to see any support band, always feel I need to support them as they seem to get short thrift, and you never know what will become of them.

My favourite support acts i've seen include 'The Moodists' supporting 'Nick Cave' in the early 80s, 'Sonic Youth' supporting again Nick cave and a band called 'Octopus' who i believe were on before 'Stump'

i must have took in about thirty or so gigs, mid seventies to early eighties, but the only supports to make an impression were Steve Gibbons and Racing Cars--but i can,t even remember who they supported... probably between Roxy, Manfred,Be-Bop Deluxe, Harley, or even Loudon!! And nice to see the mighty Porcupine Tree mentioned--Steve Wilson,s an absolute genius.

was Blue Oyster Cult, supported by Motorhead, in what must have been one of their very first outings. No idea what they played - I think Silver Machine may have been in there. I remember wondering if BOC would be as bad - happily they weren't.

The trend in the 70's and 80's seemed to be to have someone open for you who was "different", and wouldn't eclipse the main act. I saw Racing Cars (remember "They Shoot Horses Don't They) open for Robin Trower, Graham Paker and Huey Lewis / Clover (not on the same night) for Thin Lizzy, and Japan on a later BOC tour. I also saw the Yngwie Malmsteen of the acoustic guitar - Adrian Legg - open for someone. I remember Adrian's set clearly but have no idea who the main act was. Other bands that came (on first) and went - Wildlife, Birth Control, FM, Girlschool, Magnum, Donovan McKitty, and The Doctors of Madness (who could forget Kid Strange, Stoner and Urban Blitz?).

These days there seems to be more of an attempt at packaging shows. A few years back I went to see Alvin Lee, who was heading a bill that also featured Edgar Winter and Tony McPhee. It must have been the first night of the tour, and to my surprise the evening kicked off with Edgar. With "Frankenstein" still rining in my ears I awaited McPhee's entracnce with interest. And watched Alvin Lee take the stage and widdle away for the next hour. But McPhee was there and appeared for the all in encore. Alvin gave Tony the nod, and he stepped forward for a solo - and promptly unplugged himself from the backline and the rest of the gig. I assume it got better as the tour went on.

I once bought tickets to see Plant & Page because The Black Crowes were the support. I figured that 7.30 on the ticket meant the Crowes would be on between 8 and 8.30. I got a little lost on the way to the venue and arrived at 8.35 to hear Chirs Robinson shout - "Thank you Sheffiled - goodnight". Oh how we laughed.

playing second fiddle to others.

off the top of my head:

The Delgados supporting Thrum around '96

The Handsome Family supporting Calexico around '98

Neko Case supporting The Handsome Family a few years later.

The Long Blondes supporting The Boyfriends '04

and some I was already aware of such as:

Metric supporting Bloc Party

Raissa supporting Suede

Sons & Daughters supporting Mozzer

M. Ward supporting Neko Case

personally I always try to catch the support just through fear of missing something special.

I'm keen to know who you saw supporting Talking Heads that you think were/are better. I think I saw them each time they headlined in the UK and the support, except Tom Tom Club, was uniformly dire, A Certain Ratio were appalling, I had the misfortune to be subjected to U2 two nights in a row, Boots for Dancing? Meh! I can't actually think of any others.

I arrived very early to the Hot Chip gig, specifically to see incredibly excellent support Grovesnor (ex-Hot Chip member, also now back on drums for them during this tour). There were maybe 30 people in the place when he started...

Anyway, Grovesnor and his band were brilliant. I wasn't expecting much of second support act Casiokids, but they were actually fantastic. Much better than Hot Chip, in fact, of whom I'm a bit tired, especially their new album, which is fairly turgid in parts.

blown away by openers James at Middlesbrough Town Hall in 1985, back in the day when they were an instrument-swapping, jumper-wearing spazz-dancing force of nature, long before Tim Booth's omnivorous ego ate their spontaneity and turned them into portentous U2ologists.

the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver ever headline anywhere?

Thought not.

saw them support Maria McKee. Each member had a solo song and each one of them had a good voice. Contains Amy Helm,her dad was in some famous band apparently

Supporting World Party when she had Dave Gregory playing in her band (didn't they have a "thing"?). She seemed surprised that anyone knew who she was and wanted some of her 'Til Tuesday stuff.

