Little Feat supporting the Doobie Brothers at the Rainbow.
I win.

Two numbers in.

supporting Thin Lizzy at Maidenhead's once-swanky Skindle's Hotel.

Not the best but certainly the least appropriate support act I have ever seen was when the Clash decided in would be a good idea to engage the services of a magician as their support at the Irvine Magnum Centre gig on their ~1982 tour. The audience response was as predictable as it was disgusting, registering their disapproval in the vile manner of the day. After several minutes of this torrent, during which he gamely attempted to pull Flags Of All Nations from his sleeve etc., the Human Spitoon exited stage left never to be seen again, understandably.

The Black Crowes supporting the Stones, or maybe Drive by Truckers supporting The Black Crowes. Not sure who is best? Probably the DBT's.

Get it regularly over at www.theaxevictim.blogspot.com

Lindisfarne, Genesis and Van de Graaf Generator rotated position on this tour. Not sure who was headlining when I saw them at Manchester University a long long time ago.

Had the good fortune to see them supporting Bob Mould just after "Deserter's Songs" had been released. My friends and I (all record shop employees) were left positively gobsmacked by their performance.

In (year suppressed by failing memory) I saw a pre-pop-success Split Enz supporting Jack The Lad at Birmingham Town Hall. The Kiwi lunatics' bizarre costumes, and manic tunespinning reached a peak in Noel Crombie's mighty spoons solo during "The Woman Who Loves You", and suddenly I had a new favourite band. After which, the insipid ragbag of former Lindisfarners sounded less wonderful than I'd expected. I just wanted to see the Enz again (and did, several times). Earlier still, my first-ever trip to a gig in Birmingham was to see The Groundhogs at Brum Town Hall. By the time the hoary old blues-rockers strode onto the stage, I didn't really care any more, since the night had been stolen from under their feet (for me, at least) by their support: the multi-multi-instrumentalist prog-rockers-to-be, Gentle Giant. Never scorn the 'umble support band, eh?

As I remember it from March 78, there was a 5 band bill with Rocky de Valera and the Gravediggers as the headline act at Howth Community Centre. Two of the support bands had similar lineups - The Hype and U2.

Has anyone had any first hand experience of some of those early 60s British rock 'n' roll shows - like The Animals supporting Chuck Berry, where they were forced to come up with House Of The Rising Sun as a song that would get them remembered? My late father - a Jerry Lee Lewis nut - told me of a time when he saw Lewis supported by The Everly Brothers, and the two of them were virtually booed off the stage by the crowd of single minded English rockers. He was always ashamed that he booed too.

I saw that Chuck Berry/Animals show. First proper show I ever went to. Bradford Alhambra. "House Of The Rising Sun" seemed like the longest song I'd ever heard. It was probably about six minutes. Thing is in those days, there were about six names on the bill. They would all play fifteen minutes then the headliners would do twenty-five. Love to see it come back.

Seeing Rilo kiley supporting Bright Eyes was pretty good.

In a nice link to the first post, my favourite support act (or 'Special Guest' in twenty-first century parlance) was Old Crow Medicine Show supporting Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings at Vicar Street, Dublin, in July 2004. OCMS came on to back up the last two or three tracks with Welch and Rawlings, including an amazing 'Wrecking Ball'. On a sidenote, Rawlings did the best version of Springsteen's 'Racing in the Street' I've ever heard that night.

supporting Mott The Hoople at the New Theatre, Oxford in 73/4. Also Yes supporting The Nice a couple of years earlier.

All of the above are pretty much support acts that went on to be headliners. Sometimes the support act is a faded star that still manages to outshine the headliner. In the 'what's wrong with this picture' category I saw seminal glam punk beat combo The New York Dolls supporting The White Stripes, who are after all merely indie's answer to the Krankies. And yes I did leave before Ian & Jeanette, or whatever they're called, came on. In a similar vein (you'll see what I did there ...) I saw Lou Reed supporting U2 on the Joshua Tree tour in Belfast, when they didn't even turn the house lights off during his set, and boy was he not happy. I stayed for U2 but only to confirm that the Joshua Tree live experience was as overblown and patronising as the original album.

