How Many of These Huge Maine Concerts at the Augusta Civic Center Do You Remember?

Years before the Maine Savings Amphitheater in Bangor, the Cross Insurance Arena (formerly the Cumberland County Civic Center) in Portland, and Bowl in the Pines Amphitheater became the prominent concert venues in Maine, there was the Augusta Civic Center.

Built over the summer and autumn of 1972, the 49,000-square-foot event center opened in January of 1973.  The main auditorium seats in excess of 5,000 people.  Additionally, it has a series of smaller, configurable rooms that can be used for corporate events, seminars, wedding receptions, and parties.

The most well-known performance (and almost-performances) was the May 1977 concert by Elvis and the two concerts he was scheduled to perform in August, the first of which was to take place the day after he passed away.  But Elvis was just one of the many artists to perform at the venue over its five-decade history.

Some of the notable shows include:

Johnny Cash on March 16, 1975 – The country legend known as The Man In Black was probably the first major artist to take the venue’s stage.

Aerosmith on May 5, 1975 – A stop on their "Toys in the Attic" tour, they would have performed songs like “Walk This Way”, “Sweet Emotion”, and the title song, “Toys In The Attic”.

Merle Haggard on September 17, 1977 – As it was only a month after the passing of The King of Rock and Roll, it’s possible he did at least a few songs from his “My Farewell To Elvis” album.  An album of Haggard’s covers of Elvis’ songs.

Kenny Rogers on June 3, 1981

Alabama on June 25, 1983 – Near the time of the release of their The Closer You Get… album, they probably performed “The Closer You Get”, “Dixieland Delight”, and “Mountain Music”.

Willie Nelson on June 21 and June 22 of 1985

The Oak Ridge Boys on November 19, 1987

George Strait on October 29, 1989 – The concert took place between the release of his albums, Beyond The Blue Neon and Livin’ It Up, so he probably performed “Ace In The Hole” and “Love Without End, Amen”.

Clint Black on August 11, 1991 – Taking place at the height of Black’s popularity, he probably performed songs like “Killin’ Time”, “A Better Man”, and “Walkin’ Away”.

Alan Jackson on May 20, 1993

Travis Tritt on May 13, 1994 - Most-likely, he performed hits like "Foolish Pride" and "T-R-O-U-B-L-E".

Reba on October 23, 1994 - She would have been touring in support of her Read My Mind album.

Kid Rock on September 19, 2004 – Coming several years after the release of his Devil Without A Cause album, he probably performed hits like “Bawitaba” and “Cowboy”.

Brad Paisley w/ Sara Evans and Andy Griggs on January 21, 2005 – Part of his "Muds And Suds" tour, he performed songs like “Me Neither”, “Alcohol”, “Celebrity”, and “Mud On The Tires”.

Dierks Bentley on May 3, 2012 – Part of his "Country And Cold Cans" tour.

Lee Brice W/ Dylan Scott on Mach 19, 2016 - The show was in support of his I Don't Dance album.

What concerts are missing from this list?  What was your favorite Augusta Civic Center show?  Message us through our app or on Facebook.