The 10 best rock concerts I ever saw at Vancouver’s Pacific Coliseum in the ’80s

By Steve Newton

Before GM Place became the home of the Vancouver Canucks in 1995–then changed its name to Rogers Arena in 2010–the Pacific Coliseum was the place to see arena-rock shows in Vancouver.

As a music-obsessed teenager in the ’70s I made the 80-minute drive from Chilliwack to see my first big shows at the Coliseum: T-Rex (with Blue Oyster Cult opening) in October of ’74, the Faces (with Foghat opening) in May of ’75, and the Edgar Winter Group (with UFO opening) in October of ’75.

After I moved to the city and scored a job as a freelance music writer in 1982 I ramped up my visits to “the Rink on Renfrew”, only now I would get free reviewer tickets and sometimes even score backstage passes.

Hard rock and heavy metal were big in the ’80s, so I got to cover a lot of my fave bands back then. Here’s 10 of my Coliseum concert reviews from the decade of decadence.

Metallica, May 31, 1989

The Pacific Coliseum may as well have been a Roman coliseum last Wednesday (May 31), because things got about as uncivilized as they’ve ever been in the home of the Canucks.

Not since the Broad Street Bullies took their orange jerseys into the crowd to bust heads during Dave “The Hammer” Schultz’s heyday has the ol’ hockey rink seen such primitive displays of abandoned fury and bloodlust.

But not to worry–there were no actual casualties, apart from maybe the odd aching ear.

It was just another show by Metallica, San Francisco’s kings of musical blood ‘n’ guts.

On a coliseum-style stage, complete with broken pillars and statues of lions, the four young guns of sonic mayhem blasted forth their messages of injustice and doom to a seething crowd of 12,500 worshippers giving fists up to the band’s unsubtle points of view.

During the nearly two-hour set of state-of-the-art ’80s thrash, Metallica focused on songs from its latest album, …And Justice for All, but occasionally went back in time to cull tracks from its cutesy-titled debut Kill ‘Em All.

“Die! Die! Die!” bellowed singer-guitarist James Hetfield at the start of the band’s encore, and the crowd quickly took up the chant, much like certain “sporting” types did in the days of Caesar.

There’s probably a few echoes of the chant still bouncing around the Coliseum’s rafters, and maybe they’ll stay up there long enough to sound again when Julio Iglesias hits town.

Or, even better, the Calgary Flames.

Def Leppard, June 23, 1988

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Being a rock critic is not all fun and games. “Sure, Steve,” you’re probably saying, “all those free concerts and backstage brewskies must be real tough.”

Okay, so there are worse occupations, but like anything else it can get boring. You become pretty jaded after your first 100 or so trips to the Pacific Coliseum.

Luckily, though, there are still a few bands like Def Leppard, who do things a little bit differently and can transform the old hockey rink into something really special.

Last Thursday (June 23) the youthful British quintet turned the Coliseum into a veritable rock palace of heavenly guitar blasts and soaring melodies. The main difference between other Coliseum shows was the centre-ice placement of the stage. “We wanted to do something a little bit different this time,” bellowed lead singer Joe Elliott, “so we thought we’d put it in the middle!”

The idea works well in a large venue, giving everyone a decent view, and also dividing in half the number of people getting squeezed against the stage-front barriers. A totally effective laser/light show helped focus attention on the stage, especially when coupled with frontman Elliott’s adept drive’-em-crazy antics. He really brought the 15,000-plus crowd together as one screaming, rock-thirsty unit.

And how many bands do you know that would stick by their drummer if he lost an arm? Leppard did just that, and with the help of today’s foot-pedal technology, Rick Allen has been able to develop a drumming technique that suits perfectly well the band’s bone-crunching sound.

“We’ve experienced a few ups and downs in the last four years,” Elliott told the crowd, “but the biggest up is sitting right here.” Then he clasped hands with Allen, and the crowd saluted his courage with a standing ovation.

Almost all of Def Leppard’s material was taken from its last two albums, 1983’s Pyromania and 1987’s Hysteria. They only went back to the older material once, for a killer version of “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” that featured a flamenco-guitar intro by Steve Clark.

For the encore, an outline of Marilyn Monroe’s face was drawn above the stage in green lasers, and the band played one of their hits from ’84, “Photograph”, which was dedicated to her. Then they played a bit of “Radar Love” before bringing out Jon Bon Jovi for CCR’s “Traveling’ Band”, tossing in bits of “Rock and Roll” and “Good Golly Miss Molly” for good measure.

