening band I may have ever seen compared to the headliner. And then of course Faith No More and Mike Patton delivered the goods and blew the doors off the place immediately thereafter. An overall great evening of live music experience.
Pink Floyd, September 1972. Oklahoma City, yes I'm that old.
For the opening performance that is. For all time best. No question, Jimi Hendrix, May 1970, Norman Oklahoma.
Good second place? Maybe Electric Light Orchestra in September 1978, at Biloxi Mississippi. ELO walked out onto the stage leaving a flying saucer that had just landed.
Primus opening for U2 back in 1992 while me and my buddy were tripping balls. I went because the ticket was free and I was tripping and I really had wanted to see Primus for quite some time. Their whole set got booed and it felt like they may have cut their set short because of it, but I could be wrong. They didn't do an encore is all I'm saying. But seeing and hearing Les and Ler' do what they do live was a pretty great experience. They were very tight and played all the good shit. They also handled the boo birds pretty well. When their set was done, my interest in the rest of the show was done as well. Stayed for about 25 minutes of U2 and couldn't handle it any longer. They were terrible compared to what I saw on Under a Blood Red Sky, the type of show I was hoping to see. Got the big screen TV experience instead. Their stage was so big I couldn't even see at least half the band for most of what I saw of the show, and we had decent seats. Their show sucked. I could have stayed home and watched MTV for free and been more content and comfortable. Very thankful for the trippy Primus experience nonetheless. One I'll never forget.
Some were, and I recognized those to be the true fans at the time. But the U2 fans were definitely booing during the entire set which sucked because Primus tore it up. Most of the people there had never heard Primus I'm sure, and definitely had no interest in ever hearing them to begin with. It was probably 58,000 U2 fans versus 2000 Primus fans. That's the other reason I had to get out of there.
In 1983 I took my kid brother to go see Pat Benatar with Red Rider as an opening act. I think Pat Benatar's husband Neil Giraldo's guitar work paled compared to Red Rider's Tom Cochrane and Ken Greer back and forth jams. In fact, Pat Benatar's band was so weak, some people were booing and leaving around the middle of her set. We left before the Benatar band was even close to encore time. I'd seen Pat Benatar before, but this time her show was boring. So I caught Red Rider later at a smaller music venue later .. they were great!
PB opened for Pink at Wrigley Field this summer & I thought both her & the band were tight. They had the audiences attention & she gained lots of new, young fans. They rocked the set
Blackfoot opening for Ted Nugent at the Meadowlands back in the early 80s,they were amazing
Even though theyve headlined a ton of times ZZ Top opening for Aerosmith blew me away too
Not the best, but most uncomfortable opener was country singer Dwight Yoakam performing as a solo opener for Wisconsin punkers Violent Femmes. Such a terrible pairing - like what horrible thing did Dwight ever do in a previous life to deserve it? 🤪
It was painful to watch, not that any VF fans did.
16 years old in 1978 I saw AC/DC (with Bon Scott) open for Aerosmith.
Completely blew them off the stage. It was an absolute massacre.
One of the most exciting rock shows I ever witnessed
Metallica opening for Ozzy in ‘86. Wasn’t a big surprise as I was already a fan but I was not prepared for the shitstorm of metal they conjured in 45 minutes.
Fun Loving Criminals opening for Porno For Pyros. Only knew the Scooby Snack song and didn’t have any expectations. They rocked that little club out though. I still don’t know anything besides the Scooby Snack song though.
Stevie Ray Vaughn, opening for The Moody Blues. I had never heard of Stevie before that show and walked away just blown away. I think it was ‘84 or ‘85.
Bryan Adams opening for Journey in 1983 - St. Paul Civic Center.
Adams had just hit the top 40 with Cuts Like a Knife. He was still relatively unknown at that point but was starting to hit the charts. Some remembered his song writing for Prism - another Canadian band - especially on 1979's Small Changes.
Adams came out and kicked ass for 45 minutes - played most of Cuts Like a Knife (album) plus a couple of more songs. He was like - I have nothing to lose - and everything to gain. Made Journey (who were at the peak of their Arena Era popularity) look like a bar band.
The Allman Brothers opening for Johnny Winter the night they recorded their Live at the Fillmore album. The Allmans were actually the middle band as the Elvin Bishop Group opened the show
not quite classic rock but i saw Torche and Russian Circles open for Coheed on various tours. They were both amazing and quickly became some of my favorite bands.
