Best Opener/Headliner Combo You've Seen

[lonestar]

I saw them a year or so back, with Manson opening. They kicked some solid ass for sure.

[Volante99]

I saw them a year or so back, with Manson opening. They kicked some solid ass for sure.

RZ puts on a great show, no doubt about it! I also saw him with Manson a few years back as well. Manson was low energy, had a vibe that he was bored, even pronounced the name of the city wrong. Rob came out and saved the day, ran all over the stage (which was filled with giant robots, half naked zombie go-go dancers and pyro). He even walked out into the crowd at one point and was high-fiving everyone. I gave him a good pat on the back.

Agree with what others have said, I’m only a casual fan but damn he’s a great front man, possibly even underrated in that category, and his music is fun in a live setting.

Honestly, Zombie was a tough act for Ozzy to follow (and this is coming from the biggest Ozzy fan this side of the Mississippi).

[lonestar]

You mentioning Ozzy reminds me of another for the thread topic...Ozzfest when I saw the final three of Slayer-Judas Priest-Sabbath. Fucking epic.

[Fritzinger]

I once saw Joe Cocker and the Steve Miller Band in the Radio City Music Hall. Joe played first and I was blown away. His band was amazing, he sang like a maniac. My dad and I are very big fans (he's my dad's all time favorite artist). I'm so sad I can never see him again.
Then Steve Miller and his band came on stage. I think he is a big deal in the states but in Europe/Germany he's not that well known. The sound was a lot slimmer, there was less movement on stage - basically, Joe completely stole his show  To this day, we don't know why Joe "opened" for him/played at first.

[lonestar]

That's how it felt when I saw Satriani open for Steve Miller.

[jammindude]

Metallica headlining the Puppets tour with local heroes Metal Church opening.   Original singer David Wayne was still alive and they were touring for The Dark (absolutely legendary album).   Metallica had played a prank on them with their monitors in the opening set, so MC stormed the stage during Metallica's encore on pogo sticks.   It was a really wild show. 

Another good one was the original Clash of the Titans Tour.   Slayer/Anthrax/Megadeth with a then still unknown Alice in Chains opening.  Man in the Box had *just* started to hit radios. 

The Scorpions/Queensryche 2015 show was pretty awesome, but that was more of a co-headiner.   

Also the King's X/Galactic Cowboys tour in 1998 was pretty awesome.

I also saw Metallica in 1994 with Suicidal Tendencies and Candlebox opening.

Another really great one was Soundgarden on a homecoming show in 1990 headlining for Louder Than Love with Voivod (touring for Nothingface) and Prong (touring for Beg to Differ) opening.

The only time I've ever seen Kiss was with Anthrax opening when they were touring for Among the Living....but Kiss was touring for Crazy Nights and it wasn't one of their better tours. 

(I'm looking through my concertarchives.org list as I'm typing)

W.A.S.P. with Slayer and Raven opening in 1987 is a big contender.   It was the first time I had ever seen Raven and I had already been a huge fan for about 3 years. 

[MoraWintersoul]

Anyone else who never particularly liked any openers on any show they've ever been to?

Saw Whitesnake open for Judas Priest in 2011, which should have been fantastic, except they completely phoned it in and killed any interest I had in them. Also, my favorite WS song Ain't No Love In The Heart Of The City was on the setlists that tour, and they skipped it. Meh.

I also saw Ghost opening for Iron Maiden in 2014. The performance was alright, but I just don't care for them, and even less so on an open air show in broad daylight.

Winterborn was great opening for Sonata Arctica in 2009 but the second on the lineup were Delain, and I cannot express how boring they were.

[Anguyen92]

Anyone else who never particularly liked any openers on any show they've ever been to?

Openers I didn't like on any show.  Hmmm.  I know I hated Charm City Devils when I saw Slash featuring Myles Kennedy and the Conspirators at a casino in Temecula in 2014.  Gary Clark Jr. when opening for Foo Fighters in 2015, while his band played well, I didn't care much for it.  Didn't care much for New Year's Day opening for Halestorm in 2017 and the sound quality for Starset that night was crap as well.  So disappointing.  Halestorm was tremendous though.  Didn't really like the second opening band when I saw Winery Dogs last year.  I can't remember their name. 

