I really enjoyed Unamerican opening for the Who, one of the few times an unknown opening act catches my attention like that. Usually it's to be, as written earlier, endured. I subsequently bought their CD and still find it enjoyable.
Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You..................................................
I've seen some good opening bands that I eventually ended up liking in their own right (ie Beta Band opening for Radiohead in 2001), but also some lousy ones. Worst one was probably when I had to sit through N.E.R.D. opening for Gorillaz.
I have to admit to liking "Der Komissar" although I can see why a Van Halen crowd would not have cared for them. Never saw them live so can't comment on whether or not they were good in person.
"The Orgasmics" opened up for Duran Duran in 1984 in Oakland and were pretty much chased off stage. They were a horrible choice for an opening band given the headliners and I felt bad for them as they were musically competent and I could see the lead singer was a bit hurt. They just happened to commit the mortal sin of taking the stage when 14000 kids were dying to see Duran Duran at the top of the mania. It would be like having a local skiffle band take the stage at Shea Stadium when the entire crowd had been waiting months to see The Beatles who at that point had achieved an epic and legendary status.
A recent one was White Hills opening for The Cult (who were pretty mediocre, imo, worse out of the 3 times I've seen them). White Hills is a 3 piece band, guitar/bass/drums, in the psychedelic/stoner realm. Songs didn't seem to go anywhere and the none of the players ever seemed to be playing the same song together at any particular moment.
Rather sit through five hours of The Knack,than five minutes of Boston.Tom Scholz.What a pretentious ***hole.
Mine was the opposite. The headliner was Foreigner and Scorpions opened for them. Loved the Scorpions and split after one Foreigner song...as did half the crowd.
Saw LIARS open for Radiohead and thought they were awful. The lead singer kept talking about David Blaine and summoning the devil. I think he was trying really hard to be "dark" or something. During radiohead's set, thom yorke said thank you to LIARS, his favorite live band. Good thing RH kicked ass.
It was a band that opened for Counting Crows that came to mind when I saw the title of this thread, as it happens. I don't recall their name, but they were so bad they were good. I remember thinking the sound was so awful that I was prepared to be really disappointed in Counting Crows. But it turned out they sounded (and played) great; it was just that the opening act really were as bad as they had sounded.
No contest on this one: October 31, 1984 Hall and Oates at The Worcester Centrum, Worcester, MA. The opening act was a hard rock band called Xavion. They were so far out of context. They as performers figured out that they had no chance, and engaged in very canned stage patter. For instance while they were being booed(loudly) they politely informed the audience that "nobody parties like you" Well, they piled through a 45 minute set and left having every invective possible hurled at them as they left the stage. I believe both the headliner and Xavion were both managed by Tommy Mottola at the time. Below the band:
Primus in September 1992. Opening for U2. They were horrible. Right from the first chords they were grating on my nerves. I couldn't wait for them to finish.
Was there. Remember the socks filled with sand being hurled at the stage and Bill Graham excoriating the audience.
Candlebox opening for Rush in 1994 was one of the worst. Ironically, their album was actually good; they just sucked live…or maybe it was a bad night. Social Distortion opening for Neil Young was odd, probably not bad in hindsight, but it was a peace lovin' hippy crowd and I don't think they were ready for the angst-laden sound of Social Distortion. It was the Spring 1991 tour and the U.S. had just launched into "desert storm," and Neil was angry, and so was his show.
Some white guy blues player opening for B.B. King a few years ago. He acted like he was on acid and channeling the Devil and it sort of freaked me out. White people have strange ideas about what it takes to play the Blues.
Dead Milkmen opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Milkmen were just dreadful. Lots of energy but very little talent and any wit was lost in the volume.
