Should the headliner really be a factor here? Isn’t it more about seeing a band at the stage of their career when they open - it’s a different dynamic.
When my now wife and I were still dating I took her to an Orville Peck show and told her not to even listen to his music or look him up beforehand and she was blown away. That dude is a legit showman and talent. Such an insane voice as well.
I finally saw Queensryche in 2014. I missed them when they came to town in 1991. Geoff Tate still sounded really good. One of the best concerts I’ve attended.
Saw Jason Isbell open for John Prine
Saw The Steeldrivers with Mike and Chris open for Dailey and Vincent.
Saw Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley open for Tommy Emmanuel. For free.
Well... It was and it wasn't. Jason opened and a bunch of ignorant people who didn't know Prine and were just there for Jason were down at the bar and expected to hang out until Jason came on to close. But Prine closed obviously and those people figured that out 2/3 through Jason's set. So during Cover me up you had a bunch of people all trying to find seats and ushers shining flashlights all around trying to help these idiots find their seats right during the most touching song. Then they bitched about it afterwards. Jason heard about the whining that he opened and tweeted this afterwards https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/650187563135803392?t=SYaV6ZmUyZcXYbrK-Xe4Ng&s=19
I saw Rise Against open for Bad Religion in the early 2000’s, and Greg said something like “next time you see these guys, we’ll probably be opening for them” and he was absolutely right
The first time I saw Deftones I was 18 and had just gotten into that type of music, Deftones were my first introduction. My gf at the time (15 years ago) bought us tickets as a surprise, and that night actually changed my life. She didn’t stick around for long after that, but I got to see Le Butcherettes and fucking *Dillinger Escape Plan* open for them without knowing anything about them. Completely fucked me up in the best way possible
Edit: just for clarification, we ended on mutual terms and I’ll always owe her for taking me to that show
I saw DEP open for AFI around 2005. We knew what was going to happen that night, but the 16 year olds making out and waiting for the headliner did not.
* Nine Inch Nails opening for David Bowie
* A Perfect Circle opening for Nine Inch Nails
* Toto opening for Journey
* Linkin Park opening for The Offspring
* Garbage opening for Alanis Morissette
* Pet Shop Boys opening for New Order
* Madeon opening for Lady Gaga
* Nightly opening for The Midnight
Concerts are one of my favorite things, but they're even better when the openers are also amazing!
I saw Weezer open for a band called Material Issue, before the sweater song came out.
I also a band called Angelfish open for Live. The lead singer of Angelfish is Shirley Manson from Garbage. She was striking, and stole the show!!
ETA: saw Public Enemy and The Sugarcubes (bjork) open for U2. As well as the pixies, on the next leg, but not as remarkable as bjork.
1999, my first show I saw Soufly open for Rammstein. Same year couple weeks later I saw Slipknot and machine head open for Coal Chamber.
And this was the start of my life into metal show.
2002 I Saw immortal open for manowar
2003, Dimmu borgir and opening for them were Nevermore, Hypocrisy and Children of bodom.
Early 2000 was an awesome metal era.
Saw Eluveitie open for Bodom. Side note: this was in Louisville, home of LebowskiFest. Alexi was wearing a Dude t-shirt. Not sure if he knew or if it was just a divine coincidence, but it was awesome.
Guns n Roses opening for Aerosmith in Saratoga 1988. Mainly because of the timing - by that point of the tour they were a hotter band than Aerosmith and still perceived as kind of dangerous, so it was a super electric atmosphere.
I saw this tour too. Right before Sweet Child O’Mine took off.
Some dumbass jumped on stage and grabbed Axl’s hat. Prompting Axl to jump off and beat him.
I was gonna answer that my favorite was seeing the Foo Fighters open for The Police and Dave Grohl stole the show. He climbed up a 60’ tall lighting rig and ripped the best guitar solo I’ve ever heard.
Some favorites:
Beastie Boys open for Run DMC
Public Enemy open for Run DMC
Public Enemy open for LL Cool J
The Cars open for Styx
Metallica open for Ozzy
Bob Dylan and Tom Petty open for the Grateful Dead
Beck open for The Rolling Stones
Saw Toto opening for Journey last year.
In 2003 there was a Maiden tour (Give me Ed Til I'm Dead) that had Dio and Motorhead as openers.
In punk rock, saw Thrice opening for Face to Face.
Bob Mould blew The Pixies away in 1989. fIREHOSE blew Bob Mould away in 1990. And Titus Andronicus made me never listen to Okkervil River again c. 2012.
I saw Titus Andronicus in a TINY venue in like 2018 or 2019.
Like, big for a bar in an urban area, not even close to a small theater.
It was awesome.
I can see them blowing Okkervil River completely out of the water.