In reference to Adrian Legg, I remember seeing him supporting Tanita Tikaram on her first tour. Made a strong impression.

My memory may be failing me but I seem to remember Shawn Colvin supporting the Blue Nile on their first tour - anyone else corroborate this?

Had the misfortune of seeing Cast supporting Elvis Costello. Loathed them then, loathe them now. Also Kula Shaker supporting Neil Young at Glasgow. It was a long, long night.

Mercury Rev supporting Bob Mould, just as Deserter's Songs was coming out. Quite frankly, I think my mates and I felt they blew him off the stage in Manchester that night.

I have told this story before, but I think it bears repeating in this context.

Squeeze were supporting The Tubes, Hammersmith Odeon 1979. There was an announcement made of some delay because Squeeze’s drummer Gilson Lavis had 'taken ill'. We were told Squeeze would be taking the stage with a replacement drummer, Tubes percussionist and former member of Santana, James Mingo Lewis.

What followed was startling and quite hilarious, because Mingo played a blinder, putting a latin flourish into Squeeze’s songs that was totally inappropriate, but utterly mesmerising from where I was sitting . I’ve oftened wondered how the band must have felt, backed by this percussive whirlwind.

Martin Stephenson and the Daintees supporting John Martyn
The Smoke Fairies supporting Richard Hawley
Richard Hawley supporting REM

The latter was a re-arranged gig. The first gig got underway at Sheffield Arena with fellow Athens, Georgia band 'It's Overhead' as support, who were truly awful. Michael Stipe and Peter Buck then came out in the interval to announce that the gig was cancelled because Mike Mills had been taken to hospital - they played a few acoustic songs and that was it. Come back in 3 months, your tickets are still valid. The re-arranged gig was pretty good and the people in the next seats felt like old friends!

Most support acts I have seen haven't gone onto greatness. Had I gone to the Hazel O'Connor gig at Sheffield Poly in Oct 1980, I might have seen Duran Duran as support, but I didn't!

I often find that the support gets passed over in favour of a good chat and a pint with whoever is coming to see the gig with me. I recall going to see Shack and fourth on the bill were a band who we all agreed could not possibly be worth seeing since they had such an appalling band name. Coldplay I think they were called. I think we made the right decision.

supporting T.Rex at Newcastle City Hall, 1977(?) Sailor (!) supporting Roxy Music same venue,maybe '75: Blondie 'supporting' Television same year as Damned I think..my mind is going..i can feel it..i'm afraid..dave..

The Buzzcocks at Blackburn KGH and I am not making this up in retrospect but having opted to consume as many Thwaites Bitters as humanly possibly during their set from the bar at the back, one heard these strange but compelling sounds and took a glance through the curtains covering the glass windows
The sight of Curtis writhing and squirming around in that strange way of his in some very un-punk rockish two-tone parallels was clearly more alluring than old Daniel's local brew so out I wentto witness 85% of an astonishing display - jaws were literally scraping the floor by the end of their set
By the time Pete and the boys came on half of the assembled wrre too affected by what they had seen to fully appreciate even the Buzzcocks' classy powerpop and the other half were bandwagon punks who had cottoned on to the movement late-ish and thought it the height of hipness to gob at the band
Shelley was clearly shaken by the lack of focus from both factions and though they delivered all the classics, I recall them whipping through them even quicker and with less bonhomie than normally associated
A similar evening of indignity was suffered at the same venue by Nico, supporting the Fall. Clearly ageing not too well and fallen on hard times, droning away on her harmonium, she was subjected to torrents of abuse from my fellow Lancastrian spade-callers, at least the ones who had no knowledge of even her short but significant part in the history of rock

Funny enough, someone mmentioned a juggler - I'm quite sure that I dsaw a juggler supprt J Richman and The Modern Lovers at the Free Trade Hall with the likes of the aforementioned 'Cocks, DeVoto, Hooky, Norley et al looking on bewildered. They were possibly as bewildered when Jonathan came on and crawled around his knees or ran around arms outstretched to the like of "I'm A Little Dinosaur" and "I'm a Little Aeroplane" with the almost unamplified "Modern Lovers Live" line-up, eschewing the neo-Velvets thrashers loved by all.

