CRAZY CONCERT PAIRING

What is the craziest concert pairing you ever saw or heard of...

I remember a few years ago hearing about a megadeth/poison ticket....Then there was Hendrix opening for the monkeys...and Kool & The Gang with Van Halen....
 One crazy pairing I  saw was Kieth Emerson opening for the Scorpions..

WASP/METALLICA/ARMORED SAINT 1985
I still think it was crazy that WASP headlined, just like when WASP headlined over SLAYER in 1987.

My first thought was the Kool and the game with VH. Saw that tour, and love VH, but for the life of me couldn't understand why they picked them as openers.

Another one that still doesn't make sense to me was when I saw King Diamond for the first time on the Voodoo tour. They had Pit bull daycare as openers. They were entertaining, but not a good match for King Diamond.

There are some other head scratchers I've been to before, but I can't remember who at the moment.

Mr. Big opening for Rush (1990)
Creed opening for Metallica (1998)

The odd pairings happen quite frequently at those benefit type shows too, like when Justin Timberlake opened for AC/DC and the Rolling Stones in Toronto in 2003.

One of the oddest concerts I've ever seen was Def Leppard opening ahead of Molly Hatchet and "headliner" Jefferson Starship back in 1978. All 3 bands were good but talk about disparate sounds...

Judas Priest and Cinderella, 1988. Let's just say that the leather n' studs JP crowd didn't exactly greet Cinderella with open arms.

311 opening for Kiss' reunion tour. Shit got thrown....

It was not odd to me, but I remember Bon Jovi opening for Dio, the whole front row was nothing but adolescent males with middle fingers through out the set.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Judas Priest and Cinderella, 1988. Let's just say that the leather n' studs JP crowd didn't exactly greet Cinderella with open arms.

That reminds me of a Slipknott show I went to once. They had a band called One Minute Silence open for them, and the crowd almost started rioting. I liked them okay and couldn't understand the hate, but I guess the ignorant hick crowd couldn't take the fact that the singer was wearing a kilt. The crowd thought he was wearing a dress, and the singer thought they hated him because they were from England. It w a s nuts, never saw a crowd so full of hate before. I give the band a lot of credit for sticking it out and finishing their set though. Wasn't really a bad pairing of bands,just a bad choice in wardrobe I guess lol

Wrecked Neck wrote:

My first thought was the Kool and the game with VH. Saw that tour, and love VH, but for the life of me couldn't understand why they picked them as openers.

I initially thought the same thing, but after I saw them, I got it. While Kool and his gang might be outside of my normal listening habits, I knew just about every song they played that night. If you've ever been to a wedding reception in the last 20 years, you know their songs. It's fun party music and Diamond Dave has never been shy about his love for 70's dance music.

One that I've mentioned before was Soundgarden opening for Guns n' Roses during the Use Your Illusion tour of the early 90's. GnR were at their headlining peak and Soundgarden were just starting to make some noise in the mainstream. But their brand of flannel, cargo shorts and Doc Martens didn't fare well with the denim & leather crowd of GNR when I saw them.

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Judas Priest and Cinderella, 1988. Let's just say that the leather n' studs JP crowd didn't exactly greet Cinderella with open arms.

Which city was that in? I didn't know Cinderella played any shows with JP. Must have been before the Long Cold Winter headlining tour started up?

Kind of like when Great White was opening for JP in '84. Maybe that is what sparked the infamous Madison Square Garden incident!

mlotek wrote:

WASP/METALLICA/ARMORED SAINT 1985
I still think it was crazy that WASP headlined, just like when WASP headlined over SLAYER in 1987.

Saw that tour in '84.  WASP was totally deserving, just off the global hype the first album had.  I was under age, but my friends' uncle owned First Ave, so we got to stand side-stage.  Metallica changed my life that day, but WASP still put on a better show.  Also, became a huge Armored Saint fan, too!!  Got my Creeping Death ep signed by everyone, then in a drunken stupor, threw it at a bus when the Black Album came out.  Kinda wish I would not have done that.

