Concerts you went to for the opening act, not the headliner

Oh my.........I would have loved to see War. I like Black Oak but not over War. Do you remember the year on this? I just love the War Live album. Of course, I also love Live Mutha. A very interesting paring nonetheless.

 

I can't imagine it wasn't the same tour. I saw this in August of 1996 in Columbia, Maryland. I had seen Tull before. I was really there for ELP also. But, unlike you, I am a pretty big Tull fan also.

 

Funny, I saw this tour the other way around in August of 1992. One of the best and loudest shows I ever saw........fan wise that is.

 

We have the same taste ;D

 

Three off the top of my head where I was more into the opening act when buying tix....

1976 Tommy Bolin opened for Blue Oyster Cult.

1978 Van Halen opening for Ronnie Montrose and Journey. In a theater that held 2700...3 bands for $5 lmao!

1977 Tom Petty opening for Edgar Winter Group

Those were the days.

 

I saw him in 1987 and I am almost certain Gregg Allman opened for him.

 

I went to see Suede who were opening for Cramberries, with unannounced (and at the time unheard) band opening for both: Counting Crows. $9 well spent.

I have seen 1/3 (?) of the crowd empty out after the opening act finished even though I was there for the headliner a couple times.

NIN fans left in droves before Bowie took the stage.

I also went to see Alex Chilton and the then unknown to me opening act had a legion of fans who left before Chilton came on. Right before Hootie & the Blowfish hit big.

All three of these were in the early - mid - 90s.

 

1973 The Hollywood Palladium
Blue Oyster Cult, Mott the Hoople, Joe Walsh.

We went for BOC who were third on the bill.
They stole the show.

 

Lacuna Coil, opening for All That Remains. They were the 2nd opener.

 

Doctors of Madness opening for Be Bop Deluxe (1975)
Motorhead opening for Blue Oyster Cult (1975)
TV Smith's Explorers opening for the Undertones (1981)
Wreckless Eric opening for Ian Hunter (2014)

 

Gentle Giant in front of Renaissance

Al DiMeola before Kenny Loggins

 

During her early days before her star exploded, Celine Dion opened for Michael Bolton. Not being a fan of his, I held my nose and bought a Bolton ticket.

It was a strange and revealing experience. As I waited on line to get into the venue I noticed the crowd for MB was not what I expected. It was diverse and also fairly evenly split male/female wise. Not the bunch of mostly female yuppies I erroneously imagined was his fan base. I also heard people bragging about how they were following Michael on tour and sharing minutiae just like people would do at a Tull show or a Dio show. I didn't expect that.

I had a fairly decent seat on the floor center. While waiting for Celine Dion to come on, a guy comes over and starts talking to the person seated next to me, obviously friends. The guy turns to me and says, "hey could you and my friend trade seats so we can sit together?" I ask where his friend's seat is. "Oh about 12 rows back". I don't think so. They look at me with puppy dog eyes like I'm killing them. So I say to them "Look, I'm just here for Celine Dion, so after she's done I'm outta here. Feel free to take the seat". Well you'd have thought I farted in a church. Practically everyone seated around us stopped talking. I hear murmurs. Things like "he's not here for Michael" and "who is this guy?", like I crashed someone's wedding. Well the guy who wants my seat quietly thanked me and returned to his seat. Celine came on, I had a good time, and when I got up to leave I could still feel the daggers being aimed at my back.

BTW I do see the irony in me being, at the time, a 32 year old male fan of Celine Dion. I only knew her from her French music I had bought in Canada years before.

 

The Four Tops (awesome) opening for Frankie Valli (coked up).

 

Petty.
Went for Chris Whitley
Loved Living with the Law.
I had seen Tom 3-4 times before.

 

Went to see Jack Lukeman aka Jack L, open for Jools Holland in Bristol.
Jools was amazing and his recent collaborator Jose Feliciano came on for a few numbers. Twas a banging concert.

 

Roy Orbison opening for The Beach Boys.

 

Funny coincidence: approx 10 years later i went to see headliner Queen in Cologne, Germany, but i was more excited to see support act Gary Moore again. Level 42 and Marillion were also on the bill.

 

When and where was this ?

 

I've had a few:

I saw Mick Taylor and Alvin Lee open for Black Sabbath, left before Sabbath came on.

Saw Mick Taylor open for Felix Cavalieri, left before Felix.

Saw the Smithereens open for Squeeze, sat through the first two Squeeze songs then left.

Saw the Replacements open for Tom Petty, left during the first Petty song.

Saw Iris Dement open for.....somebody, I forget, I left right after Iris.

 

Were Mick Taylor and Alvin Lee in a band together ?

 

SRV opening for Joe Cocker at the Garden State Arts Center in July 1990. Six weeks later SRV was gone, glad I went.

 

I think they were billed as "Alvin Lee (with Mick Taylor)" or something. Pretty sure it was 1982 (at the Spectrum). I had seen the Stones in '75, '78, and '81, and this was my first opportunity to see Taylor. I don't remember a whole lot, but they definitely played "Slow Down".

 

Stabbing Westward opening for Killing Joke in 1994, Ungod was their debut album and only album out at the time, terrific record that mostly still holds up today. I was really excited to see Killing Joke too as it was the Pandemonium tour but it was definitely going to see SW that made me really try and get to that show.

I was the only guy in the pit at the tiny Opera House in Toronto as well with a Stabbing Westward t-shirt on. They blew everyone away and had a really good reception, with each song the applause got louder and louder and more authentic/energized as opposed to just, "yeah yeah, come on main act"

 

Ramones and the Clash. Left during the second Clash song.

 

Curved Air who opened for Buddy Miles Express in Staten Island NY. Stayed for 1 Buddy Miles song and then split. Liked him with Hendrix but not on his own.