I am really interested to know if anyone has seen some great opening acts at recent concerts. Opening acts can be a tricky thing, because if the crowd is really just not into it they tend to suck enormously. However, there are those rare occasions when an opening act can come out of nowhere and really blow you away. So let's share.

Some great ones for me:
Final Fantasy (The Arcade Fire)
Amina (Sigur Ros)
Rogue Wave (The Shins)
The Hackensaw Boys (Modest Mouse)

One last thing- feel free to share your bizarre opening act experiences as well. For example, I went to a free Roots concert only to find that they were merely the opening act for...The Donnas. What on earth?!?! It was awful, only a small percentage of the crowd had ever heard of the Roots or had any tolerance for rap music, no matter how awesome...a sad day.

I saw Lee Dorsey open for the Clash on the Sandinista! tour at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1980. I'm not sure how many fans knew who the hell he was, but it was a total trip.

Am I supposed to be too to say that I saw the Cars open for Styx at the Forum in L.A.

EDIT-Damn! The more my drunken Alzheimer's brain thinks of it, it was the London Calling tour, but Lee Dorsey did "Ya Ya" and "Working in a Coalmine", among others.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mark f,

The Greenhornes were really good as an opening act for The White Stripes. The bass was a wee bit too loud though but otherwise they put on a great show.

I enjoyed Los Lonely Boys opening for Santana, enjoyed them better than Santana actually.

I went to see Stellastarr* in a small club here in San Diego and some Las Vegas band called The Killers were opening for them, just before the release of their album Hot Fuss. They showed potential...wonder what happened to them?

CocoRosie opening for Antony and the Johnsons really turned me on to their new one.

July 8, 1967 -

Opening for the Monkees -

James Marshall (Jimi) Hendrix.

Opening act for the ages.

A

The Gang Gang Dance opening for the Animal Collective wrere amazing. Unforunately nothing they've recorded comes anywhere near their live sound. I also saw a 90 year old pianist/songwriter named Irving Fields open for Gonzales recently. I'm not sure if it was so cool because he was really good or just because he's really old. Maybe it was because he tried to pick up my 25 year old sister in the lobby before the show. At any rate he was an incredible showman and the crowd ate him up.

quote:

One last thing- feel free to share your bizarre opening act experiences as well. For example, I went to a free Roots concert only to find that they were merely the opening act for...The Donnas. What on earth?!?! It was awful, only a small percentage of the crowd had ever heard of the Roots or had any tolerance for rap music, no matter how awesome...a sad day.

I saw The Roots open for Rage Against the Machine about 8 years ago. They played for a while and put on an amazing set. It also ended up being one of the better Rage concerts I saw.

I saw Roots open for Rage too, filling in for the absent Wu-Tang. That was probably the second best show I've seen The Roots put on, but it was by far their best performance vocally, with Rahzel still there, and Black Thought the best I've ever heard him.

Kyuss opening for Ween is still my favourite show of all time, in a club with about 300 people at the max. What a show!

I just looked up the opening act to the Super Furry Animals concert I have in November, and...

..It's Caribou.

Higher caliber than I'd expect from an opening act. Talk about luck!

God, I'm not even sure I can remember a third of all the great opening acts I've seen, but a few pop into my head:

Fountains of Wayne, opening for Sloan circa 1996.

A then-unknown San Fran band called Counting Crows putting on a stellar set opening for Cracker prior to the release of their first record

The Damnwells, opening for Jesse Malin

Josh Ritter, opening for The Frames a few nights ago.

I, too, am getting Caribou with SFA. I'm not a fan of the Caribou/Manitoba records, but I'm looking forward to seeing the show regardless.

I have two, both of which I saw over the summer,
First Robert Ranolph and the Family Band open for Dave Matthews this the second time I have seen him open a show and the second time that he blew me away, one of the most exciting upbeat shows you will see.
Next is Matt Costa opening for Jack Johnson. Just incredible! i don't know if I can say more, or enough about this guy.
Thats all for now

The Walkmen, who opened up for Modest Mouse were fantastic.

camper van beethoven (modest mouse)
mike watt (rhcp)
wolf parade (arcade fire)

Wolf Parade, Wolf Parade, and Wolf Parade.

Shivaree, opening for Antony & The Johnsons last year. I enjoyed her show more than Antony's. (The dinner theatre atmosphere helped.)

Lo-Fidelity All Stars, opening for Moby in 1999.

I saw Nathan Asher and the Infantry open for Cake in North Carolina and it blew me away.

quote:

Originally posted by weirdears:
I saw Nathan Asher and the Infantry open for Cake in North Carolina and it blew me away.

Hmm. weirdears posting about Nathan Asher. That's a shocker.

MMM...spam.

Having read Metacritic casually for some time, I only just now discovered the wonders of the forums. Lots of good stuff here I'm eager to catch up on (though I realize that's impossible), but for now let me recommend an opener I saw last year that really surprised me: The Octopus Project opening for ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead.

Odd combination, but as both are from Austin it made sense. TOP are very much electronic-influenced, an LCD Soundsystem without the indie in-jokes, hype, and self-deprecating wit. Just good, solid, energetic music. Live, especially.

Some memorable openers:

No Doubt did a great opening act in support of The Untouchables (Palm Springs, '87).

Guns 'N Roses blew the Rolling Stones off the stage in 1989.

Kings of Leon dwarfed The Strokes...
Kaito was far superior in support of British Sea Power...

Let's see...

One of my favorites was when I saw Ozma open for Nada Surf. I'm not sure who put on a better show that night.

More recently I saw Rogue Wave open for Nada Surf (I promise they're not the only band I go see...)

I also saw Blueprint and Brother Ali open for Atmosphere. Man, that was badass.

Ben Lee opening for Phantom Planet, also good.