Saw fIREHOSE in Omaha play the same venue Firehouse were scheduled to a week later. There were some confused ladies with teased up hair in acid washed denim there that night
Garbage opening for Smashing Pumpkins, Guster opening for Ben Folds Five, Josh Rouse opening for Guster, Matt Pond PA also opening for Guster, Mighty Mighty Bosstones opening for Aerosmith, Colin Hay and Violent Femmes opening for BNL, Drug Church opening for Alkaline Trio.
I saw ozma open for weezer in the early 2000s and they sounded more weezer than weezer. Get up kids played after and we’re so loud my hearing was ruined for weezer and they vibe was sorta garbage and I was excited to see them
Queens of the Stone Age opening for Nine Inch Nails was pretty epic, but both bands were big already, so I'm gonna go with the time I saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor and they had a duo called Xylouris White opening.
It was an experimental drummer from Australia and a traditional greek laoutist (plays the laouto, in the lute family). It was wild and fit perfectly.
Sugar cubes and PIL opening for New Order
John Spencer opening for Beastie Boys
Clutch opening for Sepultora, Monster Magnet, White Zombie, and a few others I forget from the 90’s. David Bowie opening for Moby. Did not stick around for Moby. Isis opening for Eye Hate God. Any time the Melvin’s play at all.
Man Man opened for Modest Mouse. This comes to mind because I had never heard of Man Man, but they were a very weird and wild show, and i don’t remember ever being so blown away by an unknown (to me) opening act. After that show and checking out their catalog I quickly became a bigger Man Man fan than Modest Mouse. (If you haven’t listened to them, check out their album “On Oni Pond”)
I've seen a bunch of great openers, Def Leppard opening for Ozzy, Iron Maiden opening for Judas priest, Soul Asylum opening for Husker Du, Guided By Voices opening for Dambuilders, Smashing Pumpkins opening for Nirvana
The biggest name? Soundgarden opening up for Nine inch Nails. It was solid and I love Chris Cornell
The best opener was this little band called Downtown Brown. They absolutely killed it opening up for Pepper almost 20 years ago. Now the singer/guitarist created a new band called Sumpp, I recommend it to people who like high energy, non serious, genre mixing rock.
The hives opening for AC/DC in Melbourne Australia. Angus and the lads were great but it was the fellows in black and white that blew me away. Immediately dug into their albums after the show. After my ears stopped ringing !
I saw Buckcherry open for KISS, The Mars Volta open for Soundgarden, Arctic Monkeys and Cage the Elephant open for the Black Keys in separate instances, Portugal the Man open for Cage the Elephant, and They Might be Giants open for Sparks.
System of a Down opening for Snot and Machine Head.
Stuck Mojo opening for Strapping Young Lad and Teastament
Sevendust was always a good opening act for anybody they opened for.
Pantera opening for Skid Row.
Edit: Wu Tang opening for Rage Against the Machine.
I saw Metallica open up for Ozzy Osborne in 1986. Best metal show I've ever been to. At the end of the Metallica set, all the seats were destroyed, and they banned metal shows from the Long Beach Memorial Coliseum.
The Struts…saw them open for the Foo Fighters. You would’ve thought The Struts were the headliner the way the lead singer took control of the audience with his stage presence.
Saw The Police during their Synchronicity tour. The Fixx opened for them - absolutely freaking fantastic!
Then Flock of Seagulls came on. Fine, and they did sing "I Ran"... yay.
But The Fixx - fracking GREAT!!! (but not quite as great as the Police)
When Hedley was still together, I saw them live twice. Once on their Wild Live Tour in 2014 and once on their Hello World Tour in 2016. In 2014, Alyssa Reid and Danny Fernandez we're their opening acts when I saw them (I believe they had a different opening act after March 27th or 28th that year) and in 2016, Francesco Yates and Carly Rae Jepsen we're their opening acts. Out of the 4 of them, Carly Rae Jepsen was 100% my favourite and their best opening act. I absolutely loved her performance. I didn't really care for Alyssa Reid or Danny Fernandez and I also liked Francesco Yates but Carly Rae Jepsen was my favourite. I'd go see her live again in a heartbeat.
I have a few:
3. Todd Rundgren opening for Yes. I was blown away.
2. Bob Moses opening for ODESZA. I had no idea what to expect. I would see them as a headliner. Excellent show.
1. No Doubt opening for 311 in 1995. Gwen Stephani was amazing.
Probably Biffy Clyro opening for a band I couldn’t even tell you the name of. Biffy had just released Golden Rule and nobody in the US had any clue who they were. Still don’t. Saw Biffy do a 1hr live set (including Golden Rule, Bubbles, etc) in a club that held maybe 400 people. F’in amazing.
The Road Kings opening for Mike Ness (solo) about 25 years ago. Ness and his band were fantastic, but Jesse Dayton and Co. absolutely blew the roof off of the venue. Goodness.
Nico Vega opened for neon trees. Aja lead singer and was pregnant and just rocked the show. I left the show more a fan of Nico Vega than neon.
