You opened for WHOM???

[maverick]

in the early 80's i got a phone call from a mate saying "i'm in trouble, just got a gig in a local east london pub and my bassist is in spain, can you help?" initially i said no way, as
1) i wasn't that experienced yet and
2) i don't know any of your tunes.
he said he'd get me through, we won't be on stage too long cos we're only the warm up band. ok i said. after a couple of days of heavy practice i got to a reasonable standard and we did the gig which from my part was a good experience and i don't think i did too bad. then the main act came on..... Iron Maiden

[JoeyZ]

Originally Posted by Benjamin Strange

My old band, Dead Hand System, opened for Marylin Manson at the HOB in New Orleans. Mr. Manson is not a nice person, but Pogo (their keyboardist) is ok.

We also did backup vocals on NIN's "The Fragile". The Buddha Boys choir? That's us.

Really? Thats awesome!! I love nine inch nails...did you actually meet trent reznor?

My band opened for Leftover Crack...which most if not all of you will probably not know.

[AJ Brown]

I was in a progressive rock band a few years ago (Rush + Kansas vibe), and we opened for Extreme right before their Pornographiti album came out. Decent guys. Gary Cherone gave us the 'thumbs up'.

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Hey AJ, was that in the Living Room back when they where on Promenade street?


My biggest brush with fame, no rock stars here but it was my most memorable gig to date.

My last band was an eight piece R&B band and we where playing a hotel lounge in New Bedford, Massachusetts. When we arrived to set up we noticed that the parking lot was packed, We unloaded our equipment and the lounge was packed too. Still a little early for us, we would usually get there early to set up and have a break before playing. We just hoped it wasn't a late dinner crowd that was going to clear out before we got started.

Well, That wasn't the case at all. It happen to be the same weekend the Newport Jazz Festival was going on and who was staying at that hotel. Just about the entire Ray Charles band. No Ray, I'm sure he was in a bit more upscale hotel in Newport, but his horn section, guitarist, some of the Rayletts, turned out a large percentage of the audience was musicians.

We where in the middle of our first set when they started coming up on stage and wanted to jam with us, we had a three piece horn section at that time and up came an additional trombone, trumpet, and sax. They worked out their parts right there on stage and we where doing all the classic R&B, Motown stuff, a couple of different singers came up and started throwing out tunes to play, everyone was taking solos. One of the original Rayletts got up and did a few songs plus a duet with our singer, a couple of Guitarist got up and did their thing. Every one in the band was totally pump up and just laying it down real good. The dance floor was packed all night too.

And the best part

I was the only bassist, actually me and the drummer, we got to play all night with everyone that came up. I was buried behind a wall of horn players but did not mind a bit as we where going through stuff like Jungle Boogie, Ain't to Proud to Beg and Funky Broadway, I think we where in the middle of Sex Machine when one of the trumpet players turned around and gave me kind of a serious looking glance and nodded in approval, They even got me out front to do a couple of solos. That made me feel great. Players of that caliber was digging what I was doing. We hung out with them in between sets and had a great time.

I know it was not like a big brush with someone famous but when you're in an R&B band and members of the Ray Charles band wants to jam with you.....well, what else can I say, I was like high for a week.

[Kraken]

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

I know it was not like a big brush with someone famous but when you're in an R&B band and members of the Ray Charles band wants to jam with you.....well, what else can I say, I was like high for a week.

That is Just Awesome!

[AaronS]

Summer of 1971 I moved to the Bay Area. A month later I got involved as a volunteer with a local youth program. That fall I played a 6 song guitar instrumental set to open for John Lee Hooker at one of their functions. I couldn't believe my luck and I couldn't believe that John Lee Hooker would agree to play for, or would be invited to play for, a high school youth group.

[CQBASS]

Originally Posted by j-raj

...tenuda?

Hey J-raj, believe it or not I played a gig with Judy Tenuda...She was drunk as hell but it was still pretty funny. I was in the backup band for her accordian silliness. Not a high point of my career, but amusing nonetheless.

[j-raj]

Originally Posted by CQBASS

Hey J-raj, believe it or not I played a gig with Judy Tenuda...She was drunk as hell but it was still pretty funny. I was in the backup band for her accordian silliness. Not a high point of my career, but amusing nonetheless.

that's pretty funny Chris, I was trying to think of someone that 'most-likely' no-TB'er had played with.... wrong again.

[AJ Brown]

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

Hey AJ, was that in the Living Room back when they where on Promenade street?

Yeah! That's the place! The big fish bowl on the wall. That was a fun gig.

Originally Posted by Chunk-O-Funk

My biggest brush with fame, no rock stars here but it was my most memorable gig to date.

My last band was an eight piece R&B band and we where playing a hotel lounge in New Bedford, Massachusetts. When we arrived to set up we noticed that the parking lot was packed, We unloaded our equipment and the lounge was packed too. Still a little early for us, we would usually get there early to set up and have a break before playing. We just hoped it wasn't a late dinner crowd that was going to clear out before we got started.

Well, That wasn't the case at all. It happen to be the same weekend the Newport Jazz Festival was going on and who was staying at that hotel. Just about the entire Ray Charles band. No Ray, I'm sure he was in a bit more upscale hotel in Newport, but his horn section, guitarist, some of the Rayletts, turned out a large percentage of the audience was musicians.

