For many years in my metro area, the only place to see a big-name concert was at this vast aluminum-shed-looking venue, far outside of town. During much of its existence, the only way to get there was via a two-lane road, and once you got there, that was it.
The traffic jams from such limited access were legendary, with back-ups lasting for miles. I had only seen similar backups on journeys to college football away games, to stadiums similarly situated down rural two-lane roads.
The directions there were basically, “Go to the middle of nowhere and turn right. If you reach the scary-looking trucker and biker bar, you’ve gone too far.” Once you finally got there, the building left a lot to be desired, especially compared to any modern multi-use basketball/hockey/concert arena. In the opinion of many, it was a dump, memorialized at least in my mind by this statement from the last big name performer I saw there… “I love you guys, but this venue sucks!”
You either loved it, or you hated it. In my informal research, the only ones who loved it were those who got too stoned during the tailgating to even care. But it was ours.
Many years after its demise, I had a chance to view a set of “before and after” aerial photos of this venue, the before being the “big shed”, the after being the supermarket and strip mall built to replace it.
I tried scaling and overlaying these photos as best as I could and have determined to the best of my earnest yet limited ability that the location of the old concert stage is roughly where the canned beans aisle is in the current supermarket.
I’ve gone and stood there while shopping, reminiscing about the names I had seen perform there, including Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, Santana, and so many others. Do any shoppers of that beans aisle today even realize that they walk where the greats have trodden? I think not.
Oh, and if you’re looking for the squared-circle of professional wrestling, head towards the soda aisle. You’ll find it.