"Nobody" opening acts you saw open for major artists

Inspired by the bands you saw as openers before they got big thread Bands that you saw as an Opening-Act before they became "Big" » , I thought I would try the opposite, namely bands you saw open for major bands that never accomplished much after you saw them. Major bands often have "baby bands" open for them. What are some you saw, who never advanced beyond the baby stage despite the exposure of a spot on a good tour? (If you can remember them!)

Here's a couple I can think of:

Johnny and the Destroyers, opened for J. Geils band in 1982.
Trucker, opened for They Might be Giants in 2003.
The Cunninghams, Opened for Cheap Trick in 1996.
The Interpreters, Opened for Cheap Trick in 1998.
Cool for August, opened for Cheap Trick and the Georgia Satellites, 1998 (what was it about Cheap Trick in the 1990s?)

Honorable Mention: The Bus Boys opening for the Stray Cats, 1983. They had limited success, but faded rather quickly.

I'd like to remember some more, but I have no idea who some of the other groups were.

What you can you remember who you saw that failed to launch into higher levels of success?

 

Mama's Boys, supporting Thin Lizzy (I think).
Energy Orchard, supporting Steve Earle (I think).

Girl, supporting UFO. They had members who later went into LA Guns and Def Leppard.

Saw Def Leppard supporting AC/DC in 1979, but that's one for the other thread.

 

Giuffria opening for Deep Purple on the reunion tour (1985).

 

Saw Vixen opening for Scorpions in 1989 and Pernice Brothers opening for Radiohead in 1997...

 

Not quite bands but ...

I saw a classical guitarist open for Bob Dylan.
I saw a stand-up comedian up for CSN.
I saw a juggler open for Bob Weir/Rob Wasserman.

Funny how the names escape me in all cases.

 

Marilyn Manson open up for Nine Inch Nails on The Downward Spiral tour. In fact, MM came on before Hole, who opened up for NIN. They played about a half hour. I thought they were terrible. 6 months later they were huge. I still think that they're terrible.

 

Did you read the OP? It's bands that never went on to be anything...whether you liked Manson or not he certainly went on to big things.

 

Mama's Boys opening for Ratt and Twisted Sister (who cancelled) in 1985. Mama's Boys blew Ratt off the stage (not difficult)---great band live!

 

I can't remember most of those faceless openers. One I do remember is The Diodes. First band followed by The Runaways, then The Ramones as headliners. Never heard of The Diodes after that.

 

This is a decent album:

 

The Electric Guitars had a prime opening spot for Peter Gabriel in 1982, and I've not heard a peep from them since.

Judie Tzuke opened for Elton John, in a US tour that I didn't see, and was not able to turn that into anything. Still a great songwriter with a beautiful voice.

 

I remember Sea Level opening for Marshall Tucker Band in 1977.

Very talented band with great vibe but not much $ucce$$.

 

Das Damen opened for Nirvana at Metro in '91. I think they broke up soon after. They were pretty good as I recall.

 

This thread is gonna turn into a pissing match of who can insult which artists for personal taste reasons I presume if we don't develop some standards for what constitutes a "nobody" opening act. I think there is some presumed standard of fly-by-nightness....not just a artist you dislike.

 

Mamamicarburo before Jethro Tull in 2009. Not really "nobodies" because they do have a following in the underground Italian culture but certainly not mainstream by any means. They are OK, probably not the kind of music suited for opening for Jethro Tull, plus they were not advertised on the tickets, so there were a couple of guys who were annoyed.

This said, they are good musicians and the singer kept being apologetic ("I know, I know, give us a chance, come on, afterwards you'll be hearing Jethro Tull! hey, forgive me, I'm very excited to be here!"), so I had sympathy for them and they won the audience over. The songs were not bad either, just not my cup of tea.

A video from that very concert, the song is called "Preghiera" (prayer), I think.

 

I never saw Van Halen live, but they were infamous for doing this sort of thing - touring with small-time acts who were never heard from again.

 

Yeah, they should be excluded if they have a Wikipedia article.

 

Diamond Rio opened for the Everlys at their homecoming shows in Central City, Kentucky. They were great, and they became huge not long after these concerts. There were others, too, that went on to great fame after appearing at the Everly Brothers festivals.

 

My trusty ticket stubs tell me London Quireboys opened for The Smithereens when I saw them at the Ritz in NYC in 1992. They are still actively performing as a band (but with a LOT of lineup changes). Per Wikipedia their highest charting success in the U.S. was their debut LP (from 1990) placing 111 (although it went to #2 in the U.K.). Their next album went to #31 in the UK in 1993 and they never charted again.

Probably the worst opening act I can recall was at a concert benefitting the homeless in NYC held the Beacon Theater. The headliners were Living Colour (16-August-1989). There were many opening acts but I recall a particularly bad, allegedly homeless female rap duo named "Double Destiny". Ugh.

 

That's almost exactly the opposite of what this thread is supposed to be about.

 

They did have a one decent Aerosmith rip off:

 

I saw a band called 'Dakota Moon' open for Eric Clapton in Oakland CA- they were pretty good from what I recall.

 

I'm not fond of the term "nobody" act but gathered it meant lack of any commercial success.

 

Private Life opened for Van Halen in '88 when I saw them.

 

I mean, you can have a wikipedia article, you can even have had a major label album. But basically, however man years later, the general public doesn't know who they are. That's the way I call it.