Mid-South Coliseum
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Mid-South Coliseum
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| Location | 996 Early Maxwell Blvd, Memphis, Tennessee, 38104 |
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| Coordinates | 35°07′06″N 89°58′49″W / 35.118395°N 89.980366°WCoordinates: 35°07′06″N 89°58′49″W / 35.118395°N 89.980366°W |
| Built | 1963 |
| Architect | Merrill G. Ehrman (Furbringer and Ehrman) Robert Lee Hall (Robert Lee Hall & Associates) |
| NRHP Reference # | 00001429 |
| Added to NRHP | December 6, 2000 |
Mid-South Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena located in Memphis, Tennessee that seated 10,085 people. It was built in 1963 and closed in 2006.
The arena was one of the few stops on The Beatles' final American tour. The group played two concerts there on August 19, 1966. The evening performance is infamously known as "the firecracker concert", due to a crowd member exploding a firecracker (which some thought was a gunshot) during the show. Prior to the concert, a remote television news feed, with the arena in the background, shows a Ku Klux Klansman promising "a few surprises" for the group. This interview was in response to John Lennon's statement that The Beatles had become more popular than Jesus Christ.
Elvis Presley also performed at the arena. His first show was on March 16, 1974, which was his first Memphis concert since 1961. The album Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis was the concert from March 20, 1974. Elvis's last concert at the arena was on July 5, 1976. Elvis In Concert 1997 — The 20th Anniversary Concert was held at the arena and mark the first concert for the Elvis, The Concert.
Canadian singer Celine Dion performed a two-night stand at the arena on March 14 and 15, 1997 as part of her Falling Into You Around the World Tour. The shows were filmed and the concert aired on television. It was also released on VHS in November 1998 under the title Live in Memphis.
The Mid-South Coliseum was also well known in professional wrestling as the home base for the United States Wrestling Association and its predecessors; Jerry Lawler headlined hundreds of shows at the facility. Among many notable events, Lawler faced Terry Funk in an "empty arena fight" at the Coliseum in 1981. On April 5, 1982, Lawler piledrove comedian Andy Kaufman twice, ending a match between the two in disqualification. Kaufman was taken away in an ambulance.
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