Bands You've Seen Before They "Made it"
- Thread starter Roo Returns
- Start date
sweet...
I've seen:
Matisyahu
Sam Roberts
The Arkells
Sum41 (dressed at KISS at summersault)
Wolfmother
i'm sure there are many that i'm just not remembering... usually inebriated at concerts :p
BonMorrison
Registered User
They were already UK big but I saw Muse before they got big in North America, I'd say. It was nice to see them in a small venue especially now that they only do stadiums.
Saw Shinedown when they were just an unknown opening band for Alter Bridge (who I would also throw in this pile as they sellout stadiums in Europe now).
If July Talk gets popular in the States which may happen as their Canadian trajectory so far has been nuts, they might soon be in here as I've seen them a bunch of times already cause we went to post-secondary together.
Saw Shinedown when they were just an unknown opening band for Alter Bridge (who I would also throw in this pile as they sellout stadiums in Europe now).
If July Talk gets popular in the States which may happen as their Canadian trajectory so far has been nuts, they might soon be in here as I've seen them a bunch of times already cause we went to post-secondary together.
ColePens
RIP Fugu Buffaloed & parabola
- Does 311 in 1995 count? All Mixed up was just released so it may not. I was 9 years old.
- Taylor Swift opened for Tim McGraw right about the time the song "Tim McGraw" came out. She just sat on stage with an acoustic guitar and was tremendous. She was pure country at this time.
- Chainsmokers when people still hated them.
- Little Big Town opened for a country concert I was in before they became big.
- OAR way before they hit radio.
- Taylor Swift opened for Tim McGraw right about the time the song "Tim McGraw" came out. She just sat on stage with an acoustic guitar and was tremendous. She was pure country at this time.
- Chainsmokers when people still hated them.
- Little Big Town opened for a country concert I was in before they became big.
- OAR way before they hit radio.
Superman33
Registered User
In 2003-2004 Maroon 5 played at my high school on a random Tuesday after school one day, they started to blow up a few months after. The same year John Mayer played at our prom, it was right after Wonderland started to take off.
aufheben
#Norris4Fox
Bubba Thudd
is getting banned
I saw this nobody band open for Black Sabbath many many years ago.
They arguably stole the show, too.
Their name? Van Halen
They arguably stole the show, too.
Their name? Van Halen
The 1975 (saw them for free. I only knew them cause their song Sex was getting a little radio play but then after the show they got pretty big.)
Fun. (don't know if they count cause they seem to be a three hit wonder)
My Chemical Romance (don't know if this counts given that I saw them when they were kinda going big. It was on the 2004 Green Day tour and they were the opening act. At this point many people knew the song Helena but it was just as they were breaking out and Gerard Way was still a drunk mess on stage.)
Flume (not a band but my friend discovered his YouTube page and insisted that we check him out. I wouldn't say as far as DJs go he's hit the big time of like Skrillex, Tiesto, etc. But he's a lot more well known than when I first saw him)
Not the most impressive list.
Fun. (don't know if they count cause they seem to be a three hit wonder)
My Chemical Romance (don't know if this counts given that I saw them when they were kinda going big. It was on the 2004 Green Day tour and they were the opening act. At this point many people knew the song Helena but it was just as they were breaking out and Gerard Way was still a drunk mess on stage.)
Flume (not a band but my friend discovered his YouTube page and insisted that we check him out. I wouldn't say as far as DJs go he's hit the big time of like Skrillex, Tiesto, etc. But he's a lot more well known than when I first saw him)
Not the most impressive list.
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pahlsson
Registered User
- Mar 22, 2012
- 9,951
- 469
When I was just starting my Senior year in High School in 1987, my friends and I got tickets to see Guns N Roses at the Living Room in Providence. I had got in a fight with one of my friends just prior and didn't end up going. GNR's appetite album had hit major commercial success just a short time later, still regret not making that damn show.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
GNR opening for Iron Maiden in Edmonton 6 months before they drop their album
Nirvana at the aztec club (vancouver) man they sucked live--this was before David G
Nickelback about 100 times in Vancouver--they were a bar band--love them or hate them--you have to respect the fact they were a bar band first
Nirvana at the aztec club (vancouver) man they sucked live--this was before David G
Nickelback about 100 times in Vancouver--they were a bar band--love them or hate them--you have to respect the fact they were a bar band first
Central PA Hawk Fan
Registered User
I went to a Staind show for $5 before they hit the radio circuit. There were maybe ten people there.
Le Tricolore
Boo! BOOOO!
Uh, I saw My Chemical Romance opening for two other bands at a small venue that held like 150 people at most.
Also saw the Ataris before Boys of Summer came out, and Brand New before Deja Entendu came out.
Also saw the Ataris before Boys of Summer came out, and Brand New before Deja Entendu came out.
ProstheticConscience
Check dein Limit
Roo Returns
Skjeikspeare No More
- Does 311 in 1995 count? All Mixed up was just released so it may not. I was 9 years old.
ColePens....yeah absolutely 311 counts during that era.
