Bands You've Seen Before They "Made it"

[WarriorOfGandhi]

when I lived in Cincinnati I had a friend who was childhood friends with the lead singer of Walk the Moon. We saw them at small Cincy bars and hung out a few times after, now they're on the radio and playing at NHL games

 

[frisco]

I saw Guns And Roses as openers for The Cult in Calgary in 1987. I always got them and L.A. Guns confused until then.

My Best-Carey

 

[Mescaleroman]

Saw Nickelback at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.
They were the second of three bands on the bill.
We were there for the opening band Enter the Haggis.
They were alright for a bar band.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Not a band, but I saw Mac Miller open up for Wiz Khalifa before he was popular.

Mac seemed pretty pissed off that no one really knew his music or was really vibing to him even in his own city of Pittsburgh. He really blew up big not long after this, as Wiz was taking off and Mac came up alongside him.

 

[Stylizer1]

Bare Naked Ladies
Xzibit (Likwit/Alcoholics Tour)
Souls of Mischief(Native Tongues Tour) opened for De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest
Alexisonfire

 

[Jack Straw]

I saw the Hooters many times before they got their record contract. They used to play at a bar in Ardmore, PA that was a few blocks from my apartment.

 

[Frankie Blueberries]

-M83 in 2008 before they really broke out;
-Arcade Fire in 2005 when Rebellion Lies was their only big song (Wolf Parade opened, so I guess they count too);
-Jimmy Eat World about a month after Bleed American was released, so they were still pretty low key.

 

[Habsfunk]

I saw a lot of mildly popular bands before they even reached that point. The most notable were probably The Black Lips and Jay Reatard. But I don't know if they ever got big enough to even qualify for a thread like this.

I saw f***ed Up play really early on at a tiny bar in Toronto across the street from Sneaky Dees. This was several years before they released Hidden World. Also got to see them play a few shows in the back of a skateboard so I'm Kensington Market over the next few years.

And I saw the Verve at Lollapalooza in 1994, better they became big with Bittersweet Symphony.

Other than the Verve, none of those bands were mainstream, but they did become big in indie circles.

 

[Azathoth]

I saw Mastodon and Avenged Sevenfold open up for some local hardcore band at a indoor skate park in New Jersey back in 2002. Must of have been 50-75 people at the show.

They were just starting to get big at the time, but I also saw Slipknot open up for Slayer and Metallica back in 2000 too.

 

[peate]

Université du Québec in Sherbooke, first North American show, the band? Genesis.

 

[Primary Assist]

I saw the Hooters many times before they got their record contract. They used to play at a bar in Ardmore, PA that was a few blocks from my apartment.

Funny, I just happened to watch their Live Aid set this weekend and it was the first time I had heard of them. They had a nice new wavey type groove.

 

[Jack Straw]

Funny, I just happened to watch their Live Aid set this weekend and it was the first time I had heard of them. They had a nice new wavey type groove.

Like probably a lot of bands, they were better before they “made it”. They were very popular in the Philly area and there was always a good crowd and their gigs were just a ton of fun. They also wrote “Time After Time”, which Cindy Lauper made famous.

 

[kihei]

U2 at Maple Leaf Ballroom, a small, now defunct bar, in Toronto on Feb. 11, 1981, almost exactly four months after the release of their first album, Boy.


Saw a lot of bands on their first tour of NA, some more established by that time than others:

The Clash
Squeeze
Gang of Four
Eurythmics
Boomtown Rats
Ultravox
The Jam
UB40
XTC
My Bloody Valentine

 

[cupcrazyman]

There's probably a lot of bands that would still "Make It " even if they stayed in their own countries.

 

[Isles72]

saw shania(eileen) twain perform when she was probably just 16-17 at a bar in her hometown .

she could do a mean cover of Barracuda (Heart) and almost the entire album of a popular canadian band from the mid 80's called Toronto .

 

[Jumptheshark]

Saw Nickelback at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto.
They were the second of three bands on the bill.
We were there for the opening band Enter the Haggis.
They were alright for a bar band.

I think everyone in Canada saw Nichelback before they made it big, whether they realize it or now--they just everywhere and anywhere