View Full Version : wierd concert pairings
3-LockBox
01-25-2006, 01:35 AM
What's the oddest concert pairing you've ever seen? or even just heard of?
(Hey, what else is there to do?
I remember sometimes Memphis would have some odd pairs play the collesium:
I remember friends went to see Chicago back in '82 (?) and the warm up act was Rick Springfield (they swore he air-played his guitar)
Another story was Def Leppard's warm up act getting booed because of his over-the-top antics, flipping the crowd off, then playing two or three more songs and being fairly beligerant; it was John Cougar ( not quite Mellencamp yet).
Friends went to see .38 Special and one of my gal pals raved about how cute the warm up act was (Bon Jovi).
I think I remember Molly Hatchet warming up for J.Geils Band
Weird turn of events: __A guy I knew in the Navy who had preceded me by a few years saw Kansas on their east coast leg of an '81 or '82 concert, with 'special guest' Heart as their warm up act, about a month later, went to bootcamp, then some sort of fleet training for a couple of months, then NAS Memphis for electronics school for four or five months. Just before he and his buddies got out, they decided to have one last hoorah in Memphis so they went to a concert; Heart with 'special guests', Kansas. He said both shows were pretty good though.
Isn't there a website with old concert bills?
BinFrog
01-25-2006, 04:58 AM
Some weird pairings I have seen:
Pearl Jam w/ Cheap Trick opening
Rush w/ Candlebox opening
Pearl Jam w/ Steve Earl opening (man did he suck)
Last year The Mars Volta and System of a Down did a small tour together.
richmon
01-25-2006, 08:01 AM
When Jimi Hendrix was making a name for himself in England, they paired him as the opening act for the Monkees.
So you have these 10 years olds, with their moms, getting 'experienced'.
Woulda loved to been a fly on that wall.
-Jar-
01-25-2006, 08:04 AM
Tom Petty w/ The Replacements.
The hippies and yuppies that came to see Tom Petty were not impressed with the Replacements. They played about 7 songs and left the stage. There was a good number of people there who (obviously by their attire) were there to see The Mats, but the rest of the crowd did not get them at all. I enjoyed both sets very much.
Primus w/ The Melvins.
You would think Primus fans would be open-minded to the Melvins brand of sludgecore but they were NOT impressed. So the Melvins played some of their longest and slowest songs just to be annoying (including their cover of Flipper's "Sacrifice"). It was fantastic. I really did think that the Primus fans would have been more into the Melvins.
caniac
01-25-2006, 06:10 PM
Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine.
There was a rather large contingent of 14 year old girls who got more than they came for when the mosh pit went off.
-Jar-
01-25-2006, 07:46 PM
Smashing Pumpkins and Rage Against the Machine.
There was a rather large contingent of 14 year old girls who got more than they came for when the mosh pit went off.
Ahh yea, I remember the first Lollapalooza.. when Nine Inch Nails hit the stage the whole area around the outside of the pavillion erupted into a huge pit. Lots of people who were not interested in moshing were "stuck" in the middle. Pretty soon the pavillion became "general admission" as a huge mass of people rushed the stage. Pretty intense.
Jane's Addiction were amazing.
-jar
Hawkeye
01-25-2006, 08:10 PM
One of the stranger "pairings" I ever witnessed was on November 27, 1981 - Henry Paul Band, Molly Hatchet, and The Rolling Stones at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, NY
ForeverAutumn
01-26-2006, 05:31 AM
One of the strangest matches that I've seen was Opeth and Porcupine Tree. In theory, this could have worked since, for Opeth, it was to promote their Damnation album...co-produced, engineered, and written by Steve Wilson. The crowd however was a very obvious mix of PT fans (proggers in their mid-30's and upwards, wearing jeans and concert Ts) and Opeth fans (under 25 and dressed in their finest black fishnet).
I think that the PT fans all had a great evening. The Opeth fans, on the otherhand, made it pretty clear that they were not impressed.