When I was doing my week-long trip to see Alter Bridge four times, last week, I was ready to not like this opening band called Deepfall.  Pantera/Mudvayne-style vocals is not for me.  That stated, they didn't piss me off at all in the four times I saw them and the band played ok enough for the 35 minutes they got so that's a plus for them and the crowd liked them ok enough.

[Cool Chris]

Usually if an opener doesn't appeal to me I just show up later in time for the headliner.

[ChuckSteak]

Probably Anathema or Pain of Salvation opening for Opeth. Or Leprous opening for Devin Townsend. But generally I don't like openers.

[Juular]

Nile, Hate Eternal & Vitriol 

Dream Theater & Pain Of Salvation

Dream Theater & Spock's Beard

Devin Townsend & Leprous (and Between The Buried And Me who I am not a fan of)

Orange Goblin, Grand Magus & Witchcraft

Saint Vitus & Orange Goblin

Symphony X & Pagan's Mind

Ghost & Tribulation (and All Them Witches who were really boring live)

Testament, Annihilator & Death Angel

Opeth, Cynic & The Ocean

[Peter Mc]

Does it have to be the actual opener or can we have any headliner/support?

I saw Van Halen supporting Bon Jovi in 1995. Strictly speaking I think Thunder were the opening act, then Van Halen and then Bon Jovi.  I also saw Coldplay open for Muse in a tiny club in 2000. Terrible show to be honest but still two bands that went on to be huge. Seen plenty of good bands open for DT like Symphony X, Spock’s Beard, Pain Of Salvation and Porcupine Tree. Unfortunately, whilst I went on to love Spock’s Beard and Porcupine Tree, I didn’t particularly enjoy them on the night.

Seen some decent bands open for DragonForce over the years too. Neonfly were really good as were Sabaton and Turisas.

[El Barto]

Volante, speaking of Rob Zombie.....one of the best opening acts was when I saw White Zombie open for Anthrax in 1993. They were FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

I wasn't a fan of their album, so I never got it, but holy shit, they fucking blew me away

Great show. Sound of White Noise tour. They played an old band shell that sees about one show every 4 years or so, which was really weird.

Metallica headlining the Puppets tour with local heroes Metal Church opening.   Original singer David Wayne was still alive and they were touring for The Dark (absolutely legendary album).

Saw Metal Church on that tour opening for Anthrax. Got to see them soundcheck Start the Fire and about 12 minutes of Watch the Children Pray, and that might have been even better than their proper set. Big David Wayne fan.

W.A.S.P. with Slayer and Raven opening in 1987 is a big contender.

One of the wildest shows I've been to. A lady friend and I were at the very front, and we each had one arm around the other and holding onto the baricade with our outside arms holding a folding chair over our heads as a shield. They should not have had chairs at that show. One of the few shows where the headliner got blown of the stage by the support.

[eric42434224]

Queensryche (O:M) opening for Metallica (AJFA) at the Forum in Montreal.

Big Wreck (ILMO) opening for Dream Theater (FII) at a SMALL club in South Florida.

[TAC]

One of the wildest shows I've been to. A lady friend and I were at the very front, and we each had one arm around the other and holding onto the baricade with our outside arms holding a folding chair over our heads as a shield. They should not have had chairs at that show. One of the few shows where the headliner got blown of the stage by the support.

It used to be a thing at Slayer shows to throw chairs or at least the cushions.

[jingle.boy]

I think for me, it's Skid Row / GnR for the Use You Illusion tour.  Only problem was, the tour started before the UYI albums had dropped.  I still took note of the awesomeness of November Rain.  And iirc, Axel showed up on time, and stayed for the whole set.   

Skid Row / Aerosmith would be a close second.

[Stadler]

Actually, I would list Brian May/Guns'n'Roses here.  May wasn't that great, but it was Brian May, and he had Cozy Powell on drums, so there's that.  GnR were excellent.

