Thursday Discussion: Discover Openers
 

Last night, I was able to catch Manchester Orchestra's Spring headlining tour. Not only was the band sharp, their openers were just as great. There was the gritty O'Brother, Chris Staples (Twothirtyeight, Discover America) and the jamming The Features.

It reminded me of the excitement of discovering new bands by going to see some of my favorite artists. Remember those days? Long before we were berated with Myspace pages and online features, getting to a show early meant two things: getting as close to the stage as possible and catching some fresh material from some fresh faces.

How many of you still catch something new and overwhelming when going to see your favorite bands? Who have you caught lately that even had the ability to top the artist you went to see? Do you just know all the openers before you go? Do you check their music players just to get a taste before hand?

I generally try to check out every band on the bill before the show nowadays. However, a couple summers ago I did discover Eye Alaska and Anarbor because they were opening for The Summer Set.

cant wait to check out Fireworks again. first time they didnt do anything for me because i am one of those people who cant enjoy a show unless i hear the lyrics. I love to sing along. cant wait to catch them with NFG

The most recent opening band that I was blown away from was Paper Route on their tour with Copeland. Super tight live - the entire night I couldn't wait to hear them recorded.

Its how i discovered The Academy Is opening for The All American Rejects

I honestly had never heard of the swellers...or at least never heard any of their music until I saw them open for motion city soundtrack last month. Also, heard alot of new bands when I was at bamboozle a few years back. Festivals are usually a pretty awesome way to hear new bands.

the swellers too. i was impressed enough to buy a CD. Also when i saw cobra 2 years ago i wanted to buy Hit The Lights and Sing It Louds cds

Every now and then an opener will blow me out of the water. This happened with The Swellers, Title Fight, and Defeater. So happy I got into those bands.

I saw Taking Back Sunday and The Used open for Blink before I had ever heard of either. Now I feel a little old. Viva la Pop Disaster Tour.

You will love it.

Northstar, Augustana, Limbeck, Dr. Manhattan, As Tall As Lions, Ruby Coast, Wild Sweet Orange and Princeton were all opening bands i discovered by arriving early to a show. the majority of those, i probably never would have checked out otherwise.

i used to sample the bands on myspace, but now i just try really hard to be there when doors open so that i can check out all of the bands i've never heard of.

I went to a Less than Jake show in 2003(ish) and discovered fall out boy and punchline.

Title fight impressed me when they opened for Paint it Black last year.
When I caught the errortype:11 reunion show, Joshua English blew me away.

I picked up the Swellers based on the positive comments on this site. Glad I did.

back my Freshman year of college, I went and saw As Tall As Lions...the openers were Cartel and this awesome new band who were two months from putting out their debut album...

TREOS...

funny because that's how i first heard manchester orchestra - with say anything a year or two back