I saw them before they were popular Tour • Page 8

Yeah, I saw them May 9th, 2009 in Minneapolis.

 

In 2006 I saw All Time Low play a high school auditorium with Hit the Lights in Pleasanton, CA. There were probably less than 100 people there. I stopped keeping track of them after high school so I have no idea what year they got huge.

 

I saw Motionless in White open for Alesana in a small church basement in central Pennsylvania in December 2008, I miss when central PA had a small music scene despite me not living there anymore.

 

Got to see My Chemical Romance sell out Madison Square Garden in 2006 for the black parade...BEFORE all these posers got their stuff from Hot Topic post-break up

Also saw Led Zeppelin play their first U.S. show in 1968 in Denver opening up for Vanilla Fudge...truly Epic my dudes

 

Not me but my grandfather saw Aerosmith in his local high school (Natick Mass) before they blew up

 

i went to warped tour 05 and saw a bunch of well known bands before they blew up. mcr, fob,all american rejects, from first to last, senses fail, avenged sevenfold. now a7x and fob are selling out arenas n shit

 

A7X are selling out arenas? This is news to me.

 

I've seen Ne Obliviscaris in some tiny dive bars and they've gone on to support huge metal bands overseas and influential metal festivals

saw Twenty One Pilots open for Paramore in January 2014, about 50 people knew who they were. A headline tour followed the year after, I saw them again in an 800 cap venue. Less than a year later and they were headlining Rod Laver Arena

My dad has been to so many incredible concerts and if I can remember some smaller ones, I'll post about those!

 

I'm old, so here are a few...

Saw Paramore first in 2006 in East Rutherford, NJ. I won a raffle to go meet them on their tour bus. They pulled me on stage. That was the Emergency tour and my best friend lied to her mom and drove us to Jersey just to take me. She didn't even have a ticket. I'll never forget that night. 12+ year long obsession persists to this day.

Saw All Time Low play a crappy venue (I don't think it exists anymore) called The Vintage Lounge back in 2007 on an acoustic tour with Just Surrender. They had Juliet Simms from Automatic Loveletter, and she came out and sang her part on Remembering Sunday. It was great. I actually have a video of it on my YouTube channel:

I was at an acoustic set with Mayday Parade back in 08 or 09? There were maybe a few dozen people in a room. I literally can't even remember where it was. I just remember Derek to talk to my sister on the phone.

We the Kings filmed the video for Check Yes Juliet at a house on Long Island and had an open casting call on anyone to come down to be extras. My friend and I went to the house, ate Chinese with the band, and filmed a few scenes. There's a scene at the end where the parents pull up to the house, you can barely see us in the background running with an umbrella ahaha. It was just a fun experience overall.

I was always catching bands at small venues and bars in their early days back then. Being in the NYC area really allowed me the opportunity to see a lot of bands, and travel to a lot of shows. These are a few of the experiences that come to mind readily, but I feel fortunate to have had so many opportunities back then to be involved in the music scene. I miss those days.

EDIT: Remembered another one. I saw Finch at a show at The Crazy Donkey back in 2008 I believe. I had such a high fever I could barely stand and my boyfriend at the time had to hold me up the whole show - but I refused to not go and I am so glad I did because I'm not sure I would have had another chance to see them.

Saw Scary Kids Scaring Kids play with Red Jumpsuit Apparatus in NYC sometime in the 2000's. Can't remember the year. RIP Tyson.

Saw Hawthorne Heights play with Relient K, Emery, Plain White T's, and The Sleeping on the Nintendo Fusion Tour in 2006. RIP Casey.

EDIT again: Bring back Bamboozle. That is all.

 

I saw them play at a church or something on Long Island a looong time ago and I only ever remember them when they're mentioned by someone else.

 

I’ve seen a ton over the years but the best was probably seeing FOB about two weeks after FUCT came out at a local radio outdoor show. They were the replacement when like Kaiser Chiefs or somebody dropped out and they played really early in the afternoon. Probably only a couple hundred or so watching and I could actually be in the front dead center without getting crushed. Later that year I also saw the Nintendo Fusion tour with them and PATD like a month after Fever came out and absolutely no one knew who they were.

 

Fun fact: I appear in two Twenty One Pilots videos. Car Radio and Can't Help Falling in Love cover.

I can't actually make myself out in either one, haha, but I was in the audience when they filmed both videos (both in 2012).

 

That's a sweet set list! One of my biggest "I almost saw them, but didn't..." moments was earlier that year in 2008. The Gaslight Anthem, Lagrecia, and the Ergs! were opening up for the Loved Ones at the Middle East Upstairs (which is a ~100 cap room here in Boston).

But. My car broke down on the way there. So. I missed that fucking epic line-up, haha.

 

I was at that All Time Low show! The Vintage Lounge definitely doesn't exist anymore. I think it's a scuba diving store now lol.
I also went to the Emergency tour, but at the Crazy Donkey.

 

Hey, wow! We've lost so many venues on LI it seems as the years have gone on. :/

I managed to go to this show because I believe it was a rescheduled date from a cancelled one earlier on the tour...it was the only reason I got to see them, because otherwise I missed the other dates around us. Or at least that's how I remember it, memory can be a weird thing. How was the show at The Crazy Donkey?

 

It's so sad :( I especially miss the Donkey.

Yes, that's pretty much what happened! If I recall correctly, Jack had a death in the family so they canceled whatever tour they were going to do and did an acoustic one instead. I didn't have tickets to the tour that they canceled so they must have not originally been coming to Long Island.

Honestly, Paramore at the Donkey changed my life lol that was my first ever "show"! Now I've seen Paramore almost 30 times. I love to tell younger people at Paramore concerts these days that the first time I saw them I paid $12 at the door...