After the show, Clark, Collen, and Allen were spotted down at Club Soda, hanging out with the likes of local rockers Paul Dean and Brian MacLeod. Not surprisingly, the night’s top-40 act Chrissy Steele played a Leppard tune or two.

Needless to say, even those versions got folks riled up.

Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses, May 30, 1988

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The politics of rockin’ can be tough on new bands just getting used to the tour circuit. Take for example Guns N’ Roses, who are on the road in support of their first album, and opening for Iron Maiden, who’ve toured the world for 10 years now.

“It’s terrible,” complained Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash before Monday’s show. “Maiden is cool and everything, but they’ve got such a big stage show, and new soundmen and all, and sometimes there isn’t even time for us to get a soundcheck.”

From the sound of their performance, Slash and his bandmates didn’t get one last Monday (May 30) either. About the only things you could hear well were Slash’s lead guitar and a bit of W. Axl Rose’s lead vocals. Forget the rhythm section. And the band wasn’t too impressed with the crowd’s reaction to them either, threatening to pack up and go unless they got more feedback.

That was a tacky move, but you can’t really blame them, since they deserved to be treated better than your average warm-up act. Their debut ’87 LP, Appetite for Destruction, has skyrocketed to the top-10 on Billboard, and sold over a million-and-a-half copies.

It’s quite possible that next time they’re in town they’ll be the ones headlining.

As for Gun N’ Roses’ music, it’s a fast, gritty, and loose sound reminiscent of Aerosmith, with guitars aplenty and screeching vocals. So it wasn’t surprising that, backstage after their show, Slash was seen wearing a black leather jacket with Aerosmith’s logo emblazoned across the back. Between sips of J.D., Slash chatted amiably with Iron Maiden vocalist Bruce Dickinson, who had to dart away when he heard his band’s intro music going over the P.A.

“I gotta do a tune, mate,” he explained before running off.

When Maiden hit the stage the difference in sound was like night ‘n’ day. Although loud enough to give elderly folk nightmares, it was also very clean (the band is noted for sparing no expense when it comes to gear). The stage resembled the barren arctic landscape portrayed on the cover of the group’s latest album, Seventh Son of a Seventh Son–everything was painted white and frosty-blue, with icebergs stuck here and there.

Dickinson didn’t waste any time in lambasting the Coliseum staff for moving the stage-front barriers back three feet because they thought the crowd was “dangerous”. And when he noticed one particular security guy roughing up a kid, Dickinson jumped down, mike in hand, and grabbed him.

“He wasn’t doing anything, you big ape,” shouted Bruce, adding some choice expletives, and the red-faced bouncer was hustled off, to be replaced by a more understanding member of the band’s road crew.

With the crowd-control under control, Dickinson got on with the business at hand, and he and his British mates delivered state-of-the-art metal via tunes like “Wasted Years” and “The Number of the Beast” (which Dickinson sang while running around with guitarist Dave Murray perched on his shoulders. If you think it sounds easy, try it sometime).

They put the frosting on a typically fine show full of pyrotechnics and effects with two encores that featured “Run to the Hills”, “Two Minutes to Midnight”, and “Running Free”.

David Lee Roth, May 21, 1988

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Whether you like David Lee Roth or not, there’s one thing you’ve got to admit: the guy’s a star. It’s hard to take your eyes off him, and few did at the Pacific Coliseum last Saturday (May 21). Whether you’re ogling his sexy bod, or gazing with wonder at his impressive leaps and kicks, the guy always commands attention.

And it helps if you’ve got one of the world’s rockingest bands supplying the aural energy as well.

Dave hit the stage wearing a black and orange matador’s outfit–with sequins aplenty–and white runners, gloves, and bandana. He sped right into “The Bottom Line”, a raunchy tune off his new album Skyscraper, then went way back 10 years for an old fave from the first Van Halen LP, “Ain’t Talkin’ Bout Love”. Guitarist Steve Vai–looking nearly as cool as Dave himself with a long black coat, silver-buckled boots, and cowboy hat–crammed all the Eddie Van Halen licks he could muster into that tune’s wild solo.

“Look at all the people here tonight!”, exclaimed Dave, before he shed his fancy coat to reveal a sleeveless (and frontless) black t-shirt–and those manly biceps. Steve Vai brought out the gigantic, three-necked guitar from the video of “Just Like Paradise” for that one, playing two necks at a time with the greatest of ease, and for the intro to “Easy Street” Dave was handed his own favourite prop–a bottle of J.D.–and toasted the up, down, “and sideways” moves of his career in rock. The 9,400 or so in attendance gave him their own raucous nod of approval.

