Favorable & "Not So Much" Opening Acts

[PsychCat]

Got to thinking of this after reading some of the posts of who saw who opening for Heart in the past. Bob Welch? Very cool!

On the positive side (although I wasn't a huge fan like I am now).... I saw Lone Justice open for Tom Petty.
Love me some Maria McKee these days.
That one always stands out the most for me.

On the not so much side.... Livingston Taylor opening for FM on the Rumours tour. All I could think of was how he was playing FOREVER!!

Kinda interesting how many opening acts I have totally forgotten about....

[Livia]

I LOVE Maria McKee! And whenever someone mentions her, I remember I love her and have to go pull out a CD and hear "Ways to be Wicked" immediately!

I'm not a big fan of Trey Anastasio, who I saw open for Tom Petty this year, twice. It's like he's playing the same song for 45 min. Booooring. Sorry, Trey.

I saw a band called Cats open for Van Halen in the late 70's. The newspaper reviewer simply said, "There is nothing good I could say about the opening band, Cats."

I saw Def Leppard open for the Scorpions. When their drummer still had 2 arms, and their original bass (or guitar?) player was still alive.

[xdreamsunwindx]

I've been lucky and have seen a bunch of great opening acts. When I saw Petty last year, the Black Crowes opened, and they were fabulous. I couldn't tell if I was more excited for them or Petty, they were both great.

Back in April, when I first saw The Pretenders, this awesome, adorable Danish band called The Blue Van was their opening act. Love their record - have played it to death. Nice guys, too. And, their most recent openers, the IV Thieves. I saw them three times out of the four Pretenders shows I went to on this leg of the tour. I hung out with them for a while, and they're all so sweet. Check 'em out.

Worst opening act I've seen was Death From Above 1979 when they opened up for Queens of the Stone Age and Nine Inch Nails. I like their records, but they were reaaallly bad in concert. I thought it was just the acoustics, but QOTSA and NIN sounded great. I think they were a bit smashed.

[shebop]

I saw Oingo Boingo open for U2 in Honolulu in 1983!

[eclipse]

I saw Men At Work opening for FM...don't remember what year..circa 80?

John "Cougar" opening for Heart...excellent show!
Jeff Healy opening for Bonnie Raitt...never seen her put on a bad show....

and last one for fun:
Gregg Allman opening for Joe Cocker...Should have been the other way around I thought

[golddustwoman77]

Usually at concerts the opening act is someone terrific, but at the Tracy Chapman concert in Asheville, NC, that wasn't the case. This guy played keyboards and synthesizers with no singing for an hour. It was a nightmare, and people were totally displeased including me! I will say at least I didn't "boo." My friends and I prayed that Tracy would come out quickly to put us out of our misery. It wasn't soon enough.

[JazmenFlowers]

the worst opening act ever was some comedian who opened for Cher after Cyndi Lauper stopped (for whatever reason). he was horrible. basically came here and then made fun of us and the state.

[chiliD]

Great opening acts:

(that I saw open for Fleetwood Mac)
Climax Blues Band
Sanford-Townsend Band
Mistress
Little Feat
Dave Mason (acoustic duo set w/Jim Krueger)
Stephen Bishop
The Cruzados
Roger McGuinn (solo acoustic set)

"Blah" opening act...neither "great" nor "awful":
Christopher Cross (the last two nights of the Tusk tour at the Hollywood Bowl)

(great opening acts for other great headliners)*
Fleetwood Mac (opened for The Dave Mason Band, Loggins & Messina)
Eric Clapton (opened for Elton John...the first night)
Elton John (opened for Eric Clapton...the next night)
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers (opened for Bob Dylan)
The Wallflowers (opened for The Rolling Stones)
Etta James (opened for The Rolling Stones)
Peter Tosh (opened for The Rolling Stones)
The Outlaws (opened for The Rolling Stones)
The Doobie Brothers (opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Elvin Bishop Band (opened for ZZ Top, Stephen Stills)
Marshall Tucker Band (opened for Stephen Stills Band...stole the show!!)
Charlie Daniels Band (opened for Eric Clapton)
Bachman Turner Overdrive (opened for ZZ Top)
Van Halen (opened for Santana)
Santana (opened for Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan)
Carmen (opened for Jethro Tull)
Cheap Trick (opened for Heart)
Rory Gallagher (opened for Faces)
Loggins & Messina (opened for Faces)
Cecilio & Kapono (opened for Loggins & Messina)
Randy Meisner Band (opened for Bob Welch)
Wishbone Ash (opened for Bachman Turner Overdrive)
Paris (opened for Wishbone Ash)
Little Feat (opened for The Who, Fleetwood Mac, The Allman Brothers Band, Dave Mason Band...among many others...they were the opening act for probably half the concerts I went to between 1974-1978)
Burning Sensations (opened for Roxy Music)
Los Lobos (opened for The Motels)
X (opened for The Motels)
Ry Cooder (who also had John Hiatt in his band...opened for Eric Clapton)
The Plimsouls (opened for Elvis Costello, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers)
Peter Frampton (opened for Stevie Nicks)
Gary Wright (opened for Ten Years After...Frampton was on the bill, but canceled the day of the show...that was the same tour he recorded for Frampton Comes Alive )
Lee Roy Parnell (opened for Travis Tritt)
Rick Vito Band (opened for John Mayall's Bluesbreakers)
Painter (hmmm, MY band in 1981....opened for the Burton Cummings Band)
Johnny Winter (opened for Bo Diddley)
George Thorogood & the Destroyers (opened for The Allman Brothers Band)
Dwight Twilley Band (opened for Bob Welch)
Sonia Dada (opened for Traffic, Bruce Hornsby)

