For 20 years, from the mid- 1970s until the middle of the 1990s, everyone played there. I mean everyone. A diverse listing of bands from every genre and country. I can't possibly ever list them all, since the records are all long gone, and the internet only offers a partial history of such things.
The Grateful Dead, Crosby, Stills and Nash (and occasionally Young), Depeche Mode, Howard Jones, Morrissey, Erasure, New Order, Bunnymen, Eurythmics, John Denver, Love and Rockets, Barenaked Ladies, Dave Matthews, Metallica, PiL, Chicago, Bob Dylan, UB40, Oingo Boingo, America, Anderson Bruford Wakeman and Howe, Jackson Browne, Lilith Fair, Midnight Oil, Amy Grant, Dan Fogelberg, Suicidal Tendencies, James Taylor, Indigo Girls, Sugarcubes, Pat Benatar, Fleetwood Mac, Sting, The Scorpions, Steve Winwood, The Ramones.
They've killed it.
I have so many memories of this place, and as of today (August 6, 2010) everything about the place I remember has been bulldozed, with the exception of the stairs.
The stairs that used to lead up between the buildings to the stage. All of these people walked up the stairs to the stage. The stage is long gone, the buildings behind the stage have been demolished in the last few weeks, I watched some of them go away today.
Several years ago I visited this place, all the buildings were still intact and you could easily see the footprint of the amphitheater. I stood up on the hill, right in the place I had once enjoyed a New Order soundcheck. I could feel and hear the music. I stood in the 3rd row, where I was for Love and Rockets. I could even smell and taste those days. I walked up a bit and remembered every moment I had ever spent on this hillside, listening to bands that I idolize. I became a 'TreePeople'- again.
I remembered waking up one morning in the rocks... without my shoes. I remembered Howard Jones stopping a song in 1986 mid-song due to rain... and picking it back up a year later from exactly the same spot.
I walked down to the place the stage used to be. I stood center stage, and was electrified by the energy that passed through this spot. I was suddenly Morrissey, Annie Lennox, Jon Anderson, Dave Gahan, John Denver, Pat Benatar, Bernard Sumner, Danny Elfman, Joey Ramone, James Taylor and Jerry Garcia. I could feel them, I could see the crowds, I could understand what these people give of themselves for the fans. I could feel their stagefright, I could taste their drugs.
Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of people experienced their favorite bands here. Some of the best (and worst) music in history was performed at this place. And it's all gone. knocked down and carted away in a giant dumptruck.
I despise the bastards that don't understand the value of these things. I hate this place now.
1 comment:
This post makes Jesus (and me) cry. I just saw Arcade Fire at an outdoor venue, and I commented to my friends how inferior it was the (then) Wolf Mountain (may have been Park West) when I saw Sting there. I remember when he played Roxanne and at the line "put on the red light" this massive wall of red lights lit up the side of the mountain. Amazing.
Had I a beer, I would be crying in it.
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