Friday, September 9, 2011

Agora, 165 Dexter Ave., West Hartford, CT


 Capacity 1500

The West Hartford Agora was part of the famous Agora chain of which only Cleveland may still exist, In Connecticut, there were two, one in Hartford, one in New Haven, Hartford had gone under the names Stage West, Agora Ballroom, West Hartford Ballroom.

There was a certain atmosphere — the rotten-egg stink of methane. The building was built in 1963 atop an abandoned town landfill. At times, pungent whiffs of methane would waft into the club, especially into some dressing rooms, Paul Zukowski said.
The landfill led to the conversion from bowling alley to concert hall. When the building began settling into the landfill, the lanes warped, making bowling challenging. So the building was renovated and turned into a concert hall in the 1970s.

The Agora, a cavernous former bowling alley in an industrial area near the Hartford line, was once the place to play in Connecticut for bands on the way up or down. The building — home to Columbia Music Hall, Finnochio's East, Hard Rock Cafe, Stage West, Agora Ballroom and The Forum — could hold about 5,000 people and often drew crowds that large.
"I cut my teeth in that place with those amazing shows," said Hank Zukowski, a Hartford native who started in the late 1970s as a $5-an-hour bouncer and became co-owner of the Agora in the mid-1980s. "Santana, The Allman Brothers, Jerry Garcia, Little Feat, Tower of Power. We had groups on the way up and groups on the way down. We had boxing matches there. Stryper, a Christian heavy metal band, played. They threw tiny Bibles into the crowd." (3)

 



 No sign. All you saw was this square building in the middle of a parking lot, middle of nowhere! (hartwintonkath-youtube)










Photos are looking from Dexter Ave.

The West Hartford Agora was a warehouse style room that could hold maybe 1000 people with 2 stages in a rectangular room. Cement floor. One stage at the long end for bigger shows and one on the side in the opposite corner for smaller show, and the room would be half closed off where the larger stage sat. There was a loft that bisected the room where I think the lighting people would work, and there always seemed to be some privileged guests sitting up there. No seats at the Agora.

It was a disco, complete with a lighted raised dance floor like in the movie Saturday Night Fever. It was in the very center of the main room and there were bars to get drinks at on like every wall. That was 1976. (lacystockings-youtube)

Jim Koplik, who launched his career as a concert promoter in the 1980s, ran the Agora from 1979 to 1984, but eventually quit over lack of upkeep of the place.

At the Ramones show in early 1981, a group called The Fast opened the concert. It was the only time I ever saw an opening act get booed off the stage. About 20 minutes into their set, the lead singer tossed a dozen or so covers of the group's debut album into the crowd, which immediately started flinging them towards the stage, Frisbee-style. Then the crowd started booing. Next, cups of beer showered the stage for a couple of minutes before they made a quick exit. (45vinyljunkie-youtube)

Robert Hunter performed here.

Peter Gabriel performed here in July 1983. I remember that the show started late and David Bowie attended after he had finished up his concert at the Civic Center. (dorisco)

Paul Zukowski, Hank's brother, who worked there when his brother was co-owner, remembered the night Wendy O. Williams, lead singer of the Plasmatics, "blew up" an old Cadillac onstage as part of the act.

One night in 1986, the members of NRBQ refused to get on stage because it was Game Six of the World Series and the Boston Red Sox were playing the New York Mets, Zukowski said. The band played once the game ended, even though by then some fans were angry and vocal.

In 1990, the last club, the Forum, closed, not long after vandals with a chain saw ruined the interior, wrecking fixtures and posts that supported an interior gallery. Police say no one was ever charged with the destruction, which rendered the building unusable. Nor did police figure out why it happened.

Also known as Columbia Music Hall, Hard Rock Cafe (not the chain) Stage West, West Hartford Ballroom & Music Hall.
Bob Yurko, stage manager.



Jerry performed here on
11/30/83 Jerry Garcia Band(2)
"This was my first and only JGB performance I attended. I was 18 yrs. old and had been attending DEAD shows for about 3 years. Not knowing what to expect-anticipation was in the air as well as a great deal of reefer smoke. The Agora Ballroom (which is no more) was a very small venue (holding about 1000-1500 people) depending on how many people the management crammed in there. On with the show!!!!!!------> Jerry started out with I'll Take A Melody and seemed in good spirits. John Kahn (rest his soul) was also in good form!! Being a JGB performance he extended the songs with solo's (oftentimes overextending). He only managed to play 8-9 songs the whole evening. I would have been happier if he had cut the solo's down a little and added a few more numbers. By the way the crowd loved it and it was good boppin' music!! Anyway after I'll Take A Melody he went right into The Way You Do The Things You Do and then When I Paint My Masterpeice. This was the first time I had heard this (as I was not familiar with Jerry's solo work) and it has since become one of my favorites. Then a quick It's No Useand in for a break. Set II starts with a rousing rendition of  Cats Down Under The Stars The audience really ate this one up. And it was one of the songs I wished he had extended. He then went right into Rhapsody in Red which Jerry seemed to like but was not a crowd favorite. He quickly makes up for this with a killer version of Dear Prudence -it was like I had never heard it before (This one song made the whole show worthwhile)-but he followed up with my favorite Dylan tune Tangled up in Blue. Awesome!!! Then I got to drive my father's car home tripping my brains out-I had just gotten my license. I must say I did very well!!!(4)





