Snapshot: McNichols Sports Arena
When Denver’s newest entertainment venue opened in 1975 and was christened McNichols Sports Arena, minor controversy arose. Even though the arena’s namesake was the father of Denver’s current mayor, more than a few disgruntled citizens voiced their displeasure with the chosen name because William “Bill” McNichols, Jr., was in office at the time. This civic upset cooled quickly, however, as the people of Denver soon realized what they had been given — a state-of-the-art, ultra-modern sports arena. Approved by voters in the 1972 election that also saw them reject bringing the 1976 Winter Olympics to Denver, McNichols Sports Arena — quickly dubbed Big Mac — opened on August 22, 1975, with a sold-out concert by Lawrence Welk. A few days later, on August 27, ZZ Top played McNichols, immediately establishing Big Mac as the concert venue in Denver for the biggest and hottest rock acts. [1]
Hundreds of major rock artists played at McNichols during its quarter-century history. Everyone from Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney & Wings to Van Halen and AC/DC plied their trades under Big Mac’s dome at least once during the seventies, eighties, and nineties. In my forays to McNichols, I saw and heard Peter Frampton, the Doobie Brothers, David Lee Roth, Poison, and Great White, among many others; the most noteworthy shows I attended, though, were The Who and Heart, both in 1980. At The Who’s April 23 show my “possible obstructed view” ticket put me behind the stage but seemingly at arms’ length from Daltrey, Townshend, Entwistle, and Kenny Jones, while Heart’s visit on September 1 produced the live recording of “Unchained Melody” that appears on the band’s Greatest Hits/Live LP.
Helping bolster Big Mac’s reputation as a premiere rock venue was its acoustics. No less than the great Cat Stevens, an unrelenting perfectionist whose “soundchecks were unbelievably thorough and precise,” called McNichols the “best sounding big building he had ever been in” (Fey 221–22). Countless performers agreed, choosing to record and film at Big Mac because of its sterling sound quality. A few projects undertaken at McNichols Sports Arena — performances that have become the stuff of legend — include REO Speedwagon’s 1981 show that was broadcast by MTV as the network’s first live concert. U2 spent two evenings at McNichols in November of 1987, filming the shows for its Rattle and Hum self-documentary; three songs from the second show are included on the Rattle and Hum soundtrack. Def Leppard filmed two shows at McNichols in February of 1988 for its Live: In the Round, In Your Face concert movie; the “Pour Some Sugar on Me” video seen repeatedly on MTV comes from the filmed performances at Big Mac. And Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble recorded their November 29, 1989, show at McNichols, with three songs from the concert later appearing as bonus tracks on the expanded edition of In Step, the band’s final album.
Just as with its opening, McNichols generated controversy at its closing. Appalled that a still-modern, still-functioning sports arena only 24 years old was slated for demolition, citizens were quite vocal with their anger and dismay. While influential naysayers argued that Big Mac was outdated because of its dark and narrow concourse-level corridors, its small locker rooms, and its lack of luxury suites and club seats, most Denverites knew the real reason behind plans for McNichols’ premature destruction: Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen’s desire for a new football stadium. When Bowlen threatened to move Denver’s beloved Broncos to another town if he wasn’t given a new stadium complex, city officials jumped to attention and quickly placed the stadium issue on a state-wide ballot. After voters across Colorado approved a new stadium, and after the Pepsi Center was completed with private funding, McNichols was declared obsolete and quickly razed in early 2000 (providing parking spaces for Bowlen’s new Invesco Field at Mile High).
While McNichols was constructed first and foremost as a sports arena, it was just as much a place to see live rock music. And while McNichols was home to the Denver Nuggets of the NBA and the Colorado Avalanche of the NHL, the arena was also home to the biggest, best, and brightest acts in the rock music business. Though its time in the limelight was short, McNichols made an impression too big to forget. McNichols Sports Arena was Denver’s entry into the big-time, and it lives fondly in the minds and hearts of Denverites — those with long memories and a never-ending appreciation for the soul-stirring rock music that rolled continuously through the city by way of a low-slung, white-domed oval affectionately known as Big Mac.
Above piece excerpted from the forthcoming It’s Only Music: A Musical and Historical Memoir.
[1] ZZ Top was the first rock band to play at McNichols Sports Arena and the last. On August 27 and 28, 1975, ZZ Top played Big Mac on its Fandango! tour (Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen opened the show). Twenty-four years later, on September 12, 1999, only four months before the arena was demolished, ZZ Top (at Barry Fey’s urging) broke from its XXX Tour to appear at McNichols; the band performed its 1975 setlist at a no-frills concert billed as The Last Rock and Roll Show. Interestingly, Janis Joplin and Big Brother & The Holding Company was the first and last band to play for Fey at Denver’s legendary Family Dog in 1967 and 1968, respectively.