Swish
01-26-2006, 06:44 AM
NM.
Swish
richmon
01-26-2006, 07:38 AM
One of the strangest matches that I've seen was Opeth and Porcupine Tree. I think that the PT fans all had a great evening. The Opeth fans, on the otherhand, made it pretty clear that they were not impressed.
I'd forgotten about that one, Opeth was the closing act when I saw them in Philly, it was getting kind of late, a lot of the PTree crowd had already left. It resembled a scene out of Night of the Living Dead, the ghouls look much like the Goth's. But I couldn't tell if they were disappointed, they always have that blank, bored & angry look. I stayed for 4 songs and skeedadled before my intestines became snacks.
Queensryche with Type O Negative opening.
Live with Jimmy's Chicken Shack was a weird pairing
jamison
01-26-2006, 08:26 AM
I went to see the scorpions who were one of my fav bands in the eighties... a new band called Bon Jovi Opened for them and Bon Jovi Kicked the Scorpions butts pretty bad.. they only had the first album out but they played really tight. I remember Klaus Meine from the scorps was trying to show off and fell and seriously injured himself.. he had to sit in a chair for the rest of the performance.. you could tell he was hurting and not into it.
I just wish i could have seen a good scorpions performance, I have their World Wide Live Cd and its a great performance although it is so polished it makes you wonder if they did a lot of editing to it..
Also saw Survivor with Bryan Adams. funny cause my friend i went with his name was Brian Adams. I remember survivor had only one decent song (Eye of the Tiger) and they sucked.
Saw AC/DC at Joe lois area and man did they put on a show.. unfortunatly for me AC/DC is very generous in lettting new bands open for them. they had a band called Loudness open for them and they were godawful and overamped.
RJW1138
01-26-2006, 09:09 AM
Last year The Mars Volta and System of a Down did a small tour together.
I travelled 600km to Winnipeg from Regina with some friends to see this as I was a big fan of System and a budding Mars Volta fan (the Volta opened for System, natch). Imagine the shock of my bewilderment and subsequent disappointment as the Mars Volta kicked ass and System SUCKED ass. Wow.
The Volta were insane and I would've loved to have seen them perform for a full set (they only played about half an hour...boo!). On the other side, I can't believe how terrible System were. It was honesly one of the worst live performances I've ever experienced. No energy, no communication with the crowd, not tight at all, sloppy, playing most songs too fast, off-key singing, and a real vibe of just doing their jobs and not actually wanting to be there at all. That didn't stop thousands of easily pleased teens from having a good time, but man, I was NOT impressed. I later found out that they had played another show earlier in the day in LA (thousands of km away), so that explains it, but certainly doesn't excuse it. Who's the a**hole manager that planned that one?!
Anyways, what a bizarre experience. I can barely listen to System anymore because of how disappointed I am with the whole band. I'd LOVE to see The Mars Volta again though!
3-LockBox
01-26-2006, 09:46 AM
AC/DC is very generous in lettting new bands open for them. they had a band called Loudness open for them and they were godawful and overamped.
