Odd opening acts

Morbid Angel was suppose to open for Black Sabbath, here in Tampa for the TYR tour (also included Anthrax,) here in Tampa, but the concert was cancelled at the last minute.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I seem to remember Metallica taking Kid Rock and Linkin Park out on the road with'em a few tours ago.

I remember that, I thnk Powerman5000 were on the bill as well. Played fairgrounds & race tracks. This was the load/reload-era Metallica, so it's not that much of a stretch.

TheGreatDuck wrote:

It seems to have become popular for big metal bands to have some lame metalcore or nu metal band open for them during the last 10 years or so.

Not a recent thing...Metal bands have always been more daring in that regard. Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, System Of A Down, etc have all been taken out by Metal bands early in their careers, but never "returned the favor", so to speak, when they hit headline status. Megadeth might take out Faith No More, but you'd never see Faith No More take out Exodus.

Poison opened for megadeth
Cheap Trick opened for Stone Temple Pilots
Kieth Emerson open for Tesla and The Scorpions
I went to a concert that was Night Ranger, Damn Yankees and Ted Nugent...playing in that order.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I seem to remember Metallica taking Kid Rock and Linkin Park out on the road with'em a few tours ago.

I think the Deftones were part of that tour as well.

A coupla that I've mentioned before...
Soundgarden opening for GnR way back in '90 or '91
Some rave dj opening for GnR (aka The Axl Rose Experience) a few years ago.

I'm curious to see fan reaction to Kool & the Gang opening for Van Halen.

Quote :

Cheap Trick opened for Stone Temple Pilots

I saw Cheap Trick open for Motley Crue. I think they'll play just about anywhere, anytime.

Maiden was notorious for having strange opening acts, and being the out-of-place openers themselves. I believe they opened for .38 Special in the 80's. I personally would LOVE that show, but I can see many southern rock fans being a big unreceptive of the mighty Iron Maiden.

I remember Joe Perry saying that back in the early days, Aerosmith opened for the Mahavishnu Orchestra. They were not well received.

I don't see Cheap Trick opening for Crue or STP as odd...both bands were so influenced by Cheap Trick that I see that as paying homage to your heroes.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

I don't see Cheap Trick opening for Crue or STP as odd...both bands were so influenced by Cheap Trick that I see that as paying homage to your heroes.

I didn't think of it so much as "odd". I was just commenting that Cheap Trick will play with anyone, anywhere. I did find it a little sad that the areana was pretty empty when CT hit the stage.

Nico wrote:

Also, I remember hearing about how Running Wild opened for Celtic Frost and Voivod in '84 or '85 and received a lot of animosity from the audience. Although I think that might have had something to do with the fact that they claimed to be the "heaviest band in the world" while they were opening for Celtic Frost and Voivod. Still, I think that nowadays most metal fans would love to see those three bands together. I know I would!

Tom Warrior talked about that tour in his Are You Morbid? book... if memory serves, he said that Running Wild left the tour after only a few dates cuz they were tired of being constantly abused by hostile audiences. I don't believe R.W. ever set foot on U.S. soil again after that.

Well, I don't think that's a good reason to refrain from touring the U.S. at all, they should just tour with different bands that might attract a more open-minded audience.

Andy wrote:

Maiden was notorious for having strange opening acts, and being the out-of-place openers themselves. I believe they opened for .38 Special in the 80's. I personally would LOVE that show, but I can see many southern rock fans being a big unreceptive of the mighty Iron Maiden.

I'm pretty sure that Judas Priest opened up for REO Speedwagon around 1979.

REO were heavier at the time, a year or two away from going pop with Hi Infidelity...So it's not that odd.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

TheGreatDuck wrote:

It seems to have become popular for big metal bands to have some lame metalcore or nu metal band open for them during the last 10 years or so.

Not a recent thing...Metal bands have always been more daring in that regard. Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, System Of A Down, etc have all been taken out by Metal bands early in their careers, but never "returned the favor", so to speak, when they hit headline status. Megadeth might take out Faith No More, but you'd never see Faith No More take out Exodus.

The first three are metal bands themselves.

brokentulsa wrote:

I went to a concert that was Night Ranger, Damn Yankees and Ted Nugent...playing in that order.

I also think Mercyful Fate opened for King Diamond on one tour.

MetalFRO wrote:

Coram Deo wrote:

Faith no More and Sound Garden opening for Voivod.....I think it was 1989.....

