What Bands Did You See Before They Were More Widely Known?

JOEJOEJOEJOEJOEJOE Posts: 10,635
A few of mine:

RATM in 1992 at a small club in L.A. right after they got signed

Metallica opening for Saxon at the Whisky in Hollywood in 1982

Slayer opening for Bitch at the Roxy in Hollywood in 1983

Comments

  • HughFreakingDillonHughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 37,623
    Cage The Elephant opened for QOTSA in Winnipeg 2 years before their debut album came out. I called my wife between bands, and she asked how the opener was, I said "they were energetic AF, but I didn't catch the name, something about Elephant". 
    "Oh Canada...you're beautiful when you're drunk"
    -EV  8/14/93




  • Merkin BallerMerkin Baller Posts: 11,757
    Limp Bizkit opening for Faith No More in September of '97. 

    The singer was annoying, but Counterfeit and the Faith cover were awesome... then in the next 6 months or so Fred Durst became Fred Durst and that was the end of that.  :D 
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,514
    Great  thread idea, JOE!
    Journey.
    An Alternative Best ofJourney  Every record tells a story
    I saw Link Wray in 1974 who was quite well known by then.  The opening band was not: Journey.  My reaction to Journey at the time was totally negative.  I had never heard of them and was anxious to see and hear Wray live for the first time, so that didn't help.  But what really got to me was what I saw as pompous posturing by a bunch of guys with beauty salon hair styles.  In retrospect, if I kind of wish I had paid more attention to their musicianship.  I would still have been put off by the macho affectations of the band members, but I might have appreciated their musical skills a lot more than I did at the time. 

    The Alarm
    BBC Wales - Music - The Alarm - Biography
    Though still not widely known in the U.S., I saw the alarm when they opened for U2 at the S.F. Civic Center in June of 1983.  Their first record, the self-titled EP, had just been released and this show was their first U.S. performance.  Before the show started, some of their new EP was played over the P.A. and I even though I had no idea what that music was, nor realized I was about to see the band itself, I was really digging it.  A short while later, that very band came out and simply wowed the audience with their very cool acoustic style politically tinged punk rock.  Fond memories of that show!
    June 1st San Francisco Civic First ever live photograph of The Alarm taken in the USA by Helen Mesquita
    June 1st San Francisco Civic (First ever live photograph of The Alarm taken in the USA by Helen Mesquita)

    The Go-Go's
    The Go-Gos - Hollywood Star Walk - Los Angeles Times
    I saw the Go-Go's in an old somewhat rundown theater on Market Street in San Francisco a few months after the release of their debut album, Beauty and the Beat.  The girls were young, hungry, and eager to play, and they came out and just hit it with super great energy.  That's was a fun show!



    "Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!"
    -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"

    "Try to not spook the horse."
    -Neil Young













  • goldrushgoldrush everybody knows this is nowhere Posts: 7,601
    I saw Radiohead open for James in December 93. Pablo Honey was out, and Creep had already hit, but they were still a support band in a small, half empty venue.
    “Do not postpone happiness”
    (Jeff Tweedy, Sydney 2007)

    “Put yer good money on the sunrise”
    (Tim Rogers)
  • eeriepadaveeeriepadave West Chester, PA Posts: 42,312
    8/28/98- Camden, NJ
    10/31/09- Philly
    5/21/10- NYC
    9/2/12- Philly, PA
    7/19/13- Wrigley
    10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
    10/21/13- Philly, PA
    10/22/13- Philly, PA
    10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
    4/28/16- Philly, PA
    4/29/16- Philly, PA
    5/1/16- NYC
    5/2/16- NYC
    9/2/18- Boston, MA
    9/4/18- Boston, MA
    9/14/22- Camden, NJ
    9/7/24- Philly, PA
    9/9/24- Philly, PA
    Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly. PA
    Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
    RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
  • rw160510rw160510 Posts: 1,003
    I saw Linkin Park open for Deftones in early 2001. Also saw St Vincent open for The National in 2007, Marry Me hadn’t been out that long.
  • HughFreakingDillonHughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 37,623
    thanks for that. loved @dankind 's cousin's band. 
    "Oh Canada...you're beautiful when you're drunk"
    -EV  8/14/93




  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,514

    Whoa!  I do indeed envy a man who has a mind like a steel trap, Dave.  :smiley:   I would never have remembered starting that thread, lol.
    "Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!"
    -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"

    "Try to not spook the horse."
    -Neil Young













  • eeriepadaveeeriepadave West Chester, PA Posts: 42,312
    brianlux said:

    Whoa!  I do indeed envy a man who has a mind like a steel trap, Dave.  :smiley:   I would never have remembered starting that thread, lol.

