Fahran, suppotying Morpheus Rising at Bilston Robin 2
This is another of those blog posts inspired by some discussion on Twitter, in this case about support bands.
We’ve all been to gigs where the support band has been thoroughly forgettable; sometimes tuneless acoustic singer-songwriters, sometimes third rate generic metal or alternative rock bands. You do sometimes wonder what the point of these support slots are, especially if there’s not one but two supports which either means a disappointingly short headline set or a very late finish.
On the other hand, I’m sure most of us have seen a few occasions where an unknown support act has blown us away. I can think of The Computers supporting The Damned and giving them a serious run for their money, and Labyrinth kicking Sonata Arctica’s arse, both at my local venue in Reading. The very first time I saw the mighty Touchstone was when they supported The Reasoning at the now-closed Limelight Club in Crewe. And I’ll never forget Anne-Marie Helder supporting Mostly Autumn at the late lamented Astoria.
My rule when reviewing is to judge the support act on how you feel at the exact moment the frontperson says “And this is our last song”. That emotion never lies.
So what, exactly, is the purpose of the support band?
If, as was suggested, the sole purpose of the support is to make the headliner look good, I would respond by questioning whether the headliner is good enough to be topping the bill. The days of support bands being thrown off tours for being too good are long gone.
I see the role of the support act as enhancing the overall experience and giving the paying audience better value for money. If they’re a bit rubbish it rather undermines that. The 70s and 80s practice of the headliner actively sabotaging the support for reasons of ego by making sure they had terrible sound only shortchanges the punters.
Nowadays quite a few bands book a strong and complimentary support act and give them prominent billing in the gig’s promotion to boost ticket sales. Just how often have you gone to a gig purely to see the support, or at least had the support influence your decision to attend a gig? I could list a great many of those over the years; sometimes I’ve experience a wonderful headline set I would not otherwise have seen, and once or twice I’ve seen the band I’d actually come to see blow the headliners off stage.
So, what’s your experience of support acts? Who was memorably good, or memorably bad? What great bands did you first see as an opening act?
Well it’s unusual to go specifically for support bands but I’m going to see Iamthemorning next week, though I’ll hang around to see what Gazpacho are like afterwards . I’ve gone specifically to see Bleech a few times even though they were support to The Subways. I’ve seen a few support acts who were new to me & i’ve been hooked straight away. But it’s pretty rare though when you’re going to relatively small gigs.
The thing that really bugs me is when there are a couple of support acts meaning you spend more time watching people move equipment around on the stage than people playing music. Or where the support act bares little relevance musically to the main act. Last time that happened for me was watching Karnataka at Islington. The support was a young woman who whilst she didn’t put a foot wrong, really couldn’t have been much more removed from the main act musically, & you just wonder who on earth decided she was suitable. I could only assume it was the same record label & they just wanted to give her some experience playing live in front of a crowd that wasn’t likely to give her much stick
I seem to be the only person going to that gig primarily to see Gazpacho, though even I only heard about the gig from fans of Iamthemorning (Thank you David Meadows).
Compatability between headliner and support is an interesting one; Marillion and Porcupine Tree have both had some awful generic indie-rock supports before now, but have also had some stunningly good support acts too, Tin Spirits being a good example.
There have been some combinations that haven’t been obvious but have worked really well in practice. Two that come to mind are Chantel McGregor as special guest for Mostly Autumn two years ago, or Luna Rossa supporting Morpheus Rising.
Acoustic singer-songwriters are popular as supports because it’s a lot less hassle especially for small club stages where there’s not room for two band’s gear. But not every acoustic singer-songwriter is as good as Anne-Marie Helder or Alan Reed.
I have been near the front of the queue at venues to witness people asking the door staff about the stage times for the main act. Clearly an intention to miss the support act, but not a good idea when so many acts perform two sets. I seem to recall one fellow asking this question for a show where the lead singer in the main act was half of a duo playing support. I wonder if he regretted that.
That happened when I was collecting my ticket for at The Grand Opera House in York for Mostly Autumn, and I told them they musn’t miss the support. The support act was Chantel McGregor.
