Warmup Bands
Published January 09, 2004
My recent Blue Oyster Cult post has once again caused me to revisit some concert experiences of yore. In particular, the warmup bands: great ones and icky ones. We've all been to shows like these. In the 'great' case, a band comes along you've never heard of and makes such an impression that you're runnin' to the record store the very next day. When the opener goes bad though...well, sometimes it's almost ambarassing.
Great
Boston. Opener: Sammy Hagar (Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, ME)
This was on Boston's "Don't Look Back" tour. Holy cow, were we all psyched to see Boston. They were the rock gods of the day. I hadn't heard of Sammy Hagar at the point in my life (though a friend did have some Montrose records, but the connection escaped me) but was certainly willing to give the guy a chance. Man, did he rock. I never really liked Hagar as part of Van Halen but if you check out his very early live material you'll hear some great stuff.
Cheap Trick. Opener: Knots & Crosses (Club Casino, Hampton Beach, NH)
I've mentioned this group before. Totally unknown to me at the time, they came out and just shocked the Cheap Trick crowd into submission.
Joe Jackson. Opener: Jill Sobule (Orpheum Theatre, Boston, MA)
On Jackson's "Laughter and Lust" tour, a show right in the middle of a summer heatwave. In Boston's Orpheum Theatre. With no air conditioning. In the balcony. I was zoning out a little from the heat but Jill Sobule's set brought me right back to earth. By the time "I Kissed A Girl" was played everybody in our section was whispering things like "wow! who is this?!!"
Not So Great
The Tubes. Opener: Frankie & The Knockouts (Richfield Coliseum, Cleveland, OH)
This was during the "Completion Backward Principle" tour. I suppose you could call The Tubes "power pop", but that's not quite right. In any event Frankie & The Knockouts were a bad choice. There were some people yellin' some pretty nasty things during this set.
The Clash. Opener: ...some chicks with shakers, or something (Cape Cod Coliseum, South Yarmouth, MA)
Good gawd, make 'em stop. I really wish I could remember the name of this group. What I do remember is mostly percussion, shouted vocals (like Tony Basil on acid) and the rain of paper cups & other stuff being thrown from the crowd. They didn't last for more than half an hour, and told us to fuck off as they left the stage.
Black Sabbath. Opener: The Dogs (Bangor Civic Center, Bangor, Me)
"Heaven and Hell" tour. The opener was supposed to be "Riot", but something went wrong there so the promoter had to scramble. They got local act The Dogs to take the slot. I felt bad for them. I'd seen them several times before and liked 'em. They were very much into bands like Cheap Trick and the Beatles and played a shimmery kind of pop music full of those influences. The problem was that the arena was full of males young and old ready to hear Ronnie James Dio, Iommi & company crush some bones to powder. It wasn't very pretty.
(First posted on Mark Is Cranky)
Mark Saleski is a writer and music obsessive based out of the Monadnock region of New Hampshire. On his best day, he hopes to channel the ghosts of Lester Bangs and Jack Kerouac. He spends the hours of 9:32PM to 1:37AM carving out music reviews and essays for Jazz.com, Blogcritics.org and other publications.
- Warmup Bands
- Published: January 09, 2004
- Type:
- Section: Music
- Writer: Mark Saleski
- Mark Saleski's BC Writer page
- Mark Saleski's personal site
- Spread the Word
- Like this article?
- Email this
Save to del.icio.us
Comments on this articleComments
Brick, I'd forgotten about that Sonic Youth, Social D, Neil Young show - that was totally kickass! Loved it.
Loved Peter Tosh opening for the Stones - most of the rockers didn't get it, but it sure opened my eyes.
All-time astonishment: Springsteen opening for Wishbone Ash in late-'72. The entire theater was agape.
How about Aerosmith opening for BTO: skinny guys vs fat guys=skinny guys wreaking terrible vengeance.
Horrifying: raggedly-ass, couldn't sing a note on key to save his mother's life, George Thorogood opening for the Allman Bros. Under the influence of one thing or another, I literally wanted to jump onstage, grab his guitar, and beat him over the head with it until the hideous bombination was silenced forever. But my brother restrained me.
Anybody opening for George Strait sucks. Just horrible. Trust me on this one.
Seeing Rye Coalition open for Queens of the Stone Age and leaving people's jaws on the floor. I left halfway through Queens because they just couldn't compete.
Any opening band(s) for a band that is headlining that only 4 people have heard of. Guaranteed mediocrity.
