Best openings to concerts you been to?

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Coltsfan2theend

Coltsfan2theend

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Post videos if you have them or links to videos on youtube.

I got two that are right up there.

First one is how Tenth Avenue North opens up their shows.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/lhf2fjRk4EQ" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

The crowd interaction is what makes me like it. Mike (the lead singer) gets very interactive with the audience. Every show, he goes out into the audience and shares a story and then starts the song "You are More".

Second one is this.

<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/k8YpRE0lbCc" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" width="560"></iframe>

The violin and cello at the beg. take the cake and then it is Skillet rocking out and lights going nuts.
 
When I was a freshman at UMass in the early 1970s, the annual spring concert had three bands. The middle band was Cold Play. The main attraction was It's A Beautiful Day.

The opening act was an up and coming band from New Jersey.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Shuffle.

(Not what you are going for, I think, in this thread, but it's what I thought of.)
 
Just about very time I've seen Yes over the past 30 odd years (and I've seen at least one show on every tour that played at a venue between NYC and Boston since 1981) they open with the Firebird Suite

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/bS1ivR2PniA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

One of the more memorable entries I can recall back in the day, was Blue Oyster Cult.

This was back in '78 and I saw them up at Albany-Saratoga speedway, a dirt track.

It had Alvin Lee and Ten Year's Later (no that isn't a typo), Rick Derringer, and a couple other bands.

BOC was the head liner. They came on just after dark. They set off a bunch of flash bombs and big M-80 type charges and started playing at the same moment the explosions happened. The flash and bang blinded and deafened you for a moment so you didn't immediately see or hear the band and the effect was that they "exploded" on stage.
 
TipRoast said:
When I was a freshman at UMass in the early 1970s, the annual spring concert had three bands. The middle band was Cold Play. The main attraction was It's A Beautiful Day.

The opening act was an up and coming band from New Jersey.

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Shuffle.

(Not what you are going for, I think, in this thread, but it's what I thought of.)
Click to expand...

Is that a typo or was there a different band known as Cold Play back in the day.
 
One time that I saw Blue Oyster Cult back in the early 80s they all came on stage in really nice (and loud) custom choppers. That was pretty cool.

Another time a few years earlier I saw BOC, but this time a little known (at the time) Canadian band named Rush opened for them.
 
I've seen a lot of concerts but I think the best opening was probably Disturbed on their Music As A Weapon tour. The lead singer, David Drainman(jewish) was led out onto the stage and to a glass gas chamber in a prison uniform by what looked like Nazi guards. They locked him in and the chamber filled up with green smoke then exploded open and he walked out singing in total black leather.

Also saw Sepultura at the Avalon on Landsdowne street in Boston around 92 and when they came out the explosions and strobe lights started as a mummy hung upside down was lowered over the stage. The explosions, the lights and the beat were amazing. My girlfriend who demanded I take her to see what I find so interesting at these shows ran off the dance floor safety :) when the mosh pit opened up.

Never went to another show with me. :)

Pink Floyd opening with Breathe from Dark Side Of The Moon in 94 was outstanding too.

Rob Zombie puts on an incredible show but these are the most memorable openings for me.
 
Oh yeah. I saw Ozzie and Rob Zombie in 2001 around Christmas on their Merry Mayhem tour and Ozzie started his show buy coming down out of the rafters dressed as Santa in a slay with a canon shooting confetti everywhere. That was some good stuff.
 
A few notables come to mind.

Went to see ZZ Top back in the 80's. When we entered the hall, the entire stage was covered with a giant white sheet. There was a big King Tut mask overlooking the stage from above. When the house lights went down, there was this loud sniffing noise, and the sheet disappeared up King Tut's nose, starting the show.

Alice Cooper once opened with a giant screen on the stage, onto which a film of him running toward the camera was projected. He got closer, closer, closer, and then he burst right through the screen from the back. Very cool.

