Shows where the openers blew away the headliners

[Mr. Vengeance]

I have one in particular, which was Tesla opening for Poison. I had already seen Poison open for DLR, and knew how godawful they were live, but a year later won tickets at a bar for the Poison show in Ottawa. Tesla was virtually unknown at the time, and certainly not known to the teeny boppers in that particular crowd. They absolutely kicked Poison's ass all aver the place. By the time they finished their set to a half-arrived crowd, those that were there, were standing and cheering.

The other is a bit unfair, but AC/DC stole the show at SARSstock in Toronto. They were so good, and the crowd was so wiped out by the time they were done, that the Stones could never have regained the momentum, as good as they were.

[PumpedUpMidget]

N'Sync could blow away Poison.

[guwapo_rocker]

Kiss blew away Whitesnake in Toronto. No contest.

[Tiki-Tom]

Saw Ozzy Osbourne with Queensryche way back when they were touring for the Rage for Order album. Blew Ozzy away big time.

[DrMaddVibe]

Van Halen blew Black Sabbath out of the arena!

Van Halen blew the Rolling Stones back to England!

AC/DC blew Cheap Trick into working harder!

Cheap Trick years later gave it back in Spades to AC/DC!

Fishbone making Maceo Parker admit submission!

The Alarm getting more crowd reaction than U2!

The Verve Pipe making Kiss blush through their make-up!

[ALMOSTsaved]

Skid Row opening for Bon Jovi in Biloxi, MS in February of 1989. I'd never heard of Skid Row and their album had just come out that week...but rest assured the day after the show, I bought the tape.

[Mr. Vengeance]

Originally posted by PumpedUpMidget
N'Sync could blow away Poison.

I remember after Tesla's set, some girl asked me "Do you know who that band was?" And I when told her she kind of tried to figure out the name. Then she asked me if they had an album and I told her they did. I hope she went out and bought it, although she seemed to be rather in love with Poison during their set, and I imagine she forgot all about poor old Tesla.

[FORD]

The classic historical example of an opening band blowing away the headliner was in 1967, when some clueless concert promoter decided to book the Jimi Hendrix Experience as opening act for....


....wait for it.....




.....The Monkees!

OK, by this time the Monkees had made some decent records, but they hadn't played on them. Yet here they were, trying to be a "real" band on stage. With an audience mostly made up of 13-14 year old girls.

And these poor kids had to witness this "crazy black man" setting fire to his guitar and pretending to fuck it, not to mention the genius of the music itself, which went right over their bubblegummy heads. Not so much that of the Monkees though, who actually modified their song "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" and tried - operative word here- to make it sound like a Hendrix number.

Jimi was kicked off the tour within a week. Somehow, I don't think it hurt him at all.

[Mr. Vengeance]

I met Davy Jones about a year and a bit ago, and we did an interview with him for the TV station. He loves to talk and one of the things we talked about was Jimi, and they (the band) were all quite hip to him, but he said the crowds really has zero idea what the hell was going on. But he said that it used to be embarassing for them to watch this fantastic guitarist up there and know they couldn't do that. I wish I had my pic on this PC of Davy and I to upload. Probably for the best since I look freaking wretched and about 15 pounds overweight.

Has to be the nicest celeb I've ever met, by the way.

[Jack68]

Ted Nugent kicked Aerosmiths pathetic live ass to the curb when i saw them at madison square garden on the done with mirrors tour.

[Jack68]

The Alarm getting more crowd reaction than U2!
So true,funny you said that the setlist and show on unforgetteble tour was lame.bad was good as was electrivc co.

[VAN HLN CA]

MOTLEY vs AEROSMITH should make for good stories. Not sure if they are flip floppin like Sam & DAve or have a rotating stage. Thay are having a ramp come out through the middle so everyones close. I think this comes out strong and starts to unwind a month into once Motley upstages the Ol'Timers. Motley needs the full stage for whole show experience so since Aerosmith is more on tunes they should open and save any chance of sabatage or casualties.

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by Jack68
The Alarm getting more crowd reaction than U2!
So true,funny you said that the setlist and show on unforgetteble tour was lame.bad was good as was electrivc co.

It was the War tour.

[Full Bug]

Originally posted by Jack68
Ted Nugent kicked Aerosmiths pathetic live ass to the curb when i saw them at madison square garden on the done with mirrors tour.
I saw Nuge open for KISS on the Crazy Nights tour and IMO blew Kiss off the stage that night....