 

My favorites:

System Of A Down- They were the second of three openers to Snot back in 1997 at Downtime in NYC. They had nothing but a demo tape (which Daron gave me after the show so I could play their stuff at our college radio station). Thank God I kept that thing in good shape! Of course looking back it made perfect sense I ran into Rick Rubin prior to their set hanging out in the back of the venue. He would sign them to his label just three months later. Swear to God that place fit 400 people on a good day (think: slightly smaller Subterranean).

Daft Punk- Same year and full disclosure, they had just released Da Funk so were getting some play on MTV back when MTV actually played music videos. This was at the Roseland Ballroom and the lineup went Fluke > Sneaker Pimps > Daft Punk > Crystal Method > Death In Vegas > Aphex Twin. No masks but tons of sightings! VMA's were the same night only a block away so all of Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson were standing like two feet from me during the set.

Rage Against The Machine- They were opening up for Cypress Hill in 1993 during their Black Sunday tour. Little was known of them because they JUST released their debut album. I even got to meet Zach after their set because nobody knew who the hell he was or really who the band was yet. However, they brought the house DOWN. To this date one of the wildest crowds I've ever been a part of.

Eminem- In 1999 the same Cypress Hill cancelled Warped Tour last second so for the Chicago leg they got Eminem (who to this point had only released "My Name Is"). He had plastic bottles launched at him for the entire 40 minute set yet he just kept going. No complaining. That was seriously impressive. Then after his set he stayed for 30 minutes to sign for whoever asked. I luckily brought a poster promoting his debut album and got it signed. Never in a million years did I think he would be this damn huge.

Honorable Mention- Marvelous 3 right after their debut released (Spring 1999). Opening act when I was working for the venue that booked Collective Soul. Some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Butch is a genuine nice ass dude. TBH Marvelous had the crowd going nuts and Collective Soul was seriously hurt for having them go first. Crowd as bored compared to M3.

 

Jealous about that eminem signature

 

Oh wow, sad circumstances.

I feel the same about my first Paramore show!! They've been my favorite band since that moment, have the bars tattoo, seen em a whole bunch, etc etc. It's crazy to see how much they've blown up and grown up. I'm so proud of them tbh. Younger kids don't even know what old school Paramore fans have gone through with this band...wouldn't trade them for anything though.

 

I love reminiscing on this stuff. A lot of these bands aren't humongous or anything, but seeing them in really small cap venues (in some cases with next to no one there) is something wild to look back on.

From First to Last/Name Taken/Scatter the Ashes at a small venue called Ace's Basement in Greensboro, NC (this place was legitimately the basement of a super sketchy looking motel, but I have so many great memories there haha) with about 25 people max. Name Taken opened and FFTL played second. Right before Dear Diary came out. I was 15 and hung around with half the bands most of the night - as someone who was super into music, but also new to going to shows actively, this was totally surreal.

Hawthorne Heights/Emery/Alexisonfire/Silverstein at the same venue as above. HH opened, Silverstein closed (missed half their set cuz it was a schoolnight). Almost a packed house, but this place was still tiny, think maybe 200 cap safely. What a time.

Bring Me the Horizon playing EP/Count Your Blessings stuff on the small stage of a larger venue. Probably about 60 people in attendance. I found a crummy old cellphone selfie the other day of me and my buddy with Oli Sykes. I think this was their first US tour.

A Day to Remember at a skatepark playing all pre-For Those Who Have Heart stuff. Maybe 30 people there. (My old metalcore band played this - we played with them a few years later at a slightly bigger spot with Four Year Strong, as well, and maybe only 50-60 people came out. Wild to think about now.)

The Devil Wears Prada at a DIFFERENT skatepark right after Dear Love came out. 50-60 in attendance. (My old metalcore band played this one, too. Super fun show. Ate food with a few of the guys after and I remember us all being stupidly excited about it. Next time I saw them was Plagues-era at a festival and there were hundreds of people there, so that was cool.)

Pianos Become the Teeth at this super weird Christian coffee shop before Old Pride came out. About 15-20 kids there. (My old post-rock band played right after them and the owner of the shop tried to lead the whole venue in prayer. It was one of the most awkward experiences of my life.)

La Dispute pre-Somewhere at a probably 100 cap bar venue with a bunch of metalcore bands (including, again, my old one lol). No one seemed to know who they were and they were absolutely the odd band on the bill, making a bit of a transition from their old ETID-riffy stuff to their more "introspective" work.

La Dispute/Touche Amore in a random one-room DIY venue with maybe 50 people, both bands had their first records out. One of my old bands' first shows and I was over the moon stoked. It was a great environment and we got to chat with these dudes a decent bit - all were super humble and really pleasant.

Again, not like...arena bands, but bands that are probably playing to at least 10-15x the amount of people now.

 

Was disappointed he didn't write "Dear Rusty, thanks for the support A******!"

he signed it Slim Shady. Don't know if he still does that?

 

Yeah I believe he does still sign it slim shady, just in a different style now

 

I saw the Massachusetts date on that Warped Tour, and he pretty much received the same response (with the same reaction). And he handled it all with grace. Cypress Hill would have gone over so much better. Haha.

But this reminded me of another "before they popular story." That same day? Black Eyed Peas played an energetic mid-day set to an enthusiastic crowd. They truly killed it by comparison.

 

This one isn't so much a brag as a weird moment, but... In September 2000, I saw Nickelback play first of four as part of a radio-sponsored concert.

The other bands (in order of appearance): Kottonmouth Kings, the Get Up Kids, and Kittie.

Like I said. It was a weird fucking night.

 

I'd go see Nickelback and the Get Up Kids together tbh