*=where I've named more than one headliner, those were separate concerts

Bad opening acts:
Player (opened for Eric Clapton)
Peter Ivers (opened for Fleetwood Mac)

[DavidMn]

I really enjoyed Boz Scaggs and Vanessa Carlton as opening acts for Stevie.

[estranged4life]

Originally Posted by Livia

I saw Def Leppard open for the Scorpions. When their drummer still had 2 arms, and their original bass (or guitar?) player was still alive.

was very competent as an opener for the Scorpions.

Btw, the original guitarist was Steve Clark-After his death their music went more poppy than hard rock.

Almost all the openers I saw have been very good, But Suicidal Tendencies blew headliner Queensryche off the stage in Tulsa 1991.

Another memorable opener was Ted Nugent opening for .38 Special in Tulsa 1986. After Nugent's set was over 3/4th's the audience left the arena-Poor .38 Special, there were still entertaining that night.

The only opener I ever had to sit through that blew chunks was Bob Schneider opening for Stevie Nicks in Dallas 2001. Sorry dude, but yer style of music was rather "scrotum-less".

Oddest opening act paired with a headliner-Smashing Pumpkins opening for Guns N Roses April 6,1992 OKC

[DavidMn]

Originally Posted by estranged4life

was very competent as an opener for the Scorpions.

Btw, the original guitarist was Steve Clark-After his death their music went more poppy than hard rock.

Almost all the openers I saw have been very good, But Suicidal Tendencies blew headliner Queensryche off the stage in Tulsa 1991.

Another memorable opener was Ted Nugent opening for .38 Special in Tulsa 1986. After Nugent's set was over 3/4th's the audience left the arena-Poor .38 Special, there were still entertaining that night.

The only opener I ever had to sit through that blew chunks was Bob Schneider opening for Stevie Nicks in Dallas 2001. Sorry dude, but yer style of music was rather "scrotum-less".

Oddest opening act paired with a headliner-Smashing Pumpkins opening for Guns N Roses April 6,1992 OKC

Bob Schneider!!! I forgot about him...

[PsychCat]

[QUOTE=golddustwoman77;563210]This guy played keyboards and synthesizers with no singing for an hour.QUOTE]

CRIPES!! That would have me looking for a rope and rafter!

Definitely one of the best was Joe Walsh opening for Stevie.
Not to mention that I was right up front... which was an event unto itself.

[eclipse]

I forgot one...
We went to a Clapton concert and his opening act was
"Buckwheat Zyadicco "sp.?) Terrible set-
Next time around...

Clapton, and opening was Mark Knoffler...excellent set!!

[SteveMacD]

Chili, I'm stunned that you forgot Fleetwood Mac opening for Crosby, Stills, & Nash. (Ironically, I had tickets for that show before I knew that FM was on the bill.)

[xdreamsunwindx]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

What The Pretenders or the IV Thieves? Sounds cool either way.

Both, actually! On a few occasions.

Haha. Well, not *all* of the Pretenders. A few friends and I snuck in early for their show in Wilmington a few weeks ago, and Adam Seymour (guitarist) and Nick Wilkinson (bassist) came by and we chatted for a bit. Adam and I were ripping on bands, and it was awesome. We got to see the soundcheck (no Chrissie, though, she was hungover), and we were the first people at the front of the stage.

Though, I did get to chat with Chrissie Hynde for like, 5 minutes, which was beyond cool. At the one show I saw, she gave me one of her picks, and she was like, "good luck with your band and I hope to hear from you guys someday." Soooo awesome. She's a total doll. And, Martin Chambers came up to me and hugged me a few times. Total sweetheart.

My friend (and bandmate) and I almost went partying with the IV Thieves, too. But, alas, we were both exhausted. We sat around and BS-ed outside the venue, though. God, I sound like a groupie.

Oh, and I added you on last.fm if that's ok :-)