Second Bananas!

It’s sad to say, but most opening acts are treated like the cousins of your family that you really don’t like, while the headliner act is given all of the glory.

Even worse, there’s usually one huge musical disconnect between the opener and the main act.

A couple of years ago, I waited almost three hours for a Ryan Adams show. The opening act were two teachers from the local school system who tried their best, but…

They couldn’t sing, nor could they play their way around the block. And yes, they were just bloody awful, but I’ll give them all of the credit in the world for trying their act out in a very small venue all filled up with liquored up Ryan Adams fans.

A couple of years ago, Wilco played a show at the most awful, fan-unfriendly place in Philly called “Festival Pier”, which is one huge slab of concrete set on the banks of the Delaware River, with very few pleasantries (meaning that the good “Flying Fish” beer ran out early).

Guess who opened up for Wilco? My Morning Jacket, and I swear there were only 100 of us dancing around the front of the stage to this band, hair, beards, Chucky T’s and all. Jim James said, “Wow, this is like playing a backyard barbeque!”

So, last Friday, Paul and I went to see Danielia Cotton at “World Café Live”, and we love her!

But, her opener, a band called “The Alternate Routes” really perked up my ears. I picked up both of their CD’s at their merch table, and it’s clear to see that this band has both songwriting and pure musicianship ready to go…with a full band or an acoustic one.

So, don’t ever make the mistake of showing up late for a show just because you’d care to miss the opening act.

You just may miss the “next big thing”!