We where in the middle of our first set when they started coming up on stage and wanted to jam with us, we had a three piece horn section at that time and up came an additional trombone, trumpet, and sax. They worked out their parts right there on stage and we where doing all the classic R&B, Motown stuff, a couple of different singers came up and started throwing out tunes to play, everyone was taking solos. One of the original Rayletts got up and did a few songs plus a duet with our singer, a couple of Guitarist got up and did their thing. Every one in the band was totally pump up and just laying it down real good. The dance floor was packed all night too.

And the best part

I was the only bassist, actually me and the drummer, we got to play all night with everyone that came up. I was buried behind a wall of horn players but did not mind a bit as we where going through stuff like Jungle Boogie, Ain't to Proud to Beg and Funky Broadway, I think we where in the middle of Sex Machine when one of the trumpet players turned around and gave me kind of a serious looking glance and nodded in approval, They even got me out front to do a couple of solos. That made me feel great. Players of that caliber was digging what I was doing. We hung out with them in between sets and had a great time.

I know it was not like a big brush with someone famous but when you're in an R&B band and members of the Ray Charles band wants to jam with you.....well, what else can I say, I was like high for a week.

Great story!

[j-raj]

man... I remember Living Room, isn't it a country joint now? Is Babyhead, Met and Lupos still in existance?

[Chunk-O-Funk]

Originally Posted by j-raj

man... I remember Living Room, isn't it a country joint now? Is Babyhead, Met and Lupos still in existance?

Hey J-raj

You've been away for a while I take it.

The music seen in Providence has changed quite a bit, but something's remain the same.

The Living Room re-opened in another location and still doing the metal stuff, I don't remember what happened to the old location but you might be right about it being a country joint. Club Babyhead has been gone for quite a while and is now called Club Hell, I'm really not sure if that still exists either. The Met closed it's doors a few years ago and now Lupos runs both. Last time I was at Lupos I saw Tower of Power on their Rhythm & Business tour (late 90's ??)

The Old Living Room was the place to be for the "aspiring musician" but eventually you want to get paid and move on. Good times just the same though.

[DblG]

I'm not sure if this one counts...
I am in a cover band who mostly plays small - medium bars on the weekends. One night we were playing in one of the, well, smellier dives we get booked at every couple of monthes. In walks this guy who stands out like a (fill in the blank)... He just stuck out. I never seen or heard of this guy before, but somehow or another our lead vocalist knows him and that is why he showed up. His name is Lord Bishop, and instead of me trying to explain what he looked like, check him out for yourself:www.lordbishop.org

After you check him out, imagine him in a dive in the 'burbs with a bunch of white-bread folk!

Well, this guy got up on stage with us, did one song (Hey Joe...his choice), lit the room on fire, asked the crowd to vote Kerry, then took off. It really was wild. This guy ROCKS!

So when he was done and gone, and our singer was back up on stage, we were all looking at each other asking "whadda we do now?"
It was pretty hot and the crowd dug it big time, as did the band.

Not sure how many TB'rs over here heard of this guy, but maybe some of the TB'rs in Europe will appreciate it!

gg

[Lorenzini]

Originally Posted by j-raj

why are you hiding on that one? M5 are really good, what an honour. good job!



I would be hiding if it was Weird Al Yankovic or Liberace....




imho.

No I'm not really hiding. It is cool. Hiding because I wasn't playing bass (which is my second instrument) but keyboards

[chris4001asat]

We just opened for Dennis DeYoung from STYX friday night. What a pain in the *$$ diva!!! We had to work around their various mic stands and monitor placements because the sound crew was too scared to move them. He did a 2 hour monitor check! We're standing around waiting to set up, watching the soundcheck. We're a good 40 ft away, outside, by the way, and he starts ranting about the smoking going on. He says into the mic, "whoever's smoking, there is no smoking around the stage". And then the lights weren't set up yet. And he makes the crew raise the lighting rig so he can hear how it sounds with the rig at concert height. And then the crew has to lower them to adjust them, then raise them again by concert time....

[Nick man]

Two nights ago my new band played its first show opening for My Disco, and Life Detecting Coffins.

[Chris J]

My cousin's band was scheduled to open for WASP a few months back. WASP cancelled the show because they couldn't use their massive mic stand. So that fell through. But in April, Sonata Arctica contacted my cousin's band and, after hearing their cd, offered to schedule a stop in our hometown as long as my cousin's band opened for them. It was a great show indeed.

[addylewis]

my mate's uncles band supported Whitesnake once, and I have bass lessons from the 2nd best bassist in England (Fred Baker) every week...

[sLiPkNoT_mAgGoT]

my metal band has opend for 28 days,reguratior and babba

[peabody]

We opened up for Chicago a couple of years ago. While Chicago wasn't exactly in their prime at that time, it was still exciting.

The worst part was using someone else's backline stuff. We were the first of two opening acts and we had to use the 2nd act's stuff. I had an Eden Metro and Eden 410XLT cab with me, but I had to used the other bass player's Peavey TNT amp to play through. That stunk.

The best part was getting ready on stage and seeing Chicago's set lists attached to their monitors, keyboards, etc. Simple pleasures....

I can't speak to how they were as people. After our set, I packed up and left. I didn't hang around to watch them. I love their music, but I was needed at home.....

[playmybass]

My band is opening for 18 Visions tonight.