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What amazing bands have you discovered due to them supporting at a gig?
Personally I'd have to say Highly Suspect are the one I've totally gotten into after seeing them at Reading 2016. I also got into Courteeners and Imagine Dragons at the same venue. That's my top 3
Tesla supporting Def Leppard back in '87.
Vega supporting Magnum a few years back.
The slits, supporting the Clash back in prob 78-9
O.K. top 3.
Bask, supporting High On Fire at the Scala, thoughtful noodley stoner rock with a tinge of Americana, followed them ever since.
Wisdom in Chains, Supporting Sick Of It All at the Underworld, aggro NYHC, fantastic live, always worth seeing.
and on a very differnt note; Wind Rose, Dwarven metal (yup, bear with me) supporting the incredible Gloryhammer at the Foundry, utterly ridiculous but so much fun and properly nice guys to boot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4azillbpqU
Oh gosh. Loads!
Here are some that I ended up enjoying far more than the headline act:
Battles supporting Four Tet
Explosions in the Sky Supporting Four Tet (he's got a habit of booking incredible support)
Bright Eyes supporting Arab Strap
Yeah Yeah Yeahs supporting Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Another standout was seeing Sigur Ros supporting Godspeed You! Black Emperor but both performances were astounding.
Loads, I always try to see the support.
Memorable -
A Human supporting Infidels at Southampton. Totally blew them off the stage.
Then a few years later La Shark supporting A Human. Both were so good live, what entertaining nights we had.
Squid supporting Duds last year. Seen Squid twice more since. Then lockdown happened. Bastard!
Babii supporting !!! at Brighton last year.
My memory doesn't seem to go back any further 🙁
Kate Tempest supporting Scroobius Pip.
Lots, but Elbow supporting Doves 20 yrs ago is probably the standout.
not exactly support as i think they were double headliners who swapped about on alternative nights, but went to see the Coral and got blown away by The Music who've stayed with me long after i lost interest in the former.
Metz supporting Idles
Von Bondies supporting white stripes.
i feel there should be many more but these are the ones that spring to mind.
Palace and Smoke Fairies both supporting Public Service Broadcasting at different venues.
L’Amourder supporting New Model Army on The Ghost Of Cain tour. ‘86?
Back in the mid-80s there was a psycho-billy band in Glasgow called the Sting-Rites / aka Johnny Melitta and the Percolators - they used to play a pub in the West End and it would be packed-out. They supported the Ramones at the Barrowlands - it was a mental mosh-pit that night. The Ramones were so stoned / out of their heads they were truly dismal and were booed-off - worst band I've ever seen.
Years ago now.
I went to see the support band rather than the headliner. Saraya we’re supporting FM at the Irish Centre, Digbeth. FM were very late, but brilliant.
I’d heard of Thunder, missed them at Monsters of Rock, Donnington, due to van breaking down. Then saw them supporting Heart and they were, again, brilliant.
Little Angels supporting Van Halen (Hagar) were given the honour of house lights out, light show, full sound system, when that was unheard of.
The slits, supporting the Clash back in prob 78-9
They were only amazing cos you could see up their skirts. I saw them supporting Buzzcocks about the same time. Fun fact - John Lydon is married to Ari Ups mum.
My "discovery" would be Micah P Hinson supporting Richard Hawley.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs supporting Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Not jealous at all! Oh no not me 😩
A very long time ago, Stone the Crows supporting Led Zeppelin.
Tom Walker before he started wearing beanie hats, supporting Hurts at Manchester Apollo.
Arctic monkeys supporting the coral
Twisted wheel supporting the rifles
Saw the Foo fighters support the Prodigy, but had already discovered them by then!
Brian jonestown massacre supporting BRMC at Manchester university.
I became obsessed with BJM and went on to see them another 8 times. It helped that they gave all their music away for free on their website ( not any more though)
Went to see James at the Barrowlands years ago. Radiohead were the support band 😂
Iron Maiden supporting Judas Priest Southampton Gaumont in 1980. The former got a better reception than the latter, it did not go down well with the main act
Went to see Root juice at a terrible bar in hayle because I quite fancied a girl going and the support band was Muse. Next time I saw them was at Wembley stadium
ah that reminds me, also saw the killers supporting british sea power above a local pub before they made it (obviously).
didnt like them then, and i dont now tho so not really that memorable....
Madness - as support to The Merton Parkas Nottingham '79
The Cure, as support to Souxsie and Banshees Nottingham '78
The Cramps - support to the Police, Rushcliffe Leisure Centre '78
The Pogues - support to Elvis Costello - around '84 I guess
On the other end, Snowpony.
