When the opening band is better than the headliner

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Has this ever happened to anyone? You set out to see a concert for the headliner, but the headliner ends up being terrible/ mediocre, and the opening band ends up saving the show with a surprisingly brilliant performance.

Alternatively: have you ever paid good money to see a show just for the opening ac

― geeta, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sorry, got cut off.

― geeta, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i saw the Liars blow hometown heros, The Apes, out of the freggin water. The Apes just wanted to be sexy, but came off as super cheeze. The Liars on the otherhand, is the ugliest band in America, and they know. They exploit their ugly traits in their abrassive live show. It was a treat seeing a six foot string bean throw himself all over the stage.

― Brock K, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I went to see the Faint, not with terribly high hopes, and one of their opening bands was a group from Chicago called "Pum". Pum is, no joke, the greatest rock band of all time.

Granted, I haven't heard them since, and maybe they just seemed nice at the time, but.. PUM!

― Keiko, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

trans am [whom i paid to see] blew six finger sattelite off here at the starfish[vancouver] a few years back. also saw swell smoke madder rose at the same venue.
conversely,i had never heard of tricky when he opened for pj harvey at the commodore and was really impressed .

― william harris, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This isn't quite what you mean, but because !!! was late, Les Savy Fav played second, instead of third.

I didn't stick around for !!!

― Brian Gallagher, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Not quite the same situation (I would never now admit to wanting to see the Warm Jets!), but I saw them with Idlewild supporting at ULU in 1997 or 8. Needless to say, Idlewild completely blew them away, tho’ admittedly, that probably wouldn’t be very hard!

Similarly, my wife once paid a lot of money for a U2 ticket just to see BB King & then leave! Respect!

― Bill E, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And this isn’t quite strictly on point either, but I remember seeing Jonathan Richman in 1985 or 86 in a small club in Auckland NZ where he played between the two support acts. Needless to say, not many people stuck around after he’d finished

― Bill E, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Needless to say, 'Needless to say' is my current phrase du jour!

― Bill E, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Bailter Space kicked Pavement's ass one night in Tallahassee.

― SP Morrissey, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Saw Le Tigre the 22. Not bad, but the show was delayed an hour. And the set was short cos Kathleen said her throat hurt. And i know its bad to complain about, but it just wasnt what i was expecting. Plus, my she dint do "My Art", my favourite song from LT. But the Wau Wau sisters opened up and were fantastic. Girls that sing country-sex tunes while doing sorta physical feats. Like a hand stand thru the hold song. Or one sister will support the other one on her shoulders, or let her stand on her thighs while she plays.

― kleight, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

funny you should mention trans am... both the intensity of laddio bolocko and the sheer hilarity of neil hamburger's earlier sets seemed to sap the life out of the band when I saw them last.

laddio bolocko, bless them as they are no longer, were one of the better bands i saw last year.

Also, Drive Like Jehu opening up for Pavement, the best of many DLJ sets I ever caught stacked against the worst of many Pavement sets I've ever experienced.

― http://gygax.pitas.com, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Melt Banana > Mr. Bungle in 1995

Anthony Braxton > Take 5 in 1996 (how did that bill ever happen?)

Mouse on Mars > Tortoise in 2001

― dleone, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, it was Take 6. Although, I'd like to see Braxton open for Take 5 even more.

― dleone, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It probably didn't cost me "good money" but I went to a Spiritualized show just to see Acetone. I am relating this to see just what kind of a shitstorm alights upon my dome for admitting that I did not stick around for Spiritualized's set. Seems to be many fans 'round these parts.

P.S. Just making sure everyone knows that Ritchie Lee died last year. And that everyone knows that Acetone is a fine fine band

― Ron Hudson, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ok, i'll say it loud and proud... i only went to the you am i show last year because the strokes were supporting. yes, the strokes. and yes, i very much enjoyed their show, and not long after that i went and bought the album on the first day it was on sale so i could get the free poster...

― minna, Tuesday, 26 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i skimmed that last post and saw 'because the strokes were supporting yes'. man, if only!

― ethan, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Dead Man Ray rocked better than dEUS a couple of years ago.

― helenfordsdale, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Ron Hudson: You're not alone! I went to a Spiritualized gig exclusively for Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

― OleM, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, The Boo Radleys >> Lemonheads in '93.

― OleM, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sort of. Giant Sand opening for PJ Harvey in Munich. My favourite Giant Sand concert but PJ Harvey was amazing too.

― alex in mainhattan, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Paid good money to see Sonic Youth because the support was Prolapse, who I used to go and see at every opportunity. On another occasion, paid very little money to see Prolapse support the Supersuckers,who were useless.

I also went to see Stereolab, who I like, headlining over Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, who I love. Wouldn't have gone if Gorky's weren't supporting as I'd seen Stereolab before, and they're pretty tedious after the first 10 mins, just like Sonic Youth.

― Graham C, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Alternatively: have you ever paid good money to see a show just for the opening act

I do this all the time. In fact, I did it on Monday when Riviera supported Baxendale (um, except, I didn't pay and they were main support not first support). It's kind of funny because a couple of years ago, I used to go to gigs to watch Baxendale supporting other bands, now I go to their gigs to watch the support band instead.

I remember when I was living in Manchester having an argument with my flatmate because I had a ticket to a sold-out Soulwax concert but was only going to see Ladytron support (he was a big Soulwax fan but didn't have a ticket).

― jamesmichaelward, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Soul Coughing >> They Might Be Giants

Spoon > Guided By Voices

― Dave225, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

my brother went to a built to spill show a couple of years back and was totally blown away by the opening band: modest mouse. had never heard of them before and bought two cd's at the spot; got me hooked on the first listen. however, when we went to a modest mouse concert about 2 years later (as headliner) they were pretty good but not as overwhelming as the earlier show (in my brother's opinion, of course). looking back, i think mm originally made such an impression because their set was (as openers always are) short. playing their most in-yr-face songs, they blew everybody's mind. as a headliner, i think they were/are (?) not able to 'stretch' their momentum. maybe this is a general thing: openers making a big impression because they're only allowed a short set which "forces" them to only play their strongest songs...

― WiLLeM, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brainiac were way better than Girls vs. Boys the only time I saw either band. Shame about the Brainiac singer.

― Arthur, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

At my age I sometimes -forget who was with who, but among the support bands I've seen are Joy Division (headliners Buzzcocks), the Buzzcocks (Clash), the Adverts (Iggy, was it?), Subway Sect (Clash), Talking Heads (Ramones), Suicide (Clash), the Specials (Clash), and Richard Hell & the Voidoids (are you getting the impression that I saw the Clash a lot? Yep, again). None were better than the headliners there. I saw the Pop Group supporting Chelsea. I expect the Pop Group were better, but I wisely spent all Chelsea's set talking to Mark Stewart, so I can't be sure. No, only joking, I'm sure. I have a strong feeling that the Yachts were better than whoever they were supporting. Oh dear, I seem to be getting senile at 42. More recently, it was a very close call between Lolita Storm and headliners Atari Teenage Riot - one good friend was there to see LS.

― Martin Skidmore, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Trenchmouth blew Royal Trux off the stage. Dismemberment Plan much better than Death Cab For Cutie, or Juno, both of whom I've seen them open for.

I'm sure there's tons more that I'm blanking on right now.

― doug, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The Geraldine Fibbers >> Guided By Voices
Ex Lion Tamers >> Wire
Gang Of Four >> Iggy

― dan, Wednesday, 27 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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