    I had this page bookmarked and I remember commenting on it before. Although it is kinda old.
    8/28/98- Camden, NJ
    10/31/09- Philly
    5/21/10- NYC
    9/2/12- Philly, PA
    7/19/13- Wrigley
    10/19/13- Brooklyn, NY
    10/21/13- Philly, PA
    10/22/13- Philly, PA
    10/27/13- Baltimore, MD
    4/28/16- Philly, PA
    4/29/16- Philly, PA
    5/1/16- NYC
    5/2/16- NYC
    9/2/18- Boston, MA
    9/4/18- Boston, MA
    9/14/22- Camden, NJ
    9/7/24- Philly, PA
    9/9/24- Philly, PA
    Tres Mts.- 3/23/11- Philly. PA
    Eddie Vedder- 6/25/11- Philly, PA
    RNDM- 3/9/16- Philly, PA
  • ekwiptekwipt Vancouver Posts: 707
    edited January 25
    Cage The Elephant opened for QOTSA in Winnipeg 2 years before their debut album came out. I called my wife between bands, and she asked how the opener was, I said "they were energetic AF, but I didn't catch the name, something about Elephant". 
    Saw them on that same tour in BC and knew they were going to be enormous. They had an arena who’d never heard of them completely in awe. After their set they watched the whole Queens show from the side of the stage and looked like they were having the time of their lives. I don’t think I’ve ever seen another opening band make that kind of impact. 
  • toolietoolie Posts: 393
    I saw the Rainbow Butt Monkeys (before they became Finger 11) in a bar in 1995 and they were awesome. That first record was their best.
    Also saw Nickleback in Red Deer Alberta before they were famous. They were pricks. We actually went to see the headliner (Jar, later to be known as Flybanger) and NB was opening. Never had the urge to see them (or hear them) again. 

  • pjl44pjl44 Posts: 9,859
    I saw this apparently infamous Rammstein set on the 1998 Family Values tour. I do remember it being very horny and pre-Great White in the sense that the pyro seemed pretty intense for an arena show.

    https://www.revolvermag.com/music/see-rammsteins-infamous-1998-family-values-show-landed-members-jail/
  • ZodZod Posts: 10,689
    It's a bit embarrassing.  It's Nickelback.  Friend of mine's friend from mountain biking was the drummer for a bit before they got big.  Saw them play at a few bars on Vancouver Island before they starting working their way up.  I liked them back then, still dig their debut curb :)

    Foo Fighters kind of had notoriety when they started due to Dave Grohl being in Nirvana, but they smalled small venus for a number of years before opening for other bands then getting to arena's.  Got to see them at the beginning of the colour and the shape tour at the Student Rec Centre at the University of British Columbia.  Held maybe 1000 people.  Pretty cool to see them toward the beginning of the rocket.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,514
    brianlux said:

    Whoa!  I do indeed envy a man who has a mind like a steel trap, Dave.  :smiley:   I would never have remembered starting that thread, lol.

    Ummm, no wonder I don't remember starting that thread... I didn't.  When I opened it, my response was at the top of the page.  But that was page two. 
    OK, I'm going to go hide now.  :lol: 
    "Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!"
    -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"

    "Try to not spook the horse."
    -Neil Young













  • josevolutionjosevolution Posts: 30,328
    Psychedelic Furs saw them here on Long Island at a bar or club My Fathers Place only a couple of hundred people 
    jesus greets me looks just like me ....
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,514
    Psychedelic Furs saw them here on Long Island at a bar or club My Fathers Place only a couple of hundred people 

    Wow, cool! 
    By the time I saw the Furs, they had caught on a bit already. The first time I saw them was at the Warfield theater in San Francisco, and the second was at the Kabuki Theater in San Francisco's Japantown.  Both  shows were good, but not great.  They had a wall of sound that made the songs seem very muddled.   But the Kabuki Club show was memorable for two reasons.  First, the friend I went with and I were walking down the street outside the venue when suddenly the band's guitarist, John Aston, stepped out of a bar and starting walking toward us.  As we passed, he looked at me and kind of facially snarled, raising the side of his lip and growled quietly.  It was totally harmless and very punk.  After we got passed him a bit, I turned and said, "Alriiiight!".  Then, just moments later, we got to the venue entrance and this limo pulled up, and out hopped Richard Butler looking very  suave in a silky grey suite and open necked shirt.  Off to the side, a very stylish and beautiful woman started waving and called out, "Oh, Richard, Richard!  It's me, I'm (so-and-so), you know, (so-and so's) friend!"  Butler dramatically through out his arms and declared, "Oh yes, of course!  Eeeeeeeveryone is my fiend, hahahaha!" and then he dashed off into the venue.  That was so funny and cool!
    "Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!"
    -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"

    "Try to not spook the horse."
    -Neil Young













  • HughFreakingDillonHughFreakingDillon Winnipeg Posts: 37,623
    toolie said:
    I saw the Rainbow Butt Monkeys (before they became Finger 11) in a bar in 1995 and they were awesome. That first record was their best.
    Also saw Nickleback in Red Deer Alberta before they were famous. They were pricks. We actually went to see the headliner (Jar, later to be known as Flybanger) and NB was opening. Never had the urge to see them (or hear them) again. 

    haha. I also saw nickelback before they were big. Playing the Sunday afternoon at a summer festival in bumfudge manitoba. 
    "Oh Canada...you're beautiful when you're drunk"
    -EV  8/14/93




  • mookeywrenchmookeywrench Posts: 5,939
    edited January 26
    Arcade Fire at First Ave in Mpls

    Modest Mouse sorta, at the Showbox 6 months before releasing Good News....

    Tame Impala at 2010 Sasquatch festival, they replaced some other band at the last minute and played the smallest stage mid-afternoon.

    Macklemore during a free show at easy street around 2009. Didn't know who he was and didn't go to see him, but he was performing and I had to wait for him to finish because he was blocking the album artists A-M



    Post edited by mookeywrench on
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