1.)^http://murdercycles.blogspot.com/2009/06/agora-ballroom.html
2.)^http://thejerrysite.com/shows/show/1665
3.)^Leukhart,Bill, Hartford Courant, 2009-06-14.
4.)^Riccardo, Michael

42 comments:

  1. It held 5000 on large side and 1800 on small side.

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    1. Not the Agora in Hartford (West Hartford Ballroom). No way.

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  2. I hosted a ton of shows there when I was a DJ at WCCC, got to meet Peter Gabriel and Bowie at that Gabriel gig in 1983....what a thrill for a knucklehead radio doofus like me!

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    1. Hey Brian I probably knew you way back then too only we didn't know each other

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  3. I went to that Ramones show. It was also the only time I saw an opening band booed off the stage. Something about their attitude universally turned the audience off. Interesting about the landfill & methane-I actually passed out at a Husker Du show (stone cold sober). Someone told me, "Oh, everybody passes out there".

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    1. i was at that show they got booed off well mostly i think because we were so fired up for the ramones.. we all kept screaming hey ho lets go..

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  4. I was at that Robert Hunter show in 1978, planning to review it for the Hartford Advocate. I had been to gigs there when it was the Columbia Music Hall (including the original Mahavishnu Orchestra), and was pretty surprised to find that the place was spruced up like a regular club, rather than the barely re-purposed warehouse it had been previously. Backstage, Hunter came off, frankly, as bitter and arrogant. "Why don't you go interview Kevin (i.e., comfort guitarist Kevin Morgenstern) for a change?" His reason for playing out after having spent so many years in the shadows of the Dead: "I was broke." I found the music so barely competent, that I didn't have the heart to write a bad review, and so I just pretended I never went.

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  5. Saw Aerosmith there 1973.... man were "we" young....place was PACKED and very LOUD

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    1. I saw them there about 12 years later when they first got back together. Great show

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  6. I worked here in the mid 80's. Walking through the crowd selling drinks. Great shows, I remember partying with some of the acts up on the balcony. Sketchy bathrooms, cool vibe.

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    1. In 80's when one of my brother's was the manager I got to see Stevie Ray Vaughan, Tower of Power and one night Huey Lewis & the News show up after their performance at the Hartford Hartford Civic Center. I always sat up on the balcony & got to meet all the bands one of the perks of having a brother who managed the Agora!

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    2. Yup saw them shows too!! Great shows!!
      Saw Huey at civic center then went to Agora to see TOP figuring Huey would show...YUP!! they came up and Jammed with TOP!!

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  7. Terrible!!!
    Great work. Looking forward to more!

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  8. I saw bunches of great shows there, that Garcia show is a particularly not so fond memory, since, as I always did, I hitched down from my home in Amherst, MA. The fatal flaw in my logic that late afternoon was to be let out at Flatbush Ave., where I was promptly mugged in front of a liquor store. All they got was the ticket in my back pocket, which was promptly replaced by the management when I finally arrived bloodied and with holes in the knees of my jeans.
    Also saw The Tubes on 5/6/79, Nantucket, with The Jewels opening in '79, Aerosmith in '80, Rundgren in '81, The Outlaws in '81, and a couple others that I can't recall after almost 40 years! That address, no matter what the current name was over the years, will always hold fond memories for me. Just not that Jerry show!

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    1. I seem to remember JGB getting booed off the stage on that o. ne. They were all too stoned, the crowd got ugly and Jerry got pissed. They played about an hour and left. One of the worst Jerry shows ever! But, there were so many great shows there. I always remember Martha Davis doing a solo from the balcony. Missing Persons was . Stray Cats, The Clash, Peter Tosh, Elvis Costello, Dire Straits, Robert Palmer 2X...I feel like I spent most of my youth there!

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    2. ...oooh The Clash, sooo jealous.

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    3. No one would ever boo jerry off the stage I don’t buy that at all

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  9. In late 1979 I went to see Rick Derringer and the Flying Tigers (a band that featured two members of the original Alice Cooper band, but a 3rd member made a guest appearance on that night.) The Police were playing a couple of nights later. It was a small place that pulled in some big names with reasonable ticket prices . . . I only wish there were more places like that still around.

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  10. jerry wtih the creek opening other creek shows, animals, johnny winter crimon, saw bowie at the civic but we didnt make gabriel shock the monkey show. several others. they tore down paradise. great memories

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  11. ...remember seeing The Original Animals play there during a reunion tour...took slugs of whiskey from a bottle being passed among the crowd...great show! - Eric Burdon was Badass!

