Artists/bands you saw before they were big

And what’s your story or memories behind it?

I saw AFI at a small dive bar in ‘98 in NYC right before their bigger indie records dropped when they were still an underground hardcore punk band. It was a 4 band all ages bill with Snapcase, Good Riddance, and Boy Sets Fire (show was sickkkk). They tore the place up and Davey Havok was literally swinging from the rafters of the like 8ft high ceiling you could jump up to reach.

I also saw Maroon 5 opening for both Phantom Planet and Rooney at basically a banquet hall for weddings/bat mitzvahs in the early 00’s outside NYC. No one knew who they were or cared, but they played This Love and all the other first album hits and closed with a funk rock cover of NIN’s Closer that got some peeps attention. I left impressed tbh being that they seemed fully formed and poised which you usually don’t see with an opening band on an indie rock show. They went from playing to a couple dozen indie kids opening at doors to huge pop stars less than a year later.