There were a LOT of openers I didn't care for:
- Private Life opening for Van Halen; biggest cheer of their set was when the singer (female) kissed the keyboard player (also, I think, female)
- Charm City Devils blew
- I can't remember the dude's name, but the guy that opened for Cinderella in Philly; he went out to the merch stand and basically stood there.  Like three people came up to him. 
- Coney Hatch blew (opening for Fastway/Maiden). 
- This band Creem Circus (if you're a metal fan from the late 70's, early 80's, yes, that's where the name comes from) opened for Gene Simmons and they sucked hard. 
- Fantastic Negrito opened for Temple Of The Dog and did nothing for me.
- Country show, but I saw Kristian Bush - half of the group "Sugarland" - open up for Jake Owen.  The other half of "Sugarland", Jennifer Nettles is the main singer (she had a hit single with Bon Jovi; you've heard her) and in between every song Kristian kept saying "so, you didn't know I could sing, did you?", or "Bet you're surprised I can sing, huh?" and I was like, dude, you're not that good a singer to be calling that much attention to it.  Shut the fuck up and play a couple more of those songs you wrote that were hits for someone else.   
- Ky-Mani Marley opening for Van Halen on their first reunion tour; yes, that Marley.  It was quirky on paper, but didn't work in an arena.
- I've not been a huge fan of the bands that I've seen open for REM; always quirky and as you might guess, I'm not a fan of quirky that much.

[pg1067]

Dokken opening for Judas Priest - 1986

I went to this tour at the L.A. Sports Arena.  That was the Turbo tour, and I'm not a Dokken fan, so it's definitely not on my list, but I always found one thing funny:

In 1984, Great White opened for Priest.
In 1986, Dokken opened for Priest.
Then, later in 1986, Great White opened for Dokken.

I almost felt bad for Great White, but then they broke big with that string of crappy songs, so they eventually got theirs.

Anyone else who never particularly liked any openers on any show they've ever been to?

Yup.  At the overwhelming majority of shows I've attended with more than one band, the opener has sucked hard.  Rush, in particular, had a long history of lousy openers (e.g., The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Primus).  I was quite glad when they stopped having openers and started playing longer.

[Stadler]

Dokken opening for Judas Priest - 1986

I went to this tour at the L.A. Sports Arena.  That was the Turbo tour, and I'm not a Dokken fan, so it's definitely not on my list, but I always found one thing funny:

In 1984, Great White opened for Priest.
In 1986, Dokken opened for Priest.
Then, later in 1986, Great White opened for Dokken.

I almost felt bad for Great White, but then they broke big with that string of crappy songs, so they eventually got theirs.

Anyone else who never particularly liked any openers on any show they've ever been to?

Yup.  At the overwhelming majority of shows I've attended with more than one band, the opener has sucked hard.  Rush, in particular, had a long history of lousy openers (e.g., The Fabulous Thunderbirds and Primus).  I was quite glad when they stopped having openers and started playing longer.

Man, oh, man.  I only write this to highlight "tastes", but I thought Great White was light years better than Dokken (obs Lynch is a better guitarist than Kendall, but Russell is a way better singer than Dokken, so it evened out) and I loved the Primus/Rush bill.  I thought it was perfect, seeing the love Primus had/has for Rush.

[TAC]

I've seen a few guys mention Queensryche opening for Metallica in 1989. On paper, that sounds incredible.

That said, I saw 3 of those shows. and I thought Queensryche were extremely disappointing. Other than Scott, I just felt they lacked energy. Plus, I'm never a fan of a singer wearing shades.

I saw Queensryche a few months earlier opening for Def Leppard and "in the round" they were so much better. It forced them to move around. The end stage set up was not favorable to QR, IMO.

[pg1067]

Man, oh, man.  I only write this to highlight "tastes", but I thought Great White was light years better than Dokken (obs Lynch is a better guitarist than Kendall, but Russell is a way better singer than Dokken, so it evened out) and I loved the Primus/Rush bill.  I thought it was perfect, seeing the love Primus had/has for Rush.

