Worst Concert Pairing, EVER

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

Why are Neil Young and Sonic Youth an odd pairing?
 
 

Originally posted by Sir HC:
  Some of the Ottobar shows have defied description, but short of those:
 
 Beastie Boys (just turned rap) opening for PiL or Madonna, take your choice.
 
 The Buffalo Tom opening for My Bloody Valentine (with the noisy version of Mercury Rev at the front).  They slowed the show to a crawl.
 
 Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young.
 
 These are one's that I have seen at least.

[bearman🐻]

I think with some of these shows, you have to be there to really understand. Seeing the crowd go utterly apeshit for Ben Folds Five and then about half the audience leave for Bettie Serveert, and the people that stayed were far more subdued.
 
 Another weird one was seeing Counting Crows and the Cranberries open for Suede. Another one of those experiences where the openers were just gathering steam and the headliners were not the ones that most people were there to see.

[distance]

Originally posted by walkonby:
  u2  "zoo tv tour"  rfk
 
 openers were primus and fishbone.
 
 beat that.

einsturzende neubauten opened for u2 once.

[Sir HC]

Originally posted by Charlie Nakajima, Fired by Mascis:
  Why are Neil Young and Sonic Youth an odd pairing?
 
   

Originally posted by Sir HC:
  Some of the Ottobar shows have defied description, but short of those:
 
 Beastie Boys (just turned rap) opening for PiL or Madonna, take your choice.
 
 The Buffalo Tom opening for My Bloody Valentine (with the noisy version of Mercury Rev at the front).  They slowed the show to a crawl.
 
 Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young.
 
 These are one's that I have seen at least.

[/b]

From the way the Young audience reacted.  Continuous boos made Sonic Youth go noisier and noisier.  Was a great show, but the majority of the audience really did not think it worked with Neil.

[Bombay Chutney]

Originally posted by Sir HC:
  From the way the Young audience reacted.  Continuous boos made Sonic Youth go noisier and noisier.  Was a great show, but the majority of the audience really did not think it worked with Neil.

That's a good point.  As a Sonic Youth fan it sounds like a terrific bill.  As a Neil Young fan I can easily see a large part of the crowd hating Sonic Youth.

[BookerT]

Originally posted by Bombay Chutney:
   

Originally posted by Sir HC:
  From the way the Young audience reacted.  Continuous boos made Sonic Youth go noisier and noisier.  Was a great show, but the majority of the audience really did not think it worked with Neil.

That's a good point.  As a Sonic Youth fan it sounds like a terrific bill.  As a Neil Young fan I can easily see a large part of the crowd hating Sonic Youth. [/b]

i guess so, but i'm pretty sure that was the '91 tour and neil and crazy horse were making a lot of noise those days (that's the tour where the limited edition "arc" cd, which is just 35 minutes of spliced feedback, comes from) so you'd think they would have been able to deal with it.
 
 i might have my dates mixed up, though.

[Charlie Nakatestes, Japanese Golfer]

I saw that tour as well. I agree with Chutney. Based on what Sonic Youth and Neil Young were doing at the time, it WAS a good match.
 
 People booed Sonic Youth and threw shit at them. But then again the same stupid hippies and rednecks were wondering what the hell Neil was doing as well...whining, "What's this shit? Why can't he play Heart of Gold?"
 
 

Originally posted by Sir HC:
   

Originally posted by Charlie Nakajima, Fired by Mascis:
  Why are Neil Young and Sonic Youth an odd pairing?
 
   

Originally posted by Sir HC:
  Some of the Ottobar shows have defied description, but short of those:
 
 Beastie Boys (just turned rap) opening for PiL or Madonna, take your choice.
 
 The Buffalo Tom opening for My Bloody Valentine (with the noisy version of Mercury Rev at the front).  They slowed the show to a crawl.
 
 Sonic Youth opening for Neil Young.
 
 These are one's that I have seen at least.

[/b]

From the way the Young audience reacted.  Continuous boos made Sonic Youth go noisier and noisier.  Was a great show, but the majority of the audience really did not think it worked with Neil. [/b]

[Sir HC]

I loved the bill, I even thought Social D was great that night.  To me the only issue as to a bad pairing is how the majority felt, and for this the majority felt it was horrible.  Neil squealed as much as Sonic Young but his fans couldn't handle it.  So that is what made it bad, the audience's reaction.
 
 I guess Suicide opening for Elvis Costello and others could be on the list, but I never saw that.

[Bags]

Originally posted by Alex:
  Tegan & Sara, Gogol Bordello and Cake was certainly odd...but turned out to be ALOT of fun.

Cake likes to do that...like the Detroit Cobras/Cheap Trick/Cake show from a couple years back.

[Bags]

Originally posted by Shadrach:
  I'd like to see U2 be braver and take a relative unknown on the road with them. I mean they sell out arenas world wide and people aren't buying tickets to see the opening acts. So why don't they use some of that power and pull to help launch the career of a new artist?

I'm with you -- I'm not really a fan, but I think it's completely awesome that the Rolling Stones do just that.  Some recent opening bands for them include Sloan, Metric, Antigone Rising, Brooks and Dunn and QOTSA.

[palahniukkubrick]

Originally posted by distance:
   

Originally posted by walkonby:
  u2  "zoo tv tour"  rfk
 
 openers were primus and fishbone.
 
 beat that.

einsturzende neubauten opened for u2 once. [/b]

so have bb king, velvet underground, the pixies,  pj harvey, ash, placebo, and even third eye blind and smashmouth. U2 is known for choosing interesting openers.

[MindCage]

Another odd paired Roots show was this past year at Bender. DJ? Acucrack opened up for The Roots.
 
 Rage Against the Machine and Wu Tang Clan
 Nine Inch Nails and Saul Williams
 King's X and Tapping the Vein
 Rush and Primus was kinda odd but who can really open up for Rush?
 The Deftones and Denali
 
 
 MindCage
 Mindless Faith
 Deep6 Productions

[Barcelona]

The Pogues opening for U2, what the fuck were the Pogues doing with such a mediocre band?
 
 Also, UB40 opening for the Pogues, that was a strange but good mix in the late 80s.

[mrpee]

Peach of Immortality opening for anybody...help me out here people!

[thingsfallapart]

Originally posted by walkonby:
  u2  "zoo tv tour"  rfk
 
 openers were primus and fishbone.
 
 beat that.

Didn't the Pixies open for U2 at one point?