CURTAIN CALL FOR PHILADELPHIA SPECTRUM
by eddie on Sep.16, 2009, under E
After a 42 year run, The Philadelphia Spectrum will close it’s doors forever at the end of the ’09 season.
Completed in 1967, seating about 18,000, it became part of The South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The structure will close following a four evening concert with Pearl Jam on October 27, 28, 3o and 31, 2009. Thereafter, the arena will be razed to make way for a planned hotel for the complex.
Popular music concerts have been staged at The Spectrum since its opening. Renowned for excellent acoustics, the venue has presented the likes of The Doors, The Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Aerosmith, Pink Floyd, Queen, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Kiss, Phil Collins and Phish. On May 28, 1977, Elvis Presley performed a live concert at The Spectrum arena. Elvis hit the stage dressed in his white, prehistoric bird suit and, despite mic feedback, charged through his opening number See See Rider. A business called King Features Syndicate produced bootleg copies of Elvis’ concert that night. It would prove to be one of Elvis’ final appearances.
The Spectrum “Theater” was an additional venue for acts not big enough to fill the arena. A stage was placed in the center of the arena, and the second half of the Spectrum, behind the stage, was curtained-off to create the “theater.” Acts that performed in that setting include: Frank Zappa, Diamond Dog, Natty Dread, Kaya, Bruce Springsteen, Peter Gabriel and Howard Jones.
And so, like so many other lost Elvis haunts, we bid farewell to yet another piece of Elvis Presley history!