Shows you've been to where the opening band was better than the headliner

[GirlsAloudFan]

This is on my mind right now because I went to see a show last night. Janelle Monae opening for Of Montreal. And Monae absolutely slayed them. Kicked the shit out of them. Blew 'em out of the water.

Her set was tighter, better paced, more exciting, more vital, and, she's just flat out awesome. The crowd was buzzing about her set and then when Of Montreal came on, and women in alien pig masks starting simulating fellatio on Kevin Barnes as he was performing an overlong funky "slow jam" - you could feel the crowd collectively rolling their eyes. The swagger and energy that Monae brought was almost completely gone.

The Of Montreal set picked up only on a couple of occasions, and this was when they played a couple songs off of Hissing Fauna. The rest of the set was almost strictly stuff off of their latest album, which I like, but the songs didn't translate very well live. Barnes had more costume changes than Tangled Up-era Girls Aloud. The whole wild and crazy circus atmosphere was overcooked and fell flat. These guys have their heads up their asses, whereas Monae came out, just her, her bassist, drummer, and keyboard player, and rocked the fuck out.

So, I'm curious, has this happened to any of you before? I'm sure it has. But who were the opening artists that stole the show from their "headliners"?

 

[Imperor]

Interesting idea for a thread. The first time I saw TVOTR*, they sounded like shit and I really didn't enjoy the performance much. Little Dragon opened and absolutely kicked ass. So there's one. And it happens to be the only one I can think of.


*I should note that they were excellent the second time.

 

[u2popmofo]

Similar story to Imps, the sound in the venue was completely screwed up the second time I saw The Cure, so I greatly preferred 65daysofstatic's opening performance.

*The Cure sounded absolutely fantastic the first time I saw them


Okkervil River opened for Iron and Wine here last year, and I left after Okkervil River finished. Does that count?

 

[powerhour24]

Elbow > Coldplay, although CP do put on a very fun show.

 

[joyfulgirl]

I saw Ray LaMontagne and David Gray a few weeks ago and while technically they were co-headlining, obviously David Gray was the star. I only went to see Ray LaMontagne but my friend went with me to see David Gray, and I figured the whole thing would be good if nothing else because it was at the spectacular outdoor Santa Fe Opera with its stunning views.

I was worried that the audience wouldn't know LaMontagne and would come late but in fact it seemed most of the audience was there for LaMontagne. He did a beautiful, heartfelt set while David Gray cranked out the paint-by-number hits with an annoying, arrogant attitude. Halfway through his hits I thought if he doesn't say something about the breathtaking landscape around him and the unbelievable sunset, I'm gonna...well, I don't know what I was gonna do except hate him. He finally mumbled something about it being his first show ever in New Mexico and that it was nice to be there but I don't think he gave a rat's ass where he was.

Funny thing was, I had seem him as an opening act at Carnegie Hall before he was famous and he was fantastic, just him and his guitar. Now he's all slick and ick.

(and I don't know what to say about a month that began with Dead Weather and ended with David Gray... )

 

[Dalton]

I went to see Toad the Wet Sprocket years ago and a little known band called Hootie & Blowfish were better than them on the night.

 

[LemonMelon]

The National/Arcade Fire. Much as I enjoyed the latter, there was too much Neon Bible material for me to get into it fully, plus they shortened their already taut set by a couple of songs. It was pretty disappointing all-around. The National, however, played (what were to me) brand new songs like they had been in their canon for years, and convinced me to listen to Boxer as soon as I possibly could. Frankly, it probably helped that Boxer >>>>>>>> Neon Bible.

Ironically, I saw them both at Lollapalooza this summer, with The National playing right before Arcade Fire, and Arcade Fire absolutely slayed. The National's set wasn't disappointing or anything, it's just that, again, I prefer the album Arcade Fire is supporting right now.

Okkervil River opened for Iron and Wine here last year, and I left after Okkervil River finished. Does that count?

Unless someone was off stealing The Creek Drank The Cradle online, fail.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

That's all well and good, but how do you feel about me seeing your girl Janelle Monae live before you ever had the chance to?

In all seriousness, you were the one that turned me on to her music LM, so I thank you.

 

[LemonMelon]

As much makeup as Kevin Barnes applies, he'll never be prettier than Janelle.

(You're welcome. )

I'm seeing Roger Waters perform the Wall in its entirety tonight. The fact that he doesn't have an opening act only makes it slightly less likely that I would have had something to contribute.

 

[IWasBored]

flogging molly, either time i've seen them really, but that really doesn't count because i went to both those shows knowing that i like the opening/non-headliners playing the show better. same with the big d & the kids table cd release show a couple years ago, far from finished were much better, but i went into that show knowing that would be the case (also that halloween big d show the street dogs played. both SD and brain failure rocked the house in ways big d will never be able to do in my mind).

i wouldn't say saul williams was better than nine inch nails, but way closer to the same level of awesomeness than i would have expected.

the loved ones at the bouncing souls show. not technically openers because i believe they played 3rd on a bill of 4 bands. love both bands, but definitely expected more out of the soulies.

my favorite is probably the rise against/alkaline trio/thrice/gaslight anthem show. went to see gaslight, stuck around for ak3, suffered through thrice, left before rise against. but gaslight anthem were by far the best of the three bands i did see.

i guess none of that really counts for this thread, though.

 

[blueeyedgirl]

Yonks ago went to see Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. Some newly formed band with only one single supported them. I think they were called Crowded House....

 

[lazarus]

The Flaming Lips > Beck, 2008.

They were better back in 2003 as well, come to think of it.

Also, Jimmy Eat World > Weezer on the Green album tour.

 

[Axver]

Three come straight to mind:

1. Laura > Mono in December 2009. Mono were GREAT, but Laura were even better. One of the best gigs I've ever seen. Wish Laura would hurry up and play another gig already.
2. Sleepmakeswaves > Mushroom Giant in April 2010. Technically they were meant to be co-headliners, but Mushroom Giant seemed to get much more prominent billing and played last ... crowd seemed to be there more for SMW though, and they tore it up. Mushroom Giant had a very tight stage show and played well, but I'll take post-rock over prog metal thanks.
3. Alpine > Kimbra this month. OK, so I went to see Alpine and didn't even really know who Kimbra was until a few days before the gig. She's got to be one of the most confident performers I've ever seen on stage. But Alpine are one of the best new bands in Melbourne at the moment. So good on stage.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Hey, I got Axver to respond to a thread in B&C that isn't about Porcupine Tree or Crowded House.

I win the forum.

 

[cobl04]

and boom goes the dynamite.

 

[BVS]

I saw Ours(first time seeing them) open for Powderfinger and left about 5 songs into Powderfinger's set to go hang out with lead singer of Ours. There was simply no comparison.

 

[Screwtape2]

I saw Fiona Apple open for Coldplay. She wasn't better but it did turn me into a huge fan and I talked about her performance as much as Coldplay's in the days after the concert.

 

[U2inUtah]

At the time, I thought Rage Against the Machine was better than U2 when they opened at PopMart, but I was just a rebellious 16 yr old at the time, and it wasn't cool to like U2 in the late 90's...but still, Rage was pretty good live.

 

[Salome]

Mr Hudson & The Radio > Amy Winehouse
landslide proportions it was

 

[the tourist]

Also, Jimmy Eat World > Weezer on the Green album tour.

Yes.