A curtain-raiser is an event, especially a sporting event or a performance, that takes place before a more important one, or starts off a series of events. The three-race series will be a curtain-raiser to the Monaco Grand Prix in May
{i} excitation that makes one's hair stand, something exciting, thriller; chiller, something that thrills; (Slang) person who causes wild excitement, person who causes terror
If you describe someone as a hell-raiser, you mean that they often behave in a wild and unacceptable way, especially because they have drunk too much alcohol