II-22: Pilate vs. Elderly Woman

[William Bloke]

I've seen a pretty idiosyncratic collection of openers: MFC, Small Town, Porch, Release, Why Go.

Porch was actually surprisingly good in that role, it's a song that's immediately recognisable to most casual fans and that slow beginning with Ed on guitar that I complained about earlier actually worked pretty well at slowly raising the energy level before the band kicked in.

Go and Breakerfall are mine. Both excellent, though Go was something else.

[Kevin Davis]

My roster of openers has been pretty standard fare, though after eight shows I've never had a duplicate:

Of the Girl
Do the Evolution
Release
Love Boat Captain
Long Road
Sometimes
Pendulum
Elderly Woman

[Birds in Hell]

It's casting my mind back too far to be reliable but I don't think MFC worked very well. Huge outdoor show, the crowd is all amped up to see Pearl Jam (in the 90s!) and they came out with...MFC. The energy level just wasn't quite right. Great song but I think it would work better in a smaller venue where the band plan on playing a non-standard kind of set, etc.

The opening three or four songs of a show really set the tone for the rest of the performance, you have to get them right.

[LoathedVermin72]

I got Sometimes and...I think World Wide Suicide.

[tragabigzanda]

I miss the pre-sets.

[Strat]

I got act of love That was awesome.

[Mike]

Why Go and Long Road for me. Long Road was awesome.

[Norah]

I think I've gotten all the traditional openers except Sometimes.

[Birds in Hell]

Why Go was a bit deflating when I saw it open the Adelaide show last year.

It's a fine song, and I realise this places a somewhat unfair expectation on the band, but it was a bit underwhelming compared to those Pendulum > (traditional opener) > (traditional opener) starts on most of the other Lightning Bolt tour shows.

Even though the shows were admittedly quite long by festival standards, it still feels like Australia got a pretty raw deal last time around (especially considering it had almost been five years since the band's last visit). I hope we get a proper, non-festival, arena-sized tour again at some point.

[LetMeSleep]

100% agree Mr Birds. DTE had sound issues too so it was incredibly underwhelming. From memory the show didn't hit its stride till about song 8 or so.

And those U.S. Sets with a few openers looked a treat. I can understand why we didn't get them though that doesn't help my disappointment.

[Birds in Hell]

Exactly, I can understand why playing to a festival crowd on a baking hot day isn't the right environment to break out the slowburn or more left-field tracks, but all the more reason I'd prefer to see the band play their own shows where they can stretch out a bit more. The 2006 Australian tour is the gold standard for me, wish I'd been able to catch a few more shows back then.

[vedder316]

I've actually seen Evenflow as an opener twice, one of which was the best show I've been at 9/5/00. I'm not real picky on the opener, Last Exit at Randall's Island in 1996 was tremendous, almost got trampled to death. Traditional or non-traditional, just hoping a great show follows.

Openers I've seen:

Pendulum (3)
Evenflow (2)
Release (2)
Small Town
Animal
Long Road
Hail, Hail
Last Exit

[hlniv]

Pilate is a great tune... I enjoy it much more than Small Town at this point...

[digster]

I think the effect of an opener very depends on what comes after it too, there's little point opening with Release and then rolling into Arms Aloft.

I agree, it may not have worked in the moment, but I see what Ed was going for and give him credit for trying.

Anyways, Small Town for me. It's a lovely little song.