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dcba
Paris'95 : we had a double slice of mediocrity with Eric Lapointe and John Bon Jovi.
Ugly, just ugly...

You had to sit thru Bad Jovi. I am sooooo sorry. But you lived!

Journey in 1981. Utterly horrific.

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potus43
Journey in 1981. Utterly horrific.

Yea, but it is quite a funny memory from Philly of being surrounded by a sea of raised middle fingers and so forth once they dared to proclaim themselves "the #1 band in America!"......at a Rolling Stones concert, no less! Ha!

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HonkeyTonkFlash

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potus43
Journey in 1981. Utterly horrific.

Yea, but it is quite a funny memory from Philly of being surrounded by a sea of raised middle fingers and so forth once they dared to proclaim themselves "the #1 band in America!"......at a Rolling Stones concert, no less! Ha!

Saw then get booed off the stage in Buffalo 1981. A very nice memory.

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Hansman

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24FPS

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Hairball
Prince - L.A. Coliseum, '81 (later came to appreciate him and his music)
Living Color - L.A. Coliseum, '89, bad sound, bad music.
Jakob Dylan - Dodger Stadium, '97, monotonous.
Sheryl Crowe - Several Licks shows, first time was ok, intolerable after that.
Starsailor - boring as hell, Amsterdam Arena & both London Twickenham shows, '03.

I was at those shows, and you're right.

Why was Sheryl Crowe intolerable?

As I said, she was ok the first time - but once was enough.
Intolerable might be too strong an adjective, but I couldn't endure her after the first time seeing her.
For the following shows she opened, I knew I had extra pre-show time to gear up for the Stones, so in that sense she was 'tolerable'.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Assuming, of course, that all these bands and artists are still alive, together, etc.

What kind of weekend music Festival could be created from the acts that you have seen open for the Rolling Stones? Which acts would be the "headliners," and which acts would be in, ahem, smaller print on the poster?

My Festival, after ten Stones shows, would be:

ETTA JAMES
THE METERS
WILCO
BRYAN ADAMS
THIRD EYE BLIND
COUNTING CROWS
LIVING COLOUR
ST. PAUL AND THE BROKEN BONES
SOULIVE

Not a bad weekend! What would yours be?

Seeing St Paul et al in Toronto in a few months. They impressed me mightily in Buffalo!

Robin Trower 1976 The Hague
The J.Geils Band
George Thorogood and the Destroyers Rotterdam 1982
Toten Hosen 1990 Cologne

George Thorogood
Beck
Living Color
St Paul & The Broken Bones


And others I'd have play at any festival (From SarsStock) who I guess could be termed as opening for the Stones:
ACDC
Guess Who
Blue Rodeo
Isley Bros

No one for 2013 & AWOLNATION in 2015... didn't see the 2015 act (it was storming earlier and drizzling then, and I just wanted to stay dry as long as I could), but I made up for it by seeing them a few weeks ago!

The two worst I ever saw was Spin Doctors ('94) and Three Doors Down ('97). Awolnation was pretty lame too but the wives loved Walk On The Moon. Both last year. Apparently, they recognized the hits. Living Colour opened every '89 show I saw and I have yet to find a memorable hook in their music. The Strokes were overblown as was Ryan Adams ('99), Maroon Five ('05) and Lenny Kravitz ('94). Counting Crows ('94) were @#$%& - or at least Adam was.

Among the best I ever saw in the modern era was Buddy Guy ('98), laser-like and focused, a six-string banshee. Not Buddy with ADD as is so often the case with him. Sadly he did not sit in with the Stones who were in a hurry to get out of the country before their visa expired. J. Geils and Tower of Power ('75) were terrific as was Santana ('81). Elvis Costello and the faux Attractions were great in '07 as was Tinarawin later that year

Eric Lapointe PARIS Longchamps 1995 AND laplace PARIS Olympia 1995 + Gun several times 1995

Living Colour rocks!

The Eagles, Dallas, 1975

Rufus Toronto 1975! At the time of course I had never heard of them or Chaka Khan.

Then of course there is the harsh truth for you Stones die-hards: AC/DC blew the Stones off the stage at SARS Toronto 2003. I was really surprised but Angus Young was absolutely on fire on his guitar. Then when the Stones came on they seemed lethargic and lackadaisical. That's just the way the cookie crumbled that day and evening.

