Re: Opening A Show For Others
You need to be aware of your opening act. Besides the obvious error in having Jimi Hendrix open for the Monkees ( it was actually bad for Jimi, not the Monkees as the screaming teens drowned out Jimi's set), the worst pairing I know of happened in 1969 at Florida State where I was a student. The school had arranged for the Byrds to perform, but allowed the promoter to add an opening act. He added a young rock trio from Flint, Mich. touring in support of their debut album. The trio was Grand Funk RR. The early Grand Funk was a power hard rock trio ( before Terry Knight turned them pop for top 40 radio). The FSU FM radio station was playing the hell out of Mr Limousine Driver so the students were well aware of them, But Roger McGuinn was not. The energy level this extremely loud power trio created was incredible,after their encore the crowd screamed for 30 minutes. I was working back stage and actually got to talk to McGuinn who was highly pissed ( we actually had a nice conversation and explained the change from Jim to Roger). He waited for over an hour to let the crowd settle down before the Byrds took the stage. The lesson to be learned: Never let a hard rock power trio open for a Folk-Rock top 40 band.
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