A few weeks ago, I decided to take myself to see one of my favorite bands—X Ambassadors— in concert. I wasn’t in the most social mood that night, but after spending most of the week in my apartment, I decided I needed to see the outside world. After forcing myself out of the house and schlepping it to the Wiltern, I realized that, as much as I love the band, I wanted to be back in my bed as soon as possible. Fortunately for me, the show started right on time. Unfortunately for me, there was an opener.
As I came to this realization, I texted my friend, “Loooove the show starting at exactly 8 kinda hate that there’s an opener bc i actually don’t wanna be here that long.”
In 2020, the band I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (a project by former Panic! at the Disco bassist Dallon Weekes) dropped the song “Nobody Likes the Opening Band.” And unfortunately, they were kind of right. If there’s one thing all avid concertgoers are guilty of, it’s skipping the opening act at least once. We’ve all scoured the internet trying to find exact set times, planned our arrival around when the headliners should be starting, and groaned when we realized there’s more than one opener. I’ve done it more times than I’d like to admit. But for each time I’ve wished we could just skip to the main act (the reason I’m in the venue in the first place), there have been countless other times I’ve enjoyed the opener just as much as the headliner.
That X Ambassadors concert was one of those times. Minutes after sending that initial text, I swallowed my words. About halfway through the opener’s (Delacey, for those of you on the indie wave) first song, an acoustic ballad that allowed her velvet voice to ring through the venue, I sent a follow up message: “I take it back she’s good.”
Each time I’ve found myself following the opener on Instagram or adding their music to my Spotify library has brought me to the same conclusion. As tempting as it may be, concertgoers should—or dare I say need to—stop skipping the opening acts.
The most obvious reason to not skip the opener is being able to discover new music. In an age where our—or at least my—Spotify algorithm feeds us a constant stream of the same thing over and over again, it can be hard to break out of the bubble and listen to something new. When going to a concert, taking the time to see the opener(s) is an opportunity to do exactly that: discover new music. Not only are you being exposed to something that has not previously graced your headphones, but you are also listening to a song that has been curated for you by musicians you already love.
When I was a senior in high school, I trekked from my home on Long Island to Brooklyn to see Bishop Briggs, one of my favorite indie artists at the time. I luckily made it in time to catch her opening act, a band named Foreign Air. To this day they still have less than a million listeners on Spotify; thanks to Bishop Briggs, I am one of them. By the end of that year, Foreign Air was one of my most-streamed artists.
If you’re a regular concertgoer, you’ve probably had a similar experience. So why do you still keep skipping the openers?
By forgoing the opener you’re both losing out on the chance to find new music and disrespecting the headliner. You’re essentially telling them that you do not care about the experience they have worked to create for you. That the openers they felt their audience—you—would enjoy, don’t matter. They brought you into their usualrotation and showed you who they’re listening to now and who could be the next big thing.
If they’re good enough for your favorite artist, they should be good enough for you too.
If finding new music or showing respect to your favorite artists are not reason enough, maybe bragging rights will be. Many of the hottest tickets right now started off as someone’s opening act. Once upon a time, Lady Gaga opened for the Pussycat Dolls, Taylor Swift for Rascal Flatts, and two years ago, Doechii for Doja Cat. Now, Lady Gaga tickets go for well over a thousand dollars, Taylor Swift is one of the best-selling artists of all time and Doechii is the third woman in history to win the Grammy for Best Rap Album.
On more than one occasion, I’ve found myself falling in love with an opening act that then made it big themself. In 2013, I saw Twenty One Pilots open for Fall Out Boy. I’d never previously heard of the duo. Two years later, I was fighting for tickets for their headlining show at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom. The next year, I was doing the same for their sold out Madison Square Garden gig. In 2015, when going to see Imagine Dragons live (don’t judge, I was 14), I arrived too late to the venue and unintentionally missed their opening act, Halsey. Just a year later, I was on Ticketmaster purchasing tickets to see her at MSG.
So next time you text your friend complaining about an opener, remember that they might just become the next big thing—or, at least, your next favorite artist.