After Gracie Abrams announced her The Secret of Us: Deluxe Tour recently, an anonymous fan going by the alias ‘Dexter Morgan’ (taken from the TV show Dexter) took to change.org to express their ‘concern’ over one of the support acts. Dora Jar, an American bedroom-pop singer-songwriter, has been accused of being not ‘well-known’ or ‘energetic’ enough to justify her place on Abrams’ stage, with Morgan writing a petition to have her replaced. Although it has now been taken down, this raises questions about how we perceive support acts, and what their purpose is. Morgan writes that, ‘for a memorable concert experience, an opening act should set the mood and get the crowd excited, but Dora’s slow tempo songs may not achieve this goal.’ They even (literally) cite Billboard, explaining that ‘upbeat opening acts are essential to the overall concert experience as they set the tone for the headlining act and help in keeping the audience’s energy up throughout the show’. But does a support act really have to be high-energy to be effective?
Generally, support acts tend to play music of a similar style to the artist they are opening for. In that sense, Dora Jar seems perfectly suited to Gracie Abrams’ acoustic guitar-driven pop. With the Venn diagram of Taylor Swift and Gracie Abrams fans being almost a perfect circle, many are comparing Dora Jar to Swift’s support acts, who range from the likes of Paramore to Sabrina Carpenter. But while the music they make is similar, the performances they put on are not: Swift has a fleet of backing dancers, multiple costume changes and a huge stage to fill. It follows that she not only needs to, but is able to, acquire already hugely successful artists as support. Gracie Abrams, however, is just one girl with a guitar. She is also set to play much smaller venues. She simply does not require the intensity provided by artists such as Paramore – not to mention the fact that she is a much smaller artist than Swift, and the artists that are available to support her are even smaller. It’s not at all unusual for a support act to play more laid-back, subdued music – and just because they are, it doesn’t mean they aren’t able to build an atmosphere.
One cannot help but note the irony of those complaining that Dora Jar is too ‘unknown’ to provide a decent opening performance, given that Gracie Abrams herself only gained popularity after supporting Taylor Swift. Instead of seeing a name on a lineup and being disappointed, we should be excited at the chance to discover something new. Back in 2021, I was sat queuing with some friends to see Declan McKenna play at the Cambridge Junction. With time to kill, we decided to look at the support act on Spotify: they were a band we’d never heard of, with only one song released. In our boredom, we decided to listen to this song on repeat and commit the lyrics to memory, so by the time they came on stage we were genuinely excited to hear them play it. When they did, we formed a small group in the front row singing along to every word, and you could see the excitement (and bewilderment) on their faces. This band was Wet Leg, and the song in question ‘Chaise Longue’; I remember feeling a very strong sense of superiority at having discovered them first when they rose to popularity the following year. While they’re not my favourite artist by any means, it’s far more fun to engage with a support act than ignore them.
During Harry Styles’ Love On Tour in 2022, Mitski provided the support for five UK dates. Particularly after the Glasgow show, Harry Syles fans took to social media to express disapproval of Mitski’s performance. Known for her interpretative dance movements on stage, she provided mildly erotic dance that fans called ‘wrong on so many levels’. Her exaggerated, experimental movements were called ‘weird’ by fans, yet others were quick to point out the misogyny and hypocrisy in criticising Mitski’s dance, given that Harry Styles himself did similar and was met with cheers. Regardless of opinion, the videos shared online highlighted a wider problem: a disrespectful crowd ignoring Mitski’s performance altogether. No one is saying you must be as attentive to an opener as to the main act, but basic decency dictates that loudly talking, laughing, and facing away from the stage while an artist is performing is just plain rude – not only to the artist but also to those in the audience who want to listen. Ironically, these same fans, who claim to admire Styles, seem to forget his mantra: ‘Treat People With Kindness’.
Ultimately, people are losing sight of the purpose of a support act. You don’t have to love their music, and you don’t have to be as transfixed by their performance as you might be by the headliner, but ignoring them entirely is unquestionably rude. Support acts don’t owe anyone a particular type of performance either. People criticised Mitski for being ‘too weird’ and Dora Jar for being ‘too slow,’ yet the reason artists have support acts in the first place is to platform smaller musicians. While many Gracie Abrams fans’ experiences of support acts are shaped by the exceptional case of Paramore opening for Taylor Swift, this is far from the norm. Why are people so reluctant to hear someone new? Every artist was unknown at some point; I’ve discovered some incredible musicians by seeing them open for larger acts (White Flowers opening for Beach House, and Wunderhorse opening for Fontaines D.C., just to name a few). While our collective attention spans may be diminishing thanks to social media and short-form videos, let’s at least try to have an open mind the next time we go to a gig. Who knows? You might discover the next big artist before anyone else, and there’s nothing quite like the smug satisfaction that comes with that.
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