Agwin Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 A few years back we went to see Deep Purple at whatever the NEC was called that month. It was the start of a massive (over 12 months) tour. Lynyrd Skynyrd were the penultimate band on and they absolutely blew Purple away – leaving me somewhat disappointed in the Purps and very impressed with Skynyrd. Saw Purple again, same venue, at the tail end of the same tour and they were excellent. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor J Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Nuclear Assault supporting Slayer on their South of Heaven tour in 1988. Slayer were alright but NA were like an explosion. Cynic supporting Opeth in 2008. I had waited 15 years to see Cynic and, by comparison, Opeth were so dull I left a gig early for the first time in my life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piers_Williamson Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 And after reading the Gazza Johnson thread, China Crisis supporting Simple Minds! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) It Bites supporting Robert Plant, mid 80s. Plant had formed a new backing band and I think were just a bit under rehearsed. IB were sublime, first time I'd really taken notice of them. Edited February 2, 2020 by KevB 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) 14 hours ago, thodrik said: In 2005 I saw Mastodon twice. However both times I preferred the support, High on Fire and Dozer. It happened again a few years ago when Red Fang supported them. Bizarrely enough, I saw Mastodon supporting High on Fire, around 2000, and Mastodon just blew High on Fire off the stage. Saw Metallica on the Justice for All tour with Danzig as support. Metallica were boring, Danzig were superb. Slayer's South of Heaven tour, went for Nuclear Assault, left the Slayer set after the first 3 songs. The Wonder Stuff 1987/88 ish. To be fair, TWS were really, really good, but the support band were just superb... Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. Edited February 2, 2020 by Skybone 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Cathedral supporting HIM - Cathedral were the only redeeming feature of the night. If I'm being completely objective, Old Man Gloom were better than Cave In last year, but they were both great. In a similar vein, Oxbow were better than Sumac when I saw those two as well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thodrik Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Skybone said: Bizarrely enough, I saw Mastodon supporting High on Fire, around 2000, and Mastodon just blew High on Fire off the stage. Saw Metallica on the Justice for All tour with Danzig as support. Metallica were boring, Danzig were superb. Slayer's South of Heaven tour, went for Nuclear Assault, left the Slayer set after the first 3 songs. The Wonder Stuff 1987/88 ish. To be fair, TWS were really, really good, but the support band were just superb... Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction. Don’t get me wrong, but I love Mastodon (well up to Crack the Skye, I only ‘like’ their stuff after that). High on Fire could sometimes be a hit or miss depending on the condition of Matt Pike on any given night. I would love to have seen Danzig back in the day, very underrated band. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) 1 hour ago, thodrik said: Don’t get me wrong, but I love Mastodon (well up to Crack the Skye, I only ‘like’ their stuff after that). High on Fire could sometimes be a hit or miss depending on the condition of Matt Pike on any given night. I would love to have seen Danzig back in the day, very underrated band. Because of a podcast, I've listened to Danzig IV, V, VI and VII recently and wowser, some of that is bad. I'll have to go back and listen to the earlier stuff at some point, as I understand that's a lot better. Edited February 2, 2020 by Graham 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 The Comsat Angels supporting U2 at Rock City in1981. I'd seen both bands playing separately at the Boat Club the previous year and enjoyed both gigs immensely - especially U2 who I'd never heard before going to the gig. However whilst the Comsat Angels had matured into a band worthy of playing the main stage at Rock City, U2 seemed to be unsure about what they were doing there. Pointless grand piano and Bono playing the guitar (badly) and a distinct lack of decent new songs (from the October album) and the whole performance was distinctly underwhelming. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozz196 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 I remember them, they were great, I saw U2 in Hemel in ‘81 so must have been the same tour. Fast forward a couple of years and the crowd I hung around with loved the Comsats so got to hear them a lot. And true to form I can’t really recall much of their material, aside from Independence Day. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 As someone who used to run the boat club website, I was unaware that U2 had played there 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 8 minutes ago, Geek99 said: As someone who used to run the boat club website, I was unaware that U2 had played there It would have been October or November 1980, on the tour promoting the "Boy" album. I'd just moved to Nottingham and it was one of the first gigs I went to. Other than having heard the name I knew nothing about the band, and was persuaded to come to the gig by a friend of mind who had seen them previously (supporting the Only Ones IIRC). Was massively impressed with the songs and particularly The Edge's guitar playing. We also went with someone who knew them personally from when they played in Dublin, so I got to meet Bono and The Edge afterwards... 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Riva Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 29 minutes ago, BigRedX said: The Comsat Angels supporting U2 at Rock City in1981. I'd seen both bands playing separately at the Boat Club the previous year and enjoyed both gigs immensely - especially U2 who I'd never heard before going to the gig. However whilst the Comsat Angels had matured into a band worthy of playing the main stage at Rock City, U2 seemed to be unsure about what they were doing there. Pointless grand piano and Bono playing the guitar (badly) and a distinct lack of decent new songs (from the October album) and the whole performance was distinctly underwhelming. I’d forgotten Comsat Angels were support on that tour. You’re right, they were excellent. Saw U2 on that tour at Warwick University and, again, you’re right, they did seem a little unsure of themselves - they did a track off October, I Fall Down, which had The Edge alternating between guitar and piano and it sounded really odd/off. The tracks off Boy were really good, as I recall - The Electric Co and An Cat Dubh were something else. