Existing comment:
Wash Coliseum
Two views of the Old Washington Coliseum, later the Washington Miracle Faith Center, and now some sort of warehouse. Both were taken from a speeding Metro subway car through the railway lines so there are lots of powerlines and movement. Sorry!
This center used to be the city's main popular performing center (later replaced by the more suburban Capital Centre). The place is now in a very crappy area of the neighborhood but is has an important history in rock and roll.
In February, 1964, the Beatles first came to the United States and performed to a studio audience on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York. They then took a train down to Washington DC where a local disk jockey had been the first to play Beatles' releases in the United States. They got off at nearby Union Station and, on February 11, 1964, performed their first American concert here.
Back in the days of low-tech concerts, the equipment here was pretty sparse. The stage was in the center of the crowd and the Beatles moved their own equipment to face a different group of the crowd every few songs. (Well, Ringo's drums were on a turntable.) |