Interesting you should mention the support bands that Porcupine Tree had – the first time I saw the Porkies was when they, too, were a support band – supporting Dreamtheater. I’ve seen Dreamtheater twice since then, Porcupine Tree 6 times and Steven Wilson three…
I always thought the main reason for the support act was to be like the comedy warm-up guy. They go out onto a cold stage and get the fans in the mood and ready for the main event. The fact that you can also sometimes discover a gem is just a bonus.
I saw the now-defunct Sleep Parade open for Porcupine Tree at their very first Australian show. Great music and a good choice as there was plenty of crossover between the musical themes. I bought their album ‘Things Can Always Change’ immediately.
I saw another now largely defunct Adelaide-based prog metal-ish outfit called Quiet Child open for Opeth in Melbourne and they were epic on stage. I think everyone in the place was fixated on them. Their first two albums are well worth a listen on BandCamp.
There have been a few others that I can’t remember off the top of my head, but those two certainly made the biggest impression on me.
I agree with BT that two or more supports is a bit much. I’d rather the headliners do a longer set.
When the support band announces their last song it is rare for my reaction to be “thank God for that”, it’s usually “pleasant enough, I’d be happy to hear some more but I probably wouldn’t go to see them in their own right or buy an album”.
In my 36 years of going to gigs I’ve forgotten the names of far more support bands than I can remember, which tells you a lot. I don’t recall any of them being dreadful though and mismatches have been rare. Some of them have been really good (Also Eden and Crimson Sky come to mind) and some have been big names. Bizarrely, I saw Jethro Tull supporting Fleetwood Mac at Wembley in 1990 and I’ve never been able to figure out quite why they did it. I also saw Big Country supporting U2 in (I think) 1983 when both were on the verge of becoming established and Big Country blew the Irishmen off the stage. But then again, I’ve always considered U2 to be over-rated.
Bands I wouldn’t have heard of if I didn’t always check out the support band at a gig:
Mostly Autumn.
’nuff said.
I will stay for Gazpacho’s set this weekend, but I know almost nothing about them. I’m only going to the gig because I’ve fallen in love with iamthemorning.
I’ve done this before for two support acts: once for Angela Gordon and once for Heather Findlay. And it’s been a bit unsatisfactory both times, because no matter how good the main act is, it’s going to be an anti-climax after the set by the band you really love. You’re going to be wishing it was still the support band. And I think that the buzz I should feel on walking out of a gig is being diluted by the last 90 minutes of the gig being… not the band I went to see.
But I won’t walk out in the interval and skip the main band. That would be just as bad as skipping the support band when you’re there to see the headliners. And I will never do that because… well, see my previous comment
I’m going to Gazpacho because some Iamthemorning fans were talking about the gig:)
I can only think of one gig where I’ve been to see the support act, and the headline act completelty faiiled to deliver; that was Robert Cray sypported by Chantel McGregor. No fire, no passion, and the whole thing felt phoned-in. Chantel was everything the headliner was not.
The best support act I have ever seen was Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers supporting Nils Lofgren. They were promoting their first album which I bought the next pay day.
Last time I went to see the support act instead of the headliner, the support act had to cancel (for medical reasons) and I couldn’t get a ticket refund. The headliner ended up being pretty good anyway.
I have a concert tonight with two opening acts, neither of whom sound at all appealing after checking out a few songs online. That means the headliner opens at 11pm on a weeknight. I am literally too old for this shit.
Turned up in plenty of time for Marillion’s gig at Cambridge Junction back in 2012 and was blown away by the support act – Chantel McGregor.
Quite a turning point as I made the opportunity to see her whenever I had the chance which led me to Mostly Autumn and realised I’d been missing out on a whole host of other bands I wasn’t aware of due to my blinkered 70s/80s interests.
Alongside that, and pointing me in almost exactly the same direction, Anne-Marie Helder supporting Steve Hackett at Hammersmith.
@chuk:
I remember the opposite; Fish at Manchester Academy in 2007. The support band were about to start what should have been their final song, when somebody passed the bass player a note from the side of the stage. They went into a huddle, and then played several more songs. It turned out Fish’s voice had gone between the soundcheck and the warm-up. and the gig ended up being cancelled.
