Stars, New Pornographers

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Originally posted by brighteyes215:
Stars, New Pornographers

I'll second Stars, and I wish I could second The New Pornographers but their shows with Belle & Sebastian sold out in 4 seconds.

The Giraffes, opening for Eagles of Death Metal.
Goddamn, the vocalist is straight out of a classic rock band; he has so much swagger and charisma. The guitarist was likewise thrashing in a nonviolent way (if you can imagine that) and the bassist grooved appropriately, and the set was so incredibly tight and they had so much chemistry, my jaw hung literally agape after the second song.

Prong opening for White Zombie.
Face melter fo shoz.

A British band called The Duke Spirit opened up for Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, and they really rocked my face off. Plus, the lead singer was a babe and my friend and I hung out with her after the show.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor opening for Low

Deerhoof opening for The Flaming Lips, Matt and Kim opening for The World/Inferno Friendship Society (they out-performed the headline act), Frida Hyvonen for Jens Lekman

A couple of years ago I went to see The Walkmen at the local hotspot in Grand Rapids. The opening band was Sound Team. They were unsigned at the time, and played like they really wanted to get noticed. They played an amazing show, very ethreal and stunning. Their songs would go on and on and on in this krautrock/shoegaze kind of thing, and they played for well over an hour and a half.

The band was really kind to talk to afterwards as well. Since then, I hear about their blogger hype all the time (or at least I did this summer), and after seeing their show, I'm not suprised. It's a shame they didn't capture the same essence of their performances on disc, but it was criminally under-rated anyway.

The Walkmen were great too, capping off a truely wonderful night.

Seeing as Markf's already weighed in for the Old Farts, a band called Matt Finish opened for Midnight Oil in 1980, and played a blistering set of melodic rock. Matt Moffit, who was essentially Matt Finish, played as if the Oils were supporting them. Oils fans, being the beer-swilling roughnecks that they were, heckled them throughout, which only made Matt Finish play even better. The Oils followed with the best live set I've seen from any band. A magic night all 'round.

On the bizarre side, during a 1980 Bo Diddley tour of Oz, the bass player in the local support band was, we found out later, suddenly gripped by profound stage fright. So, Bo opened for himself! Hey, Bo Diddley knows that Bo Diddley can blow Bo Diddley off the stage any time Bo Diddley feels like it.

I was lucky enough to see the Flaming Lips open for Beck, and as you all know, they then became Beck's band. It was a wild show.

I thought the M's did a great job opening for Wilco this past summer.

I was at a Broken Social Scene show at Lee's Palace a couple of years ago and the openers were all the different incarnations of the band members (Apostle of Hustle, Jason Collett, etc.). That was pretty cool. Seemed like such a warm and friendly environment.

I saw The Blow open for Architecture in Helsinki.
Khaela Maricich was by herself, and amazing.
She sang, she danced, she told stories - probably stole the show.

Secret Machines opening for Kings of Leon (Kings of Leon sucked, The Secret Machines rocked!!!!)

Lovedrug opened for the worse band - The Killers.

And, I just saw Silverspun Pickups open for Pete Yorn/The Shins/Modest Mouse. I was very impressed by all of the bands, but ranked Silverspun (whom I had never heard before) above The Shins! Obviously though, Modest Mouse was the best.

David Ford opening for Augie March earlier this year before he had any hype whatsoever in Australia, he played State Of The Union and most of the crowd gave him a standing ovation which was pretty amazing for an opening act, he totally rocked it.

A friend of mine gave me free tickets to go to Pearl Jam about a year ago. I don't listen to Pearl Jam that much, but as a nostalgia kind of thing it was great.

I was even more impressed when I found out who the opener was: My Morning Jacket! Greatest opener I've ever seen.

quote:

I was even more impressed when I found out who the opener was: My Morning Jacket! Greatest opener I've ever seen.

It would be hard to top that as an opening act. I saw Subtle open for TVOTR earlier this year. That was also a great opener (better than the main act TBH).

Andrew Bird opening for Wilco. I liked Bird's show better than Wilco's, honestly. It's just amazing to watch him play all these instruments...plus he had a spinning grammophone-type speaker...thing? which was also interesting. I wished I had seen him when he was in my town a few weeks earlier...

You'll get another chance, but make the most of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Yay!:
Godspeed You! Black Emperor opening for Low

i am so jealous. where did you see godspeed? i see you are in the uk - i though they had only played in canada.

it's cool seeing some of the shows I actually attended being mentioned (Walkmen/Modest Mouse, Rogue Wave/The Shins).

Okkervil River opening for The Decemberists for one of their Picaresque tours @ The Glass House in Pomona, CA.

Yeah Yeah Yeah's opening for The White Stripes (around the time Elephant was released). Too bad it was in an outdoor theater.

One show I wish I were there to see was Hayden opening for The National (during their recent European stint)