Opening bands you wish you'd showed up in time for...

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Mon Apr 25, 2005 5:29 am

HFAL's thread got me thinking about this. Have you ever gone to see a show where you were either late arriving or just hanging out in the parking lot getting drunk & stoned and you missed the opening act, only to later find out that they're a badass band in their own right? It's happened to me a few times.

Went to see NIN on the Downward Spiral tour in Omaha. The Melvins were opening up. I'd heard of the Melvins, but none of us were really into them at the time, so we just tailgated a little longer. I'm still kicking myself for that.

Went to see Tool in Oct 2001. Tricky was opening up. I really wanted to catch him, but my friends' indifference, coupled with heightened post-9/11 security at the gates, foiled my plans.

I'm pretty sure I missed Clutch when they opened for Slayer a while back too. I've seen them a few times since, so it's not so bad.

BSmack · Post by **BSmack** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:09 pm

Never had that problem. I always figured that if I paid for a ticket, I wanted to get my money's worth. Besides, back in the old days of festival seating, you HAD to show up for the opening act or you didn't get good seats.

King Crimson · Post by **King Crimson** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 7:50 pm

i could have missed seeing the Thrills opening for the pixies last Sept. they were awful.

KatMode · Post by **KatMode** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 8:40 pm

We had tickets to see The Cure for the Wish tour in Dallas many years ago. Not only did we miss BOTH opening bands (Curve and another group starting with a "C"), but we missed the first two songs by The Cure. I was fucking pissed because one of the guys in our group kept saying "one more [beer] for the road! we'll make it there in time". WRONG DICKHEAD!! Thanks to "one more drink", we missed the opening of the show.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:23 pm

I can't count the number of openers I missed partying outside of Dead shows.

I do remember missing the Indigo Girls for about 3 straight days. I was pretty proud of myself for that.

BSmack · Post by **BSmack** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:29 pm

Dinsdale wrote:I can't count the number of openers I missed partying outside of Dead shows. I do remember missing the Indigo Girls for about 3 straight days. I was pretty proud of myself for that.

I saw the Indigo Girls open for Neil Young during one of his acoustic tours. Their PA sucked and we were in the back of the ampitheatre tripping balls and rather intently trying (and failing) to play hackey sack. I don't recall hearing a single note they played. Funny that when Neil started playing, the sound got a whole lot better. I heard some of their stuff on tape later and didn't spend much time kicking myself.

KUTTER · Post by **KUTTER** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:34 pm

Primus opening for Rush during the early 90's. Those were the only shows I ever showed up early for.

Dinsdale · Post by **Dinsdale** » Mon Apr 25, 2005 9:37 pm

Any day in which you don't hear the Indigo Girls is a good day.

Fortunately, their 15 minutes is up, and now Sleater-Kinney is the official band of wannabe-dykes-that-don't-quite-have-the-guts-to-lick-pussy-so-they-get-run-over-by-bulldozers-instead.

tomas8 · Post by **tomas8** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 12:37 am

BSmack wrote:Never had that problem. I always figured that if I paid for a ticket, I wanted to get my money's worth. Besides, back in the old days of festival seating, you HAD to show up for the opening act or you didn't get good seats.

same here

Raydah James · Post by **Raydah James** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:14 am

Last night-Little bro is Zy II and knows quite a few cats in the industry [Zyclone]I only know a few[/Zy]

Anyhow, the horror pops and a few other scrub bands were playing long beach last night, and I decided to skip it and work out/see my honey instead.

Little bro calls me from the show, and him and tim armstrong, lars frederickson and a few others are chilling out shooting the shit.

He ended up having a badass night, I ended up rolling my eyes a million times as my girl showed me her latest clothing purchases (rack the thongs though)

The other time was rise against recently-I was flat out sick as a dog and ended up giving my tix to friends.

Other than that, I make every show I buy tix for-which is about 10-20 a year depending on my availability.

Bizzarofelice · Post by **Bizzarofelice** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 1:51 am

Missed my one chance to see Shonen Knife when they opened for Urge Overkill and Nirvana [zy]a month before Nirvana first graced Headbanger's Ball and MTV[/zy]. For some reason I really wanted to see Shonen Knife.

Breeders and Blues Explosion played together once and I missed their opening band Th' Faith Healers. Big time fan of the faith healers.

Went to one of the Lollapaloozas hoping to catch Nick Cave, Tribe, Flaming Lips and GBV only to have arrived late. "Oh, I just wanted to see the Beastie Boys" said the girl who told me the time when I should be arriving. RUSTERED!

Conversely:
Saw Curve open with Spiritualized for Jesus and Mary Chain. You didn't miss much with Curve. Spiritualized is deece.

Saw Babes in Toyland open for Dino J and My Bloody Valentine. Sound was so fucking loud I wish I missed them.

scritti · Post by **scritti** » Tue Apr 26, 2005 3:39 am

Shirley Manson is my bitch.

sin,
Toni from Curve

seriously,i came in halfway of Teenage Fanclub's set when they opened up for Radiohead. the venue was so freaking packed that the promoters slipped a few c-notes to the fire marshal.

worth it to hear Thom have a meltdown over fans moshing.

mothster · Post by **mothster** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:07 pm

KUTTER wrote:Primus opening for Rush during the early 90's. Those were the only shows I ever showed up early for.

roll the bones tour