The best opening act you've ever seen & heard?

I have to agree with everyone who's said this is a great thread!  Brought back lots of memories.

For me, the first great opening act I ever saw was UK with Bill Bruford, John Wetton, Allan Holdsworth and Eddie Jobson at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in 1978.  They did the entire first album and repeated "In The Dead of Night" for the encore.

The main act was Al Di Meola doing the Casino tour.  When he came out for his encore, he said he'd like to introduce "3 very special friends."  Chick Corea, Lenny White and Stanley Clarke came out and they did a 45 minute improv of "Romantic Warrior" mashed with "Duel of the Jester and the Tyrant."

No one was "better" than anyone else that night.  It was simply 8 of the best musicians on Earth at the top of their game playing for people who loved them.  A truly transcendental experience.

The only other one as memorable was seeing a young Joey Bonamassa at all of 10 or so doing a set with his dad's band at a place called the Beginning II in East Syracuse NY.  We saw him play a couple of years later with B.B. King in the Landmark Theater in downtown Syracuse.  5 or 6 years later, he was showing up on PBS specials.  We can truly say "we saw him when..."

Hey Richmon that must have been a great show! I did see Allen Toussaint open for Little Feat at the Irvine before Lowell left us. Caught The Captain with The Mothers for the Bongo Fury tour at the Trenton War Memorial and at Emerald City with Rootboy Slim opening. Saw him at the Bijou for the Bat Chain Puller tour also, a true original. We were shouting " webcor, webcor, webcor!

Loggins & Messina opening for Rare Earth in 1976.  Big mistake for Rare Earth.

@joeyfed55 - Also was at that Emerald City Beefheart concert, one of the few memories I have of the show is the Captain doing a song where he did his impression of a man in a straitjacket where the song lyric was 'I need some thorzine'

Always will remember the day my friend came over with orange sunshine and Trout Mask Replica - we musta listened to it 5 times and my brain never returned to earth 

Outlaws opened for Skynyrd. "There goes another love song" was on the radio some, but few were prepared for The Florida Guitar Army. 40 minute long Green Grass and High Tides encore blew everyone away.

Skynyrd came out drunk and were terrible and we left.