When the opening act is better than the main event!

Journey headlined a show at a local venue in 1979; Van Halen opened for Journey.

After Van Halen burned the place to the ground half the crowd left; no kidding.
It was sublime!!

It was surreal .............. half the audience didn't want to see, or hear Journey after Van Halen schooled Journey on how to rock & roll

 

Be-Bop Deluxe opening for Golden Earring at Santa Monica Civic 1973. That was the year Radar Love was a hit.

I think someone in GE pulled Bill Nelson's plug near shows end as he couldn’t see why he wasn’t getting any sound. He was getting great crowd response and when GE took the stage half the crowd left.

 

One of the last shows we saw before the lockdown was Soul Asylum with Local H opening.

Soul Asylum didn't stand a chance. Local H meant business, and their set was one of the most intense performances I've ever seen.

Soul Asylum was good, but they were pretty sedate after Local H pretty much burned the building down.

I talked to Scott Lucas at the merch table after their set and told him I felt bad for Pirner, having to follow them every night. Lucas shushed me, but he did it with a smile on his face.

- D

 

Not that he was "bad", but John Mayall had openers Brownsville Station and someone else who was a high energy "rock and roll" act.....the two openers just got everyone hyped up, and then Mayall's lower energy set seemed a letdown. Should have had different type of openers, IMHO.

 

At a blues festival in Dallas in the early 1990’s, the Fabulous Thunderbirds opened up, followed by Robert Cray, followed by Buddy Guy, followed by Dr John, followed by BB King...

No offense to any of the performers—I like/love all of them...but the T-Birds and Buddy Guy burned that stage down...the others? Not so much.

Also in the early 1990’s, Joe Walsh opened for the Doobie Brothers (non-McDonald version).

...poor Doobies. They lost half the audience within fives songs.

 

March 12, 1971 at the Fillmore East. The Allman Bros went on before Johnny Winter. Winter was always excellent - but not after the ABB. They blew the Fillmore down...

 

Saw Sly and the Family Stone open for Iron Butterfly~guess who I went to see?Saw quite a few mismatches in IA in the 70's

 

Houston, 1989 at the Summit, Steve Earle and the Dukes promoting Copperhead Road opened for Bob Dylan. Dylan had a good band (including G.E. Smith), but the Dukes smoked them.

Edit to add: here's Dylan's setlist that night.

 

Crack the Sky opened for one of my favorite bands, Blue Oyster Cult, in Philly at the Spectrum, 1978.
As much as I didn't want to admit, CTS roasted BOC that night.

 

When Led Zeppelin made their mark, opening for Iron Butterfly. (No word yet on how Porter's Popular Preachers went down with the crowd.)

 

Syracuse, NY. Landmark Theater. Fall 1980. Good Rats opened for the Henry Paul Band. Hell, *I* left after the Rats. (Then again, I'm a huge fan of theirs.)

 

Was part of a group that wanted a known act for a hot rod show. We had been considering booking Leon Russell & went to see him as he was playing locally. However, we we much more impressed & entertained by Commander Cody who opened the show. Ultimately, we booked Cody.

 

311 toured once opening for Cypress Hill. IMO, the show was over after 311 left the stage.

The DOC and Too $hort opened for NWA and Eazy-E. They didn't blow them away but they sure were great openers.

It seems like most of time the order is correct. And if it's not, well the soundman will simply turn the sounds down significantly for the opener and usually not much of a light show.

 

They were a great live act. I opened for them a bunch of times out here on LI.

- D

 

I saw the same musicians do it twice:

The English Beat opening for The Pretenders (and it's not like The Pretenders went down without a fight!)

Fine Young Cannibals opening for UB40. That time it wasn't really very close.

David Steele & Andy Cox: hire them to warm up for you at your peril.

 

Saw Nirvana open for Sonic Youth at the Palladium in Hollywood. I went for Nirvana. Maybe Sonic Youth did a good set but I left after a song or two. (And the rest is history)

 

When I saw Sleater Kinney a few years ago at the 930 Club in DC, the opener was a then-unknown Lizzo. S.K. would have been less upstaged if they’d just burned down the club instead.

 

Back in high school, I saw Grand Funk open for Led Zeppelin. Zeppelin sucked. It seemed like they were pretty drunk. Grand Funk - I barely knew who they were - was fantastic.