Hampton Roads is a region rich with history and full of important historic landmarks, including Jamestown, Yorktown, Fort Monroe and Colonial Williamsburg. But many area residents may not be aware that a one Peninsula city boasts a must-visit music landmark famous across the country and around the world.
The Hampton Coliseum, the iconic arena near the confluence of interstates 664 and 64, wowed audiences when it opened in 1968 and continues to be a pilgrimage site for live music fans some 57 years later. It may be showing its age, but it remains a well-loved destination and an asset to the city and region.
Beginning tonight, Vermont rock quartet Phish will play the first of three sold-out shows in Hampton expected to draw 38,000 fans to the coliseum. The band, which began in 1983, hasn’t played at the venue since 2018, so demand — and excitement — are high.
Owing to its unique architecture that resembles an alien spacecraft, the coliseum is affectionately called “the Mothership” — a moniker coined by Virginian-Pilot reporter John Colt. In his review of a May 1, 1981, Grateful Dead show, Colt wrote, “The Coliseum in that garish light looked like an intergalactic Mothership loaded with 14,000 lunatics headed for the edge of the universe.”
While the venue has been host to numerous famous musical acts over the years — Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, Madonna — the Grateful Dead brought its free-flowing jams and the thousands of Deadheads who followed them to Hampton 21 times between 1979 and 1992, the standing record for shows by one band there.
However, those weren’t always purely celebratory affairs. Ticketless crowds often swamped the Coliseum area, causing traffic nightmares, and police had their hands full with the sale and use of illegal drugs. The Dead even played two shows in 1989 under their original name, The Warlocks, in a bid to keep things manageable.
Phish is often compared to the Dead for their improvisational approach to music and their legions of devoted fans, though there are miles of difference between the two acts. One thing they do share, though, is a love of performing at the Coliseum.
When the third performance concludes on Sunday, Phish will have played 24 shows there, passing the Dead’s record, between 1995 and this weekend. In 1996, guitarist Trey Anastasio remarked from stage that the Coliseum was the band’s favorite place to play because of the great concert sound and the general admission seating that allows fans to roam where they want in the venue.
Phish also chose Hampton as the destination for their return to performing in 2009 following a hiatus of nearly five years. Demand for tickets was extraordinary and plenty of people — too many — came to the Coliseum looking to party even if they couldn’t make it inside. Law enforcement made nearly 200 arrests and confiscated plenty of drugs.
That’s unlikely to be repeated this year as all involved — the band, its fans and the city — have approached subsequent shows in 2013 and 2018 with greater understanding for one another. Those years featured few problems due to fewer ticketless fans and Hampton police were able to focus primarily on ensuring everyone’s safety.
That’s the right approach considering that when the Coliseum is full, especially for an entire weekend, so are area hotels and restaurants. The city estimates this weekend’s shows will generate $4.84 million in revenue for Hampton Roads. Some 91% of tickets were purchased from outside the region, generating an expected 13,500 hotel room reservations.
Beyond the financials, nonprofit organizations run by the band (The Waterwheel Foundation) and the fans (The Mockingbird Foundation) will be doing volunteer work at area food banks and providing grants for music education programs in local schools — further benefit for our communities.
Yes, traffic around the venue will likely be a mess this weekend, but Hampton Roads should appreciate the joyful memories being made in our treasured local landmark — the Hampton Coliseum — and what an asset the “Mothership” continues to be for our region.