You know, that describes most of those '80s hairy metal bands. The music industry knew once these mediocre acts started touring their album sales would plummet, so they started pumping them out one after another. Loudness, a metal act from Japan, was a prime example. I saw the Vinny Vincent Invasion with Iron Maiden on the Somewhere In Time Tour, (not really an odd pairing) and they were so bad. They were booed unmercifully. (Vinny Vincent was Kiss' second guitarist after Ace Frehley left)
3-LockBox
01-26-2006, 10:16 AM
I saw the monsters of rock tour ('89 ?) which was suppossed to showcase a wide variety of the hottest metal acts. This included Scorpions, Van Halen, Metallica, and Kingdom Come. I read that Metallica hated that tour, and if that's true, it showed that night, cuz I was under-impressed. I wasn't thrilled with their fans either, who seemed hell-bent on telling everyone else how bad the rest of the bands sucked. In fact, all the bands expressed dismay, like the idea of the concert was way better on paper than it actually was in reallity. I remember Sammy Hagar referred to Kingdom Come on TV as 'Kingdom Kong', saying they needed to "find their own sound, instead of doing immitations". (No Sammy, they just needed to learn to play, period) They sucked hard! Metallica's set was kinda short, their fans (16-18 yr old scumbags) chanted and booed because they didn't do an encore, and when the Scorps were into about their third or fourth song, a shoe hit Klaus Mein in the throat. He stopped, some dude came out and tried to chew people out, a couple of guys were removed from the 'front row' while a lot of fans booed the security guys (why? I didn't understand that crowd, my friends and I were pissed about the shoe incident and there were people all around us who thought it was funny) Mein came back out and performed two more songs, then the Scorps were done for the night. This put me off going to anymore 'festival' type concerts. I drew the conclusion that only people who 'leech' off someone else or steal for a living would spend that kinda money on a concert with the sole intent of trying to 'out a$$hole' the next guy.
-Jar-
01-26-2006, 10:23 AM
You know, that describes most of those '80s hairy metal bands. The music industry knew once these mediocre acts started touring their album sales would plummet, so they started pumping them out one after another. Loudness, a metal act from Japan, was a prime example. I saw the Vinny Vincent Invasion with Iron Maiden on the Somewhere In Time Tour, (not really an odd pairing) and they were so bad. They were booed unmercifully. (Vinny Vincent was Kiss' second guitarist after Ace Frehley left)
ha ha! WOK AND WOLL KWAZY NIGHTS!!
My awful Iron Maiden opening band was WAYSTED. This was band was started by Pete Way (ex UFO) after he left Fastway (yes, he was the "Way" in Fastway, along with "Fast" Eddie Clark, ex-Motorhead). He was basically in Fastway long enough to form the band, from what I remember.
Anyway, they sucked hippo balls. I'm glad I didn't buy their album, because I bought a LOT of bad albums back then!
I really wanted to see Queensryche open.. that would have been the ultimate concert for me when I was 17...
-jar
-Jar-
01-26-2006, 10:32 AM
I saw the monsters of rock tour ('89 ?) which was suppossed to showcase a wide variety of the hottest metal acts. This included Scorpions, Van Halen, Metallica, and Kingdom Come.
I was going to post about this show, but I didn't.. now that you brought it up.. the weirdest thing about this one was that Metallica played before Dokken. My how their paths diverged after this event. Even the Scorpions now are hardly relevant. Some might argue that Metallica isn't relevant either, but at least they're able to pay their new bass player $1,000,000 up front.. hardly seems justifiable that they're worried about downloading..
ANYWAY...
it was the summer of '88 and it was VERY hot. I *still to this day* have freckles on my left arm where I got seriously bad blistering sunburn (yes, I rolled up my sleeves like those hessier dork Metallica fans, BIG MISTAKE). We used to call Kingdom Come Kingdom CLONE, and from my vantage point, it was difficult to tell their lead singer from Robert Plant, yes he even had his shirt unbuttoned.. ugh. Yes, they sucked hippo balls.
I was thrilled to see Metallica and they seemed in a pretty good mood that day. It was kind of a short set, but they did play "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Fade to Black" and "Master of Puppets" from what I remember. They played a "new" song called "Harvester of Sorrow" which was everyone's first taste of the ..AND JUSTICE album that was coming out later that year...
Dokken played next..I always kind of liked Dokken, but they were always 2nd rate to me. They had bad sound problems, that's about all I remembered.. I'm sure they played "Just Got Lucky" and "In My Dreams" - yawn. George Lynch was always somewhat of a hot-shot but I was never part of the whole Guitar player scene. To me it was the songs that mattered and Dokken never had very good songs.