Bands would invariably have support acts hooked on them by the shared record company. I saw Pilot support Sparks after the former had had a number one, a feat which I am almost sure the headliner never acheived

City Boy ("5-7-0-5") I think supported John Cale at the Free Trade - I like to imagine they cowered in their dressing room after their set, scared to come out until the fearsome sight of Cale in full ski mask carrying Flying V had safely passed their dressing room and walked onstage

Another band who I'm sure had had a big smash themselves were the awful "Romeo" Hitmakers Mr Big supporting Queen at Preston, Dec 1975 while Bohemian Rhapsody was number one. I think they were produced bt Roy Thomas Baker

The memory plays tricks and I was quite sure I had seen Frank Sidebottom support a very early Manics at C'Est La Vie pub in Blackburn but my mate assures me it was two close but separate evenings on boyh of which I had imbibed far too much of said Thwaites than was sensible

Bob Mould supporting Flaming Lips
Flaming Lips supporting Mercury Rev
Mercury Rev supporting Spiritualized
Ben Folds supporting The Divine Comedy
Mark Eitzel supporting The Divine Comedy
Happy Mondays supporting New Order
The Sundays supporting Throwing Muses
and most recently the excellent
Crippled Black Phoenix supporting New Model Army

All good stuff, but wiped out by having to sit through FIVE Athlete support slots in about 18 months.
Oh well. You win some you snooze some.

1. Alasdair Roberts was superb supporting Joanna Newsom at Stockholm's ChinaTeatern - what a double bill!
2. Ayub Ogada was so good he virtually outshone Peter Gabriel.
3. Ron Sexsmith gave Elvis Costello a good run for his money.
4. Looks like most of the Word Massive saw Dire Straits supporting Talking Heads on their February 1978 British tour. I was at the St.Albans gig. Tickets £1.75 a head. Now there was a bargain.
5. The Au Pairs and Steel Pulse supporting the Gang of Four at the Rainbow. Now those were the days.
6. Neil Hannon supporting Tori Amos many years ago. Very enjoyable, including a killer version of "Tonight we Fly"
7. Devo supporting Genesis at Knebworth in 1978. Not popular with the whole crowd, by any means.

no blowing off stage involved, but the first punk gig I saw was the Buzzcocks supported by Penetration and the Gang of Four who were both excellent.

...supported by the Divine Comedy just before Casanova came out.

Didn't like them when I saw them either, but it got the interest going, and went on to like them quite a lot.

who are capable of being superb. Live with just 3 basses is a tough ask but try the cd, "11 Stages of Intervention" and be surprised. Rothko is the project of a guy called Mark Beazley and his latest solo cd, "Stateless," is simply gorgeous.

but very pleased to discover Misty's Big Adventure when they supported 50 Foot Wave in Sheffield

saw Magnetic Fields supporting Divine Comedy at the Water Rats

was at Rilo Kiley's first UK gig - they were halfway up a bill of largely nu-metal bands at the Dublin Castle

My wife went to see The Cranberries. The support? Dodgy. Who blew them off the stage. A lot of people had turned up only for them and buggered of at half time rather than forcing themselves to endure Dolores and friends.

The only downside to the job is having to deal with last minute hitches, like finding the support band has gone AWOL on a tour as the headliner roadies are setting up the gear. It pays to keep abreast of all the better local bands and have their numbers handy for such an emergency. One of the better bands in Leeds in the mid '70's were Foxy Maiden. I managed to stick them on the bill more than once.

They later became The Squares, signed to Sire and toured with The Undertones before splitting up. In their time they launched a musical genre, familiar to hardly anyone in the region; Airebeat. Wonder where they got the idea...

...not sure why, but a lot of the gigs I've been to recently don't have supports at all. Or maybe I'm blocking some horrible memories.