They ended up rescheduling it for a couple of weeks later, with original tickets still valid. With the same support band again, who we ended up seeing twice.
I regularly go to gigs solely for the support – somehow I end up liking a lot of bands that aren’t well known enough for their own tours. Driving for 2 hours for possibly only 1/2 an hour of entertainment doesn’t seem to have much logic but I wouldn’t see the bands otherwise.
I first saw Touchstone when I went to see Heather Findlay as support, and enjoyed them, so I’m disappointed about missing their last gigs which I didn’t know about until a couple of days ago. I can’t remember enjoying many headline bands when I’ve gone to see the support as much as them actually. And I never heard Wintercoast live. :/
I wish Mostly Autumn would have support more often when they don’t start until 9pm, even if it’s just a solo or duo to make the logistics easier.
A couple of weeks ago I went to see a support band who were third on a bill of four. They pulled out, but I ended up liking the first band of the night more than them, and they’re local, which is a bonus. The time before that the support band pulled out and the headliner was boring, so I travelled 2 hours for nothing.
British Sea Power are an all-round excellent band, and their support bands are included in that. In their early days they held club nights (that they played at) so perhaps it’s always been in them to want to put on a good show for the whole night. Bo Ningen and Teeth of the Sea have been two of the best live acts to support them. There are not many bands who pick a louder or rockier act than themselves as support.
There’s another band I’ve seen lots of times, and I can only remember enjoying one of their support acts, but they don’t seem like the sort of band to stick on an average support to make them look better (and they don’t need to).
The support should be there to enhance the night, and I think more of bands when they pick a good support act (obviously it’s down to personal opinion, but sometimes it seems obvious). I have an all-round better night, and a good support increases the anticipation of the headline act – it can make the whole atmosphere in the venue better. Maybe some acts are not bad people for having average support, perhaps they’re just too self-conscious.
I also remember seeing support bands that have gone onto big things. Editors are one – I thought they were pretty poor when I saw them and didn’t realise it was them until years later after they’d become one of the biggest bands in the UK. It always seems odd when that happens. Kaiser Chiefs were another and although I’m not a big fan (and it’s probably swearing on this blog!), they were enjoyable.
A lot of the time record labels pick the support acts, which sometimes works out really well and sometimes doesn’t. Even when labels pick them, the not rockier than the headline act thing seems to hold up. A lot of support bands have to pay for the privelage of being support these days too.
I generally hope for a support band when I go to a gig. Its an important part of growing a fanbase which is where most musicians start out. I can’t remember too much about the 70s and 80s when I was very young and only really interested in the main band. But in the last ten years or so, I can’t think of one that I haven’t enjoyed. With so much of the best action happening in small venues below the radar, there is a feeling that the bands are in it all together.
Going back in time, I saw Def Leppard opening up for AC/DC in 1979 at Hammersmith Odeon and Iron Maiden opening up for Judas Priest at the Rainbow, Kings Cross, in 1980. I really enjoyed both, but haven’t been a particularly big fan of either band since they hit the big time soon afterwards.
In recent years, Chantel McGregor opening up for Robert Cray (remember that one, Tim ?) in Reading. I wasn’t too fussed about Robert Cray, but only went too see Chantel. Using Chantel as an example, she has opened for Wishbone Ash (Andy Powell) as far back as, I think, 2009. A massive boost for her career in those days. And has also opened up for Robin Trower as well as Marillion. I saw Steve Rothery at one of her gigs in Hatfield a few years ago.
At my most local venue in Chislehurst (about 40 miles away) some of the support bands I’ve seen were playing their first ever gig, usually a local band looking for a break and the promoter is willing to give it to them. Its where it all starts and I’ll continue to do my best to see the support bands in the future.
That Iron Maiden/Judas Priest tour is one of those legendary ones, as was Van Halen supporting Never Say Die era Black Sabbath a couple of years earlier. In both cases the support were headliners themselves within a year and have been ever since.