My Top 10 Most Memorable Shows At The Lubbock Coliseum

Let's talk about the real heyday of concerts in the Hub City, those that took place in the Lubbock Colesium.

There doesn't seem to be a definitive list of shows that played in the Lubbock Colesium, but there are several sources you can kind of use to refresh your mind. Probably the best source is Setlist.fm, followed by Concert Archives, and the Rock Tour Database. Of course, I could also look at my ticket stubs, but the real thought behind this post is not the biggest, not the ones that will give me the most street cred, but the ones I actually remember the best.

Huey Lewis & The News

Yes, I know. How did Huey make this list? Simple, Huey came to town on the Sports tour when they were the biggest thing on planet Earth. It was a great show highlighted by an acapella spot around a (four-man?) microphone.

Ozzy Osbourne

I saw Ozzy, I believe, three times in Lubbock. The most memorable for me was the first when the curtains parted there was Ozzy on a red velvet throne with a giant cross with a look on his face like, "You guys have no idea what I'm about to do to you".

Ronnie James Dio

I seem to recall that Ronnie James Dio had some sort of elaborate castle set up on stage. I could swear I remember the keyboard player being in one of the windows or something. Anyway, he was in such a fantastic mood before the show that I'll never forget it.

Iron Maiden

There is no way I can isolate one Iron Maiden performance in my mind. They hit Lubbock multiple times and I never missed them. I just remember a giant "Eddie" with arms outstretched coming over the drummer and out towards the audience.

ZZ Top/Lynyrd Skynyrd

ZZ was never really at the top of my list, and I saw the original Skynyrd before the plane crash, but as I said on the radio at the time, when else are you going to hear "Freebird" and "Tush" in one night?

Rush Presto

This may not have been the actual Presto tour that Rush was on. I think it was a tour within a few years of that because I remember the giant blow-up rabbits with top hats (as if they were magicians) that were introduced on the Presto tour.

Bad Company

Bad Company was my first concert in Lubbock. Coming from a much larger concert scene I was STUNNED that I could just walk up to the front of the stage. I also remember that it was the most boring show I ever went to. It was just four guys, standing almost completely still on stage.

Judas Priest

This one is notable because it was the loudest concert I ever went to at the Colesium. I can still remember my body shaking and the actual pain in my ears ('cause of course, I was up front close to the speakers for as long as I could stand it).

Twisted Sister

Dee Snider was an absolute maniac back in the day. He was a true force of nature who was making headlines everywhere he went and was actually arrested in Texas (Amarillo I believe) for, get this, cursing on stage. Yeah, seriously.

Bon Jovi/Ratt

I remember this show mostly for how cool all the guys were. Neither group was as silly as most of the hair metal back in the day and it was just a great 1, 2 punch.

So yeah, some of you were lucky enough to see AC/DC at the Coliseum, and some might wonder about the early Metallica shows (they kind of weren't all that) but these were the shows that REALLY stand out in my memory.