[bueno bob]

To clarify...in 1978, Van Halen blew Ozzy, Geezer and Bill off the stage...

NOBODY can touch Tony Iommi.

Ever.

[bueno bob]

On personal experiences...um...I can't say that any of the opening acts in the concerts I've seen have touched the headliners...not to the best of my memory, anyway, although there have been openers who've been just as enjoyable as the headliners...never better, though.

[sadaist]

Van Halen's Monsters Of Rock in 1988. VH, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica, Kingdom Come. Metallica opened with Creeping Death and smoked everyone out. Best Metallica show to date that I've seen.


Sam & Dave show. Dave opened in San Bernardino and was a maniac. Sammy was decent enough, had good sound and the band was pretty tight, but just couldn't cut the mustard like Dave did.

[binnie]

Metallica blew Ozzy off stage in 1986.....


Last year, when I saw the Scorpions and Priest, Scorps were better.

However, wouldn't say that they blew em off stage.

[Shaun Ponsonby]

Exactly, exactly. I think one of Priest's problems was that they adopted the "If you can't beat em...play louder" option. And the scorps were pretty loud anyway, Priest were TOO loud. You could bearly hear the solos.

Twisted Sister gave Alice Cooper a run for his money, but didn't really blow him off.

I was at a festival called Give It A Name in Manchester back in April. The Saturday was headlined by Lost Prophets. Not my bottle of Jack, but the inexperienced friends who I went with were fans. There was a band on earlier in the day called Goldfinger (who I'd never heard of). They were a pop-punk band, which I'm not really a fan of-but they blew everyone off the stage-especially when they brought a trombone player on.

[Hardrock69]

The show I saw that fits the bill was VH/Black Sabbath in September of 1978.

Had never seen VH live, had only heard "Aint Talkin' Bout Love" on the radio (along with a HILARIOUS radio interview they did while I was driving from Tacoma to Seattle for the show).

Needless to say, VH made Black Sabbath look and sound like shit.

[binnie]

I was at the Leeds festival about three years ago. Primal Scream weren't headlining, but they were one up the bill from Sum 41.

Now I hate pop punk, but Sum 41 put on a great show, no nonsense rock n roll, if only their records sounded half as good. Primal Scream couldn't compete - they walked off, the singer shouting "what's the matter, we not heavy metal enough for ya, you scruffy bunch of unwashed cunts!".

That was the most unexpected floor wiping I've ever seen...

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by bueno bob
To clarify...in 1978, Van Halen blew Ozzy, Geezer and Bill off the stage...

NOBODY can touch Tony Iommi.

Ever.

The night I saw them in St. Pete...even Iommi didn't rock as hard as Eddie.

PS...the ones I listed...I was actually THERE!

[Mr. Vengeance]

Originally posted by Full Bug
I saw Nuge open for KISS on the Crazy Nights tour and IMO blew Kiss off the stage that night....

Saw the same tour in Toronto and I thought it was cool, the way Nugent opened his set by just walking out on stage with the full house lights on. And then just as you're asking yourself, "Is KISS making him play with no lighting?" He lauches into one of his long screams and the house lights all go down.

[pete]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
It was the War tour.

Saw that tour at the Sunrise Musical Theater/Ft Lauderdale and Bono was 5 feet away from me praising the Alarm - diggin the show.

Unforgettable Fire Tour had Lone Justice and RedRockers as openers.

[Motherpucker73]

Heh i saw BTO blow away Van Hagar back in 1986(?) at Alpine Valley in wisconsin

[floyd95]

Originally posted by Motherpucker73
Heh i saw BTO blow away Van Hagar back in 1986(?) at Alpine Valley in wisconsin

that's fucking pathetic

[floyd95]

soungarden was better than guns n roses, i think mainly b/c axl delayed starting the concert for 2 hours after soundgarden finished and everyone was pissed and sober since they stopped serving beer about an hour b4 gnr took the stage

axl was a fucking prick

although during the 2 hours the spot light guys got chicks in the audience to flash, which turned into a nice little one-upmanship-contest, very nice, tits and ass and then full frontal, very cool

axl was a fucking asshole to his fans

[MAPRamone]

Originally posted by floyd95


axl was a fucking asshole to his fans
The more things change...

[binnie]

Auf Der Mer gave A Perfect Circle a run for their money when I saw them too...

[Loons The Great]

The David Lee Roth Band OWNED Bad Company in '99...so much that Bad Co. broke up and the singer joined Queen...