Entertainment For Lively Minds
Best support acts
Posted by Big Jim on 13 February 2009 - 11:41pm.
And while I'm on, who have been the best support acts. My money would have to go on the Sensational Alex Harvey band on the "Who Puts the boot in" tour 1976 (I think). Mind you I was fortunate enough to be at the Two Tone Tour gig at Stirling University which I believe was Madness's last night on the tour. I believe they had a rotating "Headline" act policy and Madness were last on on this occasion, which meant that the Specials were the "support" act. This had to be one of the best gigs EVER.
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I saw the Smiths supported
I saw the Smiths supported by James in 85 and the James supported by the Happy Mondays in 88. Both pretty head-turning.
I saw The Smiths
supported by Felt and The Red Guitars. And next tour by James. Even The Smiths support bands were blinding. Was there a better band?
Ooh, I'dve loved to've seen the Red Guitars
They were my absolute favourite band in 1983 (before the Smiths arrived)
They were
much better than Felt. In fact they were very good indeed.
I've posted this before...
....anyway.....I wasn't there, but a friend of mine was.....Lynyrd Skynyrd supporting Golden Earring. Glasgow, early 70's.
I'll see you The Two Tone Tour at Pathfoot Big Jim...
...and raise you The Cramps & The Fall at the same venue. What a fantastic booking policy they had at Stirling in those days. I wonder who could have been responsible? (coff coff)...
In similar mode & area: The Rezillos & The Ramones, Richard Hell & The Clash, Richard Hell & Elvis Costllo, The Specials, Suicide & The Clash, the first Stiff tour (Elvis, Nick, Wreckless, Larry Wallis, Ian Dury, Simple Minds & The Banshees all at the Apollo too.
First band I ever saw: Queen supporting Mott The Hoople...
Elvis Costllo
...is a great name for a tribute act.
Live: The Mother Lode
I once worked with someone who had attended an NME poll-winners concert in the 1960's, and saw the Beatles supported by the Rolling Stones.
I suspect it was 1965, in which case the other acts on the bill would have been Dusty Springfield, Them, the Kinks, the Moody Blues, Georgie Fame and the Animals.
Jealous? Moi?
(Were any other Word bloggers in attendance at such ridiculously overloaded bills?)
Stiffs seconded
Saw them at Aylesbury Friars in 1977. Same year saw the Boomtown Rats then totally unknown supporting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers also at Aylesbury. The Rats were great and Tom's roadies spent the interval removing their impromptu banners from the balconies in barely disguised ill temper.
We've done this before...
...and we have a winner:
Little Feat supporting the
Little Feat supporting the Doobie Brothers at the Rainbow.
I win.
reply
David Hepworth | 12 October 2007 - 1:17pm
Yup...
He wins.
No question about it.
Little Feat
better than Felt? Yeah all right, he wins.
The Weekend New York Came To Glasgow (May 21/22, 1977)
Saturday night, Strathclyde Uni, The Ramones, supported by Talking Heads.
Sunday night, the Apollo. Television, supported by Blondie.
Pretty much perfect.
I missed seeing Joy Division supporting Buzzcocks at the Apollo because we were delayed by the need for one of our party to get a decent pint before going in to the gig. We walked in as they walked off - pretty seismic was the overall response.
Mullingar 1980
Stiff Little Fingers supporting Thin Lizzy ( Midge Ure in the lizzy line up ).
Not really
Jethro Tull supported by Fanny. I just like saying it...
The Who were supported by SAHB AND Little Feat
I was at the Charlton gig in 1976. It's so long ago I can't remember much about it. The Outlaws were brilliant. Little Feat were rubbish and heavily bottled. I don't remeber AH at all. The audience were singing so loudly it was hard to hear the Who - but allegedly it was one of the loudest gigs ever. That's not my recollection, but maybe I was already deafened by the time they came on.
Neither good nor bad
but there was a time in the 70s when every act at (what is still to me) the Hammersmith Apollo was supported by G.T. Moore and the Reggae Guitars. Whatever happened to them? A particularly fetching of Diana Ross' "Little girl" (please don't wait for me, wait patiently for love etc etc)
"Little Girl"?!
