Gigs - best & worst support act

shouldbeinbed

Best - North of Cornwallis, 3rd on bill behind The Housemartins & The Farm @ City Hall in Newcastle. They never made it big and disappeared without trace but they were streets ahead of The Farm who were just about breaking through at the time

Worst - 808 State supporting Madness at GMex in Manchester. we'd been waiting ages with no explanation or clue as to the delay, ambient electro isn't what a Madness crowd is there for, 808 weren't particularly good anyway and walked off half way through when they were getting no reaction at all.


Bonus feature - funniest was a pure Irish 'skiffle' group supporting The Waterboys, they make the Saw Doctors seem like quintessential english toffs. not very good either but mad as a really big box of frogs and full of enthusiasm

AndyF16

Best would have to be Mr James Brown supporting RHCP in Hyde Park

Worst was probably The Libertines supporting Flaming Lips at De Montfort Hall, with the insufferable Docherty being a prick - we retired back to the bar until the main event!

mikebx

best: primus suppoting jane's addiction at birmingham humming bird

worst: cornershop supporting therapy at wolves wulfrun

Bozman

Best - Happy Mondays supporting New Order at the nec in 89.
Worst - Deep Joy who supported the Farm at Rock City, the worst gig i've ever been to in my life, they were both absolute shite and i've been to plenty over the years to judge.

I know trhat it's not best gig but ... Primal Scream, exterminator tour, blinding!!!!

takethehighroad

Best and worst were at the same gig.

Best is Reverend & The Makers supporting Arctic Monkeys at Rock City

Worst is the band that followed them. Dunno their name but they caused me to fall asleep where I stood

Harry182

Not sure if this answers the OP's question but...

The best support band I've seen were The Libertines. They opened for The Vines. I didn't really know either's music and didn't really like The Vines but The Libertines opening set was worth the whole price of admission.

mrushton

Best? Dire Straits opening for The Climax Blues Band/Mcr Apollo,late 70's. Just released the 1st album,punk was booming and when they started playing jaws dropped at Mark Knopflers technique.

Bon Jovi opening for Kiss, early 80s. Skynyrd opening for Golden Earring in the early 70s.

Worst? Alien Sex Fiend opening for Alice Cooper/Mcr Apollo/early 80s

tebbit

Best support act - Red Lorry Yellow Lorry supporting Killing Joke in '86, Liverpool Royal Court

Worst Aswad on the same bill as New Model Army, Ghost Dance and The Damned

carrock

best- status quo supporting queen in 1986- good time party band

the darkness supporting def leppard were good as well

legend has it when led zeppelin supported jefferson airplane in america in the early 70';s airplane refused to go on as Zep had stormed the place and left them with nothing....

worst- loads and loads and loads- kelly osbourne supporting robbie williams was particularly awful

Bikehawk

Best +1 for Quo supporting Meatloaf.

Worst - List is too long to chose just one.

wiffachip

best - Joy Division supporting Buzzcocks

worst - Dire Straits supporting Talking Heads

pneumatic

Best - Wilko Johnson supporting a band whose name I can't remember because I walked out after their first song. Wilko was magnificent, though!

Worst - a guy dressed up as a six foot pen1s with a can of shaving foam for the front row. Mind you, it was a Stranglers gig and they were famous for the bizarre quality of their support acts; on another occasion, they had a guy in a green spotlight playing the spoons.

Interesting coincidence - I actually met the guy of the manhood costume fame backstage years later at the same venue (Edinburgh Playhouse).

andy162

Best...either Strangelove supporting Radiohead in 92/3ish, Lower Refrectory at Sheff Uni or Geneva supporting Suede. Strangelove had some great early stuff then turned shite pretty much overnight.

Worst....Electribe 101 opening for Depeche Mode @ the NEC in 1990. Truly, truly dire...or even my old band supporting The Afghan Whigs at King Tuts in 95. You would never have thought a poorly jack plug to an FX pedal could cause so much hassle. Queue onstage barney with drummer about my gear being shite & walking off halfway thru last song. We must have looked right dicks!

Ollieda

Best, not really sure of, never seen one that was really amazing, yet!

Worst - without a doubt, Razorlight opening for Queen. Biggest load of tosh I've ever seen. Literally the whole crowd at hyde park got bored and either sat down and chilled out or when to get more beer/food.

random man

Best - James Brown supporting Red Hot Chili Peppers at Manchester and Beach Boys supporting Elton John at Wembley 1975

Worst - Clinic supporting Arcade Fire Nottingham 2007

mr_goo

Best - Samson supporting Rainbow at Wembley Arena.

Worst - Tear Drop Explodes supporting Queen at MK Bowl

richk

Best : New Model Army supporting The Mission (Finsbury Park)

Worst : Richard Jobson supporting Bill Nelson (Leeds Poly)

Pross

Best? Little Angels supporting Cinderella in 89ish (they were far better than the main act).
Squeeze and Extreme supporting Brian Adams early 90s at the Arms Park.

Worst? Really can't remember, I tend to walk out and go to the bar!