Opening Acts Who Made It Big

MeadForMyHorses

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Tonight's Luke Combs concert has me remembering about the Brantley Gilbert concert at Wells Fargo about 10 years ago. Luke Combs opened that night. It was just him and his acoustic guitar. Now he's sold 60,000 tickets at JTS!

So who have you seen as an opener who hit the bigtime??
 
Not necessarily opener, but I’ve only been to two of the free stage concerts at the Iowa State Fair - Old Dominion and Ella Langley.

Only opener I’ve seen that is semi-well known but nowhere near Luke Combs level is Jimmie Allen, who opened for Toby Keith at the Fair in 2019.
 
Not necessarily opener, but I’ve only been to two of the free stage concerts at the Iowa State Fair - Old Dominion and Ella Langley.

Only opener I’ve seen that is semi-well known but nowhere near Luke Combs level is Jimmie Allen, who opened for Toby Keith at the Fair in 2019.

I remember seeing The Band Perry at the free stage too.
 
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Behemoth opening for Six Feet Under in 2003 or 2004 at the Launchpad in Albuquerque. Behemoth went on to be a huge band in the extreme metal world. Skinless played between Behemoth and SFU on that tour and some crappy emo band called As I Lay Dying played before Behemoth. As I Lay Dying became really big too. I went outside during their set because emo sucks.

Deftones opening for Pantera and White Zombie in Cedar Rapids (?) in the 90s. This was before their Around the Fur album came out.

Saw Slipknot a couple times before they made it big. Have never really been a big fan though.

My old band played with Bongzilla a couple times. The first time was in the late 90s and they weren't too big yet. Became one of the biggest names in the stoner metal genre.
 
Bon Jovi opened for .38 Special in Hilton back in the late 1980s. He turned out OK.
Was in row 6 or so on the floor in Hilton for that. Remember it vividly thinking this guy is freaking awesome. Definitely top two of any concerts I've been to. 38 Special was spectacular with at the time what seemed like a 30 man orchestra. Good Times Indeed
 
A lot of big bands opened at one point for someone.
RUSH opened for KISS
AC/DC opened for Triumph
Saw Iron Maiden as an opener
Saw Alice in Chains in a bar
Jon cougar opened for Molly Hatchet
Saw Adele in a bar before she hit big.
I could go on and on