Two come to mind for me:

Marillion opening for Rush in the 80s at the Rosemont Horizon. At the time I wasn't that familiar with them, but Marillion was entering its peak with Misplaced Childhood and Rush was in its early decline with Power Windows.

Night Ranger opening for Sammy Hagar at the UIC in 1983. After Night Ranger tore the roof off with Don't Tell Me You Love Me as its closing song, Sammy's entrance was anticlimactic.

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We were at the same Hagar concert. I do not have such clear recollections.

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Elections have consequences.

The thing I remember about that concert was waiting outside for tickets a few weeks prior, in -10 temps. Those were the days, before you could get everything online.

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Slipknot, Deftones, System of A Down at Ozzfest 1999.

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@audioidkid

Guns N Roses opening for Motely Crue in 1987

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

A bunch of friends went to see early Def Leppard opening for Billy Squier

https://www.stucknut.com/forum/index.php?topic=13828.0

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

I can picture that.

I did not realize that Appetite for Destruction had been released for a year before gaining widespread attention. Seems hard to believe.

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On a much smaller scale, my guy Ike Reilly opened for Nicholas Tremulis at an 'xrt show it Metro. Well over half the crowd left after Reilly. I stayed for Tremulis's first song...he came out on stage to a near empty crowd and was sort of devastated. I felt bad for the guy.

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Option 11 and W_Z opening for Mad Dog Maddon at Gallery Caberet in January 2009.

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A buddy of mine worked at the Pavilion at the time. GnR crushed it.

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Heck, I've heard respected musicians say Moving Pictures began the decline (with more synth and less guitar). And while Geddy was often criticized for the banshee-wail voice, I think the later, lower-octave stuff doesn't hold up as well.

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The Belle Brigade opening for Ray Lamontagne.

Miles Nielsen and the Rusted Hearts opening for Cheap Trick.

Yeah it took awhile for them to get some traction...but when they did they skyrocketed

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Metallica (Monsters Of Rock Festival)– 5/28/1988 Alpine Valley. Played before Dokken, Scorpions, Van Halen. All were great, but Metallica just owned the day.

Gin Blossoms opening for Toad the Wet Sprocket – 10/26/1992 ISU Ballroom

Tesla Opening for Def Leppard – 10/23/1987 Rosemont Horizon

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Jeff Buckley was the opening, opening, opening, act for Soundgarden in 1994 at Summerfest. I'm not saying he was better, but I had never heard of him and he blew me away.

Foals was much better than Silversun Pickups - May 2016

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Faith No More and Soundgarden opening for Voivod at the Vic.

Mudhoney opening for Teenage Fan club at Metro.

More recently, Cheap Trick and Joan Jett opening for Heart at Northerly Island.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

Ozzfest 2004... Judas priest blew sabbath out of the water at alpine.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

If we're talking Ozzfest, I submit:

Megadeth and Tool over Ozzy, Ozzfest 98
Rob Zombie, Deftones, Slayer, Primus, and System of a Down over Black Sabbath at 99
Pantera and Queens of the Stone Age over Ozzy in 2000

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Power Windows is excellent and so is the record that followed, which is why I

Look, MP was their most successful album and what followed (Grace Under Pressure) was a huge disappointment to many fans. So I found your use of the Power Windows album/tour odd because, as a live band, they were clearly on top of their game and would be for some time.

I was there for the Rosemont show. Rush were great, Marillion were Genesis Lite.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Power Windows...good album.
Hold Your Fire...good album.

The era was nicely encapsulated by the fantastic "A Show of Hands"

This guy gets it.

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Not a mult.

Presto, Hold Your Fire, and Roll the Bones are fine albums. Not everything can live up to Moving Pictures or A Farewell to Kings....that's an unfair standard.

I assure you, Marillion nor any other band out-performed Rush on any tour.

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Sounds about right.

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Elections have consequences.

great night.

Full disclosure, I left in a drunken stupor before Mad Dog even played a note

I doubt I missed much as I'm reasonably sure my face could have been more sufficiently melted.

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Sex isn't dirty, sex isn't a crime. It's a loving act between two or more consenting adults.

-Hank Kingsley

Garbage opening for Smashing Pumpkins. Crowd so pissed at how bad the Pumpkins were compared to Manson & Co they spent the Pumpkins set throwing sneakers at the star on Corgan's chest. This might've been the first show on that tour, so likely Corgan and bandmates were playing together for the first time in a long time. Corgan prolly couldn't be arsed to hang out with his bandmates and rehearse before heading out on tour. Not a good look if'n yer gonna try to follow uber-pros like the guys backing Manson in Garbage.

Flaming Lips opening for Beck was never gonna go well for the devotee of Lord Xenu. At least Beck realized the mistake and ended up bringing Wayne et al back out as his backing band during his encore set of classic Beck tunes; rather than the shitty Eliott Smith solo acoustic chuff he sat and mumbled through for his main set. I think he might even have mentioned that during his main set. i.e., if we were patient he'd come back out and play his good stuff with a full band at the end.

Bright Eyes opening for Grandaddy. Grandaddy headliners touring in support of Sophtware Slump. Bright Eyes an unknown opener at the time somehow inspired calls for an encore from the mostly there for Grandaddy crowd; which Oberst obliged. or more likely Jason Lytle gave the ok for his opener to play a few more tunes. Merch table sold a lot of Fevers & Mirrors vinyl that night.

Murder City Devils opening for At The Drive-In. Not that At-The-Drive-In were a bad headliner, but between whomever was the opening band and MCD, no one had any energy left for ATD's set.

Speaking of Smashing Pumpkins, they were FAR SUPERIOR when opening for RHCP in 92ish

Pretty sure Pretty Hate Machine by NIN and Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction also took about a year to really catch on.

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Just chillin' like Garret Quillin.