(01-27-2013 05:32 PM)uofmbrad Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 02:04 AM)k2tigers Wrote:  ^^^ LOL

That place was a shrine for me growing up.

Every sport ever played there, in conceivably every league
Wrasslin
Concerts

And I know EXACTLY what the poster meant by "that smell." Too funny.

The program vendor that stood at the top of the southwest entrance steps, with the white beard.

Quote:The board that showed foul counts, with handwritten player names.

i was in hardings gym many many moons ago and one of those old boards was in there. i have no idea if it still is. i havent been back since my little sister graduated i dont think

those red dyed hot dogs were some of the best

fimsy paper cups of flat coke with a single giant chunk of ice in the middle of it. the sensation it was when they started selling PRONTO PUPS! cigarette and cigar smoke so thick in the area you could hardly see the ceiling tiles. you cannot name an act from 1964 til it shut down that did not play that building. it is said that it is the only venue that elvis and the beatles both played. finding a list of the beatles US concerts is easy, a list of all the elvis ones is not so. i saw south stars & riverkings hockey, rogues, americans & storm indoor soccer, pro's tams & sounds ABA games, the globetrotters, ringling brothers and shrine circus', probably 90% of every tiger basketball game played there, rodeos, concerts (the 83 judas priest one is a dvd) and got my MSU diploma there. my dad was a superintendant for S&W when it was being built alongside the stadium and loved to tell about the day they took the bracing out from underneath the dome structure and were relieved that it supported itself. when my oldest son was just a toddler, i took him to a charity basketball game there where one of the attractions was that you could go down on the court and take a shot or two. i put him on my shoulders and stood under the east goal just so i could let him take a shot on the court where keith lee and all those other tiger greats once played. to a whole lot of people my age, that building is a huge part of our lives - not just the dark shell that younger folks only know now.

its a special place that i hate to see go, but understand why it does. the circle of life.

In 2000, the coliseum was added to the National Register of Historic Places

(01-27-2013 08:04 PM)OneShiningMoment Wrote:  those red dyed hot dogs were some of the best

Those are King Cotton. Y'all can still buy them Saw 'em at Kroger over the summer.

(01-27-2013 05:18 PM)k2tigers Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 04:23 PM)kpigout Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 03:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 10:09 AM)83msu Wrote:  Phfffttt..newbies. I was there for the Dave Clark Five. I think that was the first act to play there. Saw the Beatles too. OK so I am old.

They used to allow smoking in the concourse and when you would get ready too leave the smoke was so thick you would choke on it.

I saw Led Zep from the top row....i'm old too.

My First time and concert there was The Monkeys.

Saw Deep Purple, Skynyrd, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, and many, many others, as well as hundreds of Monday night wrestling events, Tiger games, etc.

Dang all of you. I saw a ton but obviously not all.



Led Zep - missed it. Kpig, I saw Sabbath and AC.

Cooper was great. Billion Dollar babies tour. Massive amounts of costume changes and props...Guillotine...Live boa.......the top hat and white suit...etc.

Seger was night moves/Live Bullet tour. I was a quarter way around the arena top right in front of the rail. Can't remember which song, but it slowed down, just Seger on Piano in a spotlight, when suddenly, a spotlight hits right in front of me and his sax player is standing right in front of me on the rail and busts into a solo...freakin" awesome !

(01-27-2013 10:09 AM)83msu Wrote:  Phfffttt..newbies. I was there for the Dave Clark Five. I think that was the first act to play there. Saw the Beatles too. OK so I am old.

They used to allow smoking in the concourse and when you would get ready too leave the smoke was so thick you would choke on it.

Yeah, I saw the Dave Clark Five there as well as the Monkees, Jimi Hendrix, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Bob Dylan, and others. Also went to the WDIA Goodwill Revue shows.

First time there was with my dad to see the old Memphis Wings hockey team. I think it had just opened.

OT--I saw the Beatles at the Stockyards/International Amphitheater in Chicago in 66. Forty five years later I dated a woman here in north Iowa, and it turned out she had been at the same concert.

(01-27-2013 08:42 PM)OneShiningMoment Wrote:  In 2000, the coliseum was added to the National Register of Historic Places

Freeman Coliseum here was built in 1947, and is still going strong. ATT Center was built right next to it, and it's still used.

Wish they would fix up the Mid South. It ain't that old.

program from the first tiger basketball game played at the mid-south coliseum

(01-27-2013 04:23 PM)kpigout Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 03:34 PM)mapdude Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 10:09 AM)83msu Wrote:  Phfffttt..newbies. I was there for the Dave Clark Five. I think that was the first act to play there. Saw the Beatles too. OK so I am old.

They used to allow smoking in the concourse and when you would get ready too leave the smoke was so thick you would choke on it.

I saw Led Zep from the top row....i'm old too.

My First time and concert there was The Monkeys.

Saw Deep Purple, Skynyrd, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, and many, many others, as well as hundreds of Monday night wrestling events, Tiger games, etc.

Elvis twice, Eagles, Aerosmith (old days), Queen, Grand Funk, Bob Seger, The Who (maybe best ever), Alice Cooper, Yes, Kenny Rogers, George Straight, Brooks and Dunn, Faith Hill, Ted Nugent, KISS, Hall and Oates (LOL), Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, John Denver, Abba, ....I'll never remember them all.

And I worked every Monday night wrestling show from 82-86.

(01-26-2013 07:12 PM)memtigbb Wrote:  I was thinking the other day how it would get so loud the ceiling tiles would start falling all over.

I remember it, also. My ears would sometimes ring afterward.

anyone remember the guy in the pre-pouncer tiger suit who would entertain the crowd during halftime by trying crazy behind the back, over the head or half court shots and messing with the guys who would come out and dry mop the court?

The Coliseum even made Soccer interesting to me. Americans games were like a mashup of soccer and pinball.

(01-27-2013 05:29 PM)tigerjeb Wrote:  All you need to know about the coliseum is that the Beatles and the Moondogs used the same dressing room

Beatles and Brian Epstein at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN August 1966

from a press conference at the Mid South Coliseum before their two shows there in Memphis on August 18 and 19, 1966

(01-27-2013 09:59 PM)tigerjeb Wrote:  anyone remember the guy in the pre-pouncer tiger suit who would entertain the crowd during halftime by trying crazy behind the back, over the head or half court shots and messing with the guys who would come out and dry mop the court?

I remember the over the head half court shot attempts.

(01-27-2013 10:56 PM)Cletus Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 05:29 PM)tigerjeb Wrote:  All you need to know about the coliseum is that the Beatles and the Moondogs used the same dressing room

Beatles and Brian Epstein at the Mid-South Coliseum, Memphis, TN August 1966

from a press conference at the Mid South Coliseum before their two shows there in Memphis on August 18 and 19, 1966

I'm impressed. I still have my program from the concert but somehow have lost the ticket stub. Ticket stubs are actually valuable - programs, not so much. Led Zep was the best concert I ever saw there. Not a bad seat in the house.

Also saw the Beatles and Led Zep. Led Zep was pretty fantastic. It was just a great place. Loved it. It was like a giant UFO sticking up out of the ground. The Beatles didn't play 30 minutes if memory serves me correctly.

i'm the guy in the black t-shirt giving the devil horns

(01-27-2013 08:47 PM)kpigout Wrote:  

(01-27-2013 08:04 PM)OneShiningMoment Wrote:  those red dyed hot dogs were some of the best

Those are King Cotton. Y'all can still buy them Saw 'em at Kroger over the summer.

Anyone remember "frozen Baby Ruth bars"?