The Best Opening Act You've Ever Seen

[Ben_Jamin]

My favorites are

The Dear Hunter opening for Porcupine Tree, Coheed and Cambria
DT opening for Maiden
Zella Day for Fitz and The Tantrums
Lynch Mob for Slaughter, Great White (Great show because it was my birthday)

[Orbert]

As much as I hate 90's music, I saw Candlebox open for Rush on the Counterparts tour and they were fucking excellent.

Wow, I saw Candlebox open for Rush on the Counterparts tour and thought they fucking blew goats.  I mean, right there on stage, without protection.

[El Barto]

As for my pick, I am going with Savatage when they toured with Dio and Megadeth.

I saw that tour as well. I thought Savatage were horrible and would make my list of Top 3 Worst Opening acts. Megadeth, on the other hand, was amazing.

Savatage was so impressive that I completely forgot about ever having seen them until 3 minutes ago.


Which tour was that for Savatage?

I saw the opening night of the tour in Providence on 12-28-87. Mountain King, I believe.

[bosk1]

-Kick Axe and Whitesnake opening for Quiet Riot (Vices, Slide It In, Condition Critical).  Both openers were really good, and I became a fan of both bands that night.  And although it would take me years to appreciate what I had seen, it was cool to have seen Sykes in Whitesnake.

I'm jealous. I would have loved to have seen Kick Axe live. I was just a little too young. My brother seen them open for Judas Priest as his first concert.

Ha.  Funny you should mention that.  That was my very first concert.  And one of the vivid memories I have of that show that was not related to the bands themselves was of an older kid wearing a Screaming For Vengeance tour shirt that I was just captivated by.  I mean, imagine being 14 or so, it being your first concert, and just seeing some kid fully decked out in rocker gear with long hair and being a couple of years or so older.  I thought he was just SO hard core!   

EDIT:  Just found the date.  It was September 22, 1984.  Good times...

-Trivium opening for DT.  They didn't steal the show, but were REALLY good. 

I forgot about this one, good call. I saw them open for DT on the ADTOE tour and it got me into their music. I think it was right after they had put out In Waves, discovering that album was fun.

Yeah, same here.  And, yes, it was In Waves.  That is my favorite from them.  I bought Shogun, but didn't really care for it much.  Also got Vengeance Falls right when it was released.  I liked it a lot, but not quite as much as In Waves.  Didn't really care for the new one either.

[rumborak]

Spock's Beard opening for DT in 2000 for the SFAM tour. They were touring for the V album. SB at their peak, jaw dropping performance.

[pogoowner]

Progressive Nation tour in 2008. 3 opening for BTBAM and Opeth in Pittsburgh, and opening for BTBAM, Opeth, and DT in Cleveland. They are an absolutely kickass live band.

King's X opening for Porcupine Tree would be up there, too.

[bosk1]

Oh, I forgot about King's X.  Saw them open for Extreme on the Saudades tour.  BOTH were outstanding.

[King Postwhore]

Going with the theme of Kings X a great opening band I saw for them was Dishwalla.

[ReaperKK]

From Monument to Masses. Never heard of them before and they blew me away, it was there final tour as a band and I'm sad I never got to see them again. Especially considering how great the final record was, my favorite post-rock album of all time

[KevShmev]

Sidebar:  "Reminiscing" is one of the greatest song ever written.  I love that song irrationally.

It is pretty great.

[TAC]

As much as I hate 90's music, I saw Candlebox open for Rush on the Counterparts tour and they were fucking excellent.

Wow, I saw Candlebox open for Rush on the Counterparts tour and thought they fucking blew goats.  I mean, right there on stage, without protection.

yeah, I saw that tour and they didn't do anything for me. It wasn't that they sucked. In fact I loved the two songs they released. Oddly the music on the work intercom plays Far Behind regularly. Anyway, I bought the album and thought it sucked.