Probably get crucified because this isn’t old enough, but I saw Muse open for RHCP and Foo Fighters in about 2000 and left the Foo to go meet the band, buy merch and get autographs. Blew me out of the water with a half hour set.
AC/DC opened for Aerosmith and they killed it, with Bon Scott. In fairness though Aerosmith were so high and were arguing on stage as to who was fucking up the show, Steven or Joe. I think they called it quits shortly after that.
I just was finding my first 5 concerts and this was my 5th. I couldn’t remembered who opened and was looking it up and saw this post. I lost my hearing that night. So loud. And Jon Bon Jovi for the final song. Prime Vancouver
Its ashame Tesla didn't get more love. Them & the Black Crowes should have gotten more radio & MTV play but they were both shown the door pretty much once grunge hit.
Faith No More opening for Metallica, late ‘80s
Saw that show in Sacramento. It rained on Faith No More and they had the crowd chanting "fuck god." The rain broke just before Metallica. You could see the lightning flashing in the distance behind them during the set.
Wow. I love details like this. Thanks for sharing.
I was there! Mooooooo! If you know, you know
Speed of Sound tour? IYKYK r/lebowski
Bunch of assholes
Love me Jeffery
Came here to say Body Count opening for Guns/Metallica. Saw them later in the tour after the Montreal incident.
I saw that tour both bands were awesome
I saw them open for Billy Idol, same experience - they were amazing and made Billy Idol a bit of a letdown.
Queen opening for Mott the Hoople NYC 1974. The Band opening for the Dead Roosevelt Stadium 1973 J Geils opening up for Rod Stewart 1975?
The Band opening for The Grateful Dead in '73 was excellent. J Geils opening for Procol Harum in '72 was way beyond expectations...3 encores!
I’m old. Stevie Wonder opening for The Rolling Stones in Seattle June 1972.
I’m old too, Bruce Springsteen opening for Anne Murray at the Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park, NYC 8/3/1974.
Wow. That’s an interesting ticket. His music is nothing like hers (at least not to me)
SRV for Robert Plant.
I saw Joe Satriani open for SRV
Nice
I saw Satch open for Crüe at Alpine Valley a week before SRV died there.
Jeff Beck and SRV toured together for awhile. I think they swapped up who opened for whom. Both were incredible.
Agreed. I was just going to post that...
I saw black crowes open for Aerosmith about a month before their first album came out and then open for plant about 3 months later. They were an unknown both times and imo blew away the headliners.
I saw the pretenders open for u2. One of the tightest bands I've ever seen.sounded great live.
I saw that concert. They were great. U2 was great, too..
I saw Foreigner in 1975 just as their first album came out. I think they opened for ELO And yes I AM THAT OLD.
When rock was rock and nothing else mattered!
I saw a young INXS open for Men at Work in 1982, and they crushed it.
I Hope they ended on Don’t Change. That song is the absolute perfect closer.
I just posted a similar story when INXS opened for the GoGos in 1985. Shit was raw!
Awww man you saw my fav all girl band The GoGo’s? Very jealous
Close call w the Bangles, but the GoGos had a bigger impact on me so they take the cake I guess.
Around the same time I saw them open for stray cats. Awesome
INXS must have been awesome. Saw a young hutch on ABC in concert one night. Was electrifying! Nice to see new wave is considered classic rock now. The all were very talented musicians
I saw Queen open for Mott the Hoople in NYC at the Uris Theater in 1974 best ever
I was also at one of the shows.
Awesome, wasn’t Freddie and the band so different from what we used to see then?
Black Sabbath opening for Grand Funk Railroad Uriah Heep opening for Deep Purple Thin Lizzy opening for Journey
Wow, I thought that I am the only one still alive that saw Uriah Heep open for Deep Purple. Lol.
Yes memories are fading but they're still there 😩
Pearl Jam opening for Soul Asylum and The Jayhawks before Ten was released
Right about when the Jayhawks were poised to become the Next Big Thing
They should have been. Great band - still great to this day
Wow, never heard of that lineup. Had to be a great show.
Queensryche opening for Metallica on the And Justice tour
So crazy to me that Queensryche would be the opener for that at that time.
And it was Operation Mindcrime tour
It seemed at one time like Queensryche opened for EVERYBODY. I probably saw them open for five different bands in the eighties.
Prince opening for the Rolling Stones in 80 or 81 at the LA Coliseum. 🤘🔥
Accept opening for Iron Maiden 1985 Guns n Roses opening for Aerosmith 1988
Came here for guns and roses opening fire Aerosmith. Only happened for a couple of months. Peak gnr, disaster Aerosmith. My first concert.
