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For those who grew up during the Classic Rock era of flash-bangs, fireworks, and endless drum and guitar solos, the concept of live music is forever tied to the halcyon days of Stadium Rock and the iconic venues that came to define this revolutionary moment from the long and varied history of rock and roll. From the Hollywood Bowl to the Pontiac Silverdome, SkyriseCities will take a look back at four classic venues dating from the early days of Big Band to the heyday of 1970s Arena Rock, spanning a period of nearly fifty years.
Hollywood Bowl (1922-Present)
First opened in Los Angeles in 1922, the 17,500-capacity Hollywood Bowl began as a relatively modest open-air concert venue, perched amid the Hollywood Hills. Built to be the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the venue gained its iconic bandshell design in 1929 thanks to Allied Architects who themselves framed their concept after a shell designed for the site during the previous year by Lloyd Wright, the son of famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. This iteration of the Hollywood Bowl remained in use until 2003, after which the Bowl temporarily closed for renovations, reopening with an updated design in 2004.
One of the longest-serving live music stadium venues in the United States, the Hollywood Bowl has been home to nearly a century's worth of musical genres and performers. Beginning with Big Band orchestral acts, the Hollywood Bowl eventually became a go-to venue throughout the 1940s and 50s for performers such as Al Jolson, Judy Garland, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald. Into the 1960s and beyond, the Bowl gave way to rock and roll, with two appearances by The Beatles (1964 and 1965), whose performance there led to the production of The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl live album, along with performances by Jimi Hendrix (1968), The Doors (1968, also associated with a live album), Elton John (1973), The Who (2002), Cher (2005), and many more. The Hollywood Bowl has also been featured in many popular films and television series, including A Star is Born (1937), Anchors Aweigh (1945, with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra), Beaches (1988), and with a well-remembered cameo on The Simpsons in a 1995 episode featuring Tom Jones.
Maple Leaf Gardens (1931-2004; Loblaws/Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens 2012-Present)
Though likely best remembered as Canada's 'cathedral of hockey,' and long-time home to the Toronto Maple Leafs, the original Maple Leaf Gardens, built in 1931 by the Toronto architectural firm Ross and MacDonald, was also home to a long list of iconic rock concerts. For many generations of young Canadians through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, the venue represented the place of introduction for such legendary performers as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis (1952), Chuck Berry (1956, 1957), Elvis (1957), The Beatles (1964, 1965, 1966), The Monkees (1967), The Doors (1969), Jimi Hendrix (1969), Led Zeppelin (1971), and of course, Canada's own Rush (1976), to name but a few.
By the 1990s, Maple Leaf Gardens was nearing the end of its useful life as both a hockey arena and concert venue, as the 60-year old structure no longer lived up to modern standards. The last concerts held there included Nirvana (1993), Radiohead (1997), and Bob Dylan (1998). Maple Leaf Gardens closed in the early 2000s, followed by a 2004 purchase by Loblaws, which spent several years transforming the ground level of the former stadium into a flagship location for that company's grocery store chain. In 2009, Ryerson University entered into a partnership with Loblaws to create a new hockey arena within the top level of the structure, which opened as the Mattamy Athletic Centre at the Gardens in 2012. The entire structure was designated as a National Historic Site in 2007.
Located in Midtown Manhattan above New York's Penn Station, Madison Square Garden has been home to several of the most iconic events in rock and roll history since the stadium's opening in 1968. Built upon the site of the former Pennsylvania Station, a 1910-built, Beaux-Arts style masterpiece which was controversially demolished in 1963, Madison Square Garden (the fourth structure to bear the name) is a testament to that era's affinity for the often callous promotion of urban renewal over the then-nascent call for historic preservation. The most expensive venue of its type ever built, the stadium underwent a billion dollar renovation in 2013, consisting of a near-total overhaul and update.
Since its debut, Madison Square Garden has been host to several iconic performances, including George Harrison's well-documented Concert for Bangladesh (1971), John Lennon (1972), Elvis (1972), and Elton John and John Lennon (1974, featuring Lennon's last live performance), to name but a few. Madison Square Garden has also served as a favourite venue for several artists, including Billy Joel and Elton John, who have both performed there more than 60 times, followed by Madonna with more than 30 performances, and U2 with more than 25. Popular for its central location in the heart of Manhattan, Madison Square Garden endures as one of the most recognizable stadiums in the United States.
Pontiac Silverdome (1975-2006;2010-2013)
Opening in Pontiac, Michigan, in 1975, the Detroit-area Pontiac Silverdome best epitomizes that era's well-established love affair with mega-stadiums. The futuristic, silver-topped, pressurized fibreglass dome from which the Silverdome gained its name and claim to fame, was capable of holding nearly 100,000 people (82,000 officially, more during special events). Home of the Detroit Lions from 1975-2001, the Pontiac Silverdome is perhaps best remembered by music fans as the site of some of the twentieth century's most notoriously raucous, over-packed concerts, with record-breaking attendance figures from the 1970s heyday of Stadium Rock often reaching into the upper 70-plus thousands.
Soon after opening, the Pontiac Silverdome quickly became a popular venue for rock concerts, as the stadium's large capacity and state-of-the-art construction and facilities were a massive draw for the biggest international acts and performers of the day. Early in its existence, the Silverdome was host to The Who (1975), garnering a record-breaking 75,962 attendees. This figure was surpassed by Led Zeppelin (1977), with 76,229 attendees during a particularly rambunctious show, which included the detonation of thousands of firecrackers in the stands, an act which caused frontman Robert Plant to address the crowd in an effort to regain some form of decorum and order. In later years, the Silverdome was host to the Rolling Stones (1981), Bruce Springsteen (1985), Madonna (1987), Pink Floyd (1994), and Metallica (1999). Ironically, despite the stadium's reputation as a premier hard rock venue, the highest ever attendance record was achieved in 1987, when 93,682 fans came to attend a public mass with Pope John Paul II. Closed since 2013, the Pontiac Silverdome is set to be demolished in 2016.
While modern-day concert venues such as London's O2 Arena have easily eclipsed the technological offerings of these early stadiums, there can be no tangible replacement for the shared memory and collective experience of attending a concert at one of these legendary icons of the bygone days of classic Arena Rock. No matter the performer, no matter the venue, there can be no substitute for the distinct thrill of 50,000 screaming fans catching their first glimpse of Elvis, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, or Led Zeppelin crossing the stage and making music history.