This makes perfect sense though, in the way that all 3 bands at the time were out of the ordinary for their genre, all three could have been considered "progressive" at some level, and Voivod was making a bid (or MCA was making a bid for them) for mainstream acceptance. This would have been a killer show!

Faith No More, Soundgarden and Voivod would have been an AMAZING show to see in 1989!

I don't think I discovered Soundgarden until a little later (Louder Than Love), but I was heavily into Voivod and Faith No More at the time.

By the time 1989 rolled around I was intentionally seeking out bands that didn't fit into categories because I had become increasingly bored with the mainstream.

I agree on the FNM, Soundgarden & Voivod show would have been the shite! I think that Louder Than Love was a 1989 release, but may have come out after the tour.

Odd opening act for me was a three piece rock-a-billy band that opened for Van Halen on the 1984 tour when they dropped by in my neck of the woods.

metalken wrote:

I agree on the FNM, Soundgarden & Voivod show would have been the shite! I think that Louder Than Love was a 1989 release, but may have come out after the tour.

I'm sure it was out, I just hadn't discovered it yet. I remember buying "Louder Than Love" the same day as I bought Black Sabbath's "TYR", so I'm guessing sometime early 1990.

Dio took King's X out on his KILLING THE DRAGON tour... I always thought that was an odd pairing (especially since HammerFall, who made much more sense, opened the show, and King's X were jammed in the middle)...

I saw Clutch open for Marilyn Manson once.

Also, saw a bill with Billy Squier, L.A. Guns and King's X together.

I saw FNM open for Billy Idol. As much as I love me some Billy Idol he was not at his best that night. Fortunately FNM more than made up for it.

I saw Stone Temple Pilots open for Megadeth. It was only odd in that by the end of that year STP became a big alternative rock act.

I was supposed to see that Voivod, Soundgarden, and FNM bill at Hammerjacks. Unfortunately my beloved grandfather had just died and I wasn't in the mood. A friend went in my place and hated it. Which to me indicated I would have loved it. This would have been sometime April 1990. Almost 22 years ago - wow.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Dio took King's X out on his KILLING THE DRAGON tour... I always thought that was an odd pairing (especially since HammerFall, who made much more sense, opened the show, and King's X were jammed in the middle)...

King's X was a last minute addition to that tour, the band he originally asked backed out. Ronnie was friends with Ty Tabor so he called him up and they joined as the fill-in band.

I've seen some odd combinations:

Def Leppard opening for Jefferson Starship
"thebandthatshallneverbementionedagain" opening for KMFDM
Counting Crows for Rolling Stones

EDIT: Add another one to the list now that I think about it,

I saw Eric Gales Band open for Rock City Angels in Memphis circa 1990 or so.

Didnt Alice In Chains have some dates opening for Warrant in 1990? It may have had something with them both being on Epic/Columbia, but its still odd.

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

TheGreatDuck wrote:

It seems to have become popular for big metal bands to have some lame metalcore or nu metal band open for them during the last 10 years or so.

Not a recent thing...Metal bands have always been more daring in that regard. Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, System Of A Down, etc have all been taken out by Metal bands early in their careers, but never "returned the favor", so to speak, when they hit headline status. Megadeth might take out Faith No More, but you'd never see Faith No More take out Exodus.

I mentioned Flotsam and Jetsam touring with KoЯn back in the 90s earlier in this thread. A number of years later, when Flotsam and Jetsam were without a label, the former guitar player for KoЯn signed them onto his label. So I guess that counts as returning the favor on some level.

Required Fields wrote:

Shawn Of Fire wrote:

TheGreatDuck wrote:

It seems to have become popular for big metal bands to have some lame metalcore or nu metal band open for them during the last 10 years or so.

Not a recent thing...Metal bands have always been more daring in that regard. Faith No More, Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, System Of A Down, etc have all been taken out by Metal bands early in their careers, but never "returned the favor", so to speak, when they hit headline status. Megadeth might take out Faith No More, but you'd never see Faith No More take out Exodus.

I mentioned Flotsam and Jetsam touring with KoЯn back in the 90s earlier in this thread. A number of years later, when Flotsam and Jetsam were without a label, the former guitar player for KoЯn signed them onto his label. So I guess that counts as returning the favor on some level.

I would agree...

Another strange one...

Michael Bolton opening for Ozzy Osbourne.

Required Fields wrote:

Another strange one...

Michael Bolton opening for Ozzy Osbourne.

When did that happen? Is that some sort of bizzare fantasy of yours?