Who did you see live before they were big?

[DanOregon]

Watching the final season of Schitt's Creek - I recalled seeing Victor Garber on the national tour of "They're Playing Our Song" in the '80s. Also saw Megan Hilty in a tour of "Wicked" (both were fantastic.) Also recall seeing James Shields play for the Birmingham Barons. Also recall seeing Jeff Kent play for Cal baseball and Kenny G open for George Benson. And went to high school with Will Forte.
Any others?

 

[User 149557]

The weirdest? Katy Perry was a Christian pop singer who went by Katy Hidon at one point and I saw her sing at a music festival when I was in high school. Only after she hit it big did I remember it.

 

[ChrisLong]

Dozens if you count the people you went to school with or covered while they were in high school or college.

 

[PCLoadLetter]

• Saw No Doubt when Gwen Stefani was their backup singer and she was still in high school
• Saw the Red Hot Chili Peppers play a bar and at a beer garden at my college
• Saw Sheryl Crow open for Crowded House in a club
• Saw a horrid, droning industrial band called Psi Com open for Fishbone in a club. It was one of their last (and only) shows before they made a lineup shift and changed their name to Jane's Addiction.
• Saw INXS in a club

 

[tea and ease]

Dozens if you count the people you went to school with or covered while they were in high school or college.

Oh c'mon. You know what the spirit of the question was. Before they were "big"? If I heard of them they were probably big somewhere, but Huey Lewis and the News. Spouse tuned the piano for him prior to the concert and we got free tickets (and were paid for the tuning). Small club in Delaware more known for social drinking than acts. Huey was enamored by the autotune technology. Also Jay Leno, who I don't find find funny now, or didn't even before, but in the moment he was hilarious. Herd comedy.

 

[ChrisLong]

Oh c'mon. You know what the spirit of the question was. Before they were "big"? If I heard of them they were probably big somewhere, but Huey Lewis and the News. Spouse tuned the piano for him prior to the concert and we got free tickets (and were paid for the tuning). Small club in Delaware more known for social drinking than acts. Huey was enamored by the autotune technology. Also Jay Leno, who I don't find find funny now, or didn't even before, but in the moment he was hilarious. Herd comedy.

Didn't mean to ridicule your question, that's why I didn't start naming people. Good thread, hope more people chime it.

 

[rtse11]

I saw Bon Jovi open for Ratt (swear to God).
At one point my sister-in-law turned to me and said, "My, he has pretty hair."

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

I saw Pearl Jam in a small club in Frankfurt, Germany about 2 weeks before they blew up massively stateside. Even that was a tough ticket.

I would have to comb through all my saved playbills, but I swear I also saw one of Oasis' first gigs in Manchester in 1992-ish.

 

[MTM]

I didn't see them, but when I was in high school in 1975, one of my best friends summoned a group of us to to the library to listen to a cassette from his cousin's new band. The group was Heart and the album was Dreamboat Annie. His cousin is Howard Leese, who played guitar and keyboards.

 

[Moderator1]

Jimmy Buffett

Fleetwood Mac

 

[Michael_ Gee]

My wife Alice was at the old Harvard Square Theater concert where Bruce opened for Bonnie Raitt and then she wouldn't go on. That's a pretty high bar.

 

[I Should Coco]

There was already a buzz about them ... their music was heavily played on my college radio station, KRUI ... but caught Uncle Tupelo and Smashing Pumpkins when they came through Iowa City in the early 1990s.

 

[Songbird]

Saw a guy named Bob Dylan open for the Dead at the Meadowlands in '94 or '95.

That Dylan went on to do great things.

 

[User 150927]

Florida Georgia Line... Walked out during the second song. They were awful and the sound system was worse.

 

[BTExpress]

My wife Alice was at the old Harvard Square Theater concert where Bruce opened for Bonnie Raitt and then she wouldn't go on. That's a pretty high bar.

That's probably because Bruce didn't finish until midnight, and Raitt just wanted to go to bed.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

I saw Donald Trump in Atlantic City circa 1986. He and his first wife did an acoustic set outside the gift shop. First time, I heard him do such future classics as Wrong, Sad, and Bigly. The main number, though, was a thrilling ride that I assumed was named “you ****ing *****.” Never heard it again, but the energy he had doing that with one was magnetic.

 

[tapintoamerica]

I wish I could contribute to this. I am in awe of many of these posts. My closest is Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit in a small club, but that’s specious because Isbell had an identity at that point.
I had a chance to see U2 in 1984 at a 1,500-capacity venue, but I declined in order to study for an exam. Got a C in the class. One of my regrets.

 

[jackfinarelli]

My wife and I saw America as an opening act for the Everly Brothers at a small club in DC in the early/mid-70s. They finished their opening act by doing "A Horse With No Name".

 

[Matt1735]

I saw Jeff Dunham and Jeff Foxworthy (separately) at the Punchline in Atlanta before they went big.

 

[Vombatus]

R.E.M.

They opened for The Police on the Synchronicity tour. Norfolk Scope.