[JayOctavarium]

The only one I can think of.. or 2 I should say... are tiny bands that are probably not even around anymore.

Saw So Much To Fear, and  some local thrash band open up for The Misfits in 2007. Blew Jerry Only's 'fits out of the water.

[mikeyd23]

Yeah, same here.  And, yes, it was In Waves.  That is my favorite from them.  I bought Shogun, but didn't really care for it much.  Also got Vengeance Falls right when it was released.  I liked it a lot, but not quite as much as In Waves.  Didn't really care for the new one either.

I liked their new one with a focus on clean vocals, but yeah I think In Waves remains my favorite from them, that is a fantastic record.

[romdrums]

Seeing Three open for Porcupine Tree back in 2007 was pretty sweet.  Damn near blew Porcupine Tree off the stage, and Steven Wilson even admitted as such during their set, which was pretty phenomenal in its own right.

[millahh]

Two jump immediately to mind:
-The Dear Hunter opening for dredg
-Ghost opening for Opeth/Mastodon

Type O Negative opening for Pantera left quite an impression on my 17-yr-old self, but I couldn't quite make sense of what I was seeing.

[chknptpie]

A recent stunning opening act was for The Living End. The opener was completely unknown to me and come out with their opening song "I'm gonna put my foot up your ass" which set a nice tone lol
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLeWi2InSN7K8eDTruM64rS_P--chZH2_C&v=Li5zkZs8nwg

[Orbert]

Here's a fun one.

My very first concert was Styx, The Grand Illusion.  I was in 9th grade.  They were not yet the huge arena-filling band that they would become, so the gig was at the local ice skating rink that sometimes had "events" with the ice turned off and turned into Main Floor seating, but we had seats in the stands.

The opening band was Ram Jam, the one-hit wonder known for "Black Betty".  They were actually really good.  Opened with "Black Betty" of course, then played a bunch of other songs that no one knew but were pretty good rock and roll.  I remember a couple more of those clever, syncopated breakdowns and stuff not unlike "Black Betty", and even though no one knew any of them, they kicked some ass.  They even got an encore, but they'd played all their songs (their 34-minute self-titled album would be an EP by today's standards) so they just played "Black Betty" again.  Bam-ba-lam.  Then Styx came out and blew them away anyway.

If I could go back in a time machine and see them again, I'd probably be disappointed that I'd even bothered, but at the time, it was awesome!  My first concert, so the opening band, Ram Jam, was the first "real" band I'd ever seen, and they rocked the house.  Rock and Roll!

[DragonAttack]

^
Holy crap, I saw this in a similar setting in Lansing.  We were about 20' from the doors when we were dumped on by a ton of rain, so the staff opened the doors to let everyone in....whether they had a ticket or not (we did not).  The old Metro Ice Arena roof was leaking badly, Dennis DeYoung was skating around in the wetness on stage, and it was just total delight. 

Ram Jam was fun, weren't they?

[Orbert]

Dude, that was the show!  Metro Ice Arena in Lansing, Michigan!

Where are you from?  I grew up in Lansing.  Saw my first Rush concert at the Civic Center, ELP Works at the MSU Auditorium, etc.

[McNugg]

Probably Symphony X opening for DT in 2007.  Boyyyyy were they loud though 

[bundy]

Off the top of my head:

Sebastian Hardie opening for Yes - Sydney Entertainment Centre 2003

Mastodon opening for Slayer - Perth 2007

Pain of Salvation opening for DT - Metropolis City Perth 2009

INXS opening for Men at Work - Adelaide University 1982

As far as co headliners - Motorhead onstage before Motley Crue - Perth Showgrounds 2005

And for festivals. Iggy Pop taking the stage before White Stripes Big Day Out Perth (2005 or 6 -not quite sure) Airbourne and Wolfmother were both on earlier in the Day (in fact Airbourne were the very first act on the bill) and they all were far more interesting than The White Stripes who bored me senseless.

