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National acts

#64
JRA said:
it was a billing/marquee mismatch by our manager and the promoter --- we were a blue-eyed soul band at the time, and well, MC5 wasn't! :laugh:

we were in detroit and the crowd wanted their own. we were on the columbia label, touring, and our manager fought hard to get us a higher bill placement, but at the last minute (in the afternoon actually) everyone came to their senses and it was decided that we'd better be the opener (or, to at least go on before MC5, i don't recall how many acts played that gig/arena that night).

anyway, we opened for them. got plenty of positive crowd response...but everyone in the building knew who the crowd wanted to see and hear: "ladies and gentlemen, what you've been waiting for...detroit's own...M...C...5!!!!!"

the crowd went nuts! it was a smart move. we could have been victims! :roflmao:

that mismatch stuff happened once in a while, but never with such disastrous potential. :laugh:
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A horn band? 50 plus years later I don't think soul is that far from The MC5, but then the image/message would have been different. Sounds like you confrunted the Energy (chaos and closeness to the revolution) one hears on record!
 
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#67
In the mid '90s a college buddy and former bandmate went into the management biz - through his connections my band (Jiggle the Handle) was able to open for Spin Doctors a few times just as they were taking off, and another "jam band" (though the term wasn't in use yet) Widespread Panic.

We also got to open for some bigger names: The Radiators, Los Lobos, and Little Feat. The Little Feat story is best - it was an "acoustic" show and our keyboardist was a huge fan of Bill Payne - his solos would bring cheers from the audience, but our roadie told us afterwards that Bill Payne was fuming, saying our keyboardist was stealing all his licks!

I left the band in '95, I'm pretty sure Jiggle opened for more bands later.
 
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#68
feterpatch said:
A lifetime ago I opened for quite a few rock acts that were popular in Canada but probably not well known outside my country. April Wine, Kim Mitchell, Prism, Trooper, etc.
Only a couple of international... Nazareth twice, and JJ Cale twice.
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I know these! I played in another band with the drummer from Prism.
 
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#70
BassBrass said:
A horn band? 50 plus years later I don't think soul is that far from The MC5, but then the image/message would have been different. Sounds like you confrunted the Energy (chaos and closeness to the revolution) one hears on record!
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(we weren't a "horn band." at least not by my definition: we had one, part-time sax.)
ha! i didn't think about it that way --- then or now --- it was just something that happened from time to time, but infrequently IME. amending the marquee. but it was all over radio, too, i'm sure, and posters/flyers/whatever (?). i remember our manager being unhappy about the way the radio spots were produced (?). some details are kinda fuzzy, but i will always remember being relieved that we didn't actually fail in the situation, "we played it smart." :laugh:

TBH, we were young, cared about adventure, girls, and illicit substances, and after a bit we had our own version of 'jaded': cared more about the party than the 'billing'. :D ....might be why i'm posting here rather than hosting parties on my yacht. :wideyed:


kidding! :laugh: :roflmao:
 
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#74
definenredefine said:
Am I correct in assuming that you were playing in/around central NC in the late 1990s? Ever get to play with Polvo???
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Yes, around that time and that area. Polvo, not that I recall but I do remember the name. Many of the shows we played had 4, 5, 6 or more bands on the bill. We were usually very, very early and most of those bands were headlining. I feel very fortunate to have had the chance to play at the original Cats Cradle before it moved in the mid 90s.
 
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#80
My band at the time opened for Berlin on their Pleasure Victim tour, in a theater that I used to go as a kid to see James Bond movies. The band my wife’s in, who I have subbed for, has opened for the English Beat a few times. Then, if it counts, a band that I had been in(but left amicably)got the opening slot for the Talking Heads. I’d still help them with crew stuff, loaning gear, transpo, etc., so I got to hang backstage. Had a substantial conversation with David Byrne. That was…different.
Other than that(if it also counts), a band I was an integral part of(wasn’t on stage, but mixed and did special effects for)opened for the Bad Brains, They Might Be Giants, and Fluid(Sub Pop band), and I went with them to SXSW and New Music Seminar in NYC. Gigged with Marty Willson-Piper, onetime guitarist for Australian band, The Church.
Also provided sound for, or mixed…L7, Babes In Toyland, The Cows, The Dwarves, Blake Babies(Julianna Hatfield), No Means No, Green River(pre-Mudhoney), Flaming Lips(their chaotic early days), Thin White Rope, Jai Uttal(new age/world music), Colin Hay solo, Rickie Lee Jones solo, and a guy named Andy Prieboy, who had replaced Stan Ridgeway in Wall Of Voodoo and guested with Concrete Blonde.
 
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