San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
U-T music critic George Varga looks back at the many performers who visited the stadium, from U2 to The Who, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones too.
A look back at some unforgettable concerts at the San Diego/jack Murphy/qualcomm/sdccu Stadium
Quick! Name your favorite live concert album recorded at the nowdefunct Mission Valley venue known over the years as San Diego Stadium, Jack Murphy Stadium, Qualcomm Stadium and, most recently, SDCCU Stadium.
It’s a trick question.
So far as we can recall, no official complete live album was ever recorded at the now largely demolished Mission Valley stadium that used to be fondly known as “The Q” and “The Murph.” But The Who did record three songs at The Murph for the English band’s 25th anniversary 1989 live double-album, “Join Together.” And part of Coldplay’s October 2017 SDCCU Stadium show was broadcast live at a Mexico City benefit concert on behalf of victims of that September’s Puebla earthquake.
The booming slap-back echo, an unmistakable trademark of the 67,544seat stadium, did not lend itself well to live albums.
Even so, the largest outdoor event venue in San Diego County hosted dozens of memorable and not-so-memorable concerts over the decades. Its razing is expected to be completed by the end of summer, with San Diego State University’s 35,000-seat Aztec Stadium set to open in September 2022.
“Probably in May 2023 we’ll start hosting concerts,” said Derek Grice, SDSU’S executive associate athletic director for Mission Valley development.
“I think we’ll look to maximize as many events as we can. We’ve had positive interactions with promoters, and there’s an excitement level about what we’re building. We’re creating an environment bands and audiences will want to experience.”
Until then, this is as good a time as any to look back at some of the concerts held at the Mission Valley stadium. While there does not seem to be a complete record of every music event held there, it appears the first major band to perform in the stadium was the brassy Chicago. The concert followed an early summer Padres game in 1972.
That same summer saw the first stadium show here that allowed fans on the field — a multi-act bill with Jesse Colin Young, Dr. Hook and The Medicine Show, the J. Geils Band, Foghat and Boone’s Farm. It was sponsored by radio station KGB-FM, which in the early 1980s began staging its annual KGB Sky Show concerts at the stadium and, in 1983, hosted the first-ever stadium gig anywhere by the hard-rocking Def Leppard.
There isn’t enough space to recap every concert of note the stadium hosted over the decades, which is why we’re not including the now-defunct Vans Warped Tour or the 2005 and 2006 editions of San Diego Street Scene (which took place in the stadium’s parking lot). But here is a look back at some of the memorable moments of musical history that took place inside the monolithic concrete edