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40 and something
The Spectrum was the city’s great meeting place. As a quick test, ask five friends about the Sports Complex fixture and you’d be hard-pressed to find one who didn’t go to the venue at least once — or knows someone who did.
The almost-20,000-seat arena was built at a perfect time. In 1967, Baby Boomers came of age and got to know it through its showcases of future legends (Jimi Hendrix in ’69, The Doors in ’70) and unlikely tickets. Where else could Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., there as a guest speaker, have been on a bill that featured Harry Belafonte and Aretha Franklin?
As Boomers got on, some phasing concerts out of their entertainment choices, the Spectrum served as their place to catch a Flyers or Sixers game. But younger fans opened up to the music still pouring in, from Bob Dylan’s first appearance in ’74 to David Bowie’s initial bow in ’76. Another generation was hooked.
By the ’80s, the children of the ’60s grew up, still appreciating what was onstage, but looking for shows to share with their kids. Concerts were a mainstay and another influx of fans, myself among them, were ready to see their first shows.
Looking over my ticket stubs was like stepping into a time machine. Like a first kiss, who can forget their first concert and mine was Peter Gabriel’s So Tour.
I was only a teenager when I snagged a seat for the July ’87 performance. Gabriel was riding high with "Sledgehammer" and had the coolest videos.
I scrounged up $17.50 for a ticket. (Laughable now, considering it was $120 to see Coldplay earlier this year) and, needless to say, it was the beginning of beautiful relationship.
I would return time and again to see The Eagles, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Duran Duran and Eric Clapton.
Pouring through these pages, you will see photos, recollections and more. With that the Review would like to thank Comcast-Spectacor, including Ed Snider, Peter Luukko and Ike Richman, for sharing their thoughts on and photos of the Spectrum’s past, present and future.
But, as all will surely agree, a venue is only as good as the fans who love it and want to be a part of it. Forty-some years later, several generations have been a part of the Spectrum and have memories like no other. The walls may come down and the seats torn out, but the Spectrum will live a long, long time.
Editor