Funny story, as I mentioned before my go to bands as a teenager were RHCP, Metallica,Led Zep, Primus, Jane's Addiction, Megadeth so I was always into a lot of funky stuff. Back in the days of the early internet and 1-900 music numbers (I forgot the hotline's name this had to be around 1995), they'd give you recommendations and it was always "If you like RHCP and Primus, check out 311 and Fishbone"
So this was when the only 311 song really out was "Don't Stay Home" on MTV's 120 Minutes and the video was mostly black and white kinda like "Give It Away" so they got labelled as kinda like "little RHCP" or "RHCP with reggae not funk." Then "Down" and "All Mixed Up" came out that fall and winter and my friends just hated on them and talked me out of buying the 311 CD. Two years later a drummer plays me "What The F-ck Was I Thinking?" from Transistor and by 2000 and we're in college all those kids are hardcore 311 heads.
Go figure.Some really great stories here from everyone. I'm sorry to those who missed GNR back in the day, that would've been a treat.
I'll add a few others but these are all minor, bands who either had one big album or one hit single:
-Nothingface (I actually met them in 2000 when they were doing the whole Violence thing)
-Save Ferris (saw them before the 'Come On Eileen" sinlge got big and again after. I actually hung with the bassist Bill Uechil, he was a cool dude).
-Cherry Poppin Daddies (saw them during the whole Zuit Suit Riot era and again years later). I got a copy of their demo in 97 and thought the cover was hilarious and then they blew up for a summer.
-Zebrahead saw them in 98 before "Get Back" got big
-Girls Against Boys-I thought this band was going to be huuuuuge. They were sorta indie darlings and had two guys playing bass. Super-Fire was a minor hit in the summer of 96 when I saw them, and then their major label debut in 98 was kinda a dud.
-I saw Orgy in 1998 open for Love And Rockets. This is when they covered Blue Monday and that album went Platinum. Not much success after.
Tkachuk4MVP
32 Years of Fail
For the rap fans out there, I saw saw Atmosphere in a warehouse with about 30 other people and zero seats. One of the best shows I've ever been to.
Roo Returns
Skjeikspeare No More
Atmosphere is cool. Fun duo. I like the Felt project the one guy has with Murs partly because The Grouch produced an EP.
Big McLargehuge
Fragile Traveler
Not much from me, thanks in large part to spending most of my 20s in Montana, where there weren't exactly a lot of quality concerts.
Of Monsters and Men is probably the closest thing for me. I saw them right around when 'My Head Is an Animal' finally got a wide release, but I'd known them for half a year at that point because of the amount of buzz they were getting in Iceland. Nobody seemed to know who they were, but within a couple weeks 'Little Talks' was unavoidable.
Beyond that I don't really know if I have an answer. Most of the bands I saw while still in Pennsylvania never gained wide-spread attention (or had already reached their most popular point, like Modest Mouse, of Montreal, and Sufjan Stevens), Missoula was too isolated to attract bands that didn't seek it out, and I've taken advantage of being in LA simply by going to see bands that I've wanted to see for years that never played Pittsburgh and/or Missoula...so I guess that basically leaves the couple years I went to Sasquatch. Of Monsters and Men is the one I count because they were a big reason I wanted to go in the first place, but other bands such as Fitz and The Tantrums and fun. also broke out...though I honestly ditched fun. after a couple songs because they kinda suck.
edit: In a sorta/kinda way I also saw St. Vincent before anyone knew who she was...but that was because she was part of Sufjan Stevens's touring band at the point.
Of Monsters and Men is probably the closest thing for me. I saw them right around when 'My Head Is an Animal' finally got a wide release, but I'd known them for half a year at that point because of the amount of buzz they were getting in Iceland. Nobody seemed to know who they were, but within a couple weeks 'Little Talks' was unavoidable.
Beyond that I don't really know if I have an answer. Most of the bands I saw while still in Pennsylvania never gained wide-spread attention (or had already reached their most popular point, like Modest Mouse, of Montreal, and Sufjan Stevens), Missoula was too isolated to attract bands that didn't seek it out, and I've taken advantage of being in LA simply by going to see bands that I've wanted to see for years that never played Pittsburgh and/or Missoula...so I guess that basically leaves the couple years I went to Sasquatch. Of Monsters and Men is the one I count because they were a big reason I wanted to go in the first place, but other bands such as Fitz and The Tantrums and fun. also broke out...though I honestly ditched fun. after a couple songs because they kinda suck.
edit: In a sorta/kinda way I also saw St. Vincent before anyone knew who she was...but that was because she was part of Sufjan Stevens's touring band at the point.
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I haven't seen anyone before they made it, but I bought Prince's great Controversy album in 81 before he became huge with Purple Rain and I bought Pat Benatar albums out of the cut-out bin if anyone else on here is old enough to know what that means.
Jumptheshark
Rebooting myself
I haven't seen anyone before they made it, but I bought Prince's great Controversy album in 81 before he became huge with Purple Rain and I bought Pat Benatar albums out of the cut-out bin if anyone else on here is old enough to know what that means.
prince was big before purple rain-PR just brought him to the white people
1999 was the album that broke him
Buckets and Gloves
klaatu barada nikto
- Aug 14, 2011
- 7,578
- 175
I saw A Perfect Circle open for Nine Inch Nails in 99
Saw DFA 1979 play a small bar in the city here
Was at Alexisonfire first or 2nd show
Arcade Fire in 2005 before they blew up
Saw DFA 1979 play a small bar in the city here
Was at Alexisonfire first or 2nd show
Arcade Fire in 2005 before they blew up
