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The Cap Centre
On December 2, 1973, the Capital Centre began a nearly thirty-year presence as a defining regional landmark. Towering over the beltway, six miles from UMD's campus in Landover, Maryland, the "Cap Centre" (as it was commonly called), may have looked like an oversized potato chip, but to a generation of Maryland and Mid-Atlantic residents, it housed a lifetime of memories.
Built at a cost of $18 million, the Cap Centre was a state-of-the-art venue that featured luxury sky suites, computerized ticketing, and Telscreen, the first-ever giant video screen in a sports arena. It was home to both the Washington Bullets and Washington Capitals, and host to countless other gatherings and events, especially live music.
Anyone who ever attended a concert there remembers the roar of the crowd when the lights dimmed and the headliner took the stage. For years, every major-label act made the Cap Centre a tour stop, some even recording live albums during their shows. And, for an ethnography of the American teenager, there was no better field than the venue's parking lot, where legions of fans congregated to revel before concerts. |