Best opening act you've sat through. *

Iron Maiden in 1982, first band at a stadium show featuring Loverboy, Ted Nugent and Foreigner. I was a huge Nugent fan back then but Maiden was doing something new and I was still reviewing the Maiden performance in my head when Nugent played.

 

Come opening for Fugazi in 1993. Had never heard of them, and they were a force of nature.

Tina Turner opening for Lionel Richie. I was in high school, won tickets on the radio, and took an impressionable young lady. This was on the eve of Private Dancer coming out and Tina's subsequent resurgence to stardom. She was still hungry, and she kicked ass.

Elliott Sharp/Carbon opening for Stabbing Westward, and Caspar Brotzmann Massaker for Helmet. In both cases I went specifically to see the opening band.

An unknown Lyle Lovett opening for Randy Newman in 1985.

I suppose I should also include Spoon, who on the numerous occasions when they opened for my band around 1993-94, were not honestly that good, but obviously had something that would develop into major success and a large fan base, both of which certainly eluded my musical career.

 

I saw the same tour in Philly and we split after a few Santana songs also. I mean no disrespect towards Santana but Jeff Beck was who we wanted to see. Also saw Jeff open for SRV, I think they were alternating headlining show from show. We did watch the whole SRV though. Two heavyweights killing it.

 

MUSE opening for U2 in Houston in October, 2009, that tour with the huge Spider colossus in the middle of the stadium. MUSE was so good I bought their t-shirt and their album, LOL.

 

Orlando?

 

Patti Smith opening for Neil Young & Crazy Horse a few years ago.........of course I usually prefer not seeing Patti as an opener.

The Clash open for The Who - Shea Stadium 1982.

For opener I never heard of beforehand, the Detroit Cobras opening for X in 2008. I became a fan and have always seen then when they come through my area since.

 

Flaming Lips opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers and Moby in '95. Ronald Jones-era Lips. Left halfway through Moby as he was a total buzz-kill.

Tortoise blowing Stereolab off the stage in '96. Stereolab were great but Tortoise were on another planet.

 

Robert Plant opening for the Who
John Paul Jones opening for King Crimson
Steve Winwood opening for Santana

 

Be Bop Deluxe for Blue Oyster Cult. Great show all around. And a second on Mothers Finest, that band cooks live.

 

The Ian Hunter Band Featuring Mick Ronson, as they just blew away, any obliterated the headliner, Heart.

 

Jethro Tull and Led Zeppelin, both opening for Vanilla Fudge, Feb 1969

 

Tony Joe White opening for Steppenwolf
Sailcat opening for the Guess Who

 

Eagles of Death Metal opening for Queens of the Stone Age. 2005?

 

King Crimson opening for the Steve Miller Band at Winterland, San Francisco, 10/13/73.
Jeff Beck opening for the Mahavishnu Orchestra at San Jose Civic Auditorium, 6/1/75.

 

Iggy Pop opening for The Pretenders in 1987. I didn't even stay for the headliners.

 

Buffalo, NY

 

Del-Lords opening for Lou Reed.

More of a festival show but the second Police Picnic in Toronto, which included Talking Heads and English Beat prior to the headliners.

 

This thread is so old hopefully I haven't posted in it before. Two come to mind:

Went to a small club in 1992 to see John Wesley Harding and was blown away by the opening act Barenaked Ladies, who played nearly all of their debut album Gordon because that was all the had at the time.

And this doesn't really count, but I was a Flaming Lips fan and took a friend to the show where they opened for and then backed Beck for the headlining set. After all the confetti cannons, bullhorns and theatrics, my friend was floored and called his wife during intermission to announce he had a favorite new band.

A DVD of that tour would have been brilliant, but it seems Wayne and Beck lost respect for each other along the way.

 

Halford was AMAZING!!!!! Did a few (great) solo tunes (Resurrection, Burn in Hell) before the opening notes of The Hellion rang through The Garden and blew the ROOF off! One of my favorite concert moments. Queensryche was also on the bill - the 3 Metal tenors on one bill!

 

Deep Purple for Faces 1971...Ritchie and band were on fire this nite...Faces didn't stand a chance. Faces were good but the nite definitely belonged to Purple...no question.

 

Roy Orbison for The Beach Boys

 

Joan Jett for The Who
The Go Gos for The Police

 

Montrose opening for Black Oak Arkansas in '73

UFO w/ Shenker opening for Styx in 1977

 

I did and he was amazing. I still remember Hendrix distinctly, but I have no independent recollection of the Monkees performance.

 

I saw that show as well. I've told this story before, but I'll tell it again because I like to remind people that I'm really, really stupid.

When I saw Tina in June 1984, "Private Dancer" had been on the shelves for less than 2 weeks. Her version of "Let's Stay Together" had gotten some attention, but not enough for her to seem like anything other than a has-been - at least to then-17-year-old me.

So Tina plays her set and eventually tells us that the next song is her new single. I think to myself, "give it up, honey! You're 1000 years old - your career as a hitmaker is done!"

The song was "What's Love Got to Do With It", which would go on to spend 3 weeks at #1 and be the second biggest hit single of 1984.

Oops!

In my semi-defense, comebacks like Tina's were essentially non-existent at that time. She was 44 years old - ancient in pop terms back then - and hadn't had a real hit in over a decade.

But damn, was I wrong!