I saw them before they were popular Tour • Page 4

Oh one more, I saw Pvris open for Nightmares and some other no name Risecore band back before White Noise when they were still kinda VersaEmerge/There For Tomorrow-y

 

I’ve seen ATL play in a local church with about 50 other people back in 2005

 

Not my story but worth sharing. My gf saw System of a Down in 97 or 98 with her dad at a (I think Best Buy or Target) parking lot before they put their debut album out. Her dad has the show on video and there's about 50 or less people there. They were giving out their demo too.

 

Oh wow! That reminds me of one I completely forgot. I saw Drowning Pool right around the time their first album came out in the parking lot of a local record store. I was only 11 or 12, but my dad and godfather wanted to go too.

 

- I saw Motionless In White shortly before Creatures came out when they were part of the Thrash and Burn Tour in 2010. They were the 2nd band on like a 10 band bill so they played very early in the day, but to be perfectly honest, they actually had one of the best sets. I also saw them opening for Black Veil Brides (yuck) later that same year. Now they're basically considered Warped Tour headliners and have opened for bands as big as Slipknot, Korn, Breaking Benjamin, Lacuna Coil etc.

- Saw Stick To Your Guns on the same tour that I first saw Motionless In White.

- Saw Stray From The Path when they were opening for Underoath on the Illuminatour.

- I saw In Fear And Faith right around the time Imperial came out by complete chance/accident. They were added to a local show consisting of bands on Warped (Attack Attack!, Parkway Drive, Pierce The Veil, Confide, and one other I think I'm forgetting that wasn't IFAF) super last minute. I guess you could also count Pierce The Veil as part of this since they weren't that big at the time but absolutely exploded a couple years later.

- I saw Miss May I when they were opening for Silverstein in early 2011. They were decently known in the metalcore scene at the time, but they seemed to get huge around the time At Heart came out.

- Not me, but my brother saw A Day To Remember when they were opening for Bayside sometime in 2007. That's actually how I originally found out about ADTR. I ended up checking out their music because he said they were good and went straight to Borders (R.I.P) and bought For Those Who Have Heart. You all know how fucking huge they've gotten since then.

EDIT: Remembered a couple more:

- Saw State Champs when they were opening for Motion City Soundtrack in 2013, I think? It was one of their first major tours.

- Saw The Amity Affliction when they were opening for Asking Alexandria in early 2012. I know they were already pretty big in Australia at the time, but no one in the U.S. really seemed to know them yet.

- Saw Issues two separate times in 2013 when they were opening for Silverstein and when they were opening for Pierce The Veil. Not even a month apart if I remember correctly

- Saw Memphis May Fire when they were playing in the Loft at the Poughkeepsie Chance Theater as part of the All Stars Tour in 2011. This was like, right when The Hollow came out, so they were starting to gain a little steam.

 

What local Columbus bands?

 

Oh man I miss Northstar.

 

Northstar appreciation post.

 

2013: real friends/knuckle puck play to 60 people at a small venue
2013: State champs opening for counterparts in someone’s backyard
2014: Modern baseball, tiny moving parts, the hotelier, sorority noise play to 150 people in a rural park in Indiana
2014: the hotelier house show for 30 people, played home in full

 

I went to STYG's first Keeping Warm In A Cold World tour in 2010. They were of course already big on a local scale here in Orange County, but weren't quite there nationally/internationally yet.

 

I didn't realize STYG wasnt popular outside of So Cal until then. Starting in 2007, I started seeing their name on many flyers. They'd usually be at the top too.

 

Glad to see someone mention Hot Rod Circuit. They were playing HRC on the speakers between sets at the Alkaline Trio show in Philly and I was one of like 10 people on the floor singing along lol

 

Also it's crazy to see stories about how big Motionless In White is now because they're from here and have had a huge local following since like 2007. I feel like I've never truly grasped their popularity for that reason.

 

that Twenty One Pilots private set was so good

 

*cracks fingers*

-Panic! At The Disco was the first band on a bill headlined by Acceptance that also featured: TREOS, Cartel and Augustana in 2005

-Paramore opening for The Rocket Summer in 2006. Pressure was just starting to get major play

-Chiodos opening for Armor For Sleep and Boys Night Out in early 2006

-A Day To Remember opening for Dance Gavin Dance, Alesana, and the show was headlined by Drop Dead, Gorgeous. 2007? I believe

-The Wonder Years in 2008, still playing songs off of Get Stoked On It!

If I think of any more, I’ll update the post. These were the first that came to mind.

 

1) I saw The Academy Is... play in Poughkeepsie as the first opener about 6 months before their first album came up and they blew up. Matchbook Romance headlined.
2) Saw the 1975 at Hull Freedom Festival the day they found out their first album went #1. Big show obviously, but you could tell they were on to even bigger

 

TDWP in November, 2007 (Toronto) but there seemed to be a decent amount of people there. Was a great show, the other bands that were there were: Chiodos, Emery, and Scary Kids Scaring Kids.

 

I saw Taking Back Sunday and Brand New at my friend’s super small venue right before or right after TAYF and YFW were out. 2001 or 2002? I can’t remember

I saw Fall Out Boy at the same venue around that same time.

I saw The Used at that same venue. It was the show where they played “On My Own” for the very first time live. During that show, Bert screamed so hard in the middle of a song that he threw up all over the stage, and then Quinn took his guitar off, dropped it into the puke, jumped on it, and then picked it back up and kept playing. Craziest thing I’d ever seen hahaha. It was the first show they played right after getting signed I think.

I saw Imagine Dragons a couple times at a super small venue that they used to always play at called Velour. Maybe 200 cap?

I saw Neon Trees at the same venue too around the same time. When they only had a couple EPs out.

I saw Recover and Say Anything open for Armor For Sleep once at a 150 cap venue.

Saw Paramore right as their first album was about to come out. I saw on their street team and had a TON of album sampler promo CDs and stickers.

I saw The 1975 just before they exploded. It was right around the time “Chocolate” hit radio.

That’s all I can think of right now.

 

A few:

Saw Real Friends and Knuckle Puck play a house show in my college town in 2013.

Saw Creeper play their first show in the states to ten people.

Saw twenty one pilots at the KISS FM studio with 20-30 other people right after Vessel came out.

Saw Circa Survive open for Mae in 2005 right when Juturna was released. I had no idea who they were.

 

I saw Blackbear open for T. Mills and I had no ide who he was in like 2014 or 15

 

Katy Perry at Warped Tour 08

 

Circa Survive opening for Lucero

Playing to no more than 25-30 people in Toronto. Had a drink with Anthony after his set.

I'm sure there are others but that one always stands out to me

 

I’ve seen Mitski, Frankie Cosmos, Alex G, Porches, Elvis Depressedly, and a few others in that realm play DIY shows to 30-40 people when I was in high school and it’s funny because I don’t even listen to any of those bands

I was also at Sorority Noise’s first show ever and their set was 12 minutes long and sounded like absolute ass

 

Motion City Soundtrack- @ a Providence bar when they only had an EP out. Probably 30 people there for their set.
Taking Back Sunday, Coheed - @ 500 person club on both their first albums
TBS, Coheed, My Chemical Romance @ 500 person club all on their first album
The Gaslight Anthem - 200 person bar on first album, 500 person club on 59 sound release date
Wonder Years, Transit- church basement
30 seconds to Mars - 150 person bar when 1st album came out
Explosions in the Sky - right after Earth is not a cold dead place came out

 

I saw them with Over It, Rufio, and Motion City Soundtrack at Maxwells in Hoboken back in '03. Definitely one of the best shows I've been to..