[Cool Chris]

Seeing Three open for Porcupine Tree back in 2007 was pretty sweet.  Damn near blew Porcupine Tree off the stage, and Steven Wilson even admitted as such during their set, which was pretty phenomenal in its own right.

This came to mind as well when I saw this thread. I had never heard of 3 prior to seeing them I really enjoyed their performance.

[pogoowner]

Seeing Three open for Porcupine Tree back in 2007 was pretty sweet.  Damn near blew Porcupine Tree off the stage, and Steven Wilson even admitted as such during their set, which was pretty phenomenal in its own right.

This came to mind as well when I saw this thread. I had never heard of 3 prior to seeing them I really enjoyed their performance.

It kills me that 3 never has had any success. Their live show is one of the best I've ever seen, even beyond just opening acts. And they're not even really active anymore, touring-wise.

[El Barto]

Prong opening for Flotsam was a real stand-out. Made me a fan.

Talking to my stepbrother, he mentioned seeing Boston back ~79. Sammy Hagar opened, and back then Sammy was really slaying. Dude was talented and busting his ass to get somewhere. Curious if anybody else saw Sammy in a support capacity. I suspect he'd be making appearances in this thread.

[TAC]

What year was the F&J/Prong show?

[LudwigVan]

Coheed and Cambria opening for Heaven and Hell.

[James Mypetgiress]

Coldrain, who were freaking legendary, opening for Bullet for my Valentine, who were awful.

[Genowyn]

Devin Townsend for Between the Buried and Me
Stolen Babies for Devin Townsend

Also both times I have seen Dir en grey they were opening for an act I didn't stick around for, if that counts XD

[SwedishGoose]

The Violet Hour opening up for Marillion in 1991 or 1992... totally amazing

Sadly they disbanded after the tour so they only released one album, The Fire Sermon. It is one of my all-time favorite albums though.

[El Barto]

What year was the F&J/Prong show?

6/21/90  Beg to differ and When the Storm Comes Down.

[TAC]

What year was the F&J/Prong show?

6/21/90  Beg to differ and When the Storm Comes Down.

Hell yes!! WTSCD is one of my all time favorite albums I saw that tour in Providence, but I don't remember Prong opening. I could've been drinking in the parking lot though. Troy Gregory left F&J to join Prong right after that tour. Which as too bad because F&J was never the same after that.

[axeman90210]

The first thing that came to my mind was seeing Thank You Scientist open for Haken a couple months ago. I hadn't heard any of their stuff ahead of time and they played a killer set, and I've been listening to almost nothing but their stuff since. Honorable mention would probably go to Trivium opening for DT.

[TAC]

So one of the most amazing opening sets was turned in by White Zombie. They were opening for Anthrax in '93. They were amazing and hypnotic. I didn't end up getting into them. A friend of mine had their album but for that one show, I was literally blown away.

[cramx3]

So one of the most amazing opening sets was turned in by White Zombie. They were opening for Anthrax in '93. They were amazing and hypnotic. I didn't end up getting into them. A friend of mine had their album but for that one show, I was literally blown away.

I was never into Rob Zombie, but I saw him over the summer and he's got a few pretty catchy tunes and really is a world class showman.  I'd put him up with some of the best metal frontmen even though his music isn't all that good.  I'd imagine that show in 93 was quite intense though as it was purely metal back than and less "show". 

[TAC]

So one of the most amazing opening sets was turned in by White Zombie. They were opening for Anthrax in '93. They were amazing and hypnotic. I didn't end up getting into them. A friend of mine had their album but for that one show, I was literally blown away.

I was never into Rob Zombie, but I saw him over the summer and he's got a few pretty catchy tunes and really is a world class showman.  I'd put him up with some of the best metal frontmen even though his music isn't all that good.  I'd imagine that show in 93 was quite intense though as it was purely metal back than and less "show".

I can't believe I didn't think of them right off the bat,. They were an amazing sight. Hypnotic.