Oddest Concert Combinations?

What concerts have you been to where the bands didn't really go together very well?? I'm talking bands whose crowds didn't get along, or whose genres clashed, or just made you wonder "Why is THIS band opening for/playing with these other guys?"

My strangest concert combination was when I saw Cinderella opening for Judas Priest (!) on their RAM IT DOWN tour in 1988. Needless to say, the Judas Priest crowd didn't exactly welcome Cinderella with open arms. I was probably one of the few people there who actually LIKED both bands, but I stayed in my seat all through Cinderella's set because I was afraid if I stood up and cheered for them, the guys in the row behind me (who kept chanting "GET AIDS AND DIE YOU POSERS!" or words to that effect) would tear my head off and throw it at the stage.

Any others?

I remember it like it was yesterday....
1989 And Justice for All tour. Charleston Civic Center, Charleston, WV. Metallica with opening act, The Cult. WTF?

I saw Type O negative open for Motley crue back in 1994. Very strange mix of people.

I also saw Fear open for Megadeth around that same time period. I'm guessing since Lee ving and mustaine were working on the MD45 lp around that time, they thought it might be a good idea to tour together. Fear didn't go over really well with the metal-heads at the show I was at. They put on a great show regardless.

spectrefate wrote:

I remember it like it was yesterday....
1989 And Justice for All tour. Charleston Civic Center, Charleston, WV. Metallica with opening act, The Cult. WTF?

Yup, I saw that one too. Again, I liked both bands but I was definitely in the minority cuz the Cult got hazed BIG time

outofstep wrote:

I saw Type O negative open for Motley crue back in 1994. Very strange mix of people.

That was the John Corabi Crue tour wasn't it?? You must be one of only a few dozen people who actually saw that lineup. My brother and his friend had tickets to see that show in NYC but the Crue cancelled the entire tour after only a few shows so they never made it that far!

Fat Freddy wrote:

outofstep wrote:

I saw Type O negative open for Motley crue back in 1994. Very strange mix of people.

That was the John Corabi Crue tour wasn't it?? You must be one of only a few dozen people who actually saw that lineup. They cancelled 3/4 of the tour dates due to lack of ticket sales. My brother and his friend were going to see that show in NYC because they wanted to see Type O but had to get a refund

Yep, that was the corabi tour. It was at the mirage nightclub in minneapolis, MN. King's X was also on the bill, but cancelled. I don't even remember who played instead of them. The club wasn't very big, and it wasn't very crowded either. I can see why they had to cancel most of the tour.

I forgot about this one:

Ozzy Osbourne with opening act KORN!! Geez.

outofstep wrote:

I forgot about this one:

Ozzy Osbourne with opening act KORN!! Geez.

I remember trying to get tickets for that one (it was Ozzy's supposed "retirement" tour and I'd never seen him) but they sold out in about two minutes. So I never have seen Ozzy, but at least I was spared the pain of seeing the then-unknown Korn.

Guns 'n Roses - twice

1st time was during the Use Your Illusion tour with Soundgarden opening. This was before they were well known and believe me, these grungy hippies from Seattle did not go over well with a Guns n' Roses crowd.

2nd time was more recently when Axl his bunch of hired hands were supposed to play in Philadelphia. I say supposed to because Axl pulled a no-show and a riot ensuded. Ahhh, fun times. But about the opening acts. 1st up was a dj spinning club music for almost an hour. Yea, club music. Second was the pop-punk band CKY. The dj was constantly booed and CKY, while slightly better, weren't really right for a GnR crowd either. I seem to recall some objects being thrown.

Just thought of two other good ones:

I saw the pop-punk band "311" opening for KISS' reunion tour at Madison Square Garden in 1996. KISS played a four night stand and had a different opening act each night. I kept hoping we'd get D-Generation but they played the night before (dang!)... 311 were pretty well abused by the KISS crowd, of course.

I also saw Savatage in 1996 @ the Birch Hill Nightclub in New Jersey and for some ungodly reason the club booked a local hardcore band called "Murder One" as the openers. The combination was like oil and water. There were NO Murder One fans in the house that night so they got heckled all the way through their set. Murder One's singer went on the defensive and started calling the crowd "morons," things got thrown, next thing I know the Murder One guy pulled down his pants and started waving his, er, "package" at the front row before a couple of bouncers grabbed him and escorted him out the door at the side of the stage. That was the end of their set, thankfully, and as they say on Monty Python, "there was much rejoicing (yaaaay!)."

