The Cult never did put on a good show. Meh.

AJFA was the last real Metallica album IMHO.

Wait ... is that Rod Blagojevich in the foreground of the first picture? (Bottom right, underneath the ticket stub.)

And apparantly future Illionois Governor Rod Blagojevich was there.

I remember showing up late after slamming Newcastles at Sir Benedict's with some girl whose name alludes me at the moment. We walked up to the DECC ticket booth and realized there was nobody at the main entrance so we proceeded to walk straight in for free! The Cult was in its transition to hard rock phase and were not that good. I saw them a couple years earlier at First Avenue and the show was much better. Metallica rocked and the crowd was straight out of the documentary  Heavy Metal Parking Lot


$15.50.  I wonder what arena shows are now?

Howdy Duluthians. According to a site w/all the old Metallica tour dates, your concert was June 8th. I saw them on the same tour w/Queensryche opening in Ft. Myers, Fl. on 2/14/89. B.T.W., I've never lived in Duluth, but visited my grandmother there from about '76-'87. She lived in Cody, two blocks past Switzer's grocery if that rings a bell. I sure love your fair city and miss it (and my late Grandma) terribly. Oh, I also have other kin that live there, last name "Buscko". All in the western part. Stay warm! Mike.

Mr Ashley was right on.  I personally ran into two seniors from Denfeld that night that skipped their graduation ceremony.  I was a junior and very happy I didn't have to make the choice.  Metallica completely blew me away.  My previous concert experience was Poison/Britney Fox and Loverboy/the Hooters, so this was a slight upgrade. Lady Justice blowing apart at the end was very cool.  Hard to believe the DECC would actually have bands like Metallica(twice), looking at their feeble booking attempts these days.

Oh, and here's a link to the post about the Kiss concert in 1990.

http://archive.perfectduluthday.com/2007/06/from_the_photo_archive_may_27.html

I think the Kiss openers were Faster Pussycat and Slaughter.

I think Faster Pussycat came with Motley Crue on the Feelgood tour.

Hey, thanks for posting this!  I just checked my stub (they gave me the other half) and this show was on June 8th. 1989.  My first concert and two days before my birthday.  I remember getting crushed against the fence down in front of the stage.  I thought I was toast!

The Hooters were definitely with Loverboy the time I saw them.  You never forget your first concert, no matter how lame it was.

Exactly right about Tesla, that was a couple of weeks before their first release, although MTV was already playing Modern Day Cowboy.

Thanks for the synergy, Andrew.

I have one more concert date to add. It's not a rock concert, but I think it qualifies as a hair band.

The Oak Ridge Boys, with special guest Lacy J. Dalton, played the Duluth Arena on July 17, 1983.

The Hoooters did indeed come to Duluth with Bryan Adams.  July 26, 1987 - my 17th birthday.  I was there with some friends and it was one of the best concerts I ever saw.

KISS played the DECC twice to my knowledge.  I have film of their late 70's performance at the DECC.  They also played the DECC Arena in the summer of 1990.  They had two opening bands...one of which was Jackyl.

Paul,

You are right.  I saw so many rock shows at that time that the openers are all a blur.

Also, one of my friends at work said they saw a Whitesnake show at the DECC at some point in the 80's.

And who could forget the cancellation of Iron Maiden's scheduled show at the DECC...forget the year though.  I remember a whole lot of bummed out fans though.

Crushed on the fence at that show.  Probably on e of the most euphoric moments of my youth. heheh

Watched Suicidal Tendencies play at the DECC... I think they opened for Queensryche.  ST kicked ass!

That must have been fucken tight.

Thanks to Big Al for resurrecting this thread, thought I'd pipe up and add that the opening act for Huey Lewis and the News was a standup comedian.  No idea who he was, I was in 6th grade and it was my first concert.  And my first case of tinnitus.

INXS rocked, everybody went to that show.  Steel Pulse opened.  I also saw both Damn Yankees shows, both Jackyl and Bad Co., and since then I think I've seen Ted open for Kiss a couple times as well.  Too much Ted.

Anyone remember who Slaughter opened for?  it would have been not long after Def Leppard in the early 90's, same summer.  I'm racking my brain and cannot recall.  Def Leppard played on a rotating stage and they rocked, even tho it was a fully seated concert with way too much security.  Boo.

Paul, thanks for your help, but it definitely was not Kiss in '90.  A friend of mine bought us tix for Def Leppard, and I reciprocated with the tix for this concert; the only memorable thing about it was that Slaughter was SO BAD.