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 A few from back in the day, I'll have to have a think to get my dates straight, but in the last couple of years Thunder support Whitesnake and then Journey: that gig should have been run in reverse, Thunder were fantastic. The Damned supporting that Alice Cooper/Johnny Depp farce of a covers band thing (I only got dragged there by my SO, who still didn't get anywhere near JD), the Damned were still great fun, and clearly delighted to be out of the house, let alone on the big stage of the Arena... The Volbeat supporting Alterbridge, again at the Arena. Their sound wasn't great, but it (and they) were streets ahead of the headliners... Oooo, that Nuclear Assault/Slayer SOH gig...yup, NA were an onslaught...in a good way... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geek99 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 1 hour ago, BigRedX said: It would have been October or November 1980, on the tour promoting the "Boy" album. I'd just moved to Nottingham and it was one of the first gigs I went to. Other than having heard the name I knew nothing about the band, and was persuaded to come to the gig by a friend of mind who had seen them previously (supporting the Only Ones IIRC). Was massively impressed with the songs and particularly The Edge's guitar playing. We also went with someone who knew them personally from when they played in Dublin, so I got to meet Bono and The Edge afterwards... Thanks - Actually I’m being slowly reminded by long-term storage archives in my heads that when I got the data for the history page, u2 were on there I met Andy Rourke there once. Nice man. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nige1968 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Nirvana supporting Tad, Portsmouth Poly students’ union, October 1989. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Bassy Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Iggy Pop supporting the Foo Fighters at MK bowl several years go. Obviously a matter of taste, but IMHO he blew them out the water. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
odysseus Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 A few years ago Scorpions blew Judas Priest out of the water at Plymouth Pavilions. Scorps were running around like teenagers and played with bags of energy, Judas Priest played like a bunch of old men who weren't really interested. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Dragon Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 When I saw Squeeze at the Sage in Gateshead a couple of years ago, they put the legendary John Cooper Clarke on first. Hard to beat that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassfinger Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Don't think I've seen a show where the support act was actually better, although when I saw Tull in '89 the support act was an electric violinist called Mary Kelly, and she was worth the ticket price all on her own. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 (edited) Mmm.. flotsam and jetsam blowing megadeth totally off at the hammy o ( Jason was with them then ) . Dave mustaine was mumbling . Megadeth seemed to take a few breaks and mustaine had a couple of costume changes symphony x blowing off dream theatre at Wembley arena in 2007. Never saw or heard of them before , but they rocked and owned the stage . stan Webb blowing off John May all at hammy o sometime in this millennium All I can remember about Mayall was that he looked a bit like jimmy saville in appearance trying to be cool in tracksuit bottoms . Very arrogant ,although mick Taylor played one good song as a special guest iirc . M..OD supporting Suicidal tendencies at the Astoria on a Sunday afternoon . I ended up buying billy Milano a Coca Cola . Glenn Hughes blowing Jack Bruce off at a truly miserable gig at shepherd 's bush in this millennium . It was a gig that Michael shenker was supposed to headline but pulled out , leaving a half empty crowd Frank Marino was pretty good , Glenn Hughes was excellent , and Jack bruce looked like a used car salesman struggling for business. The encore? ..Eleanor Rigby. WTF!?! Anthrax better than iron maiden Wembley arena, persistence of time tour. Wembley arena Edited February 2, 2020 by RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectoremg Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 10 hours ago, KevB said: It Bites supporting Robert Plant, mid 80s. Plant had formed a new backing band and I think were just a bit under rehearsed. IB were sublime, first time I'd really taken notice of them. Didn't It Bites get mysteriously 'let go' from that tour? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spectoremg Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Todd Rundgren and Utopia, Knebworth '79, before Led Zep. They were blinding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmccombe7 Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 11 hours ago, KevB said: It Bites supporting Robert Plant, mid 80s. Plant had formed a new backing band and I think were just a bit under rehearsed. IB were sublime, first time I'd really taken notice of them. Was at the Barrowland gig for them. When Plant came on i went into Lounge area which was empty and had a great blether with Francis Dunnery who came over to us to see why we weren't in watching Plant. I was happy to say i was only there for It Bites. Francis is an absolute gem of a guy and very down to earth. Would love to book him for a house party but not sure my house could take 50 people. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted February 2, 2020 Share Posted February 2, 2020 Of course Dunnery eventually became part of Plants backing band himself later on after IB had folded so they must have struck up some rapport. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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