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  12. Shows I remember there included:Johnny Winter, Robin Trower, Ted Nugent, Tower of Power,Max Creek, Ace Frehley? and many others I'm not sure about.

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  13. I was the opening act for Jack Bruce (please don't ask me the year... I can't remember!) He had a kick-ass band of [at least] 9 back-up musicians. Anyhoo, I had Johnny Frizzel (R.I.P. my man) with me, as I most certainly wasn't going on before Jack Bruce as a solo acoustic guy! BUT, we had never rehearsed, even tho' I picked the most basic songs I could yank out of my repertoire. Rob The Drummer (all of Sesame Street drumming back in da day) was setting up the drums for Jack's drummer and heard our sound check. He asked if he could sit in too, and of course I said, "Sure, this is gonna be pretty loose anyway". (A vast understatement!) Rob then said his friend was a damn good off-the-cuff bass player and lived just around the corner, and would we like for him to play around as well. Sure thing, says I.
    Rehearsal in the nasty "dressing room"; 3x5's with basic chord structures and song title; half hour.
    So then we do the set. I'm not pushing my rhythm concepts too hard... a man's gotta follow the drums or he'll be dead meat on stage!! Sounds decent; Johnny's screaming like the hounds of hell, drums are slammin', bass is thumping along, and I'm keeping up and hollering.

    Upshot: We gets an ENCORE! Great googly moogly. We file off and get the freakin' coldest shoulder I've ever encountered from the world famous Jack Bruce! Wow, I'd never experienced such pettiness from a pro musician before -- or since. The guy wouldn't even look at us, but you could tell he was mightily P.O.'ed. One of the weirdest but most surprisingly satisfying gigs I'd ever done.
    -Ozone Pete

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  14. Saw Aerosmith (seen on crowd scan in their Behind The Music Documentary), Missing Persons, Eddie Money and Saga there in the 80's. What a dump of a place. But as young kids, we didn't know any better. Good times.

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  15. Saw a lot of great shows there- Little Feat, Mountain w/ Felix on bass, Elvis Costello, Leon Redbone, The Bangles, Hoodoo Gurus, Keith Emerson. Went to one rainy show - the jerks wouldn't let anyone in out of the rain until the exact doors open time - when this guy in a trench coat and umbrella walked through the crowd mumbling "who would ever play a dump like this?" It was Tom Waits, the night's headliner!

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  16. I remember bartending there for years. I got to see and meet so many incredible bands. Chatting with Dee Snyder after the show, playing Astroids with Todd Rundgren, etc. I probably waited on most of these commenters. Great Times! Jay Giangreco

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    1. Hell yea same.. Megadeath, Murphy’s Law, Slayer, and greatest seeing and playing pinball with Lemmy Kilmister!

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  17. I saw the Ramones, Ultravox, Devo and Magazine there, maybe a couple of others. Back in those early punk days it was routine, almost expected, that the crowd would throw beer, coins and beer bottles at the act! The punk mentality required the bands to keep playing, I also remember that the bouncers were quite aggressive and efficient in (literally) throwing extra rowdy patrons out the side door. What an experience.

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  18. Damn remember meeting guys from Ratt in the parking lot ( still have pictures) watching Accept do a photo shoot out there I think with Keel . Saw Metallica . Wasp , Lita Ford , Aerosmith all there . Loved that place which probably wouldn’t be allowed open now due to the fire codes lol

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  19. Saw: Motels,Madness, The Psychedelic Furs, Echo and The Bunnymen,Billy Idol, Missing Persons,

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  20. Saw a bunch of shows there..,Accept, Metallica, Twisted Sister twice, once with Ratt opening, Rising Force, Pita, Steppenwolf, Sabbath

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  21. Does anyone remember seeing Rory Gallagher there around 1979? He left a hell of impression on me and my friends to this day he remains the greatest guitarist I think I've ever seen! I know the place was kind of gross at times but we had so many good times there.

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    1. I'm from Holyoke, MA. My friends and I were at the Rory Gallagher show then (I think '79) he most certainly left an ever lasting impression on us,!

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  22. I saw The Plasmatics there, exactly 40 years ago, today (5/30/81). Great show...that Cadillac blowed up real good! Also saw Missing Persons, Wendy O. solo and The Ramones there.

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  23. Saw Rundgren open for The Tubes, Stray Cats, Idol. Last concert I saw there was Tower of Power on New years eve, 93 or 94?

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  24. Cheap trick in 74,great show

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  25. Was a great place to see a show and tailgate in the parking lot during my high school years..... Slayer, megadeth, metallica with cliff, anthrax, destruction, kreator, metal church, fates warning,husker du,murphys law.

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  26. Big Audio Dynamite, Todd Rundgren, Huey Lewis - good memories

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  27. Saw U2 there December 81!!

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  28. Lots of great shows but I liked going there during the week nights to listen to some of the locals and down a few shots and beers. Bartenders and bouncers got to know us and everyone was cool. Became our hangout and to this day, I miss it.

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