Scorps were next.. they were GREAT. Defiantely the highlight for me, at the time in 1988 they were one of my top 5 favorite bands, so it was great to finally see them live. They did "The Zoo" which pretty much made my day right there. Great set, nothing to complain about there.
I was also very impressed by Van Hagar. They looked like they were having a great time and I had no complaints about them either. Sure, Sammy is not DLR, but I had a great time anyways, they were pros at the top of their game, maybe not as reckless as they used to be, but still enjoyable. We were all very impressed.
Overall though, it was hot as hell, everyone was pretty miserable, they were spraying the crowd with hoses all day. No shade anywhere, big outdoor football arena (the Rubber Bowl in Akron, OH). And as I said, I have freckles on my left arm to prove it!
Hard to believe that was 18 years ago!
-jar
bjornb17
01-26-2006, 11:32 AM
I went to Dallas in October to see U2, and Damian Marley opened for them. That was pretty odd.
Woochifer
01-26-2006, 12:16 PM
Red Hot Chili Peppers with Guns N Roses opening
This was a club gig at UCLA. The Peppers at that time were the annointed next-big-thing in the LA club scene, and a great band to catch in a club setting. GNR was more of an unknown band and did not get along well with the crowd (people I know who went to that gig said that GNR played poorly and Axel Rose spent way too much time cussing out the audience), and apparently got booed off the stage.
Miles Davis and The Grateful Dead
The Fillmore in San Francisco in the 60s and 70s was legendary for some of its adventurous concert pairings. I've see the poster for the Miles/Dead concert, and can only imagine how that evening must have sounded! I have no idea if the Dead were backing up for Miles or if he brought his own band along. But, it would not surprise me at all if Miles actually played with the Dead, because this was during Miles' In A Silent Way/B*tches Brew/Jack Johnson phase. A lot of extended jam sessions in those pieces, and the Dead were one of the great jam bands of all time.
JohnMichael
01-26-2006, 12:32 PM
Late 70's and Daryl Hall and Jon Oates were opening for Shawn Phillips. Half the audience was there to see pop/Philly soul of H and O and the other half for the folk/protest/political songs of Phillips. Interesting mix of people.
Godsmack with some Crazy Jim's Sideshow Circus or somethign to that affect. It was people sticking huge fish hooks in their skin and doing other weird stuff. Very strange
3-LockBox
01-26-2006, 07:53 PM
I was going to post about this show, but I didn't.. now that you brought it up.. the weirdest thing about this one was that Metallica played before Dokken. My how their paths diverged after this event. Even the Scorpions now are hardly relevant. Some might argue that Metallica isn't relevant either, but at least they're able to pay their new bass player $1,000,000 up front.. hardly seems justifiable that they're worried about downloading...Hard to believe that was 18 years ago!
I forgot about Dokken! For some reason, I don't have a clear memory of when they played. I saw Dokken w/ Judas Priest in '86 (Turbo Tour); then I saw them w/ Aerosmith (Permanent Vacation Tour) several months later. They actually toured with a lot of groups in and around Seattle and the west coast back in the '80s, always the warm-up act. But yeah, they were the proto-typical '80s metal band. I really liked them when they first came out, but made the mistake of watching a behind-the-scenes fanboy documentary about 'the band', and they all came acrossed as 16 yr old airheads. I could never listen to 'em the same way after that.
unleasHell
01-26-2006, 10:54 PM
I saw all these back in the 70's
Donovan opening for YES
Or how about a triple bill os Kiss (opening act), Camel and Wishbone Ash?
Or how about Slade opening for Ten years After?
I went to see Mahogany Rush and Triumvirat was supposed to open, but they canceled
3-LockBox
01-27-2006, 01:30 AM
Donovan opening for YES
Actually, I can see that, lyrically speaking
Or how about a triple bill os Kiss (opening act), Camel and
Wishbone Ash?
I think this one takes the prize so far...what on earth did Camel fans think of KISS back then? I'll bet they were thinking, "Man, I knew I shouldn't have taken that last hit of acid".
