Thin Lizzy opening for Queen Nazareth opening for Deep Purple Starz opening a few times Derringer opening for Aerosmith A bunch more I'm sure...
Tower of Power in 1971 concert with Bo Diddley and headliner CCR. Boz Scaggs for John Mayall's Jazz/Blues Fusion Tim Buckley for Frank Zappa & his Petit Wazoo Leo Kottke for the Eagles ($2.50 general admission in a gymnasium) Doug Sahm for Grateful Dead John Sebastian for Steve Martin New Lost City Ramblers for Doc Watson Pancho Sanchez for Joe Liggins & the Honeydrippers Andrew Hill for Julius Hemphill Prince Lasha for David Murray J Geils Band for Yes
Without a doubt the best opening act I sat through was in the early 1980’s when I saw City Boy open for Canadian band Prisim at the Edmonton Colliseum. Nothing short of spectacular despite no sound check!!!
Wireless opening for Judas Priest in the late 70's, Golden Hall, San Diego. Completely blown away - tight, driving, hard rocking. The drummer blew my mind.
You sir have won this thread I think. My paltry example can't compete, but: Try the Stones in 81, ragged and fairly unglorious on probably most of that tour, having the minor misfortune of being preceded directly by a white-hot, tight as a mo*****ker J GEILS BAND filling the Kingdome with all manner of honking, slamming shouting blooz-rock....with Peter Wolf's stage authority holding firm to an arena-scale level much less worn-out than that of Sir Mick an hour later...I hated to say it but Geils were "better than the Stones" that night (even though we all know that isn't in fact possible!
Tin Lizzy (tribute band) opening for Sons Of Roses (tribute band). Halfway through Sons Of Roses' second song: "Hang on a minute, this is the same group!"
The best opening bands I saw were: Aldo Nova opening for UFO some unknown band with a terrific chick singer who sounded just like Janis Joplin opening for AC/DC Triumph opening for Journey The The opening for Depeche Mode Skid Row opening for Guns & Roses. Stevie Ray Vaughan opening for Jeff Beck ('89) Alice In Chains opening for Van Halen Santana opening for Jeff Beck ('94) For anyone who saw Van Halen open for The Rolling Stones at the Tangerine Bowl, I hate you.
Far too many, especially if you count club gigs, but here's a small number: Steely Dan opening for ELO in 1974 at Alice Tully Hall Humble Pie opening for Lee Michaels Fillmore '71 T Rex opening for Mountain Fillmore '71 Mott The Hoople opening for Delaney and Bonnie Fillmore '71 Queen opening for Mott in 1974 at the Uris Theater Sir Lord Baltimore and J. Geils opening for Black Sabbath at the Fillmore
Alice In Chains opening for Megadeth, Facelift/Rust In Peace. Layne had the most powerful voice I've ever witnessed live. Absolutely spellbinding.
Dixie dregs opening for muddy waters in a small club. Then johnny winter came out and sat in with muddy. What a great show and to top it off we were on the record company guest list. Another great show. Zappa as headliner with the original mahavishnu orchestra and Leo kottke as support. Larry Coryell and the eleventh house supporting return to forever. One more. The English beat and rem opening for squeeze.
Pearl Jam opening for Smashing Pumpkins and Red Hot Chili Peppers at the RPI Field house in Troy, NY in 1991. They weren’t even on the bill.
One that I remember really making an impression at the time was The Cult opening for Billy Idol. Right after the Love album came out, I think.
Iris DeMent opening for John Prine at Wolf Trap, 1997. She got off to an uncertain start, but the improvement was palpable as she hit her stride, even throwing in a joke about her boots being a little tight ("but they're the ones that go with this dress," and she was right, they did). Prine brought her back on stage to sing "Unwed Mothers" together and she did a fantastic job on it! I was off to Borders to buy The Way I Should the very next weekend.
I saw Aldo Nova open for Blue Oyster Cult - probably around the same time? When was that? I remember Prince opening for the Stones on some Midwest dates. I think it was the ‘Tattoo You” tour, and IIRC there were some other very high profile openers on that tour.
‘98, Fleet Center (Boston Garden). It was a co-headlining series of dates and they took turns opening for each other. Dylan won the bout on points, but it was close.
Joe Jackson (solo) opening for Todd Rundgren about 10 years ago, in Greensboro, NC. Todd wasn't so good that night. Todd made up for it last year, also in Greensboro, when he (along with Carl Palmer's ELP Experience, or whatever Carl calls it) opened up for a lackluster Yes.
Living Color opening for the Rolling Stones in 1989. They put on a show that almost made me forget who I came to see.
Michael Nesmith opening for the James Cotton Blues Band (Cellar Door, Georgetown) The Who opening for Herman’s Hermits (Memorial Auditorium, Chattanooga) Eric Church opening for Hank Williams, Jr. (Riverbend Festival, Chattanooga)
I saw Beck play solo acoustic and opening for Radiohead in 2001. Blew me away with a load of tracks from Sea Change (I didn't know the album till a few years later so don't know if this was prior to the album's release). Supergrass and Sigur Ros were also on the bill that day.