I blocked them out until I was browsing this forum and thought, "I know that band that opened for sherwood got really big but I don't know who" so I had to find an old news article promoting that tour. I will now put that band back in my mind archives to hopefully not be opened again.
Saw Modern Baseball open for Mixtapes in the basement of Irving Plaza for a matinee show -- sometime between Sports. and You're Gonna Miss it All Saw Against Me! and Rise Against open for Anti-Flag on the Fat Wreck Tour in Philly in 2003/2004 Saw The Menzingers open for The Bouncing Souls HFTH at the Stone Pony in 2010/2011
I'm pretty jealous but then I would have been ten at the time so I don't think I would have enjoyed it anyway.
My sister say Destiny's Child open for the Backstreet Boys. I also saw Manchester Orchestra on one of their first headliners ever with about 50 people.
That’s crazy. Weird to think about how huge Rise Against has gotten since then (Especially Anti Flag OPENING for RA now)
Saw Bruno Mars support Travis McCoy in a 600cap venue in Glasgow then headline his own 1200 cap venue 3months later to now being one of the biggest acts in the world. Drake in academy (2k cap venue) jsut after thank me later to now being the biggest artist ever. There's a lot of other ones more UK specific - You Me At Six, Architects, Bring Me The Horizon all in 150cap venue in 2006/2007.
I saw Balance & Composure, Man Overboard, Title Fight, and Tigers Jaw play a show together at Cafe Metropolis in Wilkes Barre in early 2009. I think all of them were still mostly just doing PA shows at that point.
being from the boston area I can go on and on and on listing bands from the 2007-2013 emo/pop punk revival thingy that was going on, but seeing take this to your grave fall out boy at axis 3 or 4 times was pretty sweet
I feel like i've seen quite a few, but the one that really jumps out to me, especially recently is Beartooth. Saw them the 1st time in 2013 at Skate & Surf with a maybe like 50ish people interested, I think they only had released like 3 songs off the SICK EP at the time & later that year on one of their 1st headliners in DE with City Lights with maybe 50 people. Now they are just starting their 3rd album tour & are filling 2-3k cap venues. So stoked for those dudes.
I saw Ghost play the smallest stage, in a tent, at Metaltown Festival in 2011. They were probably already huge in the US by this point, but I saw Twenty One Pilots play in front of 150 people at a club in Stockholm in February 2014. This January they're headlining the 14,000 cap arena Ericsson Globe. Kinda insane. Edit: I saw Tove Lo play for 50 people in a small basement right before she blew up with Habits. Early 2014. Also, I don't know if anyone outside of Sweden remembers this band anymore, but when I was a kid, in the summer of 2000, I saw Caesars (or Caesars Palace, as they were known as back then) play a beach show in Varberg, Sweden. I remember standing on the sand-dunes to get a good look, haha. Two years later they scored the hit Jerk It Out. Speaking of Caesars, they recently reunited and everyone needs to check out their album Cherry Kicks from 2000.
Japandroids at Sasquatch 2010 on a very small stage. Cage The Elephant opening for Gaslighg Anthem in 2008.
Here are some more: These are bands I don't follow whatsoever, so maybe they were big back then when I saw them, but probably not as popular as they are today (or years after I saw them): Hometown Hero in 2003 (Aaron Bruno now lead singer of Awolnation) Sparta in 2002 opening for Weezer and Dashboard Seether at a Cleveland festival in 2003 (Xfest) right around the time of their first release) Three Days Grace a few times in 2003 (right around the time of their first release) Motion City Soundtrack open for TBS in 2004 Cage the Elephant open for STP in 2010 The Wonder Years open for Early November in 2012 (they were a huge draw I remember, most left before Early Nov went on but the show was not attended well at all) New Politics open up for Twenty One Pilots in 2012 at a dive bar (200 people max) Jay Rock open for Kendrick in 2013 X Ambassadors open for Jimmy Eat World in 2013 and Panic! in 2014
I was at The Used/Finch tour in Cleveland. It was at the Agora. I definitely do not recall MCR playing that show but I looked it up and yeah, they did. Wow.
Relient K in 2001 at Sonshine Festival on one of the smaller side stages, I met Matt T after the show at their merch table
Noah Gundersen before Ledges came out. He was exquisite. We snuck his little brother in the bar down the street who wasn't old enough to drink at the time. I didn't realize it then, but it's sort of funny to look back on now. Funny, smart personable, kind, all the things you'd expect from Noah, he came through on. It was just really cool to see a little bit more humanity from an honest musician.
I saw Twenty One Pilots open up for Circa Survive at a small, old college before Vessel even came out. Random show together, but they both were amazing live.