Flashback Friday

You really have to be a local to appreciate this week’s Flashback Friday. But you’ll like it anyway.

The Indiana State Fair always designates the year as a celebration of something. For 2014, it’s the year of The Coliseum.

It’s been undergoing a giant renovation. Partly because it needed it, it’s 75 years old. And partly because they won’t do the summer concerts outdoors during the fair anymore – due to the stage collapse before the Sugarland concert a few years ago, killing 7 people.

The Coliseum is a beautiful old limestone and brick building with thousands of old glass blocks. More than 35K of them were replaced during the renovation. They refurbished 7 old ticket windows

and even included one small section with original, refurbished seats.

The Indiana Pacers played there when they were still an ABA team. They won 3 championships there.

In 1963, the state’s worst disaster happened there. On October 31^st, during a Holiday on Ice show, a propane leak caused an explosion that killed 74 people and injured 400 more.

It’s also the only venue in the state that the Beatles ever played. Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Ike and Tina Turner, and The Who have played there too! I saw my first concert there; The Guess Who. We saw Sonny and Cher and Mac Davis there as well.

In an era where everything wants to be shiny and new, I’m glad they didn’t tear it down and start over. Sometimes it’s better to stick with the classics.