It's worth pointing out that I didn't express my opinion about Dokken and Great White in the prior post.  But I will now:  This is basically a battle between the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2016 Cleveland Browns.  Without thinking about it too much, Dokken had maybe three good songs.  Great White had one.  I just thought it was amusing that both bands opened for Priest on consecutive tours, and then one band (the first of the two openers) opened for the other.

As for Primus, it's a hard no for me (although I can respect Claypool as a player and share his admiration for Rush).

[Cool Chris]

It's worth pointing out that I didn't express my opinion about Dokken and Great White in the prior post.  But I will now:  This is basically a battle between the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2016 Cleveland Browns. 

 

There is zero rhyme or reason as to which artists I liked and listened to in the 80s. I couldn't give you the name of one Dokken song, but Great White were one of my favorite bands when I was in middle school.

[King Postwhore]

Totally opposite.   Dokken kicked major ass in the hair metal era and Great White was known for cover songs.

No contest. 

[TAC]

Dokken was very popular. I saw them open a number of tours and I thought they blew. Specifically I thought Don Dokken was an asshole. His stage banter was fucking moroninc.

[max_security]

Iron Maiden with Accept at Merriweather Post Pavilion near Baltimore , World Slavery Tour. Both bands had a fantastic show that night.

Queensryche with Yngwie Malmsteen  somewhere in DC ( convention center I think ). Mindcrime ( and Trilogy ). Both bands were flawless. 

[King Postwhore]

Dokken was very popular. I saw them open a number of tours and I thought they blew. Specifically I thought Don Dokken was an asshole. His stage banter was fucking moroninc.

Never had that experience.   Compared to the other hair metal bands their music had integrity.

Now after the fact, we all know DD is an asshole. 

[TAC]

Iron Maiden with Accept at Merriweather Post Pavilion near Baltimore , World Slavery Tour. Both bands had a fantastic show that night.

Accept was absolutely fucking awesome on that tour. Saw them in Providence on 6/2/85. Other than DT opening for Maiden in '92, that Accept set was the best opening slot I've ever seen.

[King Postwhore]

They were great at the Lynn Bowl with Y&T, Motley Crue.

Unfortunately Helix's gear did not show up for the show.

[Stadler]

Dokken was very popular. I saw them open a number of tours and I thought they blew. Specifically I thought Don Dokken was an asshole. His stage banter was fucking moroninc.

Speaking of stage banter, many of you know me as a big Kiss fan...  I've been ripping the live material from the three Kissology sets to my harddrive and so I have about, maybe, 25 hours, plus/minus, of live material over the years.   As much as I love him as a front man, as much as I am blown away by how - up to about four years ago - his voice stood the test of time, MAN is Paul Stanley embarrassing at times.  I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but my "favorite" (to the fans in Brazil):  "I know you all went through security to get in here.   I didn't have to, so I got to bring my gun in with me.  You know what I'm talkin' about! My seven inch gun! <pause> Well, sometimes it gets to be eight!   I'm talkin' about my... Love!  Gun! <band kicks in>"    I was playing that on my computer (to set the end point on the rip of the song before) and my wife heard that and just gave me that look like "How fucking old ARE you?  What's next, asking for Jello after dinner?" 

Having said that, if you ARE a Kiss fan, you need to find the '75 set at Winterland, and believe it or not, the Monsters of Rock show in Brazil in '94.  The first is a young, hungry live band at the cusp of stardom, and the second is a seasoned veteran rock act at full flight.  Heavier show than you'd expect from that era (this was the last tour of non-makeup era, a later leg of the Revenge tour) but they are on FIRE.   Banter not included.    

[Stadler]

Iron Maiden with Accept at Merriweather Post Pavilion near Baltimore , World Slavery Tour. Both bands had a fantastic show that night.

Accept was absolutely fucking awesome on that tour. Saw them in Providence on 6/2/85. Other than DT opening for Maiden in '92, that Accept set was the best opening slot I've ever seen.

Best opening slot is a tie:  Maiden in '82 or Def Leppard in '83, opening for Billy Squier.  I went to see Squier and he was good, but he was no match for Def Leppard.  He later admitted that freely in interviews.  Fastway was good too (opening for Maiden in '83).   

