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You may or may not have seen that new show called Opening Act last night, wherein a team of “industry judges” – viz. Mary J Blige, Olivia Lee, and that unpleasant English guy from Popstars and So You Think You Can Dance – judge various hapless bands for the right to support huge stars like, um, LMFAO or Jason Mrazzzzzzzzzzz. Still, the show did get us thinking about how plenty of great bands have started their careers by playing some support slots that seem hilarious in retrospect, from Radiohead opening for Alanis Morrissette to Jimi Hendrix opening for the Monkees. And that, in turn, got us thinking about support slots we’d love to see some of our favorite bands play. In view of this, we thought we’d amuse ourselves by looking at some dream hypothetical line-ups, featuring some big-name (or biggish-name, at least) headline acts, past and present, along with the indie bands we’d love to have seen open for them.

Pink Floyd

Support act: Dirty Projectors

Of course, there’s Floyd and there’s Floyd, but in this case we’re talking about early, Barrett-era Floyd, because today’s indie scene is a lot heavier on psychedelic whimsy than it is on weighty stadium concept albums about pigs and alienation. There are any number of indie types who’d nestle nicely on a dream bill with late 1960s Floyd – and would probably jump at the opportunity to do so – but since they’re fresh in everyone’s minds at the moment, we’re plumping for Dirty Projectors.