In Flamers with Nevermore opening up. It should have just been Nevermore playing a headlining set with In Flames going somewhere else. I couldn't even stay for all of In Flames set because they are too boring.

In Flames with Sepultura opening up.

I think that Exodus toured in Australia as a supporting band to The Haunted! (They were touring in Europe as supporting act to Hypocrisy).

AchrisK wrote:

In Flamers with Nevermore opening up. It should have just been Nevermore playing a headlining set with In Flames going somewhere else. I couldn't even stay for all of In Flames set because they are too boring.

When I saw Nevermore they were with Flotsam & Jetsam at the Alrosa Villa in Columbus (where Dimebag was murdered). It may have been bit better show than you may have seen.

Quote :

the Birch Hill Nightclub in New Jersey

Birch Hill, wow. Now that's I name I haven't heard in years. What a great place to see a show! It was a bit of a hike from Philly, but we made the trek a few times. Great club.

Freddy, did you ever go to Bonnie's Rocks in Jersey? I can't remember where it was exactly (I didn't drive back then), but that was another "metal" nightclub that had some great acts back in the day.

The Agonist (scream/clean/scream/clean core-ish stuff) opening for Sonata Arcitica just the other week.....

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Quote :

the Birch Hill Nightclub in New Jersey

Birch Hill, wow. Now that's I name I haven't heard in years. What a great place to see a show! It was a bit of a hike from Philly, but we made the trek a few times. Great club.

Freddy, did you ever go to Bonnie's Rocks in Jersey? I can't remember where it was exactly (I didn't drive back then), but that was another "metal" nightclub that had some great acts back in the day.

Yea, I miss the Birch Hill like hell. I saw some fantastic shows there...Raven w/Anvil, Savatage, Dee Snider's SMFs, Joan Jett (twice), Kix (twice), Ace Frehley/Peter Criss, Warrior Soul, etc. It was a bit of a haul for me too (I live in North Jersey, so it was about a 90 minute drive) but it was worth it. It was really the only place in Jersey to see national hard rock/metal acts during the "dry period" of the mid-to-late 90s.. I hear there is now a condo development where the club used to be.

Bonnie's Rocks (or was it "Roxx?") sounds familiar. I may have been there once but I honestly dont' remember. I saw so many shows in so many little hole in the wall clubs that were open one day, gone the next, that they start to run together after a while.

The recent Marylin Manson/Slayer tour.

Queensrÿche and Suicidal Tendencies.

I wanted to see the Stryper/Slayer show,but I think Slayer backed out.Wusses!

Quote :

Bonnie's Rocks (or was it "Roxx?") sounds familiar. I may have been there once but I honestly dont' remember. I saw so many shows in so many little hole in the wall clubs that were open one day, gone the next, that they start to run together after a while.

That's funny. When I first typed it, I spelled it as "Roxx", then went back and corrected myself. But yea, it probably was the double X spelling. That's more metal!

Back on topic, I thought the Metallica/Linkin Park/Deftones tour a few years ago was an odd choice. That, along with some other reasons, for me will always be a defining moment that Metallica wasn't the same band I once knew.

thrasher73 wrote:

I wanted to see the Stryper/Slayer show,but I think Slayer backed out.Wusses!

Ahh, yes, the mythical "Heaven and Hell" tour. I would've loved to see that one happen.
Stryper did take Testament out as an opener in Europe when Testament were first started out. Apparently Stryper thought they were a Christian band because of their name, but found out otherwise pretty quickly.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

Guns 'n Roses - twice

1st time was during
the Use Your Illusion tour with Soundgarden opening. This was before
they were well known and believe me, these grungy hippies from Seattle
did not go over well with a Guns n' Roses crowd.

I saw that tour. I wasn't much into Soundgarden, but they seemed to get an OK reception from most of the crowd.



The oddest combo I can remember seeing was Van Halen with BTO. BTO was still rockin' but it struck me as a weird choice.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Stryper did take Testament out as an opener in Europe when Testament were first started out. Apparently Stryper thought they were a Christian band because of their name, but found out otherwise pretty quickly.

Where did you hear about this?

Required Fields wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Stryper did take Testament out as an opener in Europe when Testament were first started out. Apparently Stryper thought they were a Christian band because of their name, but found out otherwise pretty quickly.

Where did you hear about this?

I read about it in a Testament interview in a magazine years ago. Chuck Billy sez that the Stryper guys were really cool to them, but the Testament guys kept getting in trouble cuz they were smoking weed in their dressing rooms and cursing all the time.

Primus opening for Rush back in the early 90's. Saw them twice on that tour.