There was a period when they were supporting every band I saw in Manchester (or so it felt). They were crap.
Oh, and Gold Blade deserve a special mention for a) being appalling, and b) supporting a clearly bemused Fugazi. The gold lamé suits were a nice touch though.
sunshot - supporting new model army
creaming jesus and janes addiction supporting fields of the nephilm
pitchshifter -supporting morbid angel
None. 🙁 I'd have really have liked to discovered a band that way but haven't. I can't remember who opened for the Damned but they were nearly as bad, does that count?
Massive Waggons supporting the Wildhearts
Henry's Funeral Shoe supporting Massive Waggons
Saint Etienne supporting Bjork at the Blackpool Empress Ballroom in '94
2 small bands really, went to see The Temperance movement at Newcastle Uni a year or so ago, but found the support act amazing - Thomas Wyn and the believers. Not really the sort of music I am into but really enjoyed them and they come up on my Spotify random list quite a bit now.
Oh, and also echo, Tesla supporting Def Lepard 🙂
I saw Crapsons supporting Half Man Half Biscuit last year. Best support act I've ever seen. Hopefully will see them again next year.
There have been many over the years, I’ve got some listed but not to hand at the moment, ones I can remember are Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers supporting Nils Lofgren, The Cortinas and Blondie supporting Television, Dire Straits supporting Talking Heads, Queens Of The Stone Age supporting Hole...
supporting SLF a long long time ago, never did much....
Had a quick look at gig tickets, had to disqualify a few as I knew the supports before - like Eat (my fave band back in the day) supporting James. I left before James cos couldn't stand them 😆
These stood out
B Dolan supporting Dan Le Sac & Scroobius Pip
Kasabian supp. Von Bondies
Verve supporting Smashing Pumpkins
and going back..
Brilliant supp Bauhaus
Comsat Angels supporting Siouxsie
The Slingbacks supporting Carter USM, I don't think anyone else remembers the Slingbacks but they were bloody awesome. Still love their one album.
Kind of honourable mention for Biffy- I saw them supporting OPM and stood up the back taking the piss. Saw them supporting someone else, maybe Hell Is For Heroes, and thought well, it's not that bad. Saw them supporting Weezer and thought, this is alright. Finally saw them not-supporting at T in the Park and it was absolutely awesome, they became one of my favourite bands- almost certainly the one I've seen live the most. Not sure if it counts as "discovery" when you don't like it til later though.
(pretty sure a biffy show got me to finally like Hundred Reasons, who I'd bounced off a few times then finally went "OK, I should like this, I'm going to get down the front and jump around and sweat a bit and see if it works". It did, they were amazing, I reckon their last show was the best gig I've ever seen)
Don’t remember the Slingbacks at Carter so will have to check them out. Mine are Spear Of Destiny supporting U2 back in the day,and Kanga supporting Gary Numan last year at the Roundhouse.
I discovered the Virginmarys supporting Feeder about 7 or 8 years ago, and then Haggard Cat supporting the Virginmarys last winter 😊
Mrmoofo wins according to MrsSpud. They sound like some gigs!
The Sheepdogs supporting The Temperance Movement were also pretty good.
I'll add K.Flay to my list (supporting Imagine Dragons) along with Airways (supported Sunset Sons at O2 Academy Oxford).
choppersquad
Free MemberDon’t remember the Slingbacks at Carter so will have to check them out
This was Carter after they were famous, and before they could fill Brixton with fat old blokes by reforming. World Without Dave tour probably. I think they were a bit handicapped by the fact you couldn't search their name without landing on a load of shoe fetish sites.
Estrons supported Bob Mould in Cardiff a couple of years ago.
They then made one of my favourite albums ever.
They’ve split up now, which is a shame cos they were amazing.
vickypea
Free Member
I discovered the Virginmarys
@vickeypea saw the virgin Mary's at a gig where we were the only people there (apart from a pissed up bloke that walked in looking for a drink)
Was really impressed by them early on, the drummer was something else to watch!!
went to see root juice
Hehe! Rootjuice. Can't believe there's someone else out there that remembers them!!
Just remembered that I once walked into a bar and snow patrol were playing in a corner and no one was listening to them. They were almost punk in the early days.
A very young Supergrass, supporting a pretty young radiohead:
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/radiohead/1995/apollo-oxford-england-43d3bbdf.html