It took a little longer than expected, but the wrecking crews will be coming out on Tuesday to begin the demolition of The Spectrum, long-time home to pro hockey, basketball and arena rock in Philadephia.
The Spectrum opened in 1967 as a state-of-the-art facility, and certainly a step up for the 76ers, who had bounced between Convention Hall and Philadelphia Arena as home venues after moving from Syracuse. (The Flyers had no issues: they were part of the big 1967 NHL expansion.) Both the Flyers and the 76ers had noteworthy runs at the Spectrum: the 76ers in the Dr. J era and the Flyers in the Broad Street Bullies era.
But the Spectrum may have been better known in the Philly marketplace as a top-notch concert facility, an arena where arena rock was virtually invented. The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, was a mainstay there for years, and virtually every important arena act stopped there. It never lost its cachet as a concert venue, and one of the last shows there — a Pearl Jam concert — was done by the band in homage to the facility’s importance.
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