That'll be "I'm Still Waiting", Retro.
That's why I put the rest,
hoping the right name would be given. Ta, Paul. I may even i-tunes it now, cos I like her version too.
STOP PRESS: Diana's is, GT's isn't, equivalent on spotify, so, in revenge, I've put up rather dreadful jazz-reggae-lite version by Courtney Pine onto the covers list on spotty.
Still the Apollo?
I know you meant Hammersmith Odeon, Retro. Bloody bloody keyboards.
Charisma tour
Genesis supporting Lindisfarne
Also remember Jonathan Richman supporting Talking Heads
Speaking of which I am lead to believe that Richard Thompson and David Byrne did a tour and appeared on stage together. I understand there is a bootleg of it somewhere - anyone know about it, what songs were covered etc?
Ahem
Genesis and Rab Noakes supporting Lindisfarne. So Genesis were third on the bill.
When Rab Noakes came on stage at the Manchester Free Trade Hall this fearless teenager(?) snuck backstage to get his programme signed by all young whippersnapper members of Genesis. Them were the days.
Yup
Bought a cassette version yonks ago. Desperately poor quality apart from the snippet played me at the record fair in question. Thompson on first, then Byrne, then together
01 I Misunderstood
02 1952 Vincent Black Lightning
03 I Feel So Good
04 Traces Of Love
05 She Twists The Night Again
06 She Moved Through The Fair
07 Turning Of The Tide
08 Greenback Dollar
09 A Wall In The Dark
10 Girls On My Mind
11 Tiny Town
12 Dirty Old Town
13 Road To Nowhere
14 Rockin In The Free World
15 Who Were You Thinking Of /96 Tears
16 Dirty Old Town
17 Psycho Killer
Sounds as if it ought to be good. It isn't. Or my copy isn't.(Wasn't) They met at the show, allegedly, hence the, um, eclecticism of the encore duets at the end. I don't think I ever managed to listen to the whole thing in one go, and it didn't survive the great cassette binfest of 2003. Setlist lifted from the interweb, which will also suggest, don't bother, current sources.
There's a very good soundboard of it...
...here
http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=46541
"An Acoustic Evening with David Byrne & Richard Thompson
Recorded live at St. Ann & The Holy Trinity in Brooklyn Heights, New York
March 24, 1992
lineage: Silver (liberated bootleg Red Phantom RPCD 1100) > EAC > FLAC
1. I Misunderstood 4.45
2. 1952 Vincent Black Lightning 5.11
3. I Feel So Good 3.07
4. Traces of Love 3.46
5. She Twists the Night Again 4.04
6. She Moved Through The Fair 4.01
7. Turning of the Tide 3.18
8. Greenback Dollar 1.57
9. A Walk In The Dark 4.53
10. Girls On My Mind 5.13
11. Tiny Town 5.40
12. Dirty Old Town 4.38
13. Road To Nowhere 5.04
14. Rockin' In The Free World 4.25
15. Who Were You Thinking Of/96 Tears 8.56
16. Dirty Old Town 3.29
17. Psycho Killer 4.46
Richard Thompson and David Byrne shared the bill.
Thompson played Set I, Byrne Set II, and they sat together for the final four songs of the evening."
Remember seeing The Scars
support The Human League in the early 80s, they were excellent, as is their only lp 'author author', which has only recently been re-issued on cd.
Also saw a band called Octopus, must admit I can't remember who they supported as they were so good. This was at the fag end of the brit pop era, and they were signed to the Food label(home of blur), they only released one lp 'from a to b', which is available from amazon for the measly price of 1p!!!, which suggests it's rubbish, far from it, it is a wonderful, uplifting modern psychedelic pop/rock classic, well worth a punt
Circa 1962 my parents saw
The Everly Brothers. Notable as only one Everly brother turned up. 5th on the bill: The Rolling Stones. Hard to imagine a world where nobody has seen Mick Jagger before but on he came and the bemused audience just laughed.