Concerts where you went for the headliner, but were blown away by the opener

I'm stunned by the several posts of people seeing bands that they think blew Neil Young, in any of his incarnations, off the stage.

I've seen him about six or seven times -- with Crazy Horse, Booker T. and the MGs, the Greendale tour and solo.

He's been fantastic every time I've seen him.

 

Well besides Jimi Hendix, (twice), in Toronto, (1968), I'd say Bush Tetras at Rock City, in New York, in 1983. Unbelievable added percussion, with the guitar player for The Fast, looking on and grinding his teeth, with cocaine in his mind.

 

Soundgarden blew him and Crazy Horse off the stage. In fact, Neil was so listless this night that I left before he was done and I had been waiting years to finally see him. 8/23/1993 at Great Woods in MA. Hell, even Blind Melon was more enjoyable this night.

 

I saw Blues Traveler in the early to mid-nineties and, although they were very good, God Street Wine opened the show with an absolutely blistering set that blew me away.

 

November 1982 - went to see Squeeze at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island and came away more impressed with BOTH opening acts (The English Beat and R.E.M.). I became a bigger fan of those two acts than I am of Squeeze, and still am to this day. True to say that I love all three though.

December 2003 - went to see Simon and Garfunkel at Madison Square Garden and came away more impressed by the intermission act (supporting but not opening), the Everly Brothers. It was great to see both, but especially the Everlys.

 

Saw Alice Cooper on Saturday. He was brilliant but so were The MC50 and The Stranglers who were the support acts.

 

Silversun Pickups opening for Muse instantly made me a fan. Unreal energy and definitely a live band all the way. Up until that point the only song I had heard from them was The Royal We.

 

Chris Whitley opening for Petty in LA in 1991. I had traveled all the way from Scotland to see Petty (who was incredible). Whitley was out of this world. Shook the Forum to its foundations.

 

Grace Potter opened for Gov't Mule on their fall 2007 tour. I had no idea who she was but the pipes that girl has blew me away. I got into her for the next year or so finding that most of her material didn't really agree with me. It was actually more of me thinking that her producers and label didn't really know who she was or was trying to be because the albums were terrible and the band worse.

She's gifted beyond belief and has a new album arriving this fall. Looking forward to it because there are no Nocturnals around. Finally. The songs seem better too.

 

Motley Crue (Shout at the Devil tour) opening for Ozzy (Bark at the Moon tour.)

Shenanigans on that tour have been well documented. MC impressed the hell out of my 16 year old self.

 

1982

 

I almost saw J. Geils in spring 1982 - can't remember why I didn't go.

If I found out later U2 had opened and I missed seeing them that early, I'd jump off a bridge!

Looks like the JGB/U2 dates were only a handful in the western US, though...

 

I read about that show--sounds like it was amazing!

 

Interestingly...when I saw U2 on the original Joshua Tree Tour 1987 at Kemper Arena, whether it was because they had an off night (totally understandable), The Bo Deans were particularly rev'd up and firing on all cylinders. They were the highlight for me. U2 were decent, they put on an admirable show, but the Bo Deans owned that night for me.

 

The Band opened for CS&N. They were both good but the Band was a surprise. Post Robbie Robertson.

 

Saw Black Crowe’s open up for ZZ Top at UNO in New Orleans, the time BC we’re kicked off of tour. (Early 90s?)
The Crowe’s blew Top away that night.

 

I saw Los Lobos really show up Joe Strummer's reconstituted Clash at the Civic Center in San Francisco in the mid-1980's. I was a big Clash fan at the time (and am still) but my buddy kept telling me I had to see the opening act and they were well worth it. Also saw Nick Lowe open for Elvis Costello in New Orleans in the late 1980's as mentioned by someone earlier. Around the same time I saw X open for Warren Zevon. X was touring on "See How We Are" and were absolutely on fire. Zevon was loud but anti-climactic in the extreme.

 

I saw this show. I've posted about the weird circumstances around this and the previous night's ZZ Top show at the Sports Arena in another thread probably a couple years ago and can't find it atm, so I skip that whole preamble.

Anyway, this was my second time seeing U2, having seen them at the Reseda Country Club about a year prior during the "Boy" tour. I thought U2 was a lot more solid this time around with strong songs from the "October" album and the audience was certainly into them a lot more than typical openers but I can't say they blew away The J. Geils Band. This was by far the best JGB show I ever saw (3 total, '80, '81, this one) and they ended a long, super energetic set with a impromptu final 3rd encore long after the house lights came on and people were filing out of the arena.

 

saw Guns 'n' Roses open for The Cult on the Electric tour in 87. My buddy was there for Guns I was there for The Cult. The Gunners were good but their take on "Knockin on Heaven's Door" converted me. Saw Guns open for Iron Maiden a year later. I was there for Guns.
Black Crowes opening for Robert Plant. We liked Robert but the Crowes were awesome.
Saw Pearl Jam and Soundgarden both open for Neil Young. All three blew me away.
Run the Jewels opening for Lorde.
Johnny Greenwoord's Israeli/Indian collective Junun that opened for Radiohead. They were exceptional.

 

A few weeks ago I went to see Blackberry Smoke as they were in town and I wanted to see them live. I had never even heard of the opening group, The Record Company. TRC proceeded to blow me away with their energetic blues, rock and funk mix. The 3 1/2 member band got the crowd into it too during their hour-long set. Though officially a trio, a guy came in on some numbers to supplement the sound. The lead singer mentioned that this was sort of a homecoming as he was raised on a Wisconsin dairy farm. I purchased both of their albums based upon what I heard and saw. Blackberry Smoke put on a good show too but that night belonged to The Record Company.

 

Rusted root opened for the Allman Brothers when I saw them back around maybe 98 or something like that? I became an instant fan.

 

In 2008, I went to see Beck at Club Nokia (now Club Novo) in Downtown LA. Jenny Lewis (of Rilo Kiley) was the opener and she played with a very tight, southern-style band. I can't remember a single tune but the energy was infectious and the music was alive, for lack of a better word. When Beck came on with his little Casio keyboard, it seemed basically anemic by comparison. He was joined by a backing band at some point, but it still never reached Lewis' level of tightness and energy.

 

Carole King opening for Barry Gibb in Napier about 6-7 years ago. She was in great voice, a fabulous mood, the set was great (well, except Jazzman which I’ve never liked) and the band amazing. Really took me by surprise.

 

Boomtown Rats... w/the Pretenders opening. It was the Pretenders first US tour promoting their first album. None of us knew who they were, but to me, the Pretenders blew the Rats away. Now to be fair the Rats were very good and definitely more polished, but the Pretenders still stole the show. As they ended after the last song, Mystery Achievement, the drummer climbed up the lighting rig like a crazy man with a bottle of champagne, swinging and swaying the rig back and forth. Scary. Keith Moon would have been proud. I thought the whole rig was going to come crashing down. Luckily that didn't happen. Great show all around. One to remember!

 

I saw Stereolab as the support act for Pulp in 1995. It was supposed to be the Verve I think, but they’d just broken up.

Stereolab blew me away, and literally changed my life that evening. Until then firmly into pretty straight guitar driven music, I was inspired to go out and buy a synth (a Juno 6), start messing around with a sampler on my Amiga computer, which set me on a path to eventually forming a new band; we ended up signing with Parlophone (well, actually our records were on Regal but our contract was with Parlophone) and had a very interesting few years.