Dread Zeppelin in the fall of 1990. But then they were about as "huge" as they were every going to be. So I guess that doesn't count.

Beastie Boys in the spring of 1985. They were the opening act for an unnamed pop star. Let's just say that the audience was not ready for their kind of act.



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CTA, Beasties and Styx that I can think of of hand

U2 at the Palladium, NYC 1981 - got stoned with them at the after party.
Billy Joel at the Academy of Music, NYC 1972.
Manhattan transfer – mercer arts center,nyc 1972 - got stoned with one of them too.

I saw the dead Kennedy's in Pawtucket around '79-80

Ramones -- in a little club in Long Beach, CA 1976; loved 'em
Dead Kennedys -- San Francisco's Mabuhay Gardens 1977 (they smashed their guitars on stage and the audience shouted, "Go back to the suburbs, rich kids!" as only rich kids could afford to ruin a guitar); they were awful then and always
The Police -- in a little club in Riverside, CA 1977; indifferent, I thought the lead singer was primping and vain but they were pretty good musicians
X -- same little club in Riverside 1977; they were awful, a bunch of art school posers

The Allman Joys, early version of The Allman Brothers here in central Florida in the mid 60's, used to see Tom Petty's Mudcrutch in bars not much bigger than your living room!

Styx 1975
Rush 1977

Dawes @the troubadour in los angeles
White Denim @the troubadour in los angeles
Armin Van Buuren in Vegas

Not huge bands, but big enough and when I saw them they were tiny.

Jason Isbell, 2007, 4th show he did on his own after leaving the Truckers.

Quote
eyesoftheworld
Dawes @the troubadour in los angeles
White Denim @the troubadour in los angeles
Armin Van Buuren in Vegas

Not huge bands, but big enough and when I saw them they were tiny.

To be more clear, White Denim didn't sell out and their tickets were available at the door, I got Van Burren tickets at the door and Bill Murray was up front at Dawaes













enjoy!

interesting thread (i need a dose of sanity are getting hooked on the Belly Up thread!)

I saw The Verve in about 1993 (not using 'the' at that stage) supporting Black Crowes who were promoting Southern Harmony...

This was 3 or 4 years before Bitter Sweet Syphony sent them huge.

Van Halen

It was in some converted wearhouse Somewhere in the L.A. or San Gabriel Valley area. They were the opening act for a group called Venus & the Razorblades.

REM in Chapel Hill, NC before their first record.

I saw Metallica and Armored Saint at the Arcadia Theater on the Ride the Lightning tour in late 1984 or early 1985 in Dallas, Texas. It was an old movie theater (that has since burned to the ground) with wooden floors and I remember the boards bouncing up and down with the crowd.

I saw the Foo Fighters at Deep Ellum Live in 1995 in Dallas right after their first album release. It was packed and Dave Grohl was showing off his new guitar that he bought the day before in Austin or Houston, I don't remember which one. His new guitar was a black Gibson Explorer and he made some joke about buying Paul Stanley's guitar.

I saw Soundgarden in late 1991 or early 1992 on the Badmotorfinger tour at Trees in Dallas. My brother and his friends drove up from Austin to see the gig and they had to drive back after the show. They took a wrong turn after the show and realized that they were going the wrong direction after that crossed the Texas-Oklahoma state line! I did the same thing after the Duke show at Wallace-Wade stadium a few years ago. I was staying at my sister-in-law's house in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and I took a wrong turn out of Durham and I ended up in Virginia. Nice.

I saw the Police right before Roxanne went crazy on the Detroit radio. Small place downtown. Clutch Cargos I believe.

Stevie Ray V just as he was breaking, right before Bowie came to Detroit he played a small club.

I saw Rush play in the common area of Erindale College Toronto in 1974...their first road tour. It was supposed to be a dance (!) that quickly turned into a metal mash that emptied the room of some folks. They of course became a global monster over the next 40 years.

Def Leppard - saw them at Bradford University 1980. At the time John Peel (UK DJ) was playing 'Get Your Rocks Off' every night on his show...A great raunchy Stonesequse song, the only way to buy the single was to send off to their Record Company in Sheffield, which i did and still have the 7 inch vinyl with accompanying letter from Joe Elliot. Anyway, they did one of their first tours and came to Bardford Uni - it was a good show and caught the band when they were a serious rock band, long before they went all, well, shit I suppose!

Mr. D. That is very cool! Would have loved to see either of those bands in small clubs! Whew. Petty especially.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-05-31 02:04 by whitem8.

