Support Acts At Concerts

[deakers]

The Proclaimers supporting The Housemartins (thanks Norm), Top Rank about 1986. Had never heard of them, remember laughing with my mates at the look of the brothers Reid when they came on. About 2 songs in we were blown away, been a fan ever since.

 

[BadFish]

Radiohead supporting The Frank & Walters at Brighton Centre East Wing.

Dancing at the disco bumper to bumper....wait a minute...where's me jumper?

Sorry that was Sultans of Ping FC!

 

[BadFish]

Radiohead supporting Kingmaker at Sussex University. The my band supporting Radiohead at the Richmond a few weeks later.

 

[NMH]

I've just found out that the support act at a concert I'm going to in couple of weeks is someone I've wanted to see for YEARS in their own right (namely Darius Rucker, of Hootie & The Blowfish fame) but never had the chance, hence I'm now even more excited for the concert itself than I was before.

Have any of you ever been to a concert where the support act has been particularly memorable or has been almost as much an attraction as the 'main event'?]

Bowie supporting The Groundhogs.
Genesis ,, ,, Lindisfarne
U2 ,, ,, ,, J. Geils Band
Clapton Band ,, ,, Elton John

 

[whitelion]

I went to the Summit in Houston 30/6/82 ostensibly to see Axe who were a support act to the headliners Asia. I'd missed Axe by the time I arrived but the surprise was that the Animals were playing who'd recently reformed and they were amazing. House of the Rising Sun etc.

 

[ben andrews' girlfriend]

Saw Editors at a Franz Ferdinand gig before they became as big as they are now. They were miles better than the main act, and I became a massive fan after that.

 

[Tyrone Biggums]

I went to a U2 concert to see Big Audio Dynamite as they were the supporting act. Once BAD finished I went home.

 

[Albalbion]

biffy clyro supporting red hot chilli peppers, they were better than the chillis.
biffy clyro supporting foo fighters, best gig ive ever been to.
the enemy and the courteeners supporting the stereophonics.
the enemy, and kasabian supporting oasis.
the rifles supporting paul weller.

All VERY memorable support acts.

 

[kevo]

I saw a gig by British Sea Power at Warwick University when they were supported by both The Killers (in fact, the Killers supported them for a whole tour) and the Editors (then called Snowfield). BSP were still easily the best of the three tho!

Talking of the Editors, I saw the Strange Death of Liberal England support them at the Dome and left after TSDOLE had finished their set/

 

[Muhammad - I’m hard - Bruce Lee]

i went to see judas priest at southampton in 1979, everyone was in the bar while the first support band was on.
when the second one came on, the bar emptied during the first track even though at the time they were unknown.
they went on to be quite famous.
the bands name?

none other than the KINGS of metal.........IRON MAIDEN

 

[Smith DID score]

Remember seeing Bon Jovi supporting Kiss at the
Brighton Centre in 1983 they were the best band on the night by a mile.

Have always tried to see every support act just in case I was missing something worthwhile.
I had a geordie work mate who went to see Free one year and then Bad Company the next at the City Hall, he stayed in bar for the support bands, who were Queen and Genesis.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

Can't wait to see Roy Wood supporting Quo at Christmas at The Centre.

Already taking Mrs Earle to see Brad Paisley, so look foward to seeing Mr Hucker

 

[bhafc99]

Pixies supporting Throwing Muses was good.

And another shout for Radiohead – supporting Belly in San Francisco.

 

[METALMICKY]

I saw Rammstein a few years ago on the Reise Reise tour and they were supported by Apocalyptica. I had no idea who they were at the time but they're now one of my favourite bands, I was dead happy with that combo. We're seeing Iron Maiden in a few days and they've got Airbourne supporting which I'm expecting to be pretty good as I've seem them live already and they're pretty damn good. (Not Maiden good of course, but I don't think it's fair to compare bands to Maiden!)

And of course next weekend is the dream weekend. Maiden at the O2 on Friday night and then Amex and Donny on the Sat. Two of my biggest passions indulged back to back.

And not forgetting SUSSEX in the 20/20 on the Monday evening.

 

[Blazing Apostle]

Coldplay and Muse supporting Gay Dad at the Concorde 2 back in the days.....certainly before Yellow had been released....and Chris Martin had a cold.
Stiff Little Fingers supporting Tom Robinson Band in 1978...ah them were the days...sigh

 

[The Modfather]

Arctic Monkeys supporting Maximo Park at the Dome

 

[Bwian]

Status Quo supporting T Rex at Big Apple
MC5 supporting Free at The Dome
Carole Pope and Rough Trade supporting Roxy Music at Massey Hall, Toronto
Heart supporting Queen at Maple Leaf Gardens

All very memorable

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

Fad Gadget supporting Depeche Mode at Wembley Arena c2001

John Foxx supporting The Human League at The Dome

Babybird down the bill at Heineken Festival at Stanmer Park

 

[Frutos]

Already taking Mrs Earle to see Brad Paisley, so look foward to seeing Mr Hucker

What did you think?

For me, having waited many years to see Darius Rucker live, I was in no way disappointed. The man has an awesome voice and I loved how he sprinkled his country stuff with some great HaTB songs (Let Her Cry, Hold My Hand, Only Wanna Be With You). I also thought his covers of Hank Jr's "Family Tradition" and Oasis' "Champagne Supernova" worked really well. I would pay to see him in concert in his own right, no doubt of it.

As for Brad Paisley himself, I had high hopes having seen him at Shepherd's Bush last year and he still blew them out of the water. A great setlist, mixing the big ones with a few nods towards his more long standing fans (Long Sermon, I'm Gonna Miss Her). He has a great voice, he's a genuinely brilliant guitarist and it's all done with just the right amount of personality and humour (as evidenced by his British accent in the middle of "I'm Still A Guy"). He loves what he does, and it really shows through in his performances. The video backdrops are worth commenting on too, the "Celebrity" and "The Good, The Brad & The Ugly" bits were very funny, and there were some classy touches with the Norwegian flags/flowers at the end of "When I Get Where I'm Going" and the addition of the Union Flag with the Stars & Stripes in the middle of "This Is Country Music".

Then, to cap it all off, having Ronnie Wood join the fun for the encore, with Darius then coming back to help with "Alcohol"....perfect way to cap off the show. Of course I then got outside and turned my phone back on to find that the Albion had won as well, just to ice the cake that wee bit further. Fantastic night, can't wait to see both Brad and Darius again.

 

[Braders]

*Kasabian Supporting Oasis , very good - to the point that people were singing Kasabian songs rather then Oasis
* Goldie Lookin' Chain Supporting Feeder
* Polysics Supporting Hard Fi
* Trip , and I can't remember who they supported - but they were fantastic