Ooh, here's a good one I forgot:  Maiden/Dio/Motorhead in...   2003.   That was a good show. 

[Max Kuehnau]

Jennie Abrahamson and Linnea Olson opening for Peter Gabriel in 2014 (and him actually coming out to introduce them), they were part of his band at the time as well. (Jennie taking over Kate Bush's parts and doing it really really well)

[pg1067]

It's worth pointing out that I didn't express my opinion about Dokken and Great White in the prior post.  But I will now:  This is basically a battle between the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2016 Cleveland Browns. 

 

There is zero rhyme or reason as to which artists I liked and listened to in the 80s. I couldn't give you the name of one Dokken song, but Great White were one of my favorite bands when I was in middle school.

Totally opposite.   Dokken kicked major ass in the hair metal era and Great White was known for cover songs.

No contest. 

Dokken was very popular. I saw them open a number of tours and I thought they blew. Specifically I thought Don Dokken was an asshole. His stage banter was fucking moroninc.

From a factual standpoint, I think Dokken got popular earlier than did Great White, but GW eventually had more success.  To my recollection, Dokken broke when MTV put the video for Breaking the Chains into heavy rotation (I think that was 1983).  That song was on an album of the same name that was originally released in 1981 (Europe only) and re-released in 1983.  Tooth and Nail came out in 1984 and featured Just Got Lucky, Into the Fire, and the monster ballad, Alone Again.  Under Lock and Key was released in 1985 and had singles: The Hunter, In My Dreams and Unchain the Night.  I bought both T&N and ULAK but then abandoned the band.

GW's debut album (excluding an independently-released EP) came out in 1984 and featured the song Stick It, which I consider to be their only worthwhile song.  They also did a cover of Substitute by The Who.  They broke fairly big with Face the Day (a cover) from their follow up album, Shot in the Dark, which was released in 1986.  That album also featured a cover of Gimme Some Lovin'.  The big break happened with the next album, Once Bitten, in 1987, which featured the single, Rock Me.  The 1989 follow up album, Twice Shy (1989), featured a cover of Once Bitten, Twice Shy.  As far as I know, the band petered out after that.

From a personal standpoint, I liked Dokken during the 83-86 period but lost interest when they went the way of most L.A. based bands at the time...glam.  I liked Stick It but GW was always too bluesy for my taste.

As far as stage banter, while I saw both bands twice (Dokken once as a headliner), I can't say I recall much of anything from any of those shows (and not because of any inebriation - they just weren't terribly memorable).

[eric42434224]

Interesting.  My take is Dokken went LESS "hair/glam" after ULAK.  The next album Back For The Attack is a much more stripped down and aggressive sound.  Not only that, a few of their reunion albums are quite good.  Much more organic sound and pretty good songwriting.  Much less "metal" and WAY less "glam/hair".  I think Dokkens older material holds up much better than Great White.  Some of the later Dokken is even better.  I like Dysfunctional and Shadowlife personally.  JMO

[Stadler]

It's worth pointing out that I didn't express my opinion about Dokken and Great White in the prior post.  But I will now:  This is basically a battle between the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2016 Cleveland Browns. 

 

There is zero rhyme or reason as to which artists I liked and listened to in the 80s. I couldn't give you the name of one Dokken song, but Great White were one of my favorite bands when I was in middle school.

Totally opposite.   Dokken kicked major ass in the hair metal era and Great White was known for cover songs.

No contest. 

Dokken was very popular. I saw them open a number of tours and I thought they blew. Specifically I thought Don Dokken was an asshole. His stage banter was fucking moroninc.

From a factual standpoint, I think Dokken got popular earlier than did Great White, but GW eventually had more success.  To my recollection, Dokken broke when MTV put the video for Breaking the Chains into heavy rotation (I think that was 1983).  That song was on an album of the same name that was originally released in 1981 (Europe only) and re-released in 1983.  Tooth and Nail came out in 1984 and featured Just Got Lucky, Into the Fire, and the monster ballad, Alone Again.  Under Lock and Key was released in 1985 and had singles: The Hunter, In My Dreams and Unchain the Night.  I bought both T&N and ULAK but then abandoned the band.