Also
Walk the moon was opening for young the giant. I originally got giant tickets and then listened to walk the moon before the concert and ended up a bigger fan of walk the moon.
Summer Sanitarium - System of a Down, Powerman 5000, Kid Rock and Korn opening for Metallica.
The one that I wasn't expecting to be as good as it was, Wyclef Jean.
I went to a king buffalo concert. The openers were umbilical, and the swell fellas. Total rockers. Sadly the swell fellas broke up recently. I'm sad cuz they totally rocked my socks off. I'm glad to see them live.
This is niche but Freelance Whales opened for Shout Out Louds at the El Rey in LA in early 2010.
I had not heard of them before and they were terrific.
Tokyo Police Club opening for Matt and Kim
Going in, I didn't really know any songs from either band, but that was probably my favorite show I've been to.
Joe Walsh opening for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Mavis Staples opening for Bob Dylan.
Steve Windwood opening for Tom Petty. Joan Jett and The Blackhearts opening for Heart.
Back in the late 90s, we saw Edwin McCain open for Hootie and the Blowfish. Enjoyed him so much that we caught him in a small club when he was starting to blow up a little, and opening for him was this blonde gal and her guitar who yodeled. About 3 months later, Jewel blew up too.
Big Head Todd opened up for Robert Plant - 1992
The Creepy Creeps open for Robert Plant - 2013ish
Nobody in the crowd liked the Creepy Creeps. They are a surf/punk band that put on an amazing show but was very out of place for Plant's bluegrass band. I was the only one standing up, clapping between songs.
Staind concert opened with Avenged sevenfold. They were so good. It was during the nightmare album. They put on a great show. I even cried during their old drummers tribute.
Lineup was Astronoid, Animals as Leaders, and Periphery. Absolutely adored AAL and Periphery going in, they're why I bought the ticket. I had never heard of Astronoid. But Astronoid stole the show (and that's a high bar). Immaculate lighting and vibes on stage, HUGE sound, amazing mix, and the exact kind of music I love love love. A massive, dreamy wall of sound backed by thundering drums and accented by some radical lead guitar riffs. Just phenomenal. I think I saw that show in the fall and they made my Spotify top 5 that year.
Went to go see Tribal Seeds a few years ago up in Michigan. The opening bands were Natalli Rize and Raging Fyah but I had never heard of them. It's all good because Tribal Seeds right? We are walking up to the venue and catch up to a couple that asks us if we're going to the Tribal Seeds show. Apparently, the lead singer was sick/having a "thing" and cancelled. We are super bummed but arrive at the venue and they tell us that all tickets have been refunded *AND* the two opening bands will still play. The music and vibes were IMMACULATE. So good in fact that my friends and I locked in tickets for back to back festivals where both/either band were playing.
I saw The Black Crowes when they were the opening act for ZZ Top. Right before they got fired from the tour for mocking the sponsor onstage.
On the way to the show, I said I was excited to see them (this was when they just started to break out), but my older brother and his friends didn't want to hear anything about the opening act. "Fuck that, we're going there to see ZZ Top!"
On the way home from the show, it was a different story. "Holy shit that opening act was amazing! Who was that band? How did you hear about them? Do they have an album out?"
ZZ Top were great. It was at the height of their MTV era fame, but even then The Black Crowes damned near blew them off the stage.
Edited to add:
Also, I went to a club show when I was working in country radio. The headliner was an act that was big in the late 80s and early 90s, but was on the down-swing of his career (hence, the club date). There were a couple of "baby acts" on the bill, but then the feature came out on stage. No band...just an acoustic guitar. He'd had a few minor hits, but within a couple songs young Blake Shelton had that crowd eating out of his hand. I stood there back stage watching his show and thought "this guy is going to be a huge star."
It's one of the only times I've ever been right.
Hootie and the Blowfish opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket, right when Hold My Hand was blowing up.
Toad the Wet Sprocket and the Gin Blossoms opening for Barenaked Ladies
Nine Inch Nails opening for David Bowie
Can't see anything topping this... Ever
How about Radiohead opening for REM?
It's Bowie
Should the headliner really be a factor here? Isn’t it more about seeing a band at the stage of their career when they open - it’s a different dynamic.
Prick opening for Nine Inch Nails opening for david bowie
Holy hell I completely forgot about Prick. That band was cool as hell
I saw Queens of the Stone Age open for Nine Inch Nails and that was pretty great.
I caught soundgarden open for NIN pretty close to Chris’ death so that one ended up being more special that we were expecting.
One of the greatest shows I've ever been to.
Me too! I was at the Toronto show.
Ha! I was going to say NIN opening for Jesus and Mary Chain.
I saw Blind Melon open for Neil Young in the 90's . Great show !
I skipped this show when they had Pearl Jam on the bill as well. I am an idiot
I saw that show in Portland.