Georgia Satelites supporting Johnny Diesel and the Injectors (who were local faves for about 10 minutes), a short sharp shock of drunken sleazy brilliance
U2 (and Discharge) supporting Slade. That was a weird night. I hear they went on to be reasonably successful.
Ed Kuepper supporting Crowded House, terribly under-rated.
Dave Dobbyn supporting the Finn Brothers. I was running late and walked in near the end of his set to hear one of the most beautiful acoustic songs I've ever heard (to this day), and I still can't find out what it was.
Pogues supporting Elvis Costello. Much as you'd expect really, head-butting tea trays and everything.
DoReMi supporting Icehouse, when every Aussie in London converged on Camden
Gin Blossoms supporting Del Amitri. One hit/one album wonders.

supporting Martin Stephenson & The Daintees at Sadlers Wells. Terrific gig, both bands on top form.
Elastica supporting Pulp. Shortly after the release of their debut, I think. I do remember we were standing next to Graham Coxon in the pub before the gig becasue he asked one of my friends for their Arsenal badge...
Peter Hammill supporting Fish-era Marillion in 1983. Can't remember too much about this other than a rather amusing moment during the Marillion set. As I recall, they were doing "Forgotten Sons", and Fish was giving it the full Gabriel - face covered in slap, GI helmet on, waving around a toy rifle - when some wag in the crowd decided to exclaim "a flower?" at the top of his voice during a quiet moment in the proceedings. The atmos on stage grew decidedly frosty.....

I saw Simply Red supporting James Brown at the Hammersmith Odeon. I thought to myself, he's got an OK voice. We went back the following night but didn't bother with the support that time.

I went to see Rockpile at Bradford Uni. They were supported by (I think) The Fabulous Thunderbirds. I had been "tipped the wink" that there would be an extra support act. The name he used has escaped me for now (The Something Something Experience) but it was definitely EC & The Attractions performing.

Elastica supporting A Kind of Magic (or a similar name) - a Queen tribute band at Leeds Uni in '93.

Radiohead supporting Sultans of Ping FC in Leeds Duchess of York ("they had this one good one called Creep but the rest was a bit rubbish....")

would have to be Howling Bells; who I saw supporting The Decemberists in Oxford, 2006. It was Juanita that did it for me....

First live concert I went to was Gary Numan in 1983. Being only 13 at the time I was suitably impressed by Mr Numan's bargin basement sci-fi stylings and, particulary, his faux-Mad Max style stage set.
The support that night was from Tik and Tok, famous for this kind of behavoiur and very little else:

As I was 13 at the time I thought Tik and Tok were the best things ever.
So imagine my disappointment that when I went to see Mr Numan again in 1984 (Berserker tour; blue hair and karate suits were de rigueur) when the support this time round was not from my favourite robot impressionists but from the latest signing to Numa Records, Hokoham.
They were lousy and were bombarded by heckles calling for the return of Tik and Tok.

Discounting support bands from local art colleges, as each to a man have been shudderingly awful, the third memorable support I've seen was a bad tempered Morrissey supporting David Bowie in 1995 at the NEC, Birmingham.
The poor chap performed to a sea of indifference that was only broken by a tiny atoll of fans in the circle seats.

Lost count of the number of gigs I have seen where this chap has been support. OK live but never felt compelled to buy any of his music.

The only occasion I can recall where the support blew the main act off the stage? - probably Tom Petty supporting Nils Lofgren in 77/78?.

Oddest combination? - would definitely be Level 42 supporting Rennaissance at Manchester Uni - 1982?.

that I've seen was Greenslade supporting Rory Gallagher.
I put this up on the Rockin' Vicar's forum some years ago and was subsequently informed this was because they shared the same management.

the memory of many support acts, but a few "stand out" ones I remember were:

My first ever gig, Judie Tzuke at Leeds Grand Theatre, where the support was a forgettable band called Graduate, who had one hit called "Elvis Should Have Played Ska". Graduate did however become slightly more successful when they renamed themselves Tears For Fears.

A support band called Fairground Attraction (supporting Deacon Blue), who managed to get 1000 people singing one of their songs called "Perfect" even though no-one had heard of them or it previously. 6 weeks later Perfect was number one.

Arriving late for a Belle and Sebastian gig in Liverpool, just caught the end of the support act and decided to go to the bar instead. Franz Ferdinand survived this snub and were media darlings only a few months later.

It's in the hope of moments like this that I always make the effort to catch the support if I can (last example being an exception!)

Damon Hill's band opened for Jools Holland and the Rhythm and Blues Orchestra several years ago. Not a great band per se, but they were good fun and had a real energy about them which got the crowd 'warmed up', which is surely the point of a good support act. Plus, frankly, I wasn't expecting them to be all that good - a band fronted by an F1 driver? - but they did a good job, and pleasantly surprised me.