During an extended Steve Vai guitar freakout, Dave went off to the side of the stage, changed costumes, and then was swung up above the stage, where he slid down on two ropes, stormtrooper style, for “Skyscraper”. Vai played a few licks from Alice Cooper‘s “Gutter Cat Vs. the Jets” before Dave donned a black fedora, lit a cigarette, and–to the synthesized sound of a crooning, bluesy sax–made a long detective-style introduction to “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody”.

Dave also made an amateurish attempt at playing the steel drums, and then it was time to bring out the real props–a boxing ring that lowered him down to the soundboard for “Panama”, and a giant yellow surfboard (with exhaust system) that he rode back to the stage during “California (Vancouver!) Girls”.

For his encore Roth chose two of Van Halen’s biggest hits, their version of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me” and (what else) “Jump”.

After the show a group of about 30 young girls (mostly blonde) were allowed to stay behind, neatly assembled in three rows of seats near the stage. When the appropriate time came they were all given backstage passes (except four who were, one supposes, not cute enough) and hustled back to a “hospitality room”, from which boomed the sound of loud music and much hilarity.

Whatever happened there remains a mystery, but one thing’s pretty certain: the night’s socially conscious opening act, D.O.A., was not around.

Vancouver’s favourite sons–who were called in at the last moment to replace Poison after its bassist injured himself–did not go over well with the latter’s more glam-oriented following. Joey Keithley’s politically charged tunes proved no match for Bret Michaels’ heavily-teased hair, I suppose. At any rate, D.O.A. made up for it when their own impressive following crammed Club Soda the next night.

“We ain’t no fuckin’ Bon Jovi!” bellowed Keithley at the Soda gig. No kiddin’. Tell me something I don’t know.

Aerosmith, January 20, 1988

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Prior to Aerosmith‘s local appearance last week, I’d seen the Boston band in concert three times, including a show on the massive Rocks tour that saw them headlining over Jeff Beck at the Kingdome in Seattle. Each time before, they had performed more raggedly than singer Steven Tyler looked, and I went away thinking, “Jeez, that’s some kind of ripoff!”.

Not so nowadays. With Tyler, Joe Perry, and the rest of the guys off booze and drugs, they’re as capable a hard-rock act as you’re ever gonna find, as 12,500 fans discovered at the Coliseum last Wednesday (January 20).

After a rather lame opening slot by commercial metalists Dokken (who sounded like Motley Crue with a drunk Eddie Van Halen sitting in), Aerosmith kicked things off with the title track of their breakthrough 1976 LP Toys in the Attic. Steven Tyler appeared in a skin-tight white outfit, replete with headband, bell bottoms, and scarves aplenty, and danced around like a scarecrow with a bumblebee up its butt.

Mainman Joe Perry was a contrast with his shiny black wet-look, traipsing around and knocking off raucous lead and rhythm licks with wild abandon. Second guitarist Brad Whitford and bassist Tom Hamilton were content mainly to stick to their own territory at stage right, laying down the rhythm with the help of straightforward skin-basher Joey Kramer.

When Perry swung into the familiar intro lick to “Same Old Song and Dance” and the band came barreling in right on cue, I knew this was the Aerosmith I’d been hoping to see all along.

“Did you know that Friday Night Videos won’t play our video?,” shouted Tyler as he introduced the band’s current single, “Dude (Looks Like a Lady)”. “They say there’s too much crotch-grabbing in it.”

But that didn’t stop Steve from grabbing his whenever possible. (At least on him the action looks believable. Have you seen Michael Jackson’s latest video?)

As if to drive home the band’s preoccupation with the male reproductive organs, Aerosmith stormed through the naughty “Big Ten Inch Record”, while the first of many expensive-looking running shoes went whizzing past Tyler’s head. Later on in the show, when he got fed up with being a target for Adidas, he warned that the next person to throw something would be the victim of some heinously stupid punishment, too rude to describe.

This tactic seemed to work pretty well and soon Tyler was safe to rampage about the stage to the strains of “Back in the Saddle” (the band’s theme song nowadays) and “Draw the Line” (with thrashy tunes like this, who needs “speed metal”? Not me.)

After a nifty extended drum solo–in which Kramer played the stage itself with some new-fangled electronic drumsticks–the band came out for an encore of the Beatles’ “I’m Down” and their own classic ode to gettin’ it on, “Walk This Way”.

John Cougar Mellencamp, April 16, 1986

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He calls himself Little Bastard on his album productions credits, and after meeting John Cougar Mellencamp backstage before last week’s (April 16) Coliseum show, I half-understood why. He’s not a bastard. On the contrary he seemed like a very nice fellow, all smiles as he shook hands with various rock reporters and music industry types.

