Best Opening Act of a concert you attended.

I've mentioned this before but I saw Merle Haggard, and The Judds open for Alabama, but that really doesn't count the way they put most country shows together these days.

Saw Nick Lowe open for Huey Lewis and the News and Lowe's band featured Paul Carrack - that was pretty cool.

 

Few standouts off the top of my head...

Saw The Clash open for The Who.

Saw Fishbone open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers in a club in 1984. From that point on I saw Fishbone every chance I could -- 17 or 18 times over the next 2 or 3 years. In their prime they were the best live band I've ever seen. (Also saw No Doubt open for the Chili Peppers in 1988, seven years before "Tragic Kingdom" came out. Gwen was the backup singer.)

Saw Frank Turner open for Jason Isbell. Pro tip: don't let Frank Turner open for you. Your performance will not look good by comparison (and I love Isbell).

Saw Beck open for U2.

Saw Sheryl Crow open for Crowded House in a club about a week before "All I Wanna Do" took off.

Saw Madness and the Go-Go's open for Bowie.

Two weird ones:

Saw Psi Com open for Fishbone in a club. They were unbelievably awful -- droning industrial bullshit with an incredibly annoying lead singer. Right after that show the band split up and the singer formed a new band: Jane's Addiction.

Saw Paris Jackson open a charity show for Butch Walker. Cute girl. Doesn't look much like her dad. No discernible talent. (Matt Nathanson was on the same bill and I instantly became a huge fan.)

@Huggy is now lurking in the weeds, waiting to rip out my heart and stomp on it.

 

Did anyone ever see Hole open for Korn?

 

I don't know about best, but maybe the maddest I've ever been was when I got tickets to see GNR open for AC/DC. Between the ticket purchase (I would have bought them and gone anyway), GNR broke off to headline their own tour, and it wound up being Cinderella.

 

Saw Dylan open for the Dead at Giants Stadium but it may as well have been a funeral.

 

Anyone else think a music tour would be an interesting setting for a TV show. You'd have a big-time established fictional artist (who is rarely shown since he travels by plane and doesn't really associate with any of the underlings) and focus on the back up band, the singers, stylists, production crew, caterers, and the tour manager (who HAS to be played by either Matt Walsh or Marc Maron).

 

I saw Bon Jovi open for Ratt

 

The National opened for Arcade Fire on The Suburbs tour.

Win Butler came out and sang Start a War with them then said, “Never let this good of a fucking band open for you.”

 

Billy Idol - holy shit he was amazing.

 

WMMS in Cleveland used to host shows called "Coffee-Break Concerts" at mid-day in summers. They were in small theaters, with maybe 50-100 in attendance. We would go because they were a buck or two. Wandered in one that turned out to be Quiet Riot. Never heard of them. So much energy, good tunes, talented players. (Nobody had really ever seen a hair band before, so that was kind of fresh.) Later that night, we headed to the big outdoor venue for a sold-out show by -- wait for it -- Loverboy. (Fuck off, they were awesome. Also, we were 15-year-old boys and chicks loved Loverboy. It was, as Chazz Reinhold once said, like fishing with dynamite.) So who opens for the mighty 'Boy that night? None other than Quiet Riot. Twice in one day. They were truly amazing. I think they scared a lot of the pre-teen pop fans on hand. Two months later, QR's album was on top of the charts and Cum on Feel the Noize was on every station 15 times an hour. We saw them pre-commercial peak, when they were at their best. Saw them a couple years later as a headliner. They were terrible.

Loverboy, for all their pop schmaltz, had some great openers (QR, Huey Lewis, the Hooters).