Seeing P.J. Harvey open for U2 Dallas and leaving people slightly bewlidered until she played that "little fish, big fish" song.
No Doubt actually holding their own while opening for U2. Good set, good energy, actually got the crowd ready.
Not having to see anybody open for Big Head Todd and The Monsters, thus giving us over 2 hours of bliss.
Watching in amusement as Frat Boys rocked out to Rage Against the Machine (opening for U2) and knowing that they did't get the irony of their support for Rage.
ah...the George Strait thing reminds me of one: Patty Lovelace opening for Vince Gil at the Cumberland County Civic Center (Portland, Maine).
she opened with a version of Richard Thompson's "Tear-Stained Letter".
way cool.
I saw Rank and File open for Lone Justice before I had heard of them - astonishing. I fell into the brothers from the dancefloor - they didn't seem to mind, much.
Autograph opening for Van Halen on the 1984 tour-Pyewwwwwww! Their keyboard/synth wasn't working, so we couldn't even rock out to "Turn up the Radio!"
When I saw VH on that tour, they had a rockabilly act opening (sorry, can't remember the name). They sounded okay to me, but my fellow rockers booed 'em off after three songs. Sometimes I really don't like the audiences I find myself in.
My first concert was Rainbow (Long Live Rock 'n Roll tour) supporting REO Speedwagon (pre-Hi Infidelity) at Winterland. My ears rang for three days afterward - I thought that was cool.
Eisley and Ron Sexsmith opening for Coldplay. Liked Eisley, especially since they were a local band, found Sexsmith boring.
Carbon Leaf opening for Counting Crows and John Mayer was a pleasant surprise. Never heard of them before, but enjoyed their high energy folk-rock sound. Didn't pay them enough attention, as they were actually playing outside the venue and didn't finish their set before the doors opened. In retrospect, I wish I had stayed with them a bit longer.
I'll comment in response to Chris' about No Doubt "holding their own." I saw them open for U2 in Los Angeles and that was one of the worst "big name" opening acts I've ever seen. Every second of that show was so scripted that Gwen sounded as if she was simply reading every pronouncement she made. Horrible, boring, self-important crap. They made the mistake of acting they were the main act. I would have gladly taken a real artist like PJ Harvey over that anyday. But hey, Gwen looked great.
gee, that's pretty interesting...i wouldn't have thought i'd see the phrase "self-important" in relation to a group like No Doubt.
Rick Derringer Band opening for Aerosmith in 1976 at Boston Garden. Both bands were good. The sound sucked.
As I recall, the tickets were about $5.
Blue Oyster Cult opening for Black Sabbath at Boston Garden in 1980. So loud that you couldn't tell what song was being played unless you stuck your fingers in your ears. Gave up and left after the first few songs and never saw the Sabs.
Make that "Blue Öyster Cult". Gotta remember those umlauts.
I saw the Breeders right before Title TK came out and they were pretty bad (drunk, mostly). Their opener, The Deathray Davies, were much better and made a lasting impression.
Add your comment, speak your mind
(Or ping: http://blogcritics.org/mt/tb/11579)
Autograph opening for Van Halen on the 1984 tour-Pyewwwwwww! Their keyboard/synth wasn't working, so we couldn't even rock out to "Turn up the Radio!"
Jane's Addiction opening for the Ramones, the crowd hated them, Perry was combative, it was really tense, and wonderful.
Man, I could go on. Oh yeah, it is totally Kick Ayuss that you saw the Sabs and Clash at the time.
Tracy Chapman opening for 10,000 Maniacs-nice.
The Call opening for the Psych Furs-The Call Ruled. Ran into old flame in the hallway (she looked fab), I was gushing about the Call, and she was like, "I never heard of them, we came late..." And I was (thinking to myself)"Like, yo, you got no clue!" This was the same flame that once stated U2 sounded like noise in high school. I bet her cd collection is really lame!
Kepone opening for Helmet-Again, crowd hated them, band was antagonistic, it was really tense in a very bad things about to happen kind of way.
Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young (Social D was on the bill too)-played one of their more noisy/artsy sets. The old burnouts hated it. It was very wonderful.
Meat Puppets opening for Cracker-Lovely. If only I could jump in the Delorean and go back in time, and warn Mr. Kirkwood not to go the the post office under any circumstances on the day of 12-26-03!
Rollins Band opening for Jane's Addiction-Super Fab!