Best Opening Act of a concert you attended.

Ohhhh yeah. I think they played second when I saw them in upstate NY (I think Lush opened there--not gonna lie, had to look it up, they were the one band I couldn't remember off the top of my head). But the whole crowd was there to see Pearl Jam. Finished their set and the skies opened up like nothing I've ever seen. Truly epic. Nowadays I'd hate every second of it, but at 18, it was the best.

 

In Vegas at Caesars Palace ballroom saw Steve Winwood do all his best stuff, a hell of a show in itself, opening for Steely Dan in 2017 or so. “Dear Mr. Fantasy” and “Can’t Find My Way Home” were just 2 of his incredible catalogue. About 20% of the crowd left after his set. SD was good but not great, flew into LV from Calgary with friends just to see them. Won $330 after 3 pulls at a slot, we drank it all in 4 hours, went to Hoover Dam next morning with a major hangover and it was over 100 degrees F at the dam. Back to C Palace and drank until midnight. Thankfully it was cloudy the next day.

 

God, I love The Struts. I've seen them in small NC clubs twice. White Reaper opened once for them, and was a blast.

Fuck Covid. Get your shots and wear your masks.

 

Spotify brought White Reaper to my attention - heck of a band, and especially nice at the start of the pandemic was them releasing an album of "At Home" tracks.

 

One I remember vividly is Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young and Crazy Horse, winter of 1991, in St. Louis.

Hadn't really heard much of SY's music before then, but they made me a fan that night. Went out and bought "Goo" and their next couple of albums.

 

Was Social Distortion there as well? I caught that tour at the Montreal Forum. Ragged Glory was a great album. It holds up.

 

I saw Neil in '93 in Portland. Openers were Pearl Jam, Blind Melon and Lucinda Williams.

That was a fun show.

 

Yes, they went first, then SY, then Neil and the boys.

Ragged Glory does hold up well, and that was a good time to see Neil and Crazy Horse. They were roaring back into popularity, just ahead of the grunge bands.

 

I saw Sarah Vaughn open for Sammy Davis Jr
And I saw Joe Walsh open for Fleetwood Mac on the Rumors tour

 

First show I ever saw Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green version, although Christine McVie had already joined) opened for Deep Purple on the "Machinehead" tour. I remember getting kinda pissy when they played Santana's "Black Magic Woman". Note that it was a Mac song that Santana covered. I was fifteen.

Fleetwood Mac with Lindsey and Stevie, opening for the Eagles on the "Hotel California" tour. "Rumors" had not been released yet, but they played a bunch of songs from it. A staggeringly good show, one of the best I ever saw. It's fine to lob rocks at the Eagles now, but when that album was new it was an entirely different time in their career.

Bonnie Raitt opening for Little Feat at the Fox Theater in Atlanta in 1975. The last night the two bands were on the same bill on that tour. Half of Feat jammed with her band as she closed her set, and half of her band came out for the last few songs of Feat's set. Note that this was fourteen years before she became "an overnight success" (ha!) when "Nick of Time" came out.

George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers (as they were then) opening for the Nighthawks.

Freddie King opening for Z.Z. Topp on the "Tres Hombres" tour. An all timer.

The one that got away. When I was a kid, maybe 17, I did something (don't remember what) that pissed off my parents so badly that I got grounded so firmly that I had to eat a pair of concert tickets.

Mott the Hoople opening for Queen. That one still pains me.

 

Bonnie Raitt opening for Little Feat at the Fox Theater in Atlanta in 1975. The last night the two bands were on the same bill on that tour. Half of Feat jammed with her band as she closed her set, and half of her band came out for the last few songs of Feat's set. Note that this was fourteen years before she became "an overnight success" (ha!) when "Nick of Time" came out.

I hate to sound like the "get off my lawn" old man but Bonnie Raitt's best work (Streetlights, Home Plate, Sweet Forgiveness, Green Light, Taking My Time, the Glow) before 'Nick of Time" are her top-shelf work. I'm glad she was able to hit it big and make some cash, but her early work is her best, IMHO.

 

I started following Bonnie somewhere between "Give it Up" and "Taking my Time", so by her third album if not earlier. I heard her cover of Sippie Wallace's "Women be Wise" from her first record and I was hooked. That's why the laughing reference to her overnight success eighteen years after her first record was released.