Warmup bands that put on a better show than the headliner

[BufordT 371]

I posted in the seattle grunge thread that Soundgarden put on a better show as the opening act than Guns N Roses in circa 1991 (or 2) in San Diego. The 2 guys I went with agreed at the time. 

What others do we have?

[Hawkeye21 1,848]

I did not make it to this concert but I had a lot of friends that went and I always remembered what they said when they came back.  They went to a Red Hot Chili Peppers' concert and the Foo Fighters opened for them.  They said the Foo Fighters blew away the Red Hot Chili Peppers performance.  This was back around 1998.

[vuduchile 1,940]

Skynyrd claims they blew the Stones off the stage at Knebworth in 1976.   

[Utilit99 4,099]

Flock of Seagulls was way better than the Go-Gos.

Just kidding.  The Go-Gos killed them. All the Flock had was I Ran So Far Away. Nothing else. Can you believe that?

 

[jerryskids 5,172]

The closest I can think of is seeing SRV open for... U2 Joshua Tree tour I think, back in the late 80s in Bahston.  U2 was great but SRV was like a second headliner IMO.

[Bier Meister 1,512]

Early 80's saw Metallica open for Y&T. 

[bandrus1 413]

27 minutes ago, Utilit99 said:

Flock of Seagulls was way better than the Go-Gos.

Just kidding.  The Go-Gos killed them. All the Flock had was I Ran So Far Away. Nothing else. Can you believe that?

 

space age love song is good

[nzoner 936]

Showing my age but I saw Van Halen open for Black Sabbath in '78,VH only had music from their first two albums but it was a two headliner show.

[Big Guy 1,400]

STYX opened for Aerosmith I think in 1978 and blew them away! ( Cleveland )

[Big Guy 1,400]

17 hours ago, Utilit99 said:

Flock of Seagulls was way better than the Go-Gos.

Just kidding.  The Go-Gos killed them. All the Flock had was I Ran So Far Away. Nothing else. Can you believe that?

 

that's not saying much about the Flock, since Belinda always sings flat and the rest can barely play.

The Bangles on the other hand 

[nzoner 936]

6 minutes ago, Big Guy said:

STYX opened for Aerosmith I think in 1978 and blew them away! ( Cleveland )

Never had the opportunity to see Styx and that was my favorite era of theirs,I gave up on them when they released the Kilroy stuff.

[edjr 5,547]

5 minutes ago, nzoner said:

Never had the opportunity to see Styx and that was my favorite era of theirs,I gave up on them when they released the Kilroy stuff.

DDY really killed Styx with all his puzzy Kilroy bullchit. Getting rid of him was the right thing to do.

[ZeroTolerance 582]

Metallica opening for GnR in Montreal. Their set was straight fire.

[Herbivore 904]

38 minutes ago, nzoner said:

Never had the opportunity to see Styx and that was my favorite era of theirs,I gave up on them when they released the Kilroy stuff.

Got to see Styx randomly about 13 years ago.  They played a free concert at the end of a Pitt Pirates game.  About 7 songs with fireworks blasting off Clemente bridge and from atop the Highmark building.  It was awesome.  

To the op...I loved Metallica, but saw The Cult open for them in 89 and they killed it.  Love Removal Machine blew the roof off.  And Queensryche opening for Def Leppard, but I was biased, went to see Queensryche really.

[shotsup 831]

20 hours ago, Bier Meister said:

Early 80's saw Metallica open for Y&T. 

Came here to say Metallica (MOP) open for Ozzy (Ultimate Sin). 
 

Damn. Ozzy was old then. Did fukcing jumping jacks all night. Was a train wreck. 
 

Metallica killed it that night

[Bier Meister 1,512]

Also saw a younger whitesnake open for quiet riot (wasn’t a fan).  Went to see whitesnake.

[shotsup 831]

1 hour ago, Bier Meister said:

Also saw a younger whitesnake open for quiet riot (wasn’t a fan).  Went to see whitesnake.

Did you Slide it in ?