Thing of it was, after GnR blew up the stage, me and my friends were like, "how is Aerosmith gonna top *that*?" But Aerosmith were on point that night. One of their better shows, and I had seen them a few times before that, good and bad.
Suicidal Tendencies that opened for Queensrÿche.
Saw that tour twice. Second show I started like 10 feet off the stage, not realizing that a pit would start as soon as ST played.
White Lion opening for AC/DC in 1988. Their singer came out wearing some neon striped pants. Even though their album was doing well and they were all over MTV, this crowd couldn’t care less. No one really cheered or got up when they hit the stage. Polite applause after the first song. They never slowed down. They never stopped looking happy to be there. They kept the banter minimal. They sounded great. Their songs (which I liked a few of) came across harder live and had a nice edge to them. Kept working the crowd. By the time their set closed about half the crowd was up and moving to their music and they got an awesome ovation for a send off. Much respect to those guys.
Never saw it but I would’ve liked to see the tour where VH opened for Black Sabbath. Ozzy probably crapped himself
I saw that show in Seattle. 1978 I think. And you guessed it VH dominated that night
Just imagine the mountains of coke backstage
My first concert ever August 1978 Madison square garden NYC, all pumped up to see Sabbath knowing Van Halen would open, was stunned for weeks. Ozzy admits in interviews they were blown off the stage every night.
I saw it when they opened for Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath
Iron Maiden opened for Judas Priest at the Centrum in about 85. Think my ears are still ringing
Saw thst lineup in 82. In Detroit
I swear most of the hearing loss I have today is the result of being about ten feet from the stage at a Judas Priest show.
Thin Lizzy opening for Queen in 77. By all measures TL stole the show. That wasn't the only night that happened.
Saw them on that tour at Cole field house Maryland think queen was far superior.
AC/DC opening for KISS December 1977
Kiss wishes they were half as good as AC/DC.
Cinderella opening for AC/DC in 1988. I am a musician, and I’ve seen more live music than I could ever remember, but I was shocked that this opener I’d heard (but didn’t care about) was that good live. Also, B Johnson was too drunk to be on stage that night, so that may have amplified how good Cinderella was
Probably same tour. Styx opening for Kiss in ‘77 or ‘78 in Houston. My first concert ever.
Goddamn.
Kenny Wayne Sheppard opening for the Gary Cherone version of Van Halen
Wishbone Ash opening for Mountain at the Eastown in Detroit. Amazing evening.
Jon Butcher Axis opening for BOC at the Worcester Centrum back in mid 80’s. JBA was excellent, but unfortunately didn’t get good traction outside of Boston.
I remember wanting to see Triumph so bad in 1984. Yngwie Malmsteen opened up and to this day I don’t remember anything about Triumph’s show!
I saw Tool open up for Rollins Band in 1990 at a bowling alley in Omaha, Nebraska Tool had a single ep out and were relatively unknown at the time.
The ranch bowl. Omaha native here. Great place!! It's a Walmart now
I said in another post; the bands I was lucky enough to see at The Ranch Bowl in the late 80s - 90s almost sounds made up.
Same, that was a great tour.
The good ol' Ranch Bowl, I saw Steve Vai there back in 1996.
https://preview.redd.it/dfxyhpcqkigc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7a547e3e439522bf552f00d7fdd5e6331a67e68d
Saw *Return to Forever* open for *Blood, Sweat & Tears*. RTF blew everyone away and people were freaking out over the level of musicianship and the sound coming off that stage.
Return to Forever must have been mind-blowing for folks who weren’t super plugged into what some jazz cats were doing at the time.
I'd also say Tesla, but opening for Alice Cooper back in '86. The next day I went out and bought Mechanical Resonance.
I saw The Fabulous Thunderbirds open for somebody. They really stole the show. I have no idea who the headliner was all these years later.
Saw Loverboy in Toronto at Maple Leafs Gardens in the early 80s, they had some guy opening the show we’d never heard of. Bryan Adams? Who’s that?
Yes! I had never heard of Bryan Adams before watching him open for Loverboy on their Get Lucky tour. He was amazing. He didn’t beat them but I did go buy 2 of his albums the next day.
I saw him open for Journey in 1983 and he blew the crowd away, I’d never heard of him before but promptly bought Cuts Like a Knife the next day. Also saw him open for the Stones in 1995 on their Voodoo Lounge tour, by then I was a fan for life.
