Who did you see live before they were big?

I was supposed to see GNR open for AC/DC. Between the time I bought the tickets and the show, they hit it big and pulled out to headline their own tour. They were replaced by Cinderella.

 

I saw The Hip and Blue Rodeo early on at clubs in Toronto. I saw Guns and Roses open for The Cult in Kitchener, Ontario. Don't remember much about it but I do remember the Gunners blew up huge not long after.

 

Dave Matthews Band for $10 on Beale Street in Memphis. Then a week later for $10 at a club in Dallas. I think we pay $160 each for tickets last time.

Garth Brooks at a state fair before "Friends in Low Places" exploded.

Carrie Underwood a few dozen times as she played every local venue and event as a teen.

Jimmy Buffett - I'll count him since I first saw him in the early 80s. He was already pretty big by that point, but he's exponentially more popular now.

 

A local Cleveland joint used to do things called "Coffee Break Concerts," which were held at noon and broadcast on the radio live. The only one I ever went to, and only because a friend had two tickets and nobody to go with, was in 1983 and the band was Quiet Riot. Nobody had heard of them. There were maybe 100 people in the audience. We thought they were awesome and bought their album that afternoon on the way home (it went on to be No. 1 later that year). Fast forward a few hours, the same friend and I headed to see Loverboy -- who were about the biggest band in the country at the time (that status lasted a few weeks), and who was opening for then? Quiet Riot. Thanks to Loverboy and its nightly crowds of 15,000, as much as anything, QR became huge, also for a few weeks. Both hands were void of talent overall, but outstanding live to a teenage kid. And each has one song that transcends generations. There will never be a better time for music than the early 1980s.

 

The early 70's beg to differ.

 

Bruce Springsteen at the Mosque in Richmond, spring of 1974. He was somewhat big in the area but certainly no more than a small regional star. Goose Creek Symphony was the opening act.

Many, many years later I saw an unknown named Mary Chapin Carpenter play at River Rhythms in Albany, Ore. Within a year she was huge.

 

I did see future Star Search Mark McCollum open before he won Star Search's comedy competition (yeah, I know who?) but it did get me to google who else won/appeared on that show in the '80s. One guy, Vince Champ, ended up behind bars after being IDd as a serial rapist.

Ray Romano and Brad Garrett both appeared in stand-up category - Garrett even won the first season.
And Norm McDonald AND Dennis Miller and Conan O'Brien? - and Dave Chappelle?

Star Search - Wikipedia

 

Meh. The mid- and late-70s were far better than the early 70s. But I’m factoring in live music as well as recorded music. And from what I can tell, live music in the early 70s, based on technology, probably wasn’t that good.

 

I saw the Stones on the "Exile on Main Street" tour. Z.Z. Topp on the "Tres Hombres" tour. Many other incredible live shows during the 70's. Yes. Genesis. Bowie. Hell, Alice Cooper. Queen. Many others. Live shows aren't about technology, although Pink Floyd and ELO did it. So did Parliament/Funkadelic. You have no idea what you're talking about.

 

I'm not taking sides in the 1970s-80s argument ... but I will say, having devoured them on YouTube, it would have been awesome to see a Peter Gabriel-era Genesis show in the early to mid-1970s. [/crossthread]

 

I saw Steve Martin when he was doing this ...