Originally built for the Civic Light Orchestra for 22 Million dollars in 1961,The arena has went from the Civic Light Auditorium,The Civic Arena,Finally the Mellon Arena.. But most Pittsburgh sports fans simply call it 1 thing.. The Igloo...
The arena has seen pretty much every top name in sports,And entertainment over it's 50 years...
Acts like the Rolling Stones,The Doors,And many others have graced the stage there..
Frank Sinatra,Elvis Presley(His last New Years concert ever).
At 1 point the Arena was doing about 200 dates a year!
The Igloo was home to the Hornets,Winning the Calder Cup in the 1966-67 season..
The NHL selected Pittsburgh in the 1967 expansion,With 12,508 seats The Pittsburgh franchise was just 8 seats over the NHL minimum...
With the Arena having it's signature silver dome roof,It was nicknamed The Igloo..Which in turn created the new expansion teams name..The Penguins..
The Penguins lost the first game in the Igloo..Fittingly to the same team they lost to the other night..The Montreal Canadiens..
The arean also hosted wrestling..And that would be my first visit there.. It was the Great American Bash tour(Presented By Schaffer Beer).
The arena is where I saw Andre The Giant and Jimmy Snuka tag,And Superfly Jumping off Andre's shoulders for his "Superfly splash".
The arena is where I saw Bon Jovi and Cinderella,And John Bon Jovi was smashed off his ass,And could not talk without slurring..
The arena is where I saw Cyndi Lauper,Who make fun if you like,Put on a show that I still think of as 1 of the best I have ever seen!
The Igloo has been around longer then I have been alive..In a day and age where arenas last 25,Maybe 30 years,Says something about the charm this building has!
Sadly the 1 thing I did not get to see was the Penguins play a game..Sure I'm sure I could have gotten tickets pretty cheap back in the early 80's when they weren't that good..But in the early to late 80's I wasn't old enough to drive ...
There's places you talk about,Wishing you would have gotten there before it was demolished..I was lucky enough to see The Pirates at Three Rivers Stadium(Many,Many times) Almost got to watch a Steelers game(If the scalper didn't want 100 bucks for a peanut heaven seat!!!)
I really do wish I could have gotten to a Penguins game,At least I can say I did get into the arena,And hopefully they come up with a plan to save the building from the wrecking ball..
Carole King & James Taylor have a date at the Igloo in June,After that Maxwell will close out the arena in July..
For now..Thanks for 50 years of excitement!!
No comments:
Post a Comment