Recently I was dining out with a friend for her birthday. While waiting for food to arrive, I gazed at the art decorating the restaurant’s walls. My eyes lit upon a poster advertising a concert at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum for Feb. 3, 1967: Otis Redding, The Marvelettes, Aaron Neville and The Drifters to name but some of the acts listed.
I cannot attest to whether the poster was true vintage, a reprint of an original, or a retro-styled mock-up, but the concert was indeed for real. The cost of tickets ranged from $2.50 – $3.50. The concert was four months before Redding exploded onto the world stage at the Monterey Pop Festival and 10 before his untimely death in a plane crash.
I was just a toddler when Redding, et al, performed at the Coliseum that night. But what a show that must have been. That poster got me thinking about all the great shows that have passed through the doors of the Knoxville Civic Coliseum and Auditorium since it opened in 1961.
Promo poster for the Otis Redding concert in 1967.
For the record, the Coliseum holds a special place in my heart. To this day, I’d rather see a concert there than Stokely Athletic Center (when it was still around) or Thompson-Boling Arena. It seats just enough to feel like a big deal without being so cavernous you’re completely removed from the stage. And as far as I’m concerned, the acoustics are better than the other two. Perhaps it’s the ceiling design, perhaps it’s because it was designed as a performance venue versus a sports facility.
Of course, my first experiences there were attending the annual appearances of Ringling Brothers & Barnum & Bailey Circus. There was a time when that was a rite of passage. Many of us who attended Knoxville City Schools participated in a spring choral performance. I also remember my grandmother taking me to see the legendary Boston Pops maestro Arthur Fiedler. I can’t remember if he was guest conducting with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra or touring with The Pops, but I do know I saw him
As wonderful as those moments were, nothing will ever beat going to my first rock concert there. It was 1979 and my older brother and I were grounded interminably (don’t ask). I think we were about two weeks into it when I saw the announcement in the Sunday Knoxville News Sentinel: shock rockers KISS were coming to town with tickets going on sale post haste. It took me about a week to screw up the courage to ask if we could go. Mom looked at me exasperated. I was prepared for abject defeat. “I swear you kids just won’t let me surprise you with anything,” she said. Lo and behold, she had already gone and purchased four tickets so we could each take a friend.
For the younger set out there, this was an entirely different type of concert experience than what you’re used to. For one, getting tickets meant going to the box office and buying them. There was no jumping online or on an app just to end up mad at Ticketmaster anyway. And tickets weren’t a mortgage payment to get a decent seat. If the concert involved assigned seating (see Stokely, Thompson-Boling) and was in high demand, it meant getting in line early or camping out the night before to have a shot at the best tickets.
But in the decade and a half that I was regularly attending concerts, I never went to one at the Coliseum that wasn’t festival seating. The translation of that means first come, first served for the seats in the balcony and the floor was open. It was festival standing. Jump in and try to squish your way to the front. And I loved it.
The official seating capacity for the Coliseum in 1979 was 6,500. But on that Wednesday night when my 13-year-old dreams came true, there were close to 10,000 in attendance at $9.50 a pop. Oh, and nobody went with their parents. Not the entire audience, of course, but there was a considerable percentage of unaccompanied minors. We had a ball.
It does my heart good to see both sides of the Civic Center getting more regular use these days. Yes, the ole girl needed those recent upgrades, but it’s nice to see concerts showing up on the regular again, even if festival seating will never return. By the late 90s, there wasn’t much happening besides graduations, hockey and other ice-related activities.
I do know there is an absolute dearth of photos readily available from concerts there over the years. I can’t find nary a one from the Rolling Stones sold-out show in 1972. All the Sentinel did was cover arrests that were made. My jury is still out on whether I’m going to see KISS at Thompson-Boling on their umpteenth Farewell Tour. Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have seen plenty of my money for almost 50 years. But I will always cherish the magic of that first concert 44 years ago.
Beth Kinnane is the community news editor for KnoxTNToday.com