BUY THE BOOK
From 1974 to 1983, a nondescript multipurpose arena in Erie, PA, dubbed the Erie County Fieldhouse, hosted many of classic rock's royalty before they were superstars -- bands such as AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Boston, Van Halen, BTO, Santana, Doobie Brothers, Styx, Foreigner, Blue Oyster Cult, Nazareth, KISS, Alice Cooper, and Judas Priest. The facility's unique location -- about two hours from Buffalo, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh -- afforded many acts the opportunity to play one additional show while traveling between the larger markets. Since the facility had inexpensive fees and was accessible almost immediately off of Interstate 90, it was a no-brainer for managers to agree to these shows, especially considering the money they could make from one of these concerts could often pay many of the expenses for a tour.
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Author Dan Schell chronicles the interesting backstory of how the building came to be built as well as a year-by-year description of each of the rock concerts that occurred. Interspersed among the entertaining personal anecdotes of the promoters, employees, and concertgoers Schell interviewed are over 200 images of everything from actual performances to concert posters and advertisements. You can purchase the book, posters, and shirts via the Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErieCountyFieldhouse.
PHOTOS FROM THE FIELDHOUSE
SEE MORE PHOTOS IN THE BOOK
AUTHOR
Dan "Chip" Schell was born and raised in Erie, PA where he resides with his wife and two children. He has worked at Jameson Publishing/VertMarkets
since 2000, and he is currently the company's editorial director.
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For 25 years he played bass and sang in various local bands,
most of which you probably wouldn't remember considering none of
them were widely popular. Today, he plays alongside
guitarist/singer Glenn Rankin to form the duo
Rankin & Schell. Click here to see their website.
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To contact Dan, email eriecountyfieldhouse@gmail.com.
POSTERS
All Erie County Fieldhouse posters are re-creations; they were designed to look as much like the actual advertisements that appeared in the newspaper at the time of these shows. In some instances, when the ad for a show was small with little information, an entirely new design was created. All of the words, dates, prices, etc. are correct; the only additions are the years for the shows and occasionally a tour name.
All posters are 11x17 on card stock, which is perfect for framing. Posters must be purchased from my Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErieCountyFieldhouse. In the Etsy shop, there are more posters available than are shown on this web page.
SHIRTS
Shirts must be purchased from my Etsy store at https://www.etsy.com/shop/ErieCountyFieldhouse. The style and supply vary depending on what I have in stock.
