Gators do some shooting Wednesday night at Lakeland Center.
Harry Fodder: Long Time No See, Lakeland [Civic] Center
Thursday, November 17, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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One of the last times I was here ... it was "Boss."
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
LAKELAND, Fla. — I'm pretty sure the last time I was in the Lakeland Center it was called the "Lakeland Civic Center" and that I came here to watch a state basketball championship game in 1990.
Again, I think.
But I know for a fact I was there on Feb. 16, 1981 for my first Bruce Springsteen concert and I have this photo that I took to prove it.
Bam!
I'm not a photographer, but I got lucky with this one -- Bruce Springsteen (right) and Clarence Clemons -- on Feb. 16, 1981 at the then-Lakeland Civic Center.
Fourth-row center. "The River" tour. First song after intermission — "Cadillac Ranch," with Clarence blasting his solo at the end. I actually found the set list from that show on a website here. Also found my ticket ($12, by the way). The actual seat was back deep on the floor, but I happened to have a friend sitting wayyyyy up front and she was kind of enough, after I snuck past an usher, to let me share her seat. It's worth noting that my future wife, then a student at UF, was in the house that night as well. Who knew?
Anyway, I don't think I sat down in that seat up front. Not once during 3 1/2-hour show. It cost $12 to see Springsteen in 1981.
I remember it like it was today. No cameras were allowed in the arena, but my parents had given me an Olympus OM-10 35mm for Christmas and I was hell-bent on getting a keeper photo of "The Boss," so I snuck it into the place with the box of the camera in my pants and a 110m telephoto lens in my sock. Seriously.
Big risk then, big reward now — even 35 years later. I blew up the photo to a 30x30 and it's hanging in my home office today.
I was a student at the University of South Florida at the time and the Bulls actually played games at Lakeland Civic Center, which opened in 1974, before the Sun Dome was built on campus. In fact, the Lakeland Civic Center (along with Bayfront Center in St. Petersburg) were the hot spots for the best indoor shows during that era. If you read my installment of "Pregame Stuff" to set up Thursday night's game between Florida and St. Bonaventure you'd have read how KISS lead guitarist Ace Frehley nearly electrocuted himself at a concert here in 1977.
(I'd say it probably made him botch "Beth," except there's no way a song that bad could be ruined, but I digress.)
As Brandon Flynn, an official at Lakeland Center, pointed out during the team's shoot-around Wednesday, Lakeland Civic Center also was where Prince in 1983, during a rehearsal for his "1999" tour, filmed the music video "Little Red Corvette." Such A-list shows that came to the area then now go west to Tampa (at spots like Amalie Arena, where the Gators will be Monday night to take on Belmont) or east to Orlando.
These days, the Lakeland Center -- which will be the smallest arena to host the Gators since going to Yale on Jan. 6, 2013 and beating the Ivy League Bulldogs 79-59 before 2,532 at the sold-out and historic John J. Amphitheater -- welcomes acts such as Frankie Avalon, who was performing in the attached Youkey Theatre during UF's brief walk-through Wednesday night. On Thursday night, while the Gators are playing the Bonnies, the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas show will be going on literally on the other side of the building. It's a little early for seasonal music.
In the interim, excuse me while I slip into my iPod for some good amp-up tunes.
