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Oh man, so many great ones...hard to even choose the best. Some in clubs, some in big ol' barns...

 

09/23/82 - Grateful Dead - Alabama > Greatest Story - Got the place jumpin'...

 

07/20/84 - Roger Waters - Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun - People were going nuts all through this.

 

04/28/93 - Warren Zevon - Splendid Isolation - Damn, I miss Warren. Seeing him come out and open with this on acoustic in a little club like Toad's Place was unforgettable.

 

09/27/94 - Bruce Cockburn - Tokyo - "Grey suited business men/Pissing against a wall/Cut to crumbling guard rail/Slow motion car fall!"

 

11/03/02 - Wilco - IATTTBYH - The "disposable Dixie cup drinker" part got the crowd going. My all-time favorite Wilco show.

 

04/03/10 - Paul McCartney - Venus & Mars/Rock Show - The word epic is overused a lot these days, but this stadium show was exactly that.

 

I was at that Zevon show at Toad's Place.  I bought tickets for a couple friends, including my wife. I was so excited and they hated it.  I've taken her to see King Crimson and Wilco with pretty much the same results ("Don't need to do that again"), though I catch her singing Wilco if it's on.

 

Now for killer openers, KC opening with "Waiting Man" on the Beat tour was, for me, sublime.  There's such beautiful tension that builds up to this great barrage of noise.

 

http://youtu.be/sYe7lEhiXH8

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actually Sunken Treasure harmonica version can be ALLSOME as well

 

Best PHISH opener is tough. AC/DC Bag is always good 

 

 

I saw 'em open with Divided Sky once (8/13/96). Best Phish show I ever saw.

 

The 2nd set that night opened with AC/DC Bag.

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Cool! Small world.

 

Small world, indeed.  Are you in the New Haven area?  I used to live at Toad's.  In fact, I met my wife at Toad's, though it's not as seedy as it sounds; we have a friend in common.  In fact, that friend is the guy who turned me on to Wilco.  I owe that man.

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Grew up in CT, but have not lived there since the 1990s. Caught some great shows in both Hartford and New Haven back in the day. I still kind of miss the radio stations up that way. Last time I traveled through part of New York and Connecticut, I heard Howlin' Wolf on the radio. Have yet to experience that in Florida!

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I have a Dylan bootleg from Europe in 1980, I think, definitely the tour for Slow Train or Saved, and he opens the show with Like A Rolling Stone.  That's a bold move to open with your biggest hit, but when it works it can really pay off.  I usually don't like AUD recordings, but on this one you can hear the crowd totally into it and its a pretty inspired performance.  Not sure how often he was opening with that song, but it sounds pretty special on this recording.

 

I'd guess that most here either hate or have no respect for the Eagles and their incessant reunion tours, but they did the same thing when they reunited in the early 90s, opening with Hotel California.

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My favorite Wilco opener was IATTBYH, but the first time I saw them, they opened with California Stars. That was cool, and the energy level seemed to rise during the song. But what was unreal about that show was about halfway through, they did A Shot in the Arm followed by Misunderstood. Between the "bloodier than blood" section of the first and then the "nothing...nothing" section of the second, I was just slack-jawed. :lol

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I have a Dylan bootleg from Europe in 1980, I think, definitely the tour for Slow Train or Saved, and he opens the show with Like A Rolling Stone.  That's a bold move to open with your biggest hit, but when it works it can really pay off.  I usually don't like AUD recordings, but on this one you can hear the crowd totally into it and its a pretty inspired performance.  Not sure how often he was opening with that song, but it sounds pretty special on this recording.

 

I'd guess that most here either hate or have no respect for the Eagles and their incessant reunion tours, but they did the same thing when they reunited in the early 90s, opening with Hotel California.

sounds like its from the 87 tour with tom petty. the setlists where all all over the place!. not the gospel shows

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Best opener I've seen (will probably catch flak for this):

 

Welcome to the Jungle. 1/1/2001. First "GNR" show in 7+ years - Buckethead, Brain, Tommy Stinson - pretty intense opening for a show that started around 3 in the morning.

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sounds like its from the 87 tour with tom petty. the setlists where all all over the place!. not the gospel shows

Nope, definitely not the 87 tour.  Its 1980 or 1981.  I would never confuse those two completely different tours.

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