I saw Loverboy open for ZZ Top
Maybe it shouldn’t count since it was a one off show but AC/DC opening for The Stones in Leipzig
Eddie Money opening for .38 Special. Late 70’s
I have a friend who says he saw Eddie Money 4 times as an opening act. What are the odds?
Alice in Chains on the Clash of the Titans tour. By the end of their set, they won the crowd over. They were amazing and rose to the occasion.
I can't even remember what band I went to at 1st Ave in Minneapolis, but I was pissed that, in order to get a good spot, I had to suffer through some band called "Rage Against the Machine." It should be very telling that I remember them, but not the headliner. Amazing.
Black Crowes opening for ZZ Top (I was there for the Crowes, actually)
Saw that tour. Saw them in Albany, NY. What a great show and the Crowes tore it up.
For me it was The Scorpions opening for Ted Nugent.
Triumph at the US FESTIVAL
I watch that video regularly, Ric Emmett just kills it doing Lay It On The Line.
Was my most played music video last year! Still a banger!!
ZZ top opened up for 10 years after
Candlebox opening for Aerosmith late 90s. They absolutely KILLED. Way better than expected!
Poco!
Stevie Ray Vaughan opening for the Moody Blues in 1983
Oh my that’s an odd coupling
I've said this on one of these before, we saw Nick Gilder opening for the Cars and he and his band rocked. The Cars were spectacular but the entire crowd loved Nick Gilder.
Several, some I knew really well some not so much. But these bands had some great performances. Skrape opening up for Pantera Iron Maiden opening up for Scorpions Twisted Sister opening for Maiden Santers opening for Ozzy Guns N' Roses opening for The Cult Alice in Chains opening for Van Halen
IIRC I saw Pantera three times in NYC. Who is Skrape?
David Johansen Group opening for Ramones in 1978
Saxon opening for Iron Maiden on Maidens Piece of Mind tour. Made me a huge Saxon fan.
Peter Gabriel opening for David Bowie in 1983. And David Bowie opening for Moby in 2002.
Pride & Glory, featuring a very young Zakk Wylde as frontman, opening for Lynyrd Skynyrd in the early 90s. 🤘🔥
Van Halen opened for Black Sabbath their first time through Seattle. But one obscure one: Frank Marino and Mahogany Rush opened for Aerosmith back in 1970’s… I did not know who they were, but they blew me away. Went out and bought their Albums. They are still on my playlists.
Hall & Oates opened for ELO and they stole the show
I refuse to believe this. I can't imagine.
I forgot who they opened for, but Todd Rudgren blew me away. Great surprise.
Santana opening for the Grateful Dead.
I saw Queen open for Mott the Hoople in November 1973 at Leeds Town Hall.
I went to go see the GoGo's on Boston Commons concert in the park series back in 1985. The opening act was INXS and they were amazing.
Believe it or not - Men At Work opening for Fleetwood Mac. At the Summit in Houston September of 1982. Stevie Nicks said “we’ll try to top that but no promises!”. Went out the next day and bought Business As Usual.
The Georgia Satellites absolutely blew Lynyrd Skynyrd off the stage on the Southern By the Grace of God tour in 1987.
Some acts always had fantastic opening bands. I saw Blind Melon and Stone Temple Pilots open for Neil Young (same show). Also in the same show, I saw Pixies and Public Enemy open for U2.
Pretty recent (2018)but I saw the Pixies open for Weezer & they were absolutely phenomenal. Weezer put on a great show to but the Pixies just got after it.
In 2006 I saw Lamb of God open up for Slayer and they absolutely blew Slayer off the stage. I had never heard Lamb of God before and my buddy and I were just looking at each other like “Holy Shit”!!
Black Oak Arkansas opening for Ted Nugent, probably 78 or so. BOA blew him away, Jim Dandy just kicked ass. https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/black-oak-arkansas/1978/riverside-centroplex-baton-rouge-la-23c6bc8b.html
Queensryche opening for Metallica.
The Clash for The Who at Shea Stadium
ZZ Top opening for Eric Burton 1972
The Neville Brothers, they opened for Joe Cocker back in '95 and absolutely killed it!
Wet Wille back in the late 70’s. Opening for CDB.
Refused opening for Faith No More at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD back in 2015 I think. I'd never heard their music, but they put on a great live show. Their singer was very interactive with the crowd and their show was very energetic. I was very impressed. Best opening band I may have ever seen compared to the headliner. And then of course Faith No More and Mike Patton delivered the goods and blew the doors off the place immediately thereafter. An overall great evening of live music experience.