Conversely, the worst was Izzy, who was the opening act when I took my Dad to see Bryan Ferry as a birthday present a few years ago. Nothing wrong with her as such, apart from the fact that she was completely wrong for the kind of audience who were there to see Ferry. She was a classical soprano, which is a pretty long way from 'Let's Stick Together' and 'Virginia Plain'...

I once saw the Boomtown Rats in Belfield supporting an English pub rock band called the Jive Bombers (hippy country rock sub-Eagles, as I recall). The Rats turned up so late that the spliffed-up student hordes got restive and the headliners had to go on first. Then Geldof, Johnny Fingers and pals came on and raised the roof. At the time, Geldof was in full Mick Jagger mode, whilst the band did a terrific impression of Dr. Feelgood (who were then in their pomp). I remember trudging home to my bedsit, sweaty but happy, convinced I had seen a future star.

blew headliners Peter, Bjorn & John off the stage at the Scala last year. Oasis were poor supporting St Etienne. It's generally all I can do to get my mates to turn up in time for the main act though, let alone the support

I went to see Spacemen 3 do a college gig at the turn of the 1980's, and I was really excited, as I'd loved each of their three stoner-drone proto-shoegaze albums and I'd heard a lot about how fantastic they were live. The night of the concert came, and I carefully "prepared myself" for a night of psychedelic noodling. I was thrilled by the performance I saw, as I was finally able to hear what sounded like a lot of my favourites done in their trademark minimalist style.

At breakfast in the refectory the next day I gushed effusively with my friends about the gig, but was met with some rather strange looks when my co-attendees arrived for breakfast. Why, they wanted to know, had I left the concert early following the support performance by Spacemen wannabees Thee Hypnotics?

I went to see Brandi Carlile at the Sage Hall 2 in July 2008. The support was Northern Ireland's own Foy Vance. I'd never heard of him, and was competely gobsmacked. He came on with an acoustic guitar, crouched over a laptop and repeat pedal, built up a big soundscape and bellowed like a cross between Tom Waits and Terry Reid. Absolutely fantastic

One of the best support bands I ever saw was way back in the early 70's in Belfast Student Union basement. Supply, Demand and Curve. Do any other Irish members of the Massive remember them?

Modesty forbids me from mentioning Foxy who opened for Rory Gallagher at Ulster Hall in Xmas 1973 or Dino & the Dolphins who opened for Frankie Miller in Dublin and Befast in 77 and 78

at Birmingham Odeon (having stopped en route to get a meal)and missed most of (the wonderful)Clover supporting Graham Parker. Fortunately, I had seen them at the Roundhouse a year or so earlier.

Missed most of a great band called 'Duke, Duke and the Dukes' at the Marquee supporting (I think) The Kursaal Flyers. Came out of the bar and was blown away.

Worst would have to include 'A Flock of Seagulls', supporting Robert Palmer at De Montford Halls.

As regards bad sound (it's the law, support bands aren't allowed good sound), remember seeing the late Duster Bennett supporting Bad Company at the Rainbow. All you could hear was the Boom-Boom-Boom of his bass drum.
The sound wasn't that brilliant for Roxy Music when they supported Bowie there, either. First support Lloyd Watson was unlistenable.

My favourite support slot was at the Irish Centre in Digbeth in early 90s. Paul Carrack/Band were supported by Celtus, who were superb. Carrack and band were technically and sonically perfect (and had great lighting), but we might as well have been listening to a CD for all the personality and communication coming from the stage. My wife/I left, bored, after about 30-odd mins. Bought the 1st Celtus album as soon as it came out.

Scottish Soulsters Cado Belle supporting Kilburn & The High Roads at Victoria Palace (1976?) was an odd mixture. Didn't enjoy the Kilburns much that night either.

Saw Genesis supporting Lindisfarne - Dublin early 70's circa Foxtrot - Genesis won hands down.

Around the late 80's and early 90's in Sheffield a few support acts stand out:
The Man from Delmonte shaming the extremely disinterested Primitives at the Lower Refectory; The Proclaimers being 3rd support act to The Housemartins at the Octagon, and The Cropdusters supporting The Men They Couldn't Hang. Age and ale may have altered the memory somewhat.