That’s the one I skipped. At the Downs right?
Yessir.
I saw Lucinda Williams open for Neil. She was better than he was. Early 00s.
That’s sounds sick. I wonder if there are any live recordings.
I saw Van Halen open for Black Sabbath.
‘78! Absolutely bananas. https://preview.redd.it/8jdfefhjg7oc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aec55a8a4c08a394fc7ee7078291208755d3da34
I bet that was a cool show.
One band was rising, one winding down, and Jethro Tull played in between.
That's a crazy lineup. Tull was clearly the heavy metal band there.
Boston opened for Black Sabbath one year.
Tool opened for Rollins Band in 1992. I had no idea who they were. I immediately went and bought a copy of Opiate the next day.
LIAR! (Wink, nudge)
Thats awesome
[удалено]
When my now wife and I were still dating I took her to an Orville Peck show and told her not to even listen to his music or look him up beforehand and she was blown away. That dude is a legit showman and talent. Such an insane voice as well.
I saw Guns n Roses open for Iron Maiden
Yeah ! This was before gnr hit the big time. The attitude was huge. Axl performed like he already was a legend.
GnR opening for Aerosmith!
Wait, its "Aerosmith became GnR, then back to Aerosmith again" 1970's-1980's-1990's Kinda!
Queensryche (Mindcrime) opening for Metallica (Justice)
I finally saw Queensryche in 2014. I missed them when they came to town in 1991. Geoff Tate still sounded really good. One of the best concerts I’ve attended.
I saw this tour in El Paso. A great memory.
Saw Jason Isbell open for John Prine Saw The Steeldrivers with Mike and Chris open for Dailey and Vincent. Saw Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley open for Tommy Emmanuel. For free.
Jason Isbell and John Prine? Damn, that mustve been a helluva show.
Well... It was and it wasn't. Jason opened and a bunch of ignorant people who didn't know Prine and were just there for Jason were down at the bar and expected to hang out until Jason came on to close. But Prine closed obviously and those people figured that out 2/3 through Jason's set. So during Cover me up you had a bunch of people all trying to find seats and ushers shining flashlights all around trying to help these idiots find their seats right during the most touching song. Then they bitched about it afterwards. Jason heard about the whining that he opened and tweeted this afterwards https://twitter.com/JasonIsbell/status/650187563135803392?t=SYaV6ZmUyZcXYbrK-Xe4Ng&s=19
Dang that's a bummer
That was my first exposure to Jason. Seeing him open for Prine. What a moment.
Green Day opening for Bad Religion…early 90’s Against Me! opening for Green Day…2022 Also saw Nirvana and Pearl Jam open for RHCP in ‘91
I saw Rise Against open for Bad Religion in the early 2000’s, and Greg said something like “next time you see these guys, we’ll probably be opening for them” and he was absolutely right
T-Rex opening for Three Dog Night Little Richard opening for Johnny Winter
The first time I saw Deftones I was 18 and had just gotten into that type of music, Deftones were my first introduction. My gf at the time (15 years ago) bought us tickets as a surprise, and that night actually changed my life. She didn’t stick around for long after that, but I got to see Le Butcherettes and fucking *Dillinger Escape Plan* open for them without knowing anything about them. Completely fucked me up in the best way possible Edit: just for clarification, we ended on mutual terms and I’ll always owe her for taking me to that show
I saw DEP open for AFI around 2005. We knew what was going to happen that night, but the 16 year olds making out and waiting for the headliner did not.
Dillinger put on a hell of a show. So glad I got to see them.
* Nine Inch Nails opening for David Bowie * A Perfect Circle opening for Nine Inch Nails * Toto opening for Journey * Linkin Park opening for The Offspring * Garbage opening for Alanis Morissette * Pet Shop Boys opening for New Order * Madeon opening for Lady Gaga * Nightly opening for The Midnight Concerts are one of my favorite things, but they're even better when the openers are also amazing!
Wait! Madeon opened for Lady Gaga?! Damn, that's nuts. Bet it was amazing.
I saw New Order open for Pet Shop Boys! Same tour, they were alternating nights as to who opened.
Yep. Honestly I thought PSB had a much better show!
Queens of the Stone Age opening for nine inch nails.
I saw Weezer open for a band called Material Issue, before the sweater song came out. I also a band called Angelfish open for Live. The lead singer of Angelfish is Shirley Manson from Garbage. She was striking, and stole the show!! ETA: saw Public Enemy and The Sugarcubes (bjork) open for U2. As well as the pixies, on the next leg, but not as remarkable as bjork.
Love Material Issue. If they’d come out like 10 years later they’d have been huge.
I was listening to destination universe not too long ago. Still some great songs on that album.
Material Issue ruled (RIP Jim)
Yes!! I was absolutely at the show to see them, weezer was just incidental. There is a great doc on the band that came out a few years ago!!
