On June 14, 1977, Ronnie Van Zant and the guitar triple-threat of Gary Rossington, Allen Collins, and Steve Gaines tore it up in Portland at the newly opened CCCC with Billy Powell on keyboards, Leon Wilkinson on bass and Artimus Pyle on drums.
On June 3, 1986, that “lil’ ol’ band from Texas” made their 5th appearance at the Civic Center bringing their futuristic melding of blues guitar and dance beats to the stage for a sold-out show.
38 years ago, Eric Clapton played a sold-out show at the Civic Center. The Backless Tour came to Portland on May 26, 1979. This was his first time at the CCCC and the great Muddy Waters was also on the bill!
Happy Birthday Dusty Hill! He's rocked Portland 13 times with ZZ over the years, from the very first show at the CCCC in 1977 to last summer on the Maine State Pier.
On May 16, 1981, the ‘Noize Boyz’ brought their Fair Warning Tour to Blimpville unleashing new songs live like Unchained, Mean Street and Hear About It Later.
Happy Birthday to legendary New England rocker Billy Squier! He was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts on May 12, 1950. The songs from Don’t Say No and Emotions in Motion were the soundtrack to growing up in the 80s, here in Maine and beyond...
The Cumberland County Civic Center hosted the first event on March 3, 1977. It’s really awesome that the first event was a capacity crowd, rock concert with ZZ Top. Just over two months later, the second sold-out rock show happened at the new venue.