Classless Act singer Derek Day said a case of “right place, right time” landed his band the Stadium Tour opening slot for Motley Crue, Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett.

The rising-star band just released its debut album, Welcome to the Show, and even though it performs only a four-song set at each show, its audience is significantly larger than anything it’s played to before.

“We were recording the album – we had Bob Rock produce it – and he only produced about half of it before the pandemic had struck the world,” Day told Vinyl Writer Music in a recent interview. “So, he couldn’t finish the album, but when Bob jumped off the project, he suggested that we record the album at Tommy Lee’s place because he has a studio under his house.”

That led to a situation where Lee would appear and “listen to a lot of the unfinished material before anyone else heard it,” Day noted. “And that sort of put us in a cool spot. It didn’t get us a spot on the Stadium Tour, but it kind of showed people who we were as people and as a band.”

The next step came when Classless Act approached Crue’s management with the completed record. “It certainly helped that we had Bob on our side and we had management,” the singer said. As it happened, the previously announced opening act, Tuk Smith and the Restless Hearts, were unable to join the tour. “It was just right place, right time. ... I know Tuk - he was on that tour because he was ready to go, and then everything kind of hit the fan. So, now, we just had finished our album right when the pandemic had ended, so it was kind of perfect timing.”

Day said his band was able to analyze attendance figures for each Stadium Tour stop. "We’ve been trying to track that as much as we can," he noted. "Sometimes it’s been 4,000 people around 3:30 or 4. One time, it was like 8,700, which is pretty damn good. And one time it rained a little bit, and we just pushed everything back about 30 minutes and then had 21,000 people in the stadium. … Regardless, there’s a lot of people there - more than any club we’ve ever played, every show. So, it’s frickin’ mind-bending."

Asked if Classless Act was finding it difficult to control their energy level after a short set, Day said, “What’s really challenging is the opposite. In a weird way, it’s like we put 110 billion percent out in the first two songs, so we’re actually quite tired by the third or fourth song. Luckily, those are, like, the only songs we play. … It’s still a learning experience, but hopefully, we’ll get it down by the 10th show or so.” He added that he hasn't spent any time with the artists higher up the bill yet.

“We talked to Poison … even Joan Jett a little bit," he said. "It’s just been passing, very polite. … Hopefully, soon we’ll be able to have those conversations.”

Def Leppard, Motley Crue, Poison, Joan Jett, Classless Act Opening Night 2022

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