I don't know if anyone has seen Roger Water's current tour of The Wall,
but before the show starts, there's a shabbily dressed vendor pushing a cart of souvenirs through the aisles. The vendor is Waters himself.... some people notice...some don't.
 
Those of you who never saw the Tubes missed out the most insane stage show ever. They were truly demented... pushing the boundaries of obscenity and good taste. There was one memorable Halloween night show at the Orpheum around 77 or 78.




<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/60yZzEVCHp4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
johnlocke said:
I've seen a lot of concerts but I think the best opening was probably Disturbed on their Music As A Weapon tour. The lead singer, David Drainman(jewish) was led out onto the stage and to a glass gas chamber in a prison uniform by what looked like Nazi guards. They locked him in and the chamber filled up with green smoke then exploded open and he walked out singing in total black leather.

Also saw Sepultura at the Avalon on Landsdowne street in Boston around 92 and when they came out the explosions and strobe lights started as a mummy hung upside down was lowered over the stage. The explosions, the lights and the beat were amazing. My girlfriend who demanded I take her to see what I find so interesting at these shows ran off the dance floor safety :) when the mosh pit opened up.

Never went to another show with me. :)

Pink Floyd opening with Breathe from Dark Side Of The Moon in 94 was outstanding too.

Rob Zombie puts on an incredible show but these are the most memorable openings for me.
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I saw Disturbed when they first started and they opened up for Fuel and UNH Durham. It was completely dark and then all of a sudden you heard loud sounds of electricity and the singer was in an electric chair in prison garb looking like he was being electrified. It was awesome and I've been a fan ever since.
 
I saw Skinny Puppy back around '91. Bands like Marilyn Manson hadn't come along yet, and basically ripped off Skinny Puppy.

Their shows were pure performance art, with blood and guts and other theatrics.

I remember the intro very well. Ogre came out in some sort of tomb, the tomb opened up, and he had a fake torso on, which he began pulling bloody guts out of. ROFL

The drummer had an intense setup. He had a drum that must have been 10 feet deep that he was using as a bass drum. He also had several electronic drum pads that were tuned to radio stations, so whenever he would hit one of them, it would blast a few seconds of whatever was on the radio.

May not be the best show I've seen, but it was probably the most memorable.
 
Best opening band at a concert? It wasn't Bryan Adams at Journey.

Might have been The Fixx for A Flock of Seagulls.
Posted via Mobile Device
 
Back in '99 Primus opened up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Fvcking awesome. They were better, funner.
 
I got a real fresh one...Neil Young opened Monday night with the national anthem, and saluting the flag. Nice touch. The band and all the roadies all came on the stage and removed their hats and stood like the rest of us. And it is on YouTube... Just can't post it right now.
 
OffTopic said:
Back in '99 Primus opened up for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Fvcking awesome. They were better, funner.
Click to expand...

I saw Primus in '91, in a tiny ballroom in Bloomington, Indiana. They opened for Fishbone. It was a real fun show. A year later, they were headlining Lollapalooza.
 
patswin said:
I got a real fresh one...Neil Young opened Monday night with the national anthem, and saluting the flag. Nice touch. The band and all the roadies all came on the stage and removed their hats and stood like the rest of us. And it is on YouTube... Just can't post it right now.
Click to expand...

Is this it?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/qrXkTKWos1k" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
O_P_T said:
Is this it?
Click to expand...

Nope, that ones from a Canadian show.

The Boston show is this one, although the video isn't as good. This is actually about the opening 20 minutes....
The Beatles "A Day in the Life" was while the roadies finished the stage prep.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7EcJFKq4_wc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
Pyxis said:
Best opening band at a concert? It wasn't Bryan Adams at Journey.

Might have been The Fixx for A Flock of Seagulls.
Posted via Mobile Device
Click to expand...
Sadly i saw this tour and Journey sucks, Bryan Adams was ok but Nick Lowe I believe also played and he was pretty damn good, I slept through journey.

I also saw fixed with flock of seagulls both open for the police
 
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