Old Duluth Rock Shows/Posters?

todobrillante Sep 23, 2010 18 Comments

A coworker recently left this poster in her office so I:

1) Pounced all over it.

2) Wondered if others in Duluth have old posters from big name (whatever that means) rock shows that took place here.

Does anybody else have posters they can upload a picture of … or just knowledge of other big acts that have come through Duluth?

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History, Music

18 Comments

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago

A PDD post from last year that might serve as a primer for this discussion would be:

From the Photo Archive: Metallica, 1989

(Although that discussion is very much focused on the 1980s.)

Here's the poster for Kiss at the Duluth Arena in 1977:

mac

about 14 years ago

Papa Roach played here earlier this year.

akjuneau

about 14 years ago

List of 1980s / early 1990s rock concerts at the DECC

TimK

about 14 years ago

I went to that Blue Oyster Cult/Rush show! I remember this thing BOC did during "Don't Fear the Reaper" where the whole band including the drummer were in a line playing the same guitar lick over and over. My teen-aged mind was blown!

woodtick

about 14 years ago

Good Lord...  Saw both tours BOC/RUSH and KISS/URIAH HEEP in the Cities in '76 and '77.  The BOC show at the St Paul Civic Center was $5 Day of the Show!  Had my first and only 'Shotgun' there as well.

ericswan

about 14 years ago

Pretty sure I was at the BOC/Rush show.

First concert I saw at the DECC was the first concert at the DECC: Beach Boys, August 1966.

Lots of cool shows in the 70's. Off the top of my head: ZZ Top, J. Geils Band, Climax Blues Band, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Doobie Brothers, Santana, Commander Cody, Wishbone Ash (with Aerosmith as the opening act), Black Oak Arkansas, Three Dog Night, Neil Diamond, Herman's Hermits with the Hollies, Heart,Van Halen, Cheap Trick and of course, Elvis.

I know there were many more. I have a box full of tickets stubs that I should go check as parts of the 70s are still a bit hazy.

markryan

about 14 years ago

Creedance Clearwater Revival and Johnny Cash were two memorable ones I saw in Duluth in the early 1970s. The Guess Who used to play every once in a while at the Armory. But even before that when I worked at the Arena, I saw the Supremes. Before the show the three of them were waiting around in back, and Diana Ross asked me for directions to the ladies' room.

Baci

about 14 years ago

My DECC cherry = Cheap Trick w/ Romantics in 1979. Although my parents took me to Peter, Paul and Mary when I was real little. I think they played over in the auditorium side.

todobrillante

about 14 years ago

TimK/Woodtick,
I went and requested a copy be made of the poster at a local print shop so I could give one to a friend ... and they made me three instead. So, I've got a couple extras and my ulterior motive was that I was hoping someone might want to trade a copy of a rock/roll poster they have for a copy of that one ... but if you were actually at the show and want a copy you can have one ... just because you're awesome. I'm "tom.todobrillante @ gmail.com"

wildgoose

about 14 years ago

Todobrilliante,

This goes in my mental file among best PDD posts ever. I love the poster and I'd love to see more.

I am an avid/rabid concert poster collector and I've been trying to research local concert posters for some time now. If anyone does have cool Duluth concert posters please email me at fountainheadmn @ yahoo.com. My collection started with old 1960s concert posters from San Fran (Fillmore, Avalon, Matrix, and various festivals for Doors, Hendrix, Airplane, Dead, Zep, and many more). I love the art and wish there were more available to see. Lee Conklin, Wes Wilson, Stanley Mouse, Bonnie Maclean, Randy Tuten, Alton Kelley, and Rick Griffin are true legends. I also met Conklin up in his studio/home in Yosemite on my Honeymoon and bought some originals... His livingroom has a mural of the trees outside his house painted in pastels.

Wouldn't a restored NorShor look awesome with classic Duluth rock concert posters lining the entry way or hallways? Adam and his crew do some very nice work and the one for the Ides show last spring was amazing. I do grab what I can around town after the shows take place. Expressobeans.com has a couple Duluth posters and some TBT stuff, but more should be added. I liked the RTs one this past weekend and Cars and Trucks always have awesome designs.

Hold onto that poster, original concert posters are very collectible. I recently found out that the QOTSA had a show poster for their show at the DECC on their 08' Duluth Tour. On the day of the show the artist called the DECC to ask where to ship them. They never arrived obviously, but I found one on Ebay that was printed for the show. Others are out there, but the big thing now is when bands make a poster for the individual show in a limited number and sell them to the fans.

I could go on forever about concert art, I love the stuff.

jwilferling

about 14 years ago

I have vivid memories of going with my mom to get Alice Cooper tickets in 1975 at the old Downtown Glass Block. My first trip through a Skywalk (across Michigan Street from the parking ramp).

Paul Lundgren

about 14 years ago

A note on Andrew O's comment:

When the NorShor was open in August for centennial events there was a display of local concert posters from the late 1990s and early 2000s -- along with several other displays from other eras of the building's history. 

I'm pretty sure it's all still there, but whether it will remain through whatever construction happens in the future is not something I would speculate on.

mnbeerdrinker

about 14 years ago

I saw Heart at the Duluth Arena in the late '70's, the first "big name" concert I went to.

I also had tickets to see Clapton in the early '80's, but the show was canceled because he had some kind of health emergency prior to the show.  It had to be in 81 or 82, but I can't find any reference to it on the internet.

I wallpapered my college dorm room with posters from Minneapolis bands like the Suburbs, Flamin' Oh's, and Sussman Lawrence.  Don't know what happened to them, though.

dawggy

about 14 years ago

I used to have a really cool one from the Tubes show in 1983(?) Romantics opened for them. It looked like an eye chart. Someone MUST have a Ted Nugent, Krokus, or Quiet Riot poster. It seemed like they were here every other weekend in the 80s. And like MNbeerdrinker mentioned, so many cool local bands. Kyro, the Suburbs, Ipso Facto all come to mind.

Rubber Chicken

about 14 years ago

mnbeerdrinker, the Clapton concert was '82.  I worked overnight labor crew at the Arena then.  We set up seating in the round (which was a huge, dirty, finger-pinching, heavy, rusty metal, bracing kinda project) for nothing.  First time I could recall ever tearing everything back down after a concert and it was pristine because nobody had attended. 

Also saw Pat Benatar, Loverboy, Sammy Hagar, Ozzy, Cheap Trick, Kiss (sans makeup), Huey Lewis and the News, Rush, Quarterflash, ZZ Top, and Barry Manilow ... twice.

mnbeerdrinker

about 14 years ago

Thanks for pinning down the Clapton date, Rubber Chicken.  I was at Stereo One near the Miller Hill Mall the afternoon of the concert when I heard that it was cancelled over the radio.

I remember being pissed because the national media said he had been hospitalized and canceled a concert in Minneapolis, with no mention of Duluth.

Rubber Chicken

about 14 years ago

I thought he played Minneapolis but canceled Duluth.  But I could be wrong on that.  I believe Mr. Clapton got an ulcer, which is why he had to cancel.

Ozzy's concert in the 80s was super lame, too, because his special effects truck broke down in North Dakota, I think.  It was so cold the thing froze.  So Ozzy did his entire show with little to no special effects.  Just kept grabbing himself and yelling "I'm a $#%#& madman, Duluth!"  "Well ... not really," Duluth responded.  Terrible show.

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