BinFrog
01-27-2006, 04:55 AM
I travelled 600km to Winnipeg from Regina with some friends to see this as I was a big fan of System and a budding Mars Volta fan (the Volta opened for System, natch). Imagine the shock of my bewilderment and subsequent disappointment as the Mars Volta kicked ass and System SUCKED ass. Wow.
The Volta were insane and I would've loved to have seen them perform for a full set (they only played about half an hour...boo!). On the other side, I can't believe how terrible System were. It was honesly one of the worst live performances I've ever experienced. No energy, no communication with the crowd, not tight at all, sloppy, playing most songs too fast, off-key singing, and a real vibe of just doing their jobs and not actually wanting to be there at all. That didn't stop thousands of easily pleased teens from having a good time, but man, I was NOT impressed. I later found out that they had played another show earlier in the day in LA (thousands of km away), so that explains it, but certainly doesn't excuse it. Who's the a**hole manager that planned that one?!
Anyways, what a bizarre experience. I can barely listen to System anymore because of how disappointed I am with the whole band. I'd LOVE to see The Mars Volta again though!
I have seen SOAD a few times and they are hit or miss. If they are feeling the energy and loosen up a little, they can destroy the place. Other times they just don't hit their groove. I wouldn't write them off because of one show.
Dusty Chalk
01-27-2006, 06:25 AM
You know, that describes most of those '80s hairy metal bands. I'm going to start referring to this genre as "hairy metal".
Woochifer
01-27-2006, 01:21 PM
Helen Reddy with Joe Cocker opening
This was at a Tahoe casino during the late-70s. Back then, playing Vegas and Tahoe was a sign that your career was getting close to the end, and that was the case for Reddy (at least as a top 40 fixture). But, how Joe Cocker wound up playing second fiddle to Helen Reddy was something I could never figure out.
MindGoneHaywire
01-27-2006, 01:44 PM
2 pages & Jar hasn't mentioned the Sonic Youth/Sun Ra show in Central Park! It was one of those that was so weird it wasn't, sort of, I guess.
A couple of years ago the Garage Fest ended with the only 3 bands given sets that approached normal times--the NY Dolls, the Strokes, & Iggy & the Stooges, in that order. I've heard a few tunes from the new Strokes album I thought were real good, but they were kind of a downer. A friend said they were trying to be the Cure, which made a lot of sense. That Iggy & the Stooges were better, by miles, than all of the rest of the 40 bands that played that day only highlighted the oddness of the placement of the Strokes' set on the bill.
For better or worse, most of the shows I have seen have featured bills that made some sort of sense.
unleasHell
01-27-2006, 09:11 PM
Actually, I can see that, lyrically speaking
I think this one takes the prize so far...what on earth did Camel fans think of KISS back then? I'll bet they were thinking, "Man, I knew I shouldn't have taken that last hit of acid".
yeah, I was not really into kiss, but the coolest thing was that there were some kiss fans in the second row that left after kiss played and we moved into their seats for camel & wishbone ash... rmember back then you already had alice cooper, so kiss just seemed gimmicky, although I did (only) like their first album...
3-LockBox
01-28-2006, 02:40 AM
Helen Reddy with Joe Cocker opening
This was at a Tahoe casino during the late-70s. Back then, playing Vegas and Tahoe was a sign that your career was getting close to the end, and that was the case for Reddy (at least as a top 40 fixture). But, how Joe Cocker wound up playing second fiddle to Helen Reddy was something I could never figure out.
Remember when Wolfman Jack was replaced by Reddy as permanent host of Midnight Special?
Wasn't Reddy's 'I Am Woman' voted #1 on one of those most grating song ever lists?
Gee, thanks for the memories...
:p
ForeverAutumn
02-04-2006, 06:38 AM
I heard about the latest odd pairing on the news this morning....Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand touring together.
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