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart when the Tourists were the support for Roxy Music in about 1979. I remember being very impressed with them and that Annie Lennox was wearing a tartan outfit.

George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley (Wham) in a short spot (two or three songs) at a nightclub before they even had a record out. Must have been around 1980. Remember them doing choreographed dances as they sang and George Michael wearing a bright red suit.

Also remember seeing Hugh Masakela in a tiny club around that same time.

Edit: Talking Heads as well.



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Beastie Boys in early 80s. They were sort of punk, if I recall right. A lot of slam dancing among their early followers. ...some people got hurt that really weren't expecting what they got. Beasties were obnoxious on and off the stage, but not without a sense of humor. Relentlessly promoted themselves but not really taken seriously at that time...

Around the same time White Lion opening up for Blue Oyster Cult if I recall right. BOC were billed as Soft White Underbelly. The audience was well divided between the two...literally as well as figuratively. White lions' fans were up front in this theater and cult fans, older, and in the back. They kept yelling to the front "Sit the f*uck down" and throwing stuff at them. When the White Lion fans began to return the favor I was not sure I should've attended as I was in the middle section and it seemed there might be a riot... but there wasn't.and the WL fans left when their set finished. And BOC put on a surprisingly (to me at least) good show. I had forgotten White Lion, until ...well, they became more famous.

Bruce Springsteen , The Ramones, New York Dolls ,Blondie, Velvet Undergroung,Willie De Ville , Billy Joel,and some others l forgotten....

"No dope smoking no beer sold after 12 o'clock"

As openers for other bands sometimes in the 3rd slot:

AC/DC
Stevie Ray Vaughn
John Cougar (before Mellencamp)
J.Geils
Peter Frampton

U2 in 1983 at the Palladium NYC. They were better known than they were in 1981 but still not famous. Very intense show with people on top of each other pushing to get closer to the stage.

I had friends who worked in the Stagehands Local 1 who used to get us into a lot of show for free. At this U2 show I lost my car keys, so I waited for them to sweep the aisles. They swept everything toward the stage and I was up by the stage looking through the piles for my keys when I heard someone say in an Irish accent "I want you to apologize to my wife" loudly.

I look up and it's Bono and the guy he talking to is ignoring him. Then Bono grabbed the guy by his shirt color and the guy shoots back at Bono. "Get your Fu**ing hands off of me you F'ing Leprechaun". Then it got really nasty between the U2 people and the Local Stagehands.

The boss of the stagehands walks out and say's "Do you know who I am....you'll never play in this city again!!"....LOL...we all know how that turned out.

I found out later from my friends who worked there, that Bono's wife thought people were going to get crushed against the stage and she started yelling to try to get someone to stop the stampede. She ended up getting yelled back at and pushed in all the confusion and thats what got Bono upset.

The Cars
Joe Walsh
Ronald Koal and the Trillionaires - they never got famous, but should have. Saw them more than any other band including the Stones.






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Twisted Sister in a small Long Island bar. Also the Good Rats (semi famous) around 1975.

Hell, just remembered I went to see Black Sabbath at St George's Hall in Bradford in 1978 I think and an unknown band was supporting called Van Halen...they blew Sabbath off stage and the rest is history!

i saw radiohead in the weeks that "creep" exploded as their first hit. didn't like them at all. still don't really.

Muse - 1999 on a rockfestival. They played in a tent as 2nd or 3rd band in front of less than 50 people or so.

Queens Of The Stone Age - 1999. Same festival as Muse, but on the main stage in the morning.

Nickelback - 2001 in a club with about 50 people. I remember the encore song was to that time the brandnew single "How You Remind Me". A half year later, they performed a sold out show in front of 6000 people.

Pearl Jam - 1992 in a small venue with about 500 hundred people. I had a feeling, that they become very big because of their charismatic leadsinger Eddie Vedder.

INXS - 1986. They played on a rockfestival. The now late Michael Hutchence was one of the best performers from the whole festival.

Simply Red - 1986. It was the same festival as INXS. Simply Red was to that time a band (all musicans, who played on the debut album: 'Picture Book' were on stage.) Few years later Simply Red became the music project of Mick Hucknall.

Mr Big - 1991 as opening act for White Lion.

And some others, I don't remember now.

I used to go see The Violent Femmes play in small bars in Milwaukee. The Bodeans also but they didn't get quite as big.

saw Billy Joel open for Procol Harem in cincy.