Fatima Mansions at Earls' court on the Zoo TV tour caused small children to sob and wail and many a U2 fan to make for the exits, and that was before Cathal impaled himself on the blessed virgin...marvellous!

Stiff Little Fingers supporting the Tom Robinson Band. Edinburgh Odeon, 1978.

Lou Reed supporting U2 @ Wembley in 1987,particularly when we got the whole stadium singing the refrain from Walk on the Wild Side. My brother lost his shoes at the front and had to make his way back to Ealing in his bare feet !!

He opened for the Who on their North American Tour of 1982-83. I saw the show in Minneapolis/St. Paul. Nobody had any clue who he was (including me although I fixed that shortly after). It was a very impressive set. I wonder how many people have connected those shows after seeing his names crop up in movie credits.

An unknown to me, she opened for Steve Earle in Edinburgh last time I saw him. Very enjoyable set and clearly Steve was impressed too as she soon became the umpteenth Mrs S Earle...............

JCC blew Elvis Costello & The Attractions off at the long gone Sophia Gardens Pavilion in Cardiff in 1979, despite the attentions of the hardcore punk contingent who'd come to support opening act Richard Hell & The Voidoids (who were completely execrable). Clarke, obviously used to a constant barrage of beer glasses and pleghm being launched at him , didn't miss a beat; EC & Co, on the other hand, were more than a little disconcerted at this treatment, being at the height of their chart success at the time, and were distinctly off-form.

If I may digress, it was on this tour that, according to Bruce Thomas in 'The Big Wheel', Pete Thomas shorted out the teamaker in his Edinburgh hotel room by trying to make mulled wine in it, triggering a fire alarm. On evacuating the hotel, the band found an un-backcombed Clarke already in Princes St with his suitcase...

"'Is it safe to go back in yet?', he asks in a Manchester accent that makes the words come out like thick gobs of congealed cream, 'Our family crest was four white feathers on a yellow streak'

One of my first gigs was OMD at the Nottingham Royal Concert Hall - the Dazzle Ships tour, 1983(?). And very fine it was too. But I confess to paying scant attention to the strange warblings of the support act who turned out, on later inspection, to be the Cocteau Twins. Who perhaps should have been worthy of greater attention than the main act. Or perhaps not?

Steve Lake

...but what the hell. I started it. I went to a student bar with a friend of a friend in the very early 90s - nothing to do with music, mind. It was just to drink. But amidst all the talking throughout her act, I remember the red headed singer who brought silence to the place by doing something she introduced as a song she wrote about being raped. A couple of years later I realised that that had been Tori Amos.

I saw John Martyn on the Solid Air tour recently, who had an incredible guitarist called John Smith on support.

Since JM has gone all widescreen and puffed up, his hands can't do the fiddly finger picking anymore more - but having JS on support provides the acoustic fireworks quota for the evening.

He's out with Davey Graham now! God help the poor bloke. So don't be surprised if there's a new John Smith song about frying pan's and fire's after these two tour's

Gang Of 4 supported by Pere Ubu with Delta 5 opening. Pere Ubu were quite extraordinary - a Dadaist filling in a Leeds agit-pop sandwich!

They'd have a job to do it now - they'd need the road crew and some hydraulics to pull him on stage.

I saw this sort of thing at Georgia Satellites gig, they spotted Mojo Nixon in the crowd and tried to get him up, but he was too busy shaking a leg and wouldn't take the bait.

I noticed the other day on an old ticket that I saw James at Shepherds Bush and I had seen Coldplay in support (but didn't notice them to be honest). I also saw James at Brixton in about '92/'93 and Radiohead were supporting. That time I thought, *yawn* another Nirvana wannabe...... (By the way I have seen other bands, honest guv).

