Killing the Headliner!

[Woodchuck]

I was wondering has anyone ever seen an up and coming band or act just blow away the established headliner? I know of 3:
1) A then unknown Zapp went before Bootsy on the PFunk tour, and promptly blew him away. They were kicked off the tour the following week, however; he and George Clinton put together a headlining tour for them.

2) Kool and the Gang ripped James Brown a new one once in '71 or '72. They never played with him again.

3) Prince once ended a tour early, because The Time, in his words, "was consistantly kicking my ass night in and night out." He killed the tour, and put together a better band.

 

[Snarf]

I love how during the Pyromania days Def Leppard was opening for Billy Squire. People left after Def Leppard's set.

 

[Tunaman]

Don't you love it even better when your band beats the headliner? LOVE IT!
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[RichValentine]

I was at an Athlete gig with Snow Patrol supporting before they became "big" in England and Snow Patrol were definately better on that night, although Athlete were still outstanding.

 

[Woodchuck]

Don't you love it even better when your band beats the headliner? LOVE IT!
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Oh yeah! We've done it about 4 times. I'm talking national acts! Rumor has it that we were the reason the American Hi Fi dropped off of the tour.

 

[Alan Vorse]

Hendrix opening for the Monkees.
King Crimson opening for the Stones.

 

[lbanks]

In Jackson, Miss., in the '70's, I saw Graham Central Station open for Earth, Wind and Fire. It was amusing. EWF had to go to the Phillip Bailey Ballads and appeal to th Ladies, 'cause Graham ripped that stadium a new one!

 

[JimmyM]

I once saw Faith No More rip Billy Idol a new one.

 

[NJL]

Peter Frampton just kicked Journey's ass here once.

Last year, I took my wife to see Alicia and Beyonce - I hung out with the guys from Alicia's band the night before, so i'm biased...but I thought Alicia's band just killed Beyonce's band, BUT Beyonce's music seems more popish compared to Alicia's - Kern's doing a great job right now with Destiny's Child as well....

JMHO....



BTW, Chuck', a band in town opened up for us a couple of months ago - one of the guys was wearing an El Pus shirt - I wanted to track him down, but had to go on.

 

[cheezewiz]

I saw Santana open for the Stones in 81. I love the Stones, but Santana completely outplayed them.

 

[JPJ]

There's that story about Grand Funk Railroad blowing Zeppelin off the stage during one of the summer tours of '69.

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Yes! I saw U2 , in Brighton , when they had only released one album and single. They were supported by a local Brighton band called "Midnight & the Lemon Boys" who were quite established with a large local fan base.

So the support band sounded great - got huge applause and encores.

U2 sounded horrible had few songs to play and were met with murmurs - Bono - clever guy - brought the support band back for an encore onstage with U2 and woke the crowd up!

 

[Mon Rominee]

I know of a Boston-area band called Angry Salad that was on tour with live (iirc) and they were booted off the tour for getting better response...

Mon

 

[Gard]

Back in the 80's I saw Saga open for Pat Benetar in New Orleans, and half the crowd walked out because her band was so sloppy...of course, Saga was a pretty tight band...I doubt many would want to have followed them back then.

Also, Allan Holdsworth and Ronnie Montrose toured together in '88, and Holdsworth opened for Montrose...which I thought was hysterically funny...could you imagine having to go on after that? I talked to Jimmy Johnson and one of Allan's road crew after the show (and YES, I left after Allan, because Montrose was awful...), they said the reason they went on first was so Allan could get out of the building before Montrose played...

 

[buzzbass]

I was wondering has anyone ever seen an up and coming band or act just blow away the established headliner? I know of 3:
1) A then unknown Zapp went before Bootsy on the PFunk tour, and promptly blew him away. They were kicked off the tour the following week, however; he and George Clinton put together a headlining tour for them.

2) Kool and the Gang ripped James Brown a new one once in '71 or '72. They never played with him again.

3) Prince once ended a tour early, because The Time, in his words, "was consistantly kicking my ass night in and night out." He killed the tour, and put together a better band.

I saw Van Halen open for Sabbath on the Never Say Die tour. VH ruled, and I'm a huge Sabbath fan.

 

[Freaky Fender]

John Cafferty puked in the back of my dad's car once.


Hey Woodchuck, a kid I know was wearing a El Pus shirt today!

 

[Passinwind]

The original Mahavishnu Orchestra destroyed plenty of the bands they opened for. The show I saw had T-Rex as the headliner...go figure. I read an interview with someone from The New Riders of the Purple Sage talking about having to follow MO, it's a great read.

Miles Davis soemtimes used to insist on playing first although he was the headliner. Sloppy seconds, anyone?

 

[Alan Vorse]

I talked to Jimmy Johnson and one of Allan's road crew after the show (and YES, I left after Allan, because Montrose was awful...), they said the reason they went on first was so Allan could get out of the building before Montrose played...

LOL

 

[Vorago]

I believe the young Metallica once destroyed Venom..

 

[mike sancho]

I saw Humble Pie when Frampton was in the band absolutely destroy Grand Funk at Shea Stadium a veery long time ago.