I’ve been to a number of shows where I thought the opening act was better, but “stole the show” sounds like it’s a competition. And some posters (and certainly some music writers) feel that I should then hate the headliners (who will then slink offstage and never tour with that other band again).
I saw a young Tom Petty, who did an amazing job opening for Bob Dylan. But Bob did a great set (he was sober!) and invited Petty onstage for a couple of songs.
And everyone got along, kum bi ya.
Yeah, they were Traveling Wilburys.
Many years ago I won tickets to an Alabama concert in a contest. Their opening act was Kathy Mattea. We loved Kathy. We left during Alabama’s second number.
I saw them on tour. I wasn’t disappointed in Dylan, because going in I knew what to expect. Knopfler was definitely the more engaging and dynamic act, though. Still dissapointed he didn’t bring out some of the old Dire Straights stuff.
I won tickets to see Squeeze. They were touring on a hit single and album, but were blown away by the then unknown 10,000 Maniacs. Leaving the show there wasn’t any question about which t-shirts and albums we were going to buy.
I saw REM, and agree they were pretty boring live. I had to look it up, and the opener was Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians. A fine band, but clearly not memerable, at least to me.
Somebody bought tickets to Paul Simon during the Graceland era. Robert Cray and Ladysmith Black Mombazo (without Simon) both blew his performance out of the water.
R.E.M. were rather erratic, quality-wise, especially in their earlier days. However, when they were good, they were spectacular.
The first time I saw them, in 1985, 10,000 Maniacs also opened, and they were so awful, a guy I worked with who also attended that concert referred to them as “10,000 Fuckups.” It was also far and away the most wasted crowd I’ve ever seen at any concert, and other people who were there told me they noticed the same thing.
Speaking of Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits), he played a 2-3 hour show this year, but didn’t play “Sultans of Swing”
Yep, Steven Tyler was notorious for unplugging opening acts that he thought were ‘playing too long’ (read ‘better’). He tried doing it to Kansas when they opened for Aerosmith in Wichita. The Kansas band members figured this would happen so they plugged in a bunch of dummy extension cords to thwart the little dick.
Yeah, not a nice thing to do to a hometown band. (I know the band Kansas originated in Topeka; close enough.)
Haha, that’s hilarious… Tyler sucks. Very annoying voice, one of the worst popular bands of the 70s.
Yeah, saw him in Portland. The encore was Money For Nothin’, which he revived just for this tour. He hadn’t played it live in a very long time. Great concert, and at least there was no opening act to deal with. Also, we were treated to the Uillean pipes being played in a rock band. 
In 2002 in Vancouver I was amazed to see The Locust upstage headliners Dillinger Escape Plan
The only time I got drunk enough to actually puke on someone’s* shoe.
*Zuckuss drummer Jesse (for those keeping score at home).
In 1971 or '72 John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra opened for a Jerry Garcia solo tour, and blew him out of the water according to radio coverage. WBCN started playing Mahavishnu Orchestra after that. I went to see them when they returned to Boston and they were indeed fantastic.
Bands worrying about good opening acts should take a page from Captain Beefheart. When I saw them they had a chimp act opening for them.
A ways back dug up Nothingness and Eternity again. (Especially always liked this part) Loved to have seen them but the rotters broke up when I was only 8. 
Dang you saw CB? Lucky cretin! And back when acid was way stronger too.
IIRC Spinal Tap enjoyed the support of hand puppets, and the Monkees oh-so-wisely:rolleyes: had Hendrix backing them up.
Loved to have seen the chimp merch table.
Er, BETWEEN Nothingness and Eternity, that is.
Sunday 17th December 1978 - Top Rank Suite, Cardiff
Top of the bill - Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias (comedy rock band from Manchester)
Support act - The Police
Tickets - 50p
Outlandos D’Amour was out but the first 2 singles hadn’t done well. Both were subsequently re-released and were hits 2nd time around - Roxanne and So Lonely. They were considerably better than Alberto.
MiM
I saw them the previous year at the Roundhouse in London, fourth and last on the bill behind Steel Pulse, Wreckless Eric and John Cooper Clarke (review - it’s amazing what you can find on the net). The only blowing away they were doing was of Wreckless Eric, who was awful. I commented upthread on the extraordinary level of on-stage inebriation achieved by Lew Lewis - Eric was right up there with him.
j
Clearly I missed the word ‘huge’ when reading the thread title. Sorry.
MiM
Looks like an amazing gig, One-hit Eric aside. I’m a big JCC fan; admittedly I’ve probably heard all his best material several times but then I could say the same of the Police (not live, but still).
Well, it lives on in the memory, so yeah, not a bad night. One day I’ll tell the story about Dexy’s Midnight Runners…
j