Best Opening Metal Bands You Have Ever Saw In Concert

ROUGH CUTT was supporting their first lp -
I forget who they opened up for - maybe Dio
anyways - it was dark on stage - no props -
it was a 12,000 seat show - they didn't use much lighting effects -
they did have their lp cover - enlarged - on both sides of the stage -
20 feet by 20 feet screens - of that silver metal spider and red heart - blue background
I sat way the far in back - place was packed too - partying and rowdiness -
If you know their first lp - you can just guess the overwhelming mood of their show -
Paul Shortino is one of the best
  
Also Motley Crue, supporting 'Shout at The Devil' -
opening up for Ozzy -  
that was as raw, real and dangerous as I have ever saw - in a opener -
everyone was excited to see who Crue were-
and they weren't disappointed -
they saw what was " Red Hot "

Three come to my mind immediately. In early 1984, I saw Accept (on their Balls To The Wall tour) open for KISS (Lick It Up tour) at the old Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh. Allthough I was totally pumped to see KISS for the first time, Accept just blew everyone away. Very impressive.

The following year I saw W.A.S.P. on their debut tour open for KISS (Animalize) at the Civic Arena. We were excited to see W.A.S.P. because of what we had heard about their act. Although it wasn't as wild as expected (no raw meat,little to no blood),still a great show.

Finally, Yngwie on his Trilogy tour opening for Iron Maiden on their Somewhere In Time tour. Cool song selection with a nice guitar solo (naturally) from Yngwie that ended like his solo at the beginning of Steeler's Hot On Your Heels.

First one that comes to mind is Trouble, opening for Savatage's Gutter Ballet tour. They were supporting their first major-label album (1990's self titled) at the time. Simply awesome!!

I saw Megadeth open for Judas Priest's Painkiller tour (Deth was supporting Rust In Peace)... and they absolutely wiped the floor with JP.

Kinda cheating because they were second on a three band bill but Metal Church, destroyed the headliners (Anthrax who were a great live band in '87)

Queensryche opening for Kiss in 1984. QR were on the Warning tour and they blew me away! I was already a fan, but thought they were great live.

Twisted Sister opening for Dio in 1983, Tower Theater, Philadelphia. TS were still a young, hungry, practically unknown band but they had a huge East Coast following and they tore the place apart!

Pantera. Saw them open for Sabbath back in '99 (?) and been a fan ever since. Despite Phil being a colossal bag of douche.

Gigs where the opening (or one of the open acts) have been better than the "headliner":

KISS/Aerosmith - Co-headlining gig with KISS playing first. KISS was the better show, Aerosmith sounded tired

Anthrax/Testament/Death Angel - Testament blew Anthrax off the stage

The Last Vegas opening for Tesla...maybe 5 years ago. Never heard their music until I saw them live. They blew me away. I believe they won over a good part of the crowd too. Been a fan ever since.

thejokeriv wrote:

Testament blew Anthrax off the stage

The eternal schoolboy in me will always snigger at this phrase!   

Night Demon was opening for Havok and they were freaking awesome.

Metallica opening for Ozzy in '85

Good question!

Warbeast and Cage opening for Helstar - I went for Cage, and got two other great shows.

Bride opening for Stryper

Fireball Ministry opening for Dio - Now that was an eye-opener. Instant fan of Fireball Ministry

Testament opening for Megadeth and Slayer.

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Bride opening for Stryper

Heh, I misread that as Bride opening for Slayer for a second.

Fear Factory opening for Iron Maiden in 1996 at Deep Ellum in Dallas. My first concert ever. The sensation of the double bass drums running through my body was exhilarating and I narrowly escaped a mosh pit full of scary 250 lb. men.

Into Eternity opening for Symphony X several years ago. One of my first times hearing Stu Block's amazing falsetto (the first time was in a song featured in one of the Identity compilations-much more impressive live).

I became a big fan of Johnny Crash when I saw them open for Motley Crue on the Doctor Feelgood tour.  I'm pretty sure I may have been the only one at that show to feel that way.

Seeing Child's Play open for Kix made me think that they were destined for greatness.  Brian Jack was a hell of a front man.  Oh for what should've been.