[Bier Meister 1,512]

Right to the top 

[kutulu 1,542]

2 hours ago, shotsup said:

Came here to say Metallica (MOP) open for Ozzy (Ultimate Sin). 
 

Damn. Ozzy was old then. Did fukcing jumping jacks all night. Was a train wreck. 
 

Metallica killed it that night

I've seen Metallica over 60 times but that was the first one.  I left after Metallica in a successful attempt to meet them but I remember hearing ozzy singing "Nuke'em, Nuke'em" from outside the Glenn's falls civicr center... It sounded so lame...I had seen him a few years prior on the speak of the devil tour which was awesome.  Wish I could have seen him with Randy though.

[edjr 5,547]

Dokken opened for Aerosmith circa 1987-98

 

Never liked Aerosmith that much. LOVED me some Dokken.

 

[jerryskids 5,172]

On 3/30/2020 at 3:24 PM, Bier Meister said:

Early 80's saw Metallica open for Y&T. 

I had to google Y&T, somehow I had never heard of them.  

[shotsup 831]

3 hours ago, kutulu said:

I've seen Metallica over 60 times but that was the first one.  I left after Metallica in a successful attempt to meet them but I remember hearing ozzy singing "Nuke'em, Nuke'em" from outside the Glenn's falls civicr center... It sounded so lame...I had seen him a few years prior on the speak of the devil tour which was awesome.  Wish I could have seen him with Randy though.

My first Metallica was Felt Forum (small venue in MSG) on Kill ‘m All tour. 

[Bier Meister 1,512]

1 hour ago, jerryskids said:

I had to google Y&T, somehow I had never heard of them.  

Local band from sf.  I think they later had a video that did well on MTV....

though originally from Southern California, Metallica rooted in the Bay Area then grew to be yuge.

[shotsup 831]

19 minutes ago, Bier Meister said:

Local band from sf.  I think they later had a video that did well on MTV....

though originally from Southern California, Metallica rooted in the Bay Area then grew to be yuge.

I seem to remember the MTV song as Mean Streak. I think I had that album. 

[Bier Meister 1,512]

3 minutes ago, shotsup said:

I seem to remember the MTV song as Mean Streak. I think I had that album. 

Summertime girls.... hard rock was starting to fade away.

 

mean streak, black tiger was pretty good

[shotsup 831]

20 minutes ago, Bier Meister said:

Summertime girls.... hard rock was starting to fade away.

hmmm sounds familiar- have to check on Spotify 

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

My ex wife got me a ticket (one was all she could get, and it was $200) to see Bob Dylan at the ryman auditorium in Nashville. I was so pumped. This was circa 2010 or so.

Opening act was Amos Lee. He was awesome. I knew him, but not well.

Then, as a surprise, Elvis Costello came out and did a short set. That was an awesome bonus.

Then Dylan came out. He blew. He ignored the audience completely. No interaction at all. Just rushed through a Playlist of lesser known recent crap that nobody knew at all. The only song I knew was desolation row. I left early. 

[Flipper 57]

6 hours ago, kutulu said:

Wish I could have seen him with Randy though.

This ... After they replaced the other two guys and Randy passed it was downhill musically.

 

I would add that I always thought Tesla, Firehouse and Trixter sounded better than Warrant back in the day but it might have been the alcohol ...

[DuckStupid 40]

6 hours ago, edjr said:

Dokken opened for Aerosmith circa 1987-98

 

Never liked Aerosmith that much. LOVED me some Dokken.

 

I saw this as well and agree.  

[DuckStupid 40]

Saw 38 special open up for Bon Jovi around that same time and have to say I enjoyed the special more. 

[shotsup 831]

Not to go off topic but hearing kutulu seeing Metallica over 60 times I was thinking I saw them at least 30 times but it saddens me I’ve seen Allman Brothers more but I’ll never see them again. They played a 12/14 night set at the Beacon Theater for years. I would go 2 to 3 nights a year. 
Those were all truly the best shows I attended. RIP Greg.