In just two short weeks, Phish will break nearly five years of silence with a three night run in one of their favorite venues: Hampton Coliseum. Over the next two weeks, we’ll give you a little look back at what makes Hampton Coliseum so special to Phish, their fans, and more.
Growing up in nearby Virginia Beach, I came to know Hampton Coliseum as a welcome landmark along the highway, signifying our imminent arrival at home. I did not, however, have the opportunity to attend a concert there until after I’d left the area, midway through High School.
Spring of 1992 came around and, with it, Grateful Dead tourdates. The initial announcement included the usual run of shows at my local arena, the Capital Center, and I made plans to attend. I believe that my friend Mike, still in Virginia Beach, is the one who let me know that two shows had been added in Hampton just before the Cap Center run. This time, to skirt the ban, the band changed their name to “Bruce Hornsby and Friends”. They also limited sales to local outlets. This made it, in those pre-Internet days, all the more difficult for me to aquire a ticket. Telling my parents that Mike had one for me, I secured permission to drive down for the Friday night show.
On March 6, 1992, I skipped school, and drove to Hampton. As I had no ticket, I was not permitted to drive into the parking lot so, I parked at a nearby hotel. After securing a pizza box top and magic marker, I began walking up and down Coliseum Drive advertising, “$$ for One Ticket.”
Not ten minutes passed before success smiled upon me and I managed to secure a ticket for face value. I ditched my sign and left my car at the hotel (not advisable these days as the hotels are quite diligent about towing non-guest vehicles.) then I hustled into the lot for my second Grteful Dead show. We, of course, had no cell phones back then but Mike and I had planned to meet at the fountain in front of the coliseum. For those who have been there before for a Grateful Dead or Phish show, I’ll pause a moment so that you may recover from your laughing fit.
…
Upon reaching the fountain, I came to realize that ours was not only a silly plan, but it was not even remotely original. The area teemed with Deadheads- all looking for tickets and/or friends; selling food, crafts, or drugs; participating in or watching a large drum circle; or simply wandering aimlessly. I began to worry a little bit as I stood on the lip of the fountain and surveyed the area. With showtime rapidly approaching, I concocted a plan to go in alone and search further during the set break. I scanned the crowd one last time, noting that the drum circle was shrinking and that the flow of the masses had shifted from aimlessness toward the coliseum entrance. Biting my my lip, I set my resolve to go in alone.
Just before I hopped off the rim of the fountain, I heard my name hollered somewhere to my left. I spun around and there, with a group of people that I had not met, walked Mike. They were not looking my way and they were not waiting for an answer, either. I shouted to Mike, jumped to to ground, and jogged over to them. It turned out they had been looking for me for a while and the yell that I’d heard was their last effort before abandoning hope. For all they knew, I’d never left Northern Virginia. Mike introduced me to Rob and Jay and we all went inside.
Here’s the setlist:
1992-03-27 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, Va 1: Stranger, FOTD, Mexicali> Maggie's Farm, Stagger Lee, Picasso Moon> Bird Song 2: New Speedway> Truckin> Crazy Fingers> Corinna> Drumz> Last Time> Wharf Rat> Sugar Magnolia
E: The Weight
While i’d objectively not rate the show very high, we had a great time and, at the time, I thought it was amazing. Personal highlights include “Stagger Lee”, “Bird Song”‘ “Crazyfingers”, “Wharf Rat”, and “The Weight”. Another significant moment was hearing “Corrina” for the first time and feeling as if a freight train was bearing down on our seats.
We had blast, camped out that night, and my respect for Hampton Coliseum was born.
After graduating from high school that year, I returned to the Hampton Roads area to attend Old Dominion University in Norfolk. One of the friends that I made in the dorms was a Hampton native named Min. When the Black Crowes announced a show at the Hampton, we immediately made plans to go. This stands as the only non-jamband show that I have attended at the coliseum; although, the Crowes were in the early stages of their jammingest era as a band. This was also a relatively huge venue for the band to headline at that time but, even so, we were surprised to walk in and find the stage in the center of the arena with half of the floor and seating blocked off. With an enormous curtain, they had converted Hampton from a 13000 seat room into 6000 seats. Once the music started, we forgot about all that.
Here’s the setlist:
1993-03-27 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
No Speak No Slave, Sting Me, Thick N' Thin, The Nowhere Stairs, Jam -> Thorn In My Pride, Bad Luck Blue Eyes Goodbye, Hard To Handle, My Morning Song, Black Moon Creeping, Jealous Again, Stare It Cold -> Three Little Birds
E: Twice As Hard, Sometimes Salvation, Remedy
Here is a video (from a different show that same year) of the “Jam” that later came to be known as “thorn’s Progress”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Altw3–mOP0[/youtube]
Jump ahead to fall 1993 and the Jerry Garcia Band’s East Coast tour is scheduled to wrap up at, you guessed it, Hampton. I was no longer at ODU, but Rob kindly secured my ticket and offered me a place to stay. I’ll spare you the minutiae; suffice to say we had an amazing time. In high contrast to the restrictive reserved seating at the Cap Center show I’d attended weeks earlier, we enjoyed the freedom to move about and take in numerous perspectives from the seats and the floor. The entire show was teriffic.
Here’s the setlist:
1993-11-19 Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
1: How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You), Stop That Train, Money Honey, Lay Down Sally, My Sisters And Brothers, Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
2: Shining Star, Struggling Man, The Maker, Don't Let Go > That Lucky Old Sun (Just Rolls Around Heaven All Day) > Midnight Moonlight
Highlights? How about the whole thing? On “Shining Star” the audience sang the song to the band in a version that stretched out to more that twenty minutes. It was, to put it mildly, moving. We were reeling the next day from that as well as a stirring performance of Daniel Lanois’ “The Maker”. Honestly, I’m still a bit choked up just thinking about that night’s “Shining Star”.
There are a few videos on YouTube from this show, actually but, unfortunately, embedding has been disabled. Follow these links to see and hear a bit of the show:
Shining Star Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
If seeing The Grateful Dead in ’92 made me like Hampton, seeing JGB in ’93 made me cherish it. That night revealed how special and intimate a small arena show can be in a way that I’d never witnessed.
Next up: Phish