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SomeTorontoGirl
Seeing St Paul et al in Toronto in a few months. They impressed me mightily in Buffalo!

...and they're tonight's musical guest on Stephen Colbert.

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saltoftheearth
Peter Maffay - Munich 1982

In his own right he is a good musician and worth listening to, but it between the J. Geils Band and the Stones he was just the wrong choice for the occasion. He got booed, and people threw eggs and tomatos on the stage so he had trounble finishing the concert.

The same in Hannover 1982. He absolutely was the wrong choice.

John Mayer- Philly 2 nights!! I will have to look at my notes but I think it was 2003.
The Corrs- No Security- 1999
The Outlaws and Bobby Womack- 1975, Buffalo
Stevie Wonder- 1972
Alanis Morrisette- Albany- 2003
I think John Mayer topped all of them, personally. Bands like Living Colour played WAY too LOUD and the sound sucked and then there was Ryan Adams who got on top of the amps and SPIT down onto the audience--real class. THE WORST of ALL TIME, and I cannot believe the Stones would ever allow him to open ANYWHERE AGAIN for them, was Kanye! Vulgar, hideous, all ego NO TALENT AT ALL!

I was watching a recording of the Andrea Bochelli 30th Anniversary performance, with many guests, including Zucchero. That reminded me about not just all the great Stones shows I have been so lucky to attend, but also so many opening acts.

Zucchero was fantastic at Imst Austria in 1999. So were Simple Minds, several times I think, including Werchter. Then Keane, Bob Dylan, Metallica, AC/DC, Steve Harley, Alice Cooper... There are so many great opening acts, and thanks to going to see The Stones, I got all these other acts as well, acts I may be never would have time to watch live, in a busy life.

Then 121212, The Stones there of course, but also many others, Michael Stipe and Chris Martin, Roger Waters, and others.

Desert Trip 2016, again several acts during three days two weeks in a row, such a luxury.

Ghost Hounds, many times, of course. One day, may be, I will sit down and make my own list of opening acts and others I have seen over the years, but may be it will remain in my memory notes among other travel notes. The memories are there still. Great memories.

Bjornulf

1989 was Living Color. Absolutely the wrong act to open for the Stones but they had a big single and Mick produced them or some story. Ha ha - way too loud. There's great hard rock loud and then there's Living Color bad loud.

1994 - Lenny Kravitz was awesome, saw him open for The Cult in 1992, which was excellent as well. He was fantastic.

Bryan Adams - the dude has some huge hit songs, the band was great, but he's not anyone I would choose to go see, so I sat through it for my second Stones show that year just for the experience. It was ok.

Although I'm going to guess Bryan Adams is better than being tortured by Dave Matthews, Counting Crows, Blues Traveler and/or Living Color.

Memorable ones for me:
• BB King - 1969
• Stevie Wonder - 1972
• George Thorogood - 1981

The ones I remember being great are J.Geils Band in 82 and AC/DC in 2003.

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Hansman

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saltoftheearth
Peter Maffay - Munich 1982

In his own right he is a good musician and worth listening to, but it between the J. Geils Band and the Stones he was just the wrong choice for the occasion. He got booed, and people threw eggs and tomatos on the stage so he had trounble finishing the concert.

I find it odd that someones goes to a concert with eggs and tomatoes.

Hansman, good point. Funny too, had me LOL!

~"Love is Strong"~

‘81 Candlestick/San Fran we had George Thorogood and the Delaware Destroyers, and the J. Geils Band

Oddly I remember both those acts clearly, so they must’ve impressed me. Can’t remember others since, except Nashville ‘15 I heard I missed Joe Walsh coming onstage for a song just as I left for the bathroom — bummer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-07-14 02:55 by snoopy2.

A lot of opening acts that I wish I had seen, but I haven’t had the best luck with the concerts I’ve attended. My favorites that I was lucky enough to see were Stevie Wonder, J Geils Band, John Lee Hooker (on his sober night) and always Buddy Guy.

1966, we had the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, and the Yardbirds with Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck.

I also saw Van Halen in New Orleans in 78 and in Orlando in 81.

Best ever opener for me were GUN at Hampden Park Glasgow 1990,

Amy Winehouse was planned for Dusseldorf 2007. Too bad that didnt happen.

Stevie Wonder and Wonderlove were the best .