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Offline millahh

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Best songs to open a show
« on: November 11, 2016, 09:54:44 AM »
Sometimes, there are songs that are just perfect to open a show...they perfectly set the mood, the energy level, prime for what is to come, kick ass, and leave a lasting impression.  What are the best of these that people have seen?

For me there are two:
-Fair to Midland - Whiskey & Ritalin.  Just absolutely nuts.  Darroh launched into the crown on the downbeat, and it was just the perfect "here we go" moment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPCa2-nBVjM

-Ghost - Infestissamum/Per Adspera.  It's the ideal blend of ominous impending doom, theatricality, and just general ass-kicking.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqL3gAzt5i0


What say you, DTF?
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Offline TheCountOfNYC

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #1 on: November 11, 2016, 12:17:48 PM »
Avenged Sevenfold: Nightmare. When the lights go out and the first bell notes are played over the PA, the crowd gets sent into a frenzy.

System of a Down: Soldier Side-Intro/B.Y.O.B. Serj and Daron starting on stage for the calm intro before Shavo and John come on to whip the show into insanity is amazing.

Dream Theater: Afterlife. I thought is was a great way to open the 30th anniversary shows.

Metallica: Creeping Death. Really any song that they have ever opened with works here but nothing sends a Metallica show into maximum overdrive quite like Creeping Death.
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Offline Stadler

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2016, 12:44:46 PM »
"Where Eagles Dare", Iron Maiden
"Slainte Mhath", Marillion
"Deuce" or "Detroit Rock City", Kiss
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Offline Metro

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2016, 01:25:52 PM »
Spirit - Ghost

I've seen them twice this year. The first time they opened with Spirit. It has this creepy, almost Doctor Who-ish, 60's Sci-Fi introv that works perfectly after the intro tape(Masked Ball - Jocelyn Pook). The second time I saw them(This past Tuesday, actually) they opened with the new song "Square Hammer", which is a great song, but it doesn't feel like an opener.


A Nightmare to Remember - Dream Theater

I saw them for the first time on the Progressive Nation 09 Tour, and they opened with this. The storm sample with the creepy piano perfectly sets the mood and then it explodes with those intro chords and the curtain falls revealing the band. 14 year old me thought that was the coolest shit ever. 21 year old me still thinks that.
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Online DragonAttack

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2016, 03:30:46 AM »
 Dream Theater: 'Ant Odyssey'.  After hearing the taped 'Psycho' theme, this was a thrill, especially with that big ant on the screen, and MP inciting the crowd.  When I saw them in DC in '08, they followed with 'In The Presence of Enemies 1'.  Much better than the official cd release.

KISS: 'Deuce' or 'Detroit Rock City'.  Guilty pleasures.

Van Halen:  'Poundcake'.  Hell, it's one of the best album openers, so it's perfect.

Genesis:  'Mama'.  For personal reasons.

Queensryche:  'The Voice Inside'.  After all these years, this remains my opener on my GH version. 

Queen:  'Procession' (tape), 'Father To Son' or 'A Day at the Races' album intro (tape), 'Tie Your Mother Down'

Fortunate enough to see both of these as show openers.   EVERY Queen concert beginning was terrific, but these two are my personal favorites.

And, surprisingly, my favorite

U2:  'Where The Streets Have No Name', The Joshua Tree tour, Pontiac Silverdome.  I was expecting an 'OK' concert.  I did not expect to be so emotionally moved throughout the entire performance.  I've watched and listened to the 'Rattle & Hum' version a gazillion times.  A shame it did not have 'I Will Follow' after it on the official releases.  Thrilled to death to find the Pontiac show, and many others from that tour, on youtube a couple of years ago.
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Offline Architeuthis

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2016, 11:56:05 AM »
BOSTON - Rock n Roll Band
Dream Theater - Take Me As I Am
Yes - firebird suite/Siberian Khatru
Rush - Finding My Way
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Offline Sir GuitarCozmo

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #6 on: November 15, 2016, 12:18:32 PM »
Rush - Dreamline
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Offline El Barto

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #7 on: November 15, 2016, 12:22:36 PM »
Hellion/Electric Eye
Churchill's Speech/Aces High (back when they played the intro properly)
In the Flesh

Quote from: Sir GuitarCozmo on November 15, 2016, 12:18:32 PM
Rush - Dreamline
Good call.
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Offline Architeuthis

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #8 on: November 15, 2016, 12:22:44 PM »
Quote from: Sir GuitarCozmo on November 15, 2016, 12:18:32 PM
Rush - Dreamline
Good call! 
 I remember they opened with that on the Test For Echo tour in 1997.  I also loved the way they delivered that song on the Vapor Trails and R30 tours. High energy and cool lasers!  :metal
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Online MirrorMask

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #9 on: November 15, 2016, 12:23:29 PM »
Judas Priest - The Hellion / Electric Eye

Iron Maiden - Churchill's Speech / Aces High, The Wicker Man, Moonchild

Helloween  - Eagle Fly Free, but the time they opened with Halloween it was brutally awesome

Rainbow - Kill the King
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Offline Lowdz

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #10 on: November 15, 2016, 02:26:36 PM »
Just stopped by to say Hellion/Electric Eye and Aces High. Good to see I wasn't needed 😀

WASP - Electric Circus

Def Leppard - Stagefright

UFO - Natural Thing

KISS - Detroit Rock City/Kingof the Nighttime World
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Online DragonAttack

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2016, 04:29:38 PM »
Geesh, forgot 'Overture/Temples of Syrinx', 'Spirit of Radio', 'Subdivisions', and 'Big Money' (Hello, hello, hello....Hello!)

Other DT:  'As I Am', 'Root of All Evil', 'Bridges In The Sky'

REO Speedwagon:  'Like You Do' (or 'Sophisticated Lady'/'Like You Do')  I know, I know, BUT....they kicked axe back then.

Marshall Tucker: 'I'll Be Loving You'.  From a pretty good album (Together and Forever).  Went to a cancelled concert in East Lansing.  Less than a year later, they made up for it by charging only a dollar and a penny (the FM station was 101 FM).  If you still had the ticket stub from the cancelled show, you also got a free T shirt.  The band performed for three hours.  Talk about great PR.  Also having more than one lead vocalist, and a lead flutist to go with lead guitar, made for a great stage presence (aka Jethro Tull).

Styx:  AD 1928 (tape) 'Rockin' the Paradise', 'Grand Illusion', 'Great White Hope'.

Simon & Garfunkel:  'Mrs. Robinson', or in person, 2004, 'Old Friends'/'Bookends'/'A Hazy Shade of Winter'.  Trust me.

Springsteen:  'Badlands'. 

Bonnie Raitt:  'Used To Rule The World'.  Once again, trust me and check it out.

One last Queen reference, Milton Keynes 1982, (Flash tape, The Hero, WWRY fast)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aQvTvYneLsg   ...for the first seven minutes.

A shame that this is not what they used for their North American tour opening a few months later, so I cannot list it as a witnessed favorite.  But when I got the bootleg copy in the mid 90s, this was my wake up call on the way to work more times than I can count.  It still is on occasion.  Give it a try. It will not disappoint.
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Quote from: frogprog on January 05, 2023, 06:45:48 PM
...going along with Dragon Attack's Queen thread has been like taking a free class in Queen knowledge. Where else are you gonna find info like that?!

Offline Phoenix87x

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Re: Best songs to open a show
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2016, 04:36:54 PM »
Freebird, that way hecklers can't ask for it.
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