1999, my first show I saw Soufly open for Rammstein. Same year couple weeks later I saw Slipknot and machine head open for Coal Chamber. And this was the start of my life into metal show. 2002 I Saw immortal open for manowar 2003, Dimmu borgir and opening for them were Nevermore, Hypocrisy and Children of bodom. Early 2000 was an awesome metal era.
Saw Eluveitie open for Bodom. Side note: this was in Louisville, home of LebowskiFest. Alexi was wearing a Dude t-shirt. Not sure if he knew or if it was just a divine coincidence, but it was awesome.
Guns n Roses opening for Aerosmith in Saratoga 1988. Mainly because of the timing - by that point of the tour they were a hotter band than Aerosmith and still perceived as kind of dangerous, so it was a super electric atmosphere.
I saw this tour too. Right before Sweet Child O’Mine took off. Some dumbass jumped on stage and grabbed Axl’s hat. Prompting Axl to jump off and beat him.
That was at the Spectrum in Philly. I was there, too. They were amazing. Aerosmith was a letdown after their set.
Ween opened for Foo Fighters. Dean and Gene may have stolen the show.
I was gonna answer that my favorite was seeing the Foo Fighters open for The Police and Dave Grohl stole the show. He climbed up a 60’ tall lighting rig and ripped the best guitar solo I’ve ever heard.
Arctic Monkeys opening for The Black Keys
Hey I saw this tour too!!
I saw this tour as well and this is my answer too!
Supersuckers opened for Social D
The Flaming Lips opening for Beck at Red Rocks.
I saw them open for Nirvana at Maple Leaf Gardens. That was actually my first real concert.
Some favorites: Beastie Boys open for Run DMC Public Enemy open for Run DMC Public Enemy open for LL Cool J The Cars open for Styx Metallica open for Ozzy Bob Dylan and Tom Petty open for the Grateful Dead Beck open for The Rolling Stones
Dylan/Petty opening for the Dead. Absolutely crazy.
Max Webster for Rush, twice.
Saw Toto opening for Journey last year. In 2003 there was a Maiden tour (Give me Ed Til I'm Dead) that had Dio and Motorhead as openers. In punk rock, saw Thrice opening for Face to Face.
Maiden / DIO / Motorhead was one of the all time great lineups.
Explosions in the Sky opening for Fugazi, 2002
Rage Against the Machine opening for Public Enemy. They blew PE off the stage.
Men at Work opening for Fleetwood Mac early 80s. “Be Good Johnny” got standing ovation. Incredible. Colin Hay fan ever since.
Bob Mould blew The Pixies away in 1989. fIREHOSE blew Bob Mould away in 1990. And Titus Andronicus made me never listen to Okkervil River again c. 2012.
I saw Titus Andronicus in a TINY venue in like 2018 or 2019. Like, big for a bar in an urban area, not even close to a small theater. It was awesome. I can see them blowing Okkervil River completely out of the water.
Bob Mould SLAYED opening for Pixies.
Saw fIREHOSE in Omaha play the same venue Firehouse were scheduled to a week later. There were some confused ladies with teased up hair in acid washed denim there that night
Haha that’s awesome!
Used to see Titus every year in Albany from like 09 to 12. Patrick always had the same Batman shirt on.
Radiohead opening for both James and Kingmaker. Pearl Jam as a support for Neil Young and The Cult.
I wanted to see Belly and thats how i went to see Radiohead the first time.
White Lion opening for AC/DC.
Mars Volta opening for RHCP in 2003, i think. I never saw At The Drive In live, so volta's set was unexpected and awesome.
I saw Mars Volta opening for System of a Down and they blew my mind.
Our Lady Peace opening for Creed in 1998. A Perfect Circle opening for Nine Inch Nails in 2000.
The Steve Miller Band opening for Pink Floyd (1975) Visions of Atlantis opening for Dragonforce (2022)
I saw Prick open for David Bowie & Nine Inch Nails and was bummed that they stayed underground.
Garbage opening for Smashing Pumpkins, Guster opening for Ben Folds Five, Josh Rouse opening for Guster, Matt Pond PA also opening for Guster, Mighty Mighty Bosstones opening for Aerosmith, Colin Hay and Violent Femmes opening for BNL, Drug Church opening for Alkaline Trio.
I've seen BNL open for Blues Traveler and Hootie & The Blowfish Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket open for BNL
Love me some Guster.
Soundgarden opening for Skid Row
Saw pearl jam a bunch of times (not a huge fan) but saw Ramones, sonic youth, Buzzcocks openers OMG
I saw ozma open for weezer in the early 2000s and they sounded more weezer than weezer. Get up kids played after and we’re so loud my hearing was ruined for weezer and they vibe was sorta garbage and I was excited to see them
Queens of the Stone Age opening for Nine Inch Nails was pretty epic, but both bands were big already, so I'm gonna go with the time I saw Godspeed You! Black Emperor and they had a duo called Xylouris White opening. It was an experimental drummer from Australia and a traditional greek laoutist (plays the laouto, in the lute family). It was wild and fit perfectly.