Also, saw the WASP/Slayer/Raven tour in '87. As much of a Johnny Rod fan that I am? Slayer should have been the Headliner, if any of the three at that point.

As far as crazy pairings? Eric Sardinas OPENING FOR ANYONE. HEADLINER ABOVE EVERYONE, including John Sykes' Thin Lizzy, Steve Vai, and Uli Jon Roth [whom I have seen him open for each]. I will take slack for that comment, but if you have seen Eric live, it might sway you.

glassprison wrote:

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Judas Priest and Cinderella, 1988. Let's just say that the leather n' studs JP crowd didn't exactly greet Cinderella with open arms.

Which city was that in? I didn't know Cinderella played any shows with JP. Must have been before the Long Cold Winter headlining tour started up?

It was July of 1988 at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. Priest was touring for Ram It Down and Cinderella had just released Long Cold Winter.

Cinderella had some small pockets of fans in the room that night but most of the crowd was simply not havin'em!  Giving credit where credit's due, Cinderella still put on a good show in spite of all the boo's and the sea of upraised middle fingers, haha. I must have been one of the few people there who was a fan of both bands.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Judas Priest and Cinderella, 1988. Let's just say that the leather n' studs JP crowd didn't exactly greet Cinderella with open arms.

You would think they share a lot of the same fans.
I know a lot of people that love both of these bands

Slayer/Malice Slayer fans were notorious to support acts and Malice got it full pelt!

Similarly Crimson Glory supporting Anthrax.

Highway Star wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

Judas Priest and Cinderella, 1988. Let's just say that the leather n' studs JP crowd didn't exactly greet Cinderella with open arms.

You would think they share a lot of the same fans.
I know a lot of people that love both of these bands

Now that they're both more or less nostalgia acts, that pairing would probably work out just fine today... but back in 1988, the More Tr00 Mettle Than Thou people were still very much locked into this idea that they were "at war" with the "posers," sooooo.... not so much.

Aerosmith opening for the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the 70's. Aerosmith were pretty radical and heavy then and Mahavishnu, not so much. Haha.

Didn't Judas Priest used to open for REO Speedwagon? That sounds like a very odd pairing.

Vexer6 wrote:

Didn't Judas Priest used to open for REO Speedwagon? That sounds like a very odd pairing.

Yep, their first gig on U.S. soil was in 1977, opening for REO.

I did not see this show but in the early 70's there were some very strange billings..

Mott The Hoople opening for John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu  Orchestra

or

                 vs

Fat Freddy wrote:

Vexer6 wrote:

Didn't Judas Priest used to open for REO Speedwagon? That sounds like a very odd pairing.

Yep, their first gig on U.S. soil was in 1977, opening for REO.

Werent REO more of a hard rock act at that point? They didnt take the plunge into radio-friendly AOR fully until Hi Infidelity.

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Werent REO more of a hard rock act at that point? They didnt take the plunge into radio-friendly AOR fully until Hi Infidelity.

Yep, '70s REO was a little more raunchy, bar-room boogie rockin' kinda stuff ala Foghat or early Aerosmith (tho they weren't as "heavy" as Aerosmith could get at times).

I have a 2CD "greatest hits" set of REO's early stuff which covers that era (A Decade Of Rock N Roll: 1970-1980) and it's quite good. The first time I heard it, I remember saying "Wow, REO Speedwagon was actually pretty bad-ass once. Who knew?"

Queensryche did a tour with Suicidal Tendencies back in the 90s that I though was a little different. I also heard of a show where Bruce Springsteen opened for Black Sabbath. Of course this was before "The Boss" made it big.

Leatherface wrote:

Queensryche did a tour with Suicidal Tendencies back in the 90s that I though was a little different.  

I got a boot of that show at the Target Center in 91. Was not there personally, but the crowd sounds great for both.

Anthrax touring with Public Enemy. Not crazy in the context of the single but wildly different fan bases