What warm up bands did you see before they were "big"?

[grasbo]

Nothing of note for me but me old hippy mate Marvelous Martin saw Led Zeppelin in a tent with a few hundred people in a paddock in southern England somewhere when they were just starting out.He can't remember who was top of the bill but he says they were on early.I could go over to the LZ forum and throw it on there.There's people on there who know what they had for breakfast(run for it Neil).The passage of time(and substances)has clouded his memory of time and places but 'it was definitely Zeppelin man'.He was also at Cream's farewell and Hendrix Royal Albert Hall gigs,Isle of Wight,etc.He was one of those Cornwall hippies who used to sleep/pass out at Stonehenge.Thats what you get for roading for Aynsley Dunbar ,too many Gong gigs and sharing a flat with the drummer from Hawkwind. Edited August 31, 2015 by grasbo

[Rutlefan]

Saw REM open for The Police on the Synchronicity tour at the Cap Centre, outside DC. Murmur had just come out and Radio Free Europe was getting some play on MTV but they were still considered a fledgling college indy band, and probably a short-lived one at that, like an Athens version of soon-to-arrive-and-depart The Las or The Reivers/Zeitgeist. Michael Stipe was strutting around without a shirt, like Mick Jagger after a sever hunger strike and a large dose of ugly pills. I'd never seen such bony whiteness, outside of Iggy Pop maybe, but never before in person. I thought he could really use a Wendy's triple burger or six but supposed it would be a long time before he could afford one, if ever (I know he's a vegan or alien or something, so maybe a bunch of chips and guacamole). Yes I was wrong. With the release of Out of Time and U2 wallowing in post-Rattle and Hum popular scorn, REM was briefly the most-important-band-in-the-world. Really, from Life's Rich Pageant through Automatic for the People, they could do no wrong. Fantastic albums in that stretch (the early ones prior to LRP are great too if you like subdued jangle rock with mumbled lyrics). Didn't see that coming. All I remembered from their performance, besides the skeletal Stipe, was the song Pilgrimage. That one stuck out to me.

[Rutlefan]

The first time I heard of Jane's Addiction was when I saw them open for Love & Rockets, probably 1987-ish.

 

Boy, Tones on Tail was my favorite band and I completely loved Love and Rockets for awhile too. Had a "man-crush" on Daniel Ash at the time actually (purely non-sexual, as anyone who knows what Daniel looks like would understand). Would have died to see that bill. The Album Pop and Ritual de lo Habitual are both in my top 20 all time I'm sure (TAP would be in my top ten if not top five).

[bathory]

Nothing of note for me but me old hippy mate Marvelous Martin saw Led Zeppelin in a tent with a few hundred people in a paddock in southern England somewhere when they were just starting out.He can't remember who was top of the bill but he says they were on early.I could go over to the LZ forum and throw it on there.There's people on there who know what they had for breakfast(run for it Neil).The passage of time(and substances)has clouded his memory of time and places but 'it was definitely Zeppelin man'.He was also at Cream's farewell and Hendrix Royal Albert Hall gigs,Isle of Wight,etc.He was one of those Cornwall hippies who used to sleep/pass out at Stonehenge.Thats what you get for roading for Aynsley Dunbar ,too many Gong gigs and sharing a flat with the drummer from Hawkwind.

 

best post ever?

[x1yyz]

The first time I heard of Jane's Addiction was when I saw them open for Love & Rockets, probably 1987-ish.

 

Boy, Tones on Tail was my favorite band and I completely loved Love and Rockets for awhile too. Had a "man-crush" on Daniel Ash at the time actually (purely non-sexual, as anyone who knows what Daniel looks like would understand). Would have died to see that bill. The Album Pop and Ritual de lo Habitual are both in my top 20 all time I'm sure (TAP would be in my top ten if not top five).

 

That show was at The San Jose State student union so it was a fairly small venue, maybe 1000 people max.