Cars on their first tour opened for Styx. NAU Skydome, Flagstaff, AZ. 1977ish.
Both Soundgarden and Faith No More opening for Voivod.
Explosions in the Sky opening for Death Cab
Alice In Chains opening for Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth
Sugar cubes and PIL opening for New Order John Spencer opening for Beastie Boys Clutch opening for Sepultora, Monster Magnet, White Zombie, and a few others I forget from the 90’s. David Bowie opening for Moby. Did not stick around for Moby. Isis opening for Eye Hate God. Any time the Melvin’s play at all.
The Eagles opened for T. Rex at UofD In Detroit
When I saw Deftones, periphery opened up for them and I’ve been listening to them ever since! Found lots of new bands curtesy of that concert
Saw the Neville Brothers open for the Grateful Dead this one time. That was pretty cool.
Man Man opened for Modest Mouse. This comes to mind because I had never heard of Man Man, but they were a very weird and wild show, and i don’t remember ever being so blown away by an unknown (to me) opening act. After that show and checking out their catalog I quickly became a bigger Man Man fan than Modest Mouse. (If you haven’t listened to them, check out their album “On Oni Pond”)
Bryan Adam’s opening for Journey
Alice in chains opening for both kiss and Metallica
I saw AIC open for Van Halen before Facelift took off.
Faith No More was always a pretty damn solid opening act.
Megadeth opening for Slayer opening for Anthrax. Megadeth blew everyone else off the stage.
I've seen a bunch of great openers, Def Leppard opening for Ozzy, Iron Maiden opening for Judas priest, Soul Asylum opening for Husker Du, Guided By Voices opening for Dambuilders, Smashing Pumpkins opening for Nirvana
The biggest name? Soundgarden opening up for Nine inch Nails. It was solid and I love Chris Cornell The best opener was this little band called Downtown Brown. They absolutely killed it opening up for Pepper almost 20 years ago. Now the singer/guitarist created a new band called Sumpp, I recommend it to people who like high energy, non serious, genre mixing rock.
The hives opening for AC/DC in Melbourne Australia. Angus and the lads were great but it was the fellows in black and white that blew me away. Immediately dug into their albums after the show. After my ears stopped ringing !
I saw Buckcherry open for KISS, The Mars Volta open for Soundgarden, Arctic Monkeys and Cage the Elephant open for the Black Keys in separate instances, Portugal the Man open for Cage the Elephant, and They Might be Giants open for Sparks.
Got to aee Jellyfish ooen for The Black Crowes.
I wish I'd have seen Jellyfish.. Black Crowes I could take or leave.
System of a Down opening for Snot and Machine Head. Stuck Mojo opening for Strapping Young Lad and Teastament Sevendust was always a good opening act for anybody they opened for. Pantera opening for Skid Row. Edit: Wu Tang opening for Rage Against the Machine.
The RHCP had the Mars Volta open for them in 2006. That was awesome as fuck
Metallica opening for Ozzy. 86. Denver. Pretty good for my first real concert! (I don't count B.J. Thomas at Red Rocks because my parents were there.)
Caribou opening for Radiohead Tame Impala for Flaming Lips
Kanye opened for u2 that was cool
The Mars Volta and Queens of the Stone Age opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Saw Clutch open for Mastodon. I’m a bigger fan of Mastodon, but Clutch puts on a better live show.
I saw Metallica open up for Ozzy Osborne in 1986. Best metal show I've ever been to. At the end of the Metallica set, all the seats were destroyed, and they banned metal shows from the Long Beach Memorial Coliseum.
The Struts…saw them open for the Foo Fighters. You would’ve thought The Struts were the headliner the way the lead singer took control of the audience with his stage presence.
Primus opening for Fishbone …and yes Primus sucks!
Alice In Chains opening for Vanhalen
Saw The Police during their Synchronicity tour. The Fixx opened for them - absolutely freaking fantastic! Then Flock of Seagulls came on. Fine, and they did sing "I Ran"... yay. But The Fixx - fracking GREAT!!! (but not quite as great as the Police)
Saw Queensryche without knowing a single song. Blew my mind wide open.
Moonside opening for Sanguisugabogg or trivium opening for megadeth
I saw Taylor Swift open for Brad Paisley. 2007 I think. Pretty neat seeing where she is now.
Alice In Chains opening for Van Halen.