Warrior Soul opening for Queensryche.  I was already a big fan going in and wasn't disappointed.  But not because the set was amazing or anything.  Frankly it was a drunken ranting Kory mess.  I loved it even more for that reason.

Living Colour opening for the Rolling Stones.  I have never seen a more energetic band performance.  Those guys were beyond wired.  Amazingly enough they came back the next night and repeated it with more energy.  Stones were also great at those shows too.

Hands Down!

Required Fields wrote:

scottmitchell74 wrote:

Bride opening for Stryper

Heh, I misread that as Bride opening for Slayer for a second.

Now that would have been something!

On a non metal gig the mighty Bad Manners destroyed all at one of the student balls from my college years. They were way down the billing (the headline act was a one hit wonder called Pato Banton) they were even below a Beatles tribute act! But they are still one of the best live acts I've ever seen   



  

I have had the pleasure of seeing Iron Maiden open up for Scorpions; back in the day. 

metalken wrote:

I have had the pleasure of seeing Iron Maiden open up for Scorpions; back in the day. 

I think that's the thread right there. Can't beat that.

Personally, I've gone to see a lot of my favourite bands live and because I have bad taste in music a lot of times those bands aren't especially popular, I end up going just for the opening act, I have too many bands to list. Maybe I just like marginal music, but for me seeing a band like Skyclad is never "warmup", it's the whole damn show.

Folk metal is popular in Finland but I just don't care for the local acts that much (Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, Finntroll... Turisas is pretty cool though), and whenever Skyclad is on the bill they are opening for one of those type of bands, and I leave after they play. I've seen all of those bands and they don't do much for me. I also left a show after Circle II Circle played - the headliner was Primal Fear. Nothing against Primal Fear, I've seen them live another time too but just didn't think it was something I'd like.

Other openers I've loved are Machine Men (now retired, but it made me a fan and I ended up buying all their albums), Vanishing Point (Australian prog metal, I bought one of their albuns) and well, Megadeth I guess when they supported Maiden, but isn't that more like double headliners? And I obviously didn't include festivals, because that's a whole different beast.

Annihilator opening for Testament back in 1989. Jeff Waters absolutely killed.

Nudeswirl.

Saw them open for White Zombie back when they were touring La Sexorcisto. The album had quite blown up yet, so they were still playing the smaller venues. The opening band was Chemlab. They sucked. They tossed a bunch of t-shirts into the crowd that read I f*cked YOUR BOYFRIEND! Someone in the crown balled one up, lit it on fire, and threw it back on stage. It was hilarious.

Anyway, sidetracked...

Nudeswirl blew me away. I wasn't really paying attention at first, but I was enjoying them. The second or third song, however, had me hooked. It was this song:



Absolutely love that riff. I play this album all the time. It has literally been on constant rotation for over 20 years. It's such a brilliant album. I've never heard a band use feedback in such an effective way. It's not weird, artsy crap, you know; they use it almost like an instrument. A phenomenal album. Shame it was their last. =(

Anthrax were very, very good supporting Metallica on the MOP tour but there was no touching the headliners at that point.

Lari wrote:

metalken wrote:

I have had the pleasure of seeing Iron Maiden open up for Scorpions; back in the day. 

I think that's the thread right there. Can't beat that.

Personally, I've gone to see a lot of my favourite bands live and because I have bad taste in music a lot of times those bands aren't especially popular, I end up going just for the opening act, I have too many bands to list. Maybe I just like marginal music, but for me seeing a band like Skyclad is never "warmup", it's the whole damn show.

Folk metal is popular in Finland but I just don't care for the local acts that much (Korpiklaani, Ensiferum, Finntroll... Turisas is pretty cool though), and whenever Skyclad is on the bill they are opening for one of those type of bands, and I leave after they play. I've seen all of those bands and they don't do much for me. I also left a show after Circle II Circle played - the headliner was Primal Fear. Nothing against Primal Fear, I've seen them live another time too but just didn't think it was something I'd like.

Other openers I've loved are Machine Men (now retired, but it made me a fan and I ended up buying all their albums), Vanishing Point (Australian prog metal, I bought one of their albuns) and well, Megadeth I guess when they supported Maiden, but isn't that more like double headliners? And I obviously didn't include festivals, because that's a whole different beast.

Some people don't know when they have it made!