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"Dumbing Down" Set so Headliner Sounds Better

#61
redwingxix said:
EXACTLY. Saw RHCP on their last tour and was blown away (no pun intended) by Trombone Shorty.
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I saw the Chillis in the early '00s with *James Brown* as the opening act(!!!)... the Chillis were great, but there was just no way they could match that energy and showmanship. I bet they watched his set every night of the tour.

Ps play your best, let the headliners try and outdo you.
 
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#64
unbridled said:
Here is what is going on in a nutshell:

The headliner borrowed the lead player from my band for a decent sized (maybe 1000 people) show. Our band is opening for the headliner. Our lead player says our show is better than the headliner and his group.

We're having a moral dilemma about making our set less stellar so the headliner sounds better. We aren't going to purposeley mess up, but are reconsidering song choice, energy level, etc.

I say that we should throw everything at the audience like we normally do and to let the headliner sink or swim, even though he's paying us.

Thoughts?
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Yeah dude, why would you ever consider dumbing your set down for another band? That's like telling the venue, "nah, we dont ever want to be the main event here." Rock your set, then they might open for you next week. Music is a competitive market bro. Be the best you can be, and always strive for improvement.
 
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#65
unbridled said:
Here is what is going on in a nutshell:

The headliner borrowed the lead player from my band for a decent sized (maybe 1000 people) show. Our band is opening for the headliner. Our lead player says our show is better than the headliner and his group.

We're having a moral dilemma about making our set less stellar so the headliner sounds better. We aren't going to purposeley mess up, but are reconsidering song choice, energy level, etc.

I say that we should throw everything at the audience like we normally do and to let the headliner sink or swim, even though he's paying us.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Kill them all let God sort it out
 
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#68
unbridled said:
I say that we should throw everything at the audience like we normally do and to let the headliner sink or swim, even though he's paying us.
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That gets my vote. I would never mail it in out of sympathy for another band and cheat the audience. Trust me, you won't be the first opening band in history to upstage the headliner. Good learning lesson for the top bill; if nothing else, carefully vet your opening bands to avoid this possibility.
 
#71
For their first three album tours, Rush was the opening act for other bands. They were sometimes more popular than the headliners and sometimes not. But testimony from early fans says that they played to the very best of their ability and tried to impress the audience with their musicianship and performance.

This attitude made their career. They never received much airplay and very little promotion from their label until "Moving Pictures" (1981), their 8th LP album, 7 years after their first tour. Until then, their success was entirely built upon a foundation of making awesome records and kicking ass on stage playing over 200 shows a year.

Of course, only a tiny fraction of local bands makes it to the big time. But exactly ZERO bands make it to the big time when they purposely hold back and don't give 100% on every show.
 
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#72
lfmn16 said:
Speaking from a band that both opens and has opening acts, if I found out an opening act held back, I'd have no respect for them and not work with them again. If you can kick my @$$ on my stage in front of my audience, I have nothing but respect for you. A great opening act gives us just that much more incentive to do our best.

As an opening act, we put on the best show possible. If we can eclipse the headliner, that's on them, not us.

Have professional pride, always do your best. Would you really want to work with someone that was so petty they wouldn't hire you because you sounded better than them??
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Well said.

vvvmmm said:
It's gotta be asked: is your guitarist anglin' to join the other band?
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I was wondering this, too. Maybe if your band is mediocre the guitarist will stand out and use the "I've outgrown them" routine to help sell his case to the headliner. Openers used to be "warm up" acts, because that's their function: to warm the audience up for the headliners. The audience is getting entertained and getting pumped up so when the headliners hit the stage the crowd goes wild. If you stink, that won't happen. If you were a professional athlete and got traded to a team you didn't really want to play for or had to play against your old team, would you let the other guys win? Remember, you are there to entertain the audience and prepare them for the headlining act. By playing your best you are not only doing your band right, you're doing the audience right, and you are doing right by the headliner. No one would rather play to a cold crowd. Do your absolute best and everybody wins.
 
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#75
This reminds me of my very first concert I went to, where as, RATT was the headliner and BON JOVI opened for them. I had never even heard of them until that night. Needless to say BON JOVI had a new fan afterwards. However, looking back, I don’t understand why I liked either of them these days. The 80s! But, shortly there after, I seen Van Halen with Sammy, and Blue Oyster Cult opened for them. That night, I’m suprised I still even remember who BOC was... performance was nothing to remember. So, I hope some of this story helps. I would play my heart out, you never know who’s in the audience... and you want to be sure and try and win over every single person there.
 
#76
Lobster11 said:
There have been countless times over the years when I've had friends tell me about shows where they went to see the headliner and were blown away by an opening act. It's happened to me too. In not one of those cases, as far as I can recall, did the person became any less of a fan of the headliner; they always just became fans of the other band too. Give it your best and win yourselves some new fans.
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And on the opposite side, I've been to several shows where I went to see the opener and either never heard of or didn't care about the headliner. Sometimes I've even left before the headliner played.

If I found out the band I did go to see had half assed it for any reason. . . :bored::rage::mad:
 
#79
How is this even a question?

unbridled said:
I say that we should throw everything at the audience like we normally do and to let the headliner sink or swim, even though he's paying us.
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This is exactly what you should do. Moral dilemma? Nonsense. You owe it to yourselves to go do what you do, in the best way possible.

I can't help but think this is partly the result of our "everybody gets a trophy" culture.

Be your best, always. You never know who may be watching.

And maybe the "headliner" will learn a thing or two.
 
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#80
Go out full bore.

Back in the early 1970s when Kiss first started out as an opening act, they routinely blew away the headliners and no one wanted them opening for them anymore. Well, they started headlining, and everyone knows how that ended up.

I remember seeing Slayer opening for WASP back in 86/87. Slayer blew them off the stage, then more than half the crowd left.
 
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