[Lucas]

This doesn't count, but in spring of 1987, I bought tickets ahead of time for a show at a small club here in NJ called Obsessions ( ... yes, very 80s )

 

This band I had been reading about was going to release their debut and come all the way from LA to NJ, so I wanted to see them

 

Obesssions, for bands at the time, held about 300 people

 

Unfortunately for me, when Appetite For Destruction exploded, and Guns n Roses cancelled a bunch of these small venue shows in lieu of bigger and better things

 

oh well

[JohnnyBlaze]

Nothing of note for me but me old hippy mate Marvelous Martin saw Led Zeppelin in a tent with a few hundred people in a paddock in southern England somewhere when they were just starting out.He can't remember who was top of the bill but he says they were on early.I could go over to the LZ forum and throw it on there.There's people on there who know what they had for breakfast(run for it Neil).The passage of time(and substances)has clouded his memory of time and places but 'it was definitely Zeppelin man'.He was also at Cream's farewell and Hendrix Royal Albert Hall gigs,Isle of Wight,etc.He was one of those Cornwall hippies who used to sleep/pass out at Stonehenge.Thats what you get for roading for Aynsley Dunbar ,too many Gong gigs and sharing a flat with the drummer from Hawkwind.

 

best post ever?

Definitely up there at the very least.

[JohnnyBlaze]

The first time I heard of Jane's Addiction was when I saw them open for Love & Rockets, probably 1987-ish.

Wow. They didn't release Nothing's Shocking until '88

so you caught them really early on. Do you remember what they played?

 

they put out a self-titled live album in 87, I've got it on tape

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane's_Addiction_%28album%29

 

it's awesome!

Forgot about that one. I don't know anyone that got that BEFORE they had Nothing's Shocking though

[Rutlefan]

^^ I guess that's why there were only a 1,000 people at the show, with 98% of those there to see Love and Rockets.

[Powderfinger]

Sometime around 1989-90, my girlfriend and I went to see Junkyard at L'Amours in Brooklyn ... The first band to go on was The Black Crows, and it was literally me, my girlfriend and 2 other people standing in front of the stage while they played ....

 

.

 

.

 

March 31st, 1990. That's so cool, at least I think so--they are perhaps my favorite band. I saw them for the first time in 1993, and I know a lot of fans who think that's early. So yeah, 90 is really early, especially prior to their tour supporting Aerosmith later that year. From 92-97 they couldn't be beat.

[Powderfinger]

Saw Cinderella on their "Night Songs' Tour. They opened for Bon Jovi.

I saw Cinderella early on in their career as well. Did their drummer have cymbals hanging from chains? I saw Queensryche early on, too.

 

Queensryche's drummer Scott Rockenfield suspended his cymbals from welded chains. I saw them on the Empire tour and got to go backstage and meet the band. I was a freshmen in high school and I thought it was the coolest thing ever in my life to that point. They were already big then. No one in my non-virtual regular crowd would have any clue who Queensryche is now. :|

[JohnnyBlaze]

Saw Cinderella on their "Night Songs' Tour. They opened for Bon Jovi.

I saw Cinderella early on in their career as well. Did their drummer have cymbals hanging from chains? I saw Queensryche early on, too.

 

Queensryche's drummer Scott Rockenfield suspended his cymbals from welded chains. I saw them on the Empire tour and got to go backstage and meet the band. I was a freshmen in high school and I thought it was the coolest thing ever in my life to that point. They were already big then. No one in my non-virtual regular crowd would have any clue who Queensryche is now. :|

Their loss. Regarding the Queensryche era that you're talking about, they were pretty damn good.

[goose]

Saw Cinderella on their "Night Songs' Tour. They opened for Bon Jovi.

I saw Cinderella early on in their career as well. Did their drummer have cymbals hanging from chains? I saw Queensryche early on, too.

 

Queensryche's drummer Scott Rockenfield suspended his cymbals from welded chains. I saw them on the Empire tour and got to go backstage and meet the band. I was a freshmen in high school and I thought it was the coolest thing ever in my life to that point. They were already big then. No one in my non-virtual regular crowd would have any clue who Queensryche is now. :|

Their loss. Regarding the Queensryche era that you're talking about, they were pretty damn good.

Queen of the Reich was a killer breakout hit in the PacNW.

 

The chains were Queensryche, then. Saw both bands the same year.

