What's the Most Famous Artist That You Saw Open/Backup?

Those of you from locations that are considered hotbeds of musical activity (i.e., SF Bay Area, LA, NYC) can probably fill this thread with killer acts seen in their early days. Which is my reason for posting this in the first place. I grew up in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida. Not really considered a breeding ground for GREAT bands (The Outlaws notwithstanding). Well, you had Petty in Gainesville and Skynyrd in Jacksonville. But, still.

As for me...Van Halen. I saw them three times in the late-1970's/early-1980's. I only saw them headline once. They opened for Black Sabbath in 1978 and the Rolling Stones in 1981.

 

Springsteen, opening for Chicago in 1973.

 

Brian Setzer and his core trio opened for Tom Petty about 12 years ago in Pittsburgh. He got one of the greatest receptions I've seen for an opener. I'm sure some of the crowd was familiar with him but I'll bet he knocked the socks off of a lot of new converts that day.

Saw The Pixies open for Love & Rockets in 1989/90, and Jane's Addiction open for Love & Rockets at my college in 1987/88.

Terry

 

Very cool! That is certainly one.

 

I saw Black and Blue at Boston Garden on 9/20/80. Sabbath opened for Cult. I believe that they alternated as opening/closing bands as the tour was billed as co-headliners but online resources don't seem to support a strict alternating opening/closing thing.

 

Elvis Costello in 1977, opening for The Clash and The Damned.

Dire Straits in 1978, opening for Styx (yup).

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers at 09:00 in the morning kicking off the dutch 1977 Pinkpop Festival waaay at the bottom of the bill, under Mother's Finest and Racing Cars.

 

An unsigned Dave Matthews Band opening the second HORDE festival.

 

The Police.

Opening for Spirit and first on before Alternative TV in March 1978 at The Rainbow,

 

Saw Uncle Tupelo open for local Boston band the Blood Oranges in the late 80s or early 90s.

 

ozzy osbourne opening for whitesnake in january 1983, queensryche opening for metallica in 1988, the cult opening for aerosmith in 1989, jonathan wilson opening for neil young in 2012 and the sheepdogs opening for rival sons last tuesday are the first that I remember

 

Steely Dan opening for ELO 1974 (Alice Tully Hall)
Humble Pie opening for Lee Michaels 1971 (Fillmore East)
Queen opening for Mott the Hoople 1974(Uris Theater)
T Rex opening for Mountain 1971 (Fillmore East)
Cars opening for Cheap Trick 1978(Palladium)
Rory Gallagher opening for Deep Purple 1973 (Felt Forum)

 

Wow, Ralph. You win!

 

Bryan Adams opening for the Kinks in 1982.

 

Suede opening for The Fall in 1992, a few days before "The Drowners" was released.

 

Living in New York City has always had its advantages.
I'm sure I'm forgetting some.

 

You knew everybody would salivate when reading your post...

 

Aerosmith opening for Mott the Hoople
Billy Joel opening for John Sebastian
Humble Pie opening for Grand Funk Railroad
Lynyrd Skynyrd opening for Black Sabbath (also saw them open for Ten Years After and the Allman Bros)
Kansas opening for Queen
The Black Crowes opening for ZZTop
Linda Ronstadt opening for Neil Young

not counting the multiple openers for The Stones (Neville Bros., The Pretenders, Lenny Kravitz, Living Colour, etc.)

 

Motley Crüe and Metallica opening for Ozzy Osbourne in the 80s, each early in their careers. They weren't exactly unknown though.

 

I saw Queen opening for Mott The Hoople.

Best Wishes,
David

 

Cars open for Cheap Trick (1978)
Kinks open for Foreigner (1982)
Ramones open for B-52's (1983)
Ramones open for Joan Jett (1985)

 

Commodores with Lionel Richie opened for the Jackson 5 at my very first concert.

also

UFO opening for AC DC
Scorpions opening for Sammy Hagar
Radiohead opening for REM
Pixies opening for U2
Gang of Four opening for Sisters of Mercy
Public Enemy opening for U2
Sonic Youth opening for Smashing Pumpkins
Counting Crows and Suede opening for Cranberries
Joan Jett opening for The Police

are some notables

I’ll also add Hootie & the Blowfish opening for Alex Chilton

 

~ 1972, the opening "act" for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band @ WSU's 10,506-seat multi-purpose Henry Levitt arena in Wichita, Kansas, was one guy, in a white suit, sitting on a stool with a banjo. He proceeded to play a few tunes & tie up some balloon figures. WTF?

A few years later, I saw the same guy on Saturday Night Live . . . Steve Martin!

 

never seen a "before he was a star" opening act, but I thought it was peculiar in 2000 to see Lionel Richie as Tina Turner's opening act

Others like that include seeing Cyndi Lauper, Beck and Alice Cooper as opening acts even though all were long-established and well famous by that time

 

I saw John Sebastian open for Steve.