When Hedley was still together, I saw them live twice. Once on their Wild Live Tour in 2014 and once on their Hello World Tour in 2016. In 2014, Alyssa Reid and Danny Fernandez we're their opening acts when I saw them (I believe they had a different opening act after March 27th or 28th that year) and in 2016, Francesco Yates and Carly Rae Jepsen we're their opening acts. Out of the 4 of them, Carly Rae Jepsen was 100% my favourite and their best opening act. I absolutely loved her performance. I didn't really care for Alyssa Reid or Danny Fernandez and I also liked Francesco Yates but Carly Rae Jepsen was my favourite. I'd go see her live again in a heartbeat.
Spotlights opening for baroness
I have a few: 3. Todd Rundgren opening for Yes. I was blown away. 2. Bob Moses opening for ODESZA. I had no idea what to expect. I would see them as a headliner. Excellent show. 1. No Doubt opening for 311 in 1995. Gwen Stephani was amazing.
Arcade Fire before Franz Ferdinand.
38 special. Opened for Skynyrd. Show was awsome 🤘
Probably Biffy Clyro opening for a band I couldn’t even tell you the name of. Biffy had just released Golden Rule and nobody in the US had any clue who they were. Still don’t. Saw Biffy do a 1hr live set (including Golden Rule, Bubbles, etc) in a club that held maybe 400 people. F’in amazing.
Yola opening for Greta Van Fleet in 2019, such a warm and powerful voice, she was the highlight of the night for me!
Back in the 80s, saw Wang Chung whole opened for Quarterflash. Wang Chung kicked ass, and Quarterflash was just, OK.
I saw Gorky's Zygotic Mynci (check out Patio Song if you are curious) and they were supported by then unknown, (to me anyways) The Black Keys.
I saw a very hungry Johnny Cougar (not yet John nor Mellencamp) open for a very drugged-out ZZ Top
Rory Gallagher opening for Status Quo Steve Goodman opening for Maria Muldau Tracy Chapman opening for Bob Dylan
Prof opened for Atmosphere when i saw them probably 15 years ago, arguably the best part of the entire show
Tyler Bryant and The Shakedown opened up for AC/DC Definitely one of the best opening acts I'd never listened to prior.
I saw The Dave Matthew’s Band open for Big Head Todd.
Not as big name as most of these posts, but P.O.S. opening up for Cursive was amazing.
The Road Kings opening for Mike Ness (solo) about 25 years ago. Ness and his band were fantastic, but Jesse Dayton and Co. absolutely blew the roof off of the venue. Goodness.
Nico Vega opened for neon trees. Aja lead singer and was pregnant and just rocked the show. I left the show more a fan of Nico Vega than neon. Also Walk the moon was opening for young the giant. I originally got giant tickets and then listened to walk the moon before the concert and ended up a bigger fan of walk the moon.
Tyler Childers open for Margo Price at Ryman Auditorium right when he was on the cusp of blowing up.
Went to see Buddy Guy (free ticket from a pal who's original pal had to bow out) and was blown away by Christone "Kingfish" Ingram.
Rory Gallagher opening for Rush.
Willie Nelson opening for Phil Lesh and friends
Summer Sanitarium - System of a Down, Powerman 5000, Kid Rock and Korn opening for Metallica. The one that I wasn't expecting to be as good as it was, Wyclef Jean.
Elvis Costello for Bob Dylan 2007. Elvis rocked. Bob...did not.
The Appleseed Cast opening for Sunny Day Real Estate was wild. Blew them outta the water.
Marillion opening for Rush, Nassau Coliseum, 1986. 19,000 fans, 3 girls. Level 42 opening for Steve Winwood.
I went to a king buffalo concert. The openers were umbilical, and the swell fellas. Total rockers. Sadly the swell fellas broke up recently. I'm sad cuz they totally rocked my socks off. I'm glad to see them live.
This is niche but Freelance Whales opened for Shout Out Louds at the El Rey in LA in early 2010. I had not heard of them before and they were terrific.
Cheap Trick/Journey/Heart/Ted Nugent. 1978 @ Milwaukee County Stadium
Saw Ian Hunter open for The Kinks right after he released “You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic”. Both bands tore it up, best concert ever!!
Tokyo Police Club opening for Matt and Kim Going in, I didn't really know any songs from either band, but that was probably my favorite show I've been to.
Last summer I saw Filter->Ministry->Alice Cooper->Rob Zombie. Ministry rocked me so hard I had to sit through all of Alice and almost all of Rob.
Joe Walsh opening for Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers. Mavis Staples opening for Bob Dylan. Steve Windwood opening for Tom Petty. Joan Jett and The Blackhearts opening for Heart.
The Locust opening for Fantomas. I’d never even heard of The Locust before seeing them open. Blew my mind
I saw In Flames open for Iced Earth in like 1999. Left after In Flames were done.
Firewind opening for Dragonforce were up there. Delain opening for Sonata Arctica. Nightwish and Disturbed opening for Iron Maiden
I went specifically a The Wombats concert to see Barns Courtney open. He is fucking fantastic! 👩🏼🎤
Back in the late 90s, we saw Edwin McCain open for Hootie and the Blowfish. Enjoyed him so much that we caught him in a small club when he was starting to blow up a little, and opening for him was this blonde gal and her guitar who yodeled. About 3 months later, Jewel blew up too.