But he is little.

At any rate, the show he put on later that night made him look pretty huge to the 14 thousand-odd fans in attendance.

The concert kicked off with a short acoustic intro, then the curtains around a glossy white stage were pulled, and the band ran out to the familiar chords of “Small Town”. There weren’t even any stage monitors up front to divide Mellencamp from his fans, and the communication between the two was evident from the word go.

“Jack and Diane” came next, followed by a couple of tunes from his latest album Scarecrow. “You sure know how to make a fellow feel at home,” he declared, then asked the people standing on their seats up front to sit down so that others could see. As usual at Coliseum shows, most of them stayed up.

“Rain on the Scarecrow” came next, along with a short spiel on the plight of the American farmer. (Cougar was a major attraction at last year’s Farm Aid benefit concert.) He pulled a male fan from the front row up to sing along on one of this early songs, “Hand to Hold on To”, and brought a roar when he gave the lucky guy the mike and let him sing a verse alone.

Mellencamp hopped on guitarist Larry Crane’s shoulders for the rocking “Rumbleseat”, and his first big hit, “Hurt so Good”, had ’em dancing in the aisles. The twangy guitar intro to his best tune, “The Authority Song”, kept them there.

When Mellencamp left the stage the crowd brought him back for an encore of “Under the Boardwalk”. “Where I come from [Seymour, Indiana] they didn’t have any boardwalks,” he shouted. “But we could sure relate to the hotdogs and the sunshine and the girls!”

After the Mellencamp show it was time for a trip to The Embassy, where members of the New York-based metal band Bon Jovi had congregated. They took the stage for a slinky version of Tom Petty‘s “Breakdown” and their scorching hit single “Runaway”. The group is in town recording their third album, and club manager Ziggi is expecting them at jam night this Wednesday (April 30) as well.

ZZ Top, December 16, 1985

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Shortly before his death, somebody asked Jimi Hendrix if he knew of any up-and-coming guitarists to watch out for. One of the players Hendrix mentioned was Billy Gibbons.

Sixteen years later, Gibbons is living up to Jimi’s expectations. At the moment, his guitar is the driving force behind the world’s most popular blues-based boogie band, ZZ Top, the Texas trio that shook the Coliseum Sunday and Monday.

Gibbons’ searing “blow-your-top” stringwork is recognized all across the planet–by rowdy, fist-throwing teens and mature musicians alike. Seated to my left in the pressbox was a 30-year-old country player, to my right a Twisted Sister fanatic, and just in front was Loverboy guitarist Paul Dean, whose binoculars had a steady bead on Gibbons’ hands throughout the concert.

Monday’s show started when the lights went up on a huge, gold-coloured pharoah, with laser beam eyes, set in the middle of a red dashboard–complete with steering wheel, radio, illuminated dials, and glove compartment.

Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill hit the stage in long black coats, white baseball caps, and their trademark 12-inch beards, and–with drummer Frank Beard pounding along–started into “Got Me Under Pressure”, a song from their multiplatinum Eliminator album of ’83.

“Sleeping Bag”, one of the first singles off their new album, Afterburner, came next, and with it one young fellow managed to crawl over the barricade at the foot of the stage and have a second of glory on stage before a security man grabbed a leg and dragged him off.

Two songs from ZZ’s ’73 LP, Tres Hombres, followed, “Waitin’ For the Bus” and “Jesus Just Left Chicago” (“Then he went up to Vancouver”) before Gibbons cried “Lookout!” and the familiar drum intro kicked off “Gimme All Your Lovin”.

For the next tune, “Ten Foot Pole”, Gibbons got a little rude, flipping his guitar over and making scratchy noises by rubbing it up and down his zipper. “Manic Mechanic”, with its robot-ish vocal effect was next, then Dusty Hill took over the lead vocals for “Heard It On the X”, from ’75’s half-live Fandango.

“How about a little blues for ya this evening!” Gibbons shouted, and the mellow (by ZZ’s standards) “Rough Boy” drifted off the stage. Tunes like “Cheap Sunglasses”, “Arrested for Driving While Blind”, and “Party on the Patio” followed, before the furry white guitars–made famous in the “Legs” video–were brought out for that song.

For “Planet of Women”, another new tune, the hot rod interior switched to that of a spaceship–the dials became all computerized-looking and the steering wheel changed shape. “Time to put on those good lookin’ threads,” announced Gibbons as the band ripped into yet another hit from Eliminator, “Sharp Dressed Man”.

