Backwards bills

[cutout]

I saw Mercury Rev in a tiny club in '95. They had 3 guitarists playing through extremely loud Orange stacks, plus a flute being run through some effects. They also had a projector screen behind them looping through all this very-'90s imagery (baby doll heads, heroin needles, etc) with a color filter. I also happened to be super fucked up, so the combined effect was paralyzing.

When they were done, everyone in the room had to kind of collect themselves. Then came the headliners: Hum. Their stage show consisted of a single disco ball which they fumbled with while installing in the ceiling. They didn't beat around the bush and led off with their one-hit wonder "Stars". 20 minutes in, half the crowd had already filtered out. The singer made a couple bitter remarks suggesting he knew they'd been upstaged.

[JonFromMaplewood]

I saw Beck open for Evel Knievel.   Seriously.

[JonFromMaplewood]

Oh, and Soundgarden open for the Asexuals.

[<<<<<]

Soundgarden and Soul Asylum shared a similar fate ~ played for like a decade as support, always the bridesmaid, never the bride ~ until they finally won a little (hard earned) recognition. 

[masterofsparks]

I obviously didn't see this show, but I heard Alan Vega say that Cheap Trick once opened for Suicide.

[Andy]

I saw the Oakridge Boys open for Alan Parsons Project.

[Phantom Hugger]

Groteface Killah wrote:

I also saw a few acts at City Gardens in the 80s who went on to become pretty huge in the 90s...

I worked at City Gardens from 1986-1990ish, and my favorite upside down bill there was Soundgarden opening a show with Faith No More in the middle - both supporting Voivod.

Haha, talk about a backwards bill.  I can totally believe it though ~ at that particular narrow window in time.

I saw this tour in Milwaukee except Soundgarden was in the middle slot. The crowd kept getting thinner and thinner, by the end of Voivod's set everyone could have set up lawn chairs with room to spare. I felt kinda sorry for them.

[iAmBaronVonTito]

its threads like this that remind me how badly i dream of being born in the seventies.  it makes a huge difference in the context of this thread.  i was too young to see the bands i like(d) and when i was old enough to go to shows nothing noteworthy comes to mind.

im jealous of the thirty-somethings. 

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

its threads like this that remind me how badly i dream of being born in the seventies.  it makes a huge difference in the context of this thread.  i was too young to see the bands i like(d) and when i was old enough to go to shows nothing noteworthy comes to mind.

im jealous of the thirty-somethings. 

Doesn't everyone feel this way?  I remember feeling like a big loser because, by the time I discovered all of this stuff, D. Boone had already passed, HR had already quit Bad Brains, and Minor Threat, Black Flag, and (don't judge) The Dead Kennedys and The Misfits had already broken up.  And this was just 1986!  Plus, according to everything I've read, all those guys had complicated issues with their having missed punk rock's "real" days.

Nowadays I regret having missed out on the 1980s midwestern rock renaissance, even though I just found out about it, like, last year.  I bet at last a few of those bands came through NJ, but I skipped almost everything that wasn't hardcore because I was a stupid kid.

[<<<<<]

Yeah, we all had older folks hanging around talking about things before our time.  For some of us, it's simply our turn to be those people.  It's how local music traditions get passed down and scenes perpetuate themselves in a manner that makes sense.

[buffcoat]

its threads like this that remind me how badly i dream of being born in the seventies.  it makes a huge difference in the context of this thread.  i was too young to see the bands i like(d) and when i was old enough to go to shows nothing noteworthy comes to mind.

im jealous of the thirty-somethings. 

It's not like in the old days, when you and I could walk down and see Nirvana at the local club.







It's even better to be in your thirties and have missed all the great shows because you wouldn't get up and go to the Cat's Cradle.  Four years at UNC, and I saw one show, and it sucked. 

And I still won't go when decent acts come through.  I never learn.

[hugman]

Ben Harper opening for Luscious Jackson (one of the few times I've seen the opening band get an encore)

And in an attempt to regain some street cred, Neutral Milk Hotel opening for Superchunk.

Donnas opening for The Groovie Ghoulies

Does the Roots opening for Goodie Mob count if the Fugees headlined? Or are they both, in essence, just opening for the Fugees (and funyons).

Bands I didn't think I liked that won me over live: Spiritualized (this just happened this year)

On a related note, the first time I saw The Lazy Cowgirls, looking at them take the stage I was like, whuuuuut, then they proceeded to convert me real quick.

[Phantom Hugger]

I think I've told this story here before, but I bought a pink Dayglow Abortions t-shirt with Ron and Nancy Reagan eating a fetus and saying "aargh fuck kill," and my Mom made me get rid of it.  I traded it for an Adrenalin OD EP, I think.

Yep, just an old farty-fart ex-hardcore kid over here.  I have a theory that ex-punks who don't succumb to drugs or violence wind up in academia.

This must be why I only like late period Darkthrone.

[voivod]

They were lucky to open for Voivod and were probably happy they got to, since they are all metal fans. R.I.P. Denis D'Amour. And get off my lawn.

[Spalding]

The most vivid one to me was Faith No More (in the "Introduce Yourself" era, with Chuck their crazy original singer) opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was such a route - the bands were in a similar zone soundwise and Faith No More just crushed them.

Soul Asylum's time as an opener was pretty short, at least in the Midwest. They were headlining large clubs by '87 or so.