[JohnnyBlaze]

Saw Cinderella on their "Night Songs' Tour. They opened for Bon Jovi.

I saw Cinderella early on in their career as well. Did their drummer have cymbals hanging from chains? I saw Queensryche early on, too.

 

Queensryche's drummer Scott Rockenfield suspended his cymbals from welded chains. I saw them on the Empire tour and got to go backstage and meet the band. I was a freshmen in high school and I thought it was the coolest thing ever in my life to that point. They were already big then. No one in my non-virtual regular crowd would have any clue who Queensryche is now. :|

Their loss. Regarding the Queensryche era that you're talking about, they were pretty damn good.

Queen of the Reich was a killer breakout hit in the PacNW.

 

The chains were Queensryche, then. Saw both bands the same year.

Yeah, they were so good but just turned to crap in the late 90s. I think Promised Land was the last good album they had...which was so long ago. The two band thing now is a joke.

[foghorn-leghorn]

Saw Iron Maiden in 1980 supporting Kiss on the unmasked tour in Germany.

 

Diannio, Burr and Stratton were all still in the band at this time.

[Rick N. Backer]

Ahh, the good old days. I saw:

 

Quiet Riot open for Sabbath

Guns N Roses open for Aerosmith

Soundgarden open for GNR

Maiden open for Priest

UFO open for Ozzy

Lenny Kravitz open for the Stones

Krokus open for Def Leppard (before Hysteria broke them ;) )

[Blue J]

Sometime around 1989-90, my girlfriend and I went to see Junkyard at L'Amours in Brooklyn ... The first band to go on was The Black Crows, and it was literally me, my girlfriend and 2 other people standing in front of the stage while they played ....

 

.

 

.

 

March 31st, 1990. That's so cool, at least I think so--they are perhaps my favorite band. I saw them for the first time in 1993, and I know a lot of fans who think that's early. So yeah, 90 is really early, especially prior to their tour supporting Aerosmith later that year. From 92-97 they couldn't be beat.

 

My first was in '92. My cousin saw them in January of '91, on the notorious ZZ Top tour.

 

He didn't go see them four dozen more times, though, and I did- all over the U.S., from 1992 to 2009. Some of the best shows I've ever seen, by anyone.

[Powderfinger]

I saw Soundgarden open for Skid Row. Which is of course a strange pairing. But Soundgarden didn't feel small to me at that point. While Badmotorfinger had just come out, it had not quite caught on yet. My two best friends and I, however, became fans with Louder Than Love. So we were there to see Soundgarden. Most everyone else was there for Skid Row. That's about the best I can come up with.

[foghorn-leghorn]

Riot supporting Sammy Hagar 1980

[foghorn-leghorn]

Blackfoot supporting The Scorpions.

[foghorn-leghorn]

Elf (Ronnie James Dio) supporting Deep Purple. 1974.

 

My first ever concert.

[foghorn-leghorn]

Saxon supporting Nazareth 1980

[mandydog]

Saw Toto open for Rush in '79. Long before they were "big".

 

Saw AC/DC open for KISS in '77. Nobody in my town had ever heard of AC/DC at the time. They were all we talked about the next day, not KISS.

[x1yyz]

The first time I heard of Jane's Addiction was when I saw them open for Love & Rockets, probably 1987-ish.

 

A friend just posted this today. I'm not sure where the show was, but she thought it was 1986.

 

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o371/x1yyz/12003404_10154200011253332_3884176674633225153_n_zpscymsnssl.jpg

[Self-Indulgence]

Robin Trower w/Eddie Money - 1978.

 

Boston, Black Sabbath, Van Halen & Sammy Hagar - 1978 (Van Halen was months away from being huge!)

 

RUSH w/.38 Special - 1980 (They changed their writing style in 1980 and had a string of hits through the eighties)

 

Santana w/Stevie Ray Vaughan - 1989 (SRV really got big after he died the next year. They were only playing his cover of 'Superstition' on the radio in LA around that time. You'd have to listen to a blues station to hear more of his material. RIP Stevie)

 

RUSH w/Primus - 1992 (Sailing The Seas Of Cheese really put these guys on the map)

Edited September 18, 2015 by Self-Indulgence