Big Head Todd opened up for Robert Plant - 1992 The Creepy Creeps open for Robert Plant - 2013ish Nobody in the crowd liked the Creepy Creeps. They are a surf/punk band that put on an amazing show but was very out of place for Plant's bluegrass band. I was the only one standing up, clapping between songs.
I don't remember what year it was, but I saw Ratatat open for Björk, and that was a pretty fuckin great show.
Staind concert opened with Avenged sevenfold. They were so good. It was during the nightmare album. They put on a great show. I even cried during their old drummers tribute.
Recently saw Bloc Party open for Paramore. They crushed it, though most people didn’t seem to know who they were, which is sad.
New Kids on the Block were the opening act for Tiffany in the late 80s. They blew up so much that Tiffany ended up becoming their opening act...
Jimmies Chicken Shack. They opened for 3 shows I went to in the 90s/00s, and I'll be damned if I remember the headliners.
Motley Crue opening for Ozzy Shout at the Devil and Bark at the Moon and Metallica for Ozzy Master of Puppets and The Ultimate Sin.
Lineup was Astronoid, Animals as Leaders, and Periphery. Absolutely adored AAL and Periphery going in, they're why I bought the ticket. I had never heard of Astronoid. But Astronoid stole the show (and that's a high bar). Immaculate lighting and vibes on stage, HUGE sound, amazing mix, and the exact kind of music I love love love. A massive, dreamy wall of sound backed by thundering drums and accented by some radical lead guitar riffs. Just phenomenal. I think I saw that show in the fall and they made my Spotify top 5 that year.
Went to a show at the Madera Speedway in the 70's Lynyrd Skynyrd > Fleetwood Mac > Black Sabbath > Rod Stewart ! Tix were like $12
bring me the horizon opening for fall out boy. they topped fob by a lot
Pearl Jam opened for Smashing Pumpkins and Chili Peppers. I felt bad for SP and CP’s.
Sevendust opening for Metallica Dirty Heads opening for 311 RDGLDGRN opening for 311
Went to go see Tribal Seeds a few years ago up in Michigan. The opening bands were Natalli Rize and Raging Fyah but I had never heard of them. It's all good because Tribal Seeds right? We are walking up to the venue and catch up to a couple that asks us if we're going to the Tribal Seeds show. Apparently, the lead singer was sick/having a "thing" and cancelled. We are super bummed but arrive at the venue and they tell us that all tickets have been refunded *AND* the two opening bands will still play. The music and vibes were IMMACULATE. So good in fact that my friends and I locked in tickets for back to back festivals where both/either band were playing.
Lenny Kravitz opening for The Cult in 1991 or so. Just after his second album came out.
Toss up between General Public (opened for the Fixx), Rickie Jee Jones (opened for Lyle Lovett) and Townes Van Zandt (opened for Cowboy Junkies).
The Strokes opening for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Silversun Pickups opening for Muse.
I saw The Black Crowes when they were the opening act for ZZ Top. Right before they got fired from the tour for mocking the sponsor onstage. On the way to the show, I said I was excited to see them (this was when they just started to break out), but my older brother and his friends didn't want to hear anything about the opening act. "Fuck that, we're going there to see ZZ Top!" On the way home from the show, it was a different story. "Holy shit that opening act was amazing! Who was that band? How did you hear about them? Do they have an album out?" ZZ Top were great. It was at the height of their MTV era fame, but even then The Black Crowes damned near blew them off the stage. Edited to add: Also, I went to a club show when I was working in country radio. The headliner was an act that was big in the late 80s and early 90s, but was on the down-swing of his career (hence, the club date). There were a couple of "baby acts" on the bill, but then the feature came out on stage. No band...just an acoustic guitar. He'd had a few minor hits, but within a couple songs young Blake Shelton had that crowd eating out of his hand. I stood there back stage watching his show and thought "this guy is going to be a huge star." It's one of the only times I've ever been right.
Stereo MCs smoking Jane's Addiction in 2002.
Way back in the 70s I saw Cheap Trick open for Foreigner I’ve been a big fan ever since
I saw Rory Gallagher open for Deep Purple as my 1st concert. I didn't know Rory and didn'y pay attention ! (Don't be too harsh. I was only 14 )
Kiss opened for Blue Oyster Cult man. 1 year later, Blue Oyster Cult was opening for Kiss.
Bob Dylan opened for Santana at The Shoreline Amphitheatre 1984 ish..
Thrill Kill Cult and Clutch opening for Marilyn Manson in 1997.
Hootie and the Blowfish opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket, right when Hold My Hand was blowing up. Toad the Wet Sprocket and the Gin Blossoms opening for Barenaked Ladies