GW's debut album (excluding an independently-released EP) came out in 1984 and featured the song Stick It, which I consider to be their only worthwhile song.  They also did a cover of Substitute by The Who.  They broke fairly big with Face the Day (a cover) from their follow up album, Shot in the Dark, which was released in 1986.  That album also featured a cover of Gimme Some Lovin'.  The big break happened with the next album, Once Bitten, in 1987, which featured the single, Rock Me.  The 1989 follow up album, Twice Shy (1989), featured a cover of Once Bitten, Twice Shy.  As far as I know, the band petered out after that.

From a personal standpoint, I liked Dokken during the 83-86 period but lost interest when they went the way of most L.A. based bands at the time...glam.  I liked Stick It but GW was always too bluesy for my taste.

As far as stage banter, while I saw both bands twice (Dokken once as a headliner), I can't say I recall much of anything from any of those shows (and not because of any inebriation - they just weren't terribly memorable).

I think this is spot on. I'd be curious what TAC says (he's on my coast) but I've noticed this before that the perceptions from the west coast are different than the perceptions on the east coast.   I first heard Dokken in '83, '84, when my band was trying to play "Into The Fire" (it was earlier, but we listened a lot to the first record, because of "Paris Is Burning").   Didn't like it; thought it was lame compared to what I was listening to, mainly Ozzy, Dio, and Deep Purple, and of bands of that tier, I much preferred Twisted Sister (those first two records, from '82 and '83, are in my view essential).   I didn't hear Great White until "Rock Me" in '87.

[El Barto]

It's worth pointing out that I didn't express my opinion about Dokken and Great White in the prior post.  But I will now:  This is basically a battle between the 2008 Detroit Lions and the 2016 Cleveland Browns. 

 

There is zero rhyme or reason as to which artists I liked and listened to in the 80s. I couldn't give you the name of one Dokken song, but Great White were one of my favorite bands when I was in middle school.

Totally opposite.   Dokken kicked major ass in the hair metal era and Great White was known for cover songs.

No contest. 

Dokken was very popular. I saw them open a number of tours and I thought they blew. Specifically I thought Don Dokken was an asshole. His stage banter was fucking moroninc.

From a factual standpoint, I think Dokken got popular earlier than did Great White, but GW eventually had more success.  To my recollection, Dokken broke when MTV put the video for Breaking the Chains into heavy rotation (I think that was 1983).  That song was on an album of the same name that was originally released in 1981 (Europe only) and re-released in 1983.  Tooth and Nail came out in 1984 and featured Just Got Lucky, Into the Fire, and the monster ballad, Alone Again.  Under Lock and Key was released in 1985 and had singles: The Hunter, In My Dreams and Unchain the Night.  I bought both T&N and ULAK but then abandoned the band.

GW's debut album (excluding an independently-released EP) came out in 1984 and featured the song Stick It, which I consider to be their only worthwhile song.  They also did a cover of Substitute by The Who.  They broke fairly big with Face the Day (a cover) from their follow up album, Shot in the Dark, which was released in 1986.  That album also featured a cover of Gimme Some Lovin'.  The big break happened with the next album, Once Bitten, in 1987, which featured the single, Rock Me.  The 1989 follow up album, Twice Shy (1989), featured a cover of Once Bitten, Twice Shy.  As far as I know, the band petered out after that.

From a personal standpoint, I liked Dokken during the 83-86 period but lost interest when they went the way of most L.A. based bands at the time...glam.  I liked Stick It but GW was always too bluesy for my taste.

As far as stage banter, while I saw both bands twice (Dokken once as a headliner), I can't say I recall much of anything from any of those shows (and not because of any inebriation - they just weren't terribly memorable).

Stick It was probably the standout, but I liked Bad Boys, as well. Other than that I'm in agreement. Also, Breaking the Chains was on the ubiquitous Masters of Metal cassette tape that all of us owned, and that no doubt helped them quite a bit. Overall, our interests aligned, though. I tuned out of Dokken after TaN, and came to despise Great White once they went total bluesy (and found all of their success).