Then video equipment was brought out, stagefront lights turned on, and Billy said “Y’all gonna be on television.” It seems that Vancouver is one of ZZ Top’s favourite places to play, so they decided to make their next video here, of a song called “Stages”.

Two more new tunes followed, “Can’t Stop Rockin’” and “Delirious”, and then the band left the stage.

But not for long. When they came back Gibbons declared “We ain’t goin’ nowhere. Just had to get a little drink a water!” “Velcro Fly”, “Tubesnake Boogie”, “La Grange”, and the finale “Tush” (with Gibbons’ biting slide) made up the encore. It all ended with heavy dry ice, confetti, and a blast of sparks.

Southern hospitality…Texas style.

Tina Turner, September 27, 1985

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Dire Straits, September 23, 1985

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“Rock and roll Vancouver,” announced Mark Knopfler half-way through Monday’s (September 23) Dire Straits show at the Pacific Coliseum. And when his band swung into the twist-and-shout rocker “Walk of Life”, the crowd did as they were told. A mass of fans started up the aisles towards the front of the stage–held back briefly as a lone security guy grappled with the leader of the pack.

“You can’t stop them,” said Knopfler, and the burly bouncer gave up the struggle. Seconds later the stage-front was a sea of bopping bodies, and those of us with floor tickets had to stand on our seats to keep track of the action.

Two kids managed to climb onstage, and do their own little “walks of life” before being escorted off. And amid all the commotion, Knopfler managed to keep a considerate eye on the heaving populace up front. “We’ve got some little ones there,” he cautioned, pointing to an area at his right. “Be careful with them, please.”

But things didn’t calm down any for the next tune, the hit single “Money For Nothing”. It was clearly the song a lot of people had been waiting for, and the Straits made it last (as with “Sultans of Swing”) by working in extended sax and guitar solos.

Dressed in a plain white cowboy-style shirt, grey pants, white runners, and a black headband, Knopfler sang about the “yo-yo’s” that play the “gitar” on the MTV and get their chicks for free. Sting of the Police wasn’t around, so rhythm guitarist Jack Sonni sang the line “I want my…I want my…I want my MTV.”

Lanky and lean bassist John Illsley–aside from Knopfler the only original member left–grinned steadily and played that way too. Keyboardists Alan Clark and Guy Fletcher filled out the spacious sound, saxman/flutist Chris White added tasty woodwind bits, and drummer Terry Williams kept it all in place.

But the main attraction was bandleader/singer/songwriter Mark Knopfler’s scintillating lead guitar. Whether playing a National steel guitar (the one pictured on their new LP) for “Romeo and Juliet”, a whammy-barred Steinberger for “One World”, or a sunburst Les Paul for the first encore, “Brothers in Arms”, Knopfler always hit home with his soulful and bluesy fingerpicking.

The concert ended with the appropriate “Going Home”, the theme from the movie Local Hero, which Knopfler did the soundtrack to. While the band continued playing the house lights came on, and the crew started tearing down the equipment. It was a smooth way to close down a good two hours of music from one of rock’s most genuine bands.

Blue Oyster Cult, August 22, 1982

What do a motorcycle, a monster, and a massive mirrored saucer have in common? Who cares, you say? They’re all props used last Sunday night by New York City’s Blue Öyster Cult, who played the Pacific Coliseum with opening act Aldo Nova.

Touring to promote their latest album, Extraterrestrial Live, the group came on strong with a triple-guitar attack that drove home the main idea behind songs like the opener “Dominance and Submission” and Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”. On the latter tune, singer Eric Bloom pulled a Judas Priest trick by driving a big, black Harley (or was it a Yamaha?) onstage.

During “Godzilla”, a curtain behind drummer Rick Downey was parted to reveal the lizard king itself–with massive green head and laser red eyes. Spewing fountains of dry ice from its jaws, the creature was pelted with drumsticks by Downey.

The real highlight of the show had to be lead guitarist Don (Buck Dharma) Roeser‘s solo work, which he executed with dizzying speed on songs such as “Cities on Flame” from the group’s first album, and their biggest hit to date “(Don’t Fear) the Reaper”.

He lived up to his reputation as one of the top rock guitarists in America, especially on the extended jam that took place during the encore performance of the Doors classic, “Roadhouse Blues”.

Toronto glam-rocker Aldo Nova did his best to get the mostly teen crowd warmed up for BÖC, playing selections from his enormously successful debut album. Dressed in a black leather jumpsuit, Nova posed and pranced through Top 40 tracks like “Fantasy”, playing the guitar-hero role to the hilt and keeping the rest of his band in the background.

To read more than 300 of my other Vancouver concert reviews go here.