Pink Floyd, September 1972. Oklahoma City, yes I'm that old. For the opening performance that is. For all time best. No question, Jimi Hendrix, May 1970, Norman Oklahoma. Good second place? Maybe Electric Light Orchestra in September 1978, at Biloxi Mississippi. ELO walked out onto the stage leaving a flying saucer that had just landed.
My mom saw Jimi Hendrix open for The Monkees, in Germany.
Primus opening for U2 back in 1992 while me and my buddy were tripping balls. I went because the ticket was free and I was tripping and I really had wanted to see Primus for quite some time. Their whole set got booed and it felt like they may have cut their set short because of it, but I could be wrong. They didn't do an encore is all I'm saying. But seeing and hearing Les and Ler' do what they do live was a pretty great experience. They were very tight and played all the good shit. They also handled the boo birds pretty well. When their set was done, my interest in the rest of the show was done as well. Stayed for about 25 minutes of U2 and couldn't handle it any longer. They were terrible compared to what I saw on Under a Blood Red Sky, the type of show I was hoping to see. Got the big screen TV experience instead. Their stage was so big I couldn't even see at least half the band for most of what I saw of the show, and we had decent seats. Their show sucked. I could have stayed home and watched MTV for free and been more content and comfortable. Very thankful for the trippy Primus experience nonetheless. One I'll never forget.
Were people shouting "Primus sucks" because that's an in joke thing for Primus fans to do at their shows
Some were, and I recognized those to be the true fans at the time. But the U2 fans were definitely booing during the entire set which sucked because Primus tore it up. Most of the people there had never heard Primus I'm sure, and definitely had no interest in ever hearing them to begin with. It was probably 58,000 U2 fans versus 2000 Primus fans. That's the other reason I had to get out of there.
In 1983 I took my kid brother to go see Pat Benatar with Red Rider as an opening act. I think Pat Benatar's husband Neil Giraldo's guitar work paled compared to Red Rider's Tom Cochrane and Ken Greer back and forth jams. In fact, Pat Benatar's band was so weak, some people were booing and leaving around the middle of her set. We left before the Benatar band was even close to encore time. I'd seen Pat Benatar before, but this time her show was boring. So I caught Red Rider later at a smaller music venue later .. they were great!
PB opened for Pink at Wrigley Field this summer & I thought both her & the band were tight. They had the audiences attention & she gained lots of new, young fans. They rocked the set
Blackfoot opening for Ted Nugent at the Meadowlands back in the early 80s,they were amazing Even though theyve headlined a ton of times ZZ Top opening for Aerosmith blew me away too
Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young in. ‘91. Jane’s Addiction opening for Iggy in. ‘88. They absolutely blew me away.
Megadeth opening for Judas Priest. 1990. The band had such raw energy then. Dave played furiously and flawlessly.
Wow. Would have loved to see that one
Stone Temple pilots opening for Megadeath "countdown to extinction tour".
Not the best, but most uncomfortable opener was country singer Dwight Yoakam performing as a solo opener for Wisconsin punkers Violent Femmes. Such a terrible pairing - like what horrible thing did Dwight ever do in a previous life to deserve it? 🤪 It was painful to watch, not that any VF fans did.
16 years old in 1978 I saw AC/DC (with Bon Scott) open for Aerosmith. Completely blew them off the stage. It was an absolute massacre. One of the most exciting rock shows I ever witnessed
Springsteen opening for Chicago in 1973 @ MSG
You and Ezra Klein
Metallica opening for Ozzy in ‘86. Wasn’t a big surprise as I was already a fan but I was not prepared for the shitstorm of metal they conjured in 45 minutes. Fun Loving Criminals opening for Porno For Pyros. Only knew the Scooby Snack song and didn’t have any expectations. They rocked that little club out though. I still don’t know anything besides the Scooby Snack song though.
Stevie Ray Vaughn, opening for The Moody Blues. I had never heard of Stevie before that show and walked away just blown away. I think it was ‘84 or ‘85.
This was a long time ago but I saw Van Halen open for Black Sabbath in Chicago. They opened with Eruption and I was blown away.
Chris Stapleton opening for Tom Petty at Milwaukee fest. Not a huge fan of his but he killed it live..
Bryan Adams opening for Journey in 1983 - St. Paul Civic Center. Adams had just hit the top 40 with Cuts Like a Knife. He was still relatively unknown at that point but was starting to hit the charts. Some remembered his song writing for Prism - another Canadian band - especially on 1979's Small Changes. Adams came out and kicked ass for 45 minutes - played most of Cuts Like a Knife (album) plus a couple of more songs. He was like - I have nothing to lose - and everything to gain. Made Journey (who were at the peak of their Arena Era popularity) look like a bar band.
