I never saw anyone good that opened for Yes. I will comment though on a few
openers I recall.
Ace in 1975. They reminded me of a bar band opening for Yes. Sucked.
Gentle Giant - I just remembered! They were GREAT!
Felix Papilardi's Mountain in 1976 in Fresno California. Sucked even worse.
By the end of their set, about 30-some-odd minutes in they actually
introduced their final tune, "Johnny B. Good", which received a round of
boo's from the crowd as well as a a couple of beer bottles tossed on stage.
I can't recall if they played the tune or not, but Felix was pretty pissed
at the crowd, walked off the stage flipping the ol' middle finger to all,
and then he killed himself (a couple years later)
Donovan in 1977. Boring, until he did the Intergalactic Laxative ("will get
you from here to Mars"), had the crowd singing and laughing ("if shitting is
your problem"). Great lyrics, almost Dylan-like, eh?
Thankfully that was the end of opening acts for Yes whenever I saw them
again. I never saw the Alan Parsons/Yes tour.
I have always thought that the death of Prog-Rock in the 70's was largely
due to the bands themselves not touring together. I'm not talking about Yes
with ELP or King Crimson with Genesis, but it would have been very wise to
have a bill like Yes with Camel, or Genesis with Barclay James Harvest,
Focus with ELP, King Crimson with The Village People.....
Nic
Post by Jimhmmm
I'm a fan of John Martyn - seen him live a few times - and I know he was
support sometime somewhere but I missed it.
Donovan? I remember some rambling anti-drug song which resulted in him
being booed comprehensively.
Gryphon were good at QPR as far as I can remember but I'd never heard them
before and I can't remember who else was there.
There must be more...