When it comes to rock music, the first picture that comes to mind to most people is a top-of-the-shelf electric guitar – either being a slave to the dexterous hands of the lead guitarist or being crushed into two pieces in the hands of the same guitarist after he’s drowned in drugs and alcohol. Both ways, it’s the audience who wins, right? But we tend to ignore the presence of gigantic stage shows that these rockers put out for us – the screaming fans. Talking about stage shows, how can we ignore the important role played by the organizers of these events and the role of the venue itself? So here’s a look at few rock music trivia related to some of the biggest stadiums in the country.

The finest moments in rock history are generally associated with the finest of artists, so I’ll mainly concentrate on the big names. Speaking of big names, Candlestick Park in San Francisco, CA comes to mind. Why? Because it’s here that arguably one of the best bands in the world, The Beatles, performed together in 1966 for the last time. The show was captured by 15 year old Tony Barrow, who later released the footage as a bootleg, although the last song had to be truncated because they ran out of tape. Even the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has had a glorious past. Bruce Springsteen, who among other hits also sang “Streets of Philadelphia”, has had three sold out shows over here. Not only that, the famous Irish band U2 is also scheduled to perform there in July 2010 as a part of their U2 360 tour. Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri has seen awesome days in the past when it comes to sold out concerts – the young Michael Jackson led Jackson 5 in 1984, Paul McCartney in 2003, U2 in 1997, the list goes on.

But when it comes to rock history, for me one stadium emerges as the winner – Oakland Coliseum in Oakland, CA. Credence Clearwater Revival’s famous DVD ‘The Concert’ was actually shot here. And that was back in January 1970. 1974 saw the legendary Grateful Dead perform here for the first time. I say first time because this would later be the band that has performed the most number of times at the Coliseum – a total of 65 concerts. Country rockers Lynyrd Skynyrd performed here in 1977 over the Independence Day weekend. The 90’s too, saw big names like Madonna, U2, Depeche Mode; Rolling Stones rock the stage here.