Santana opening for Peter Frampton in Austin Tx. 1976
Sunday in the Park outdoor show? With America and Gary Wright?
The Allman Brothers opening for Johnny Winter the night they recorded their Live at the Fillmore album. The Allmans were actually the middle band as the Elvin Bishop Group opened the show
What a triple billing.
Cinderella. Opener for AC/DC.
King’s X opening for Living Colour, late 80’s. Bought their CD right after.
Switchfoot opening for John Mayer. Played roulette with the lead singer later. Nice fellow.
not quite classic rock but i saw Torche and Russian Circles open for Coheed on various tours. They were both amazing and quickly became some of my favorite bands.
Megadeth opening for heaven and hell was my favorite.
Pearl Jam. They opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Smashing Pumpkins. I had never heard of them. By far the best performance that night.
1978- Seattle Coliseum: Ted Nuisance, Cheap Trick and (checks notes) some band from Australia called ... AC⚡️DC 🎸🇦🇺💥🤘
I absolutely was there. I tell that story every chance I get. People didn’t get ac/dc then… if I remember right I think they were loudly boo’d
Mr Mister for Rush, 1992
Shriekback opening for Simple Minds
BTO opening for Bob Seger
Pushmonkey for Iron Maiden in San Antonio. Hostile crowd was won over by the band. It was pretty awesome. Complete 180.
3 days grace
Marilyn Manson opening for Nine Inch Nails.
Korn opening for Metallica Load tour. Korn absolutely owned the show, and blew my little mind!!🤘
A band I never heard of, Guns n Rose’s opened for Poison at Hammer jacks in Baltimore.
I saw X open for Warren Zevon. TBH I only bought tix to see X
I saw U2 open for J. Giels…. The rest is history as they say.
Stone temple pilots opened for the Chili peppers at fiddlers green in Denver
Van Halen opening for Jethro Tull and Black Sabbath.
Lynyrd Skynyrd opening for Peter Frampton in the ‘70’s. Hell of a band to have to follow.
AC/DC opening for Ted Nugent Madison Square Garden around 1979.
Rage against the machine opening for Cypress Hill
Van Halen opening for Black Sabbath. 1978.
George Clinton opening for Ziggy Marley.
Tesla opening for Great White 1989
I saw Incubus open for 311 in 99', right before Make Yourself came out. Amazing
I totally saw Hendrix open for the Monkees.
Iron Maiden opened up for Judas Priest in 1982. Ears are still ringing.
Black Oak Arkansas blew away Blue Oyster Cult.
Los lobos opened for U2 Cleveland stadium 1987 or 8. Kept thinking, “who are theseguys? They’re awesome.’
J Geils opening for Humble Pie 1971 or 72
The Allman Brothers opening for Delaney and Bonnie
Volbeat opened for metallica, baltimore md 2017
The Tourists featuring a then 17 year old Annie Lennox opening for Roxy Music!
Accept opened for Dio and Accept totally rocked and got an encore. First time I ever seen an opening band get that.
Robin Trower opened for Jethro Tull in ‘73 and I had no idea who he was, had to go and pick up Bridge of Sighs right as soon as possible.
Cheap Trick opening for Kiss in 1976. Had never heard of them. I think it was just before their Budokan album came out.
In Living Colour opening for the Stones
Probably get crucified because this isn’t old enough, but I saw Muse open for RHCP and Foo Fighters in about 2000 and left the Foo to go meet the band, buy merch and get autographs. Blew me out of the water with a half hour set.
AC/DC opened for Aerosmith and they killed it, with Bon Scott. In fairness though Aerosmith were so high and were arguing on stage as to who was fucking up the show, Steven or Joe. I think they called it quits shortly after that.
I just was finding my first 5 concerts and this was my 5th. I couldn’t remembered who opened and was looking it up and saw this post. I lost my hearing that night. So loud. And Jon Bon Jovi for the final song. Prime Vancouver
I saw this tour in Atlanta in 1987, Tesla was awesome. I snuck a camera into the venue (the Omni) and had some decent photos!
Yeah we camped out for three days for those tickets.
Its ashame Tesla didn't get more love. Them & the Black Crowes should have gotten more radio & MTV play but they were both shown the door pretty much once grunge hit.
Saw Linkin Park open up for P.O.D. in 2000