The Feelgoods were completely unknown when they supported Brinsley Schwarz and chart topping Dave Edmunds at our college summer ball in 1974. They ripped the place up for arse paper. Nick Lowe and pals wandered on and, reversing the normal order of things, we were in the bar.

By the way I just listened to the Welch/Rawlings BBC4 version of The Weight on youtube its the genuine article allright, and do you notice that they do not use contact mikes on their acoustic instruments.

Leeds 1992 - I went with housemates to see St Etienne at the Poly (as it was then). The support act was fronted by a lanky Northerner with some great one liners. It was none other than Pulp just before they hit big with His 'n Hers - legendary.
Also - Madstock - seeing Morrissey getting bottled off by Nazi thugs - he was the only reason we went!

I went to see Lambchop in July last year, and the support act was Beirut. But they had trouble with 'ill health' and were unlikely to play - so A Hawk And A Hacksaw stepped in and did rather well.

Even so, the troopers that they are - Beirut did actually come on, but for only one song. However, the sound was astonishing & beautiful.

Time plays tricks with memories but I'm sure it was during a 70's gig at The Empire Pool, Wembley that Paul McCartney & Wings had a number of circus acts supporting them. I remember a grumpy plate spinner who was trying to break the world record in front of 1000's of disinterested people. He ran across the stage to keep some plates going, slipped, and banged into the sticks with plates on, the plates falling off and hitting him as he careered across the stage on his arse. The performing pigs didn't, and got a huge round of applause for this. The pigmeister was trying to get them to put their front trotters on plynths (like elephants), but they didn't want to know, so he manhandled them for every trick. There was also a gymnastic act performed by a couple in their 70's and was absolutely useless, but received huge amounts of applause whenever they managed to stand up. Now you just don't get that quality of support act anymore.

...supporting Talking Heads back in '77 or '78, just before 'Sultans of Swing' was released. Wouldn't say they blew the 'Heads offstage, but it was clear to everyone in the room that this was a group who were about to be absolutely massive.

Also saw the Red Guitars supporting The Smiths at UEA and thought they were wonderful and destined for great things. Sadly, never really happened.

Best support act I never saw was Joy Division supporting Buzzcocks in 1979. Full sorry tale at http://paulwaring.blogspot.com/2007/09/here-are-young-men.html

I saw the muscle-bound ex Black Flag shouter supporting the Red Hot Chili Peppers back in 1991(ish). The Chili's were touring their best album; Blood Sugar Sex Magic etc etc and I was thrilled to see them in the (near enough) intimate surroundings of Birmingham's Hummingbird.

Unfortunately for them, they had a support act in fearsome form, touring the best album they ever made and the Chili's couldn't help but seem a little pallid and underwhelming when they took the stage. Reverence by JAMC was getting played on the radio a fair bit at the time and I still remember the terrifying rant
Rollins unleashed toward it. Not word for word, mind, but the gist of it was that "I wanna die, just like JFK, I wanna die, I wanna die" was neither big nor clever.

I certainly believed him.

I saw the Red Guitars blow away the Smiths at Leeds University. Consequently I never rated the Smiths live. IIRC the Cranberries demoralising An Emotional Fish at Newcastle Riverside - the only time I ever saw the bar empty as people rushed to hear more. It filled up again when AEF went on. The weirdest combination was Pere Ubu supporting KC and the Sunshine Band at a free festival in Copenhagen. What was going through the promoter's mind?

Nick Lowe supporting REM in Newcastle on the Green Tour. Out of 2000 paying punters I was the one who jumped and shouted "YES" when then announced the special guest. There were more at the end. Amazingly I didn't know what REM looked like or how they acted on stage - I thought they would be reserved. Ah, the days before MTV and You Tube.

John Cougar (pre-Mellencamp)opening up for The Michael Stanley Band in 1980/81 or so in Cleveland around New Years Eve. I vomited up my pre-show alcohol intake during Cougar's set (ironic??).

Wire opening for Erasure in Columbus in the very late 80's. A quarter of the audience left after Wire's very brief set.