Memorial Auditorium: Our intimate cavern

In the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the yardstick for stardom for your favorite bands was when they graduated from the clubs and small concert halls and came to play Memorial Auditorium.

Packed for a full-fledged sell-out, the place could hold 17,000, give or take a few, but compared with other arenas, it seemed surprisingly intimate, perhaps because the floor area was relatively small for a National Hockey League ice rink and the tiers of seats rose so steeply.

As a venue for listening, it was a challenge. Rarely could sound crews find a proper balance -- a notable exception was Neil Diamond's Hot Summer Night show in 1977, which made the place as clear a symphony hall. More often than not, listeners relied on their familiarity with the songs to fill in the voices and instruments that were muddied in the mix. But as a stage for spectacle in the days before giant video screens, it worked just fine. And frequently the crowd was half the show.

We must confess that The News did not pay much attention to concerts in the Aud before 1973, coincidentally the same year that the newsroom moved from Main and Seneca streets to Washington and Scott, just a short block away from the Aud's Main Street entrances.

There was no review of the Jimi Hendrix date in 1968, and rock concert writeups did not become a regular feature in the paper until the early 1970s. Unaccountably, we missed the fabled Led Zeppelin show of June 1972. Word on the street about that one was so strong that we made a point of covering their equally memorable return visit the following year. A News reviewer was there for virtually every concert after that.

In retrospect, the reviews pretty much speak for themselves and still are remarkably vibrant. Here are a few footnotes:


Alice Cooper 1973. Alice on New Year's Eve, complete with his gallows and rubber rats. The description in my review was so gruesome that the editors wouldn't print it.

Pink Floyd 1973. The Floyd in full spectacle occasionally was upstaged by the crowd. People still talk about the guy who took the header from the orange seats at the top of the arena to the floor below.

The Who 1975. I got a backstage pass to talk to opening act Toots & the Maytals, who were completely uncommunicative until the ganja came out.

Rolling Stones 1975. An event that just plain dominated all the news and all the talk in the city that week. The Stones liked Buffalo so much that year they came back at the end of the tour and played an extra date in what was then Rich Stadium.

Fleetwood Mac 1977. A milestone. A two-night show in the Aud was unheard of before this.

Boston 1977. First time they come to town, they play the Aud. These days it's remarkable to realize once again how much a sensation they were at the time.

Bruce Springsteen 1980. I don't know if any Springsteen show can top the Born to Run concert in 1975, but this came close. Notice how many songs and observations are echoed in the 1984 show.

The Who 1979. Great apprehension on the night after kids were crushed to death outside a Who show at the arena in Cincinnati. It almost got canceled.

Supertramp 1979. Buffalo was absolutely nuts for Supertramp. The fans here loved this band so much that the promoter immediately scheduled an extra date in the Aud less than three weeks later.

Bob Seger 1980. Seger did Fleetwood Mac one better by selling out three nights over Labor Day weekend.

--- Dale Anderson

Comments

[BK]

I'm way too young to remember any of these shows, but just reading these blurbs has me grinning. Those must have been the days. Are there even bands out there on today's scene that could pack an arena with both serious music fans and the kids if they played Buffalo? Pearl Jam, maybe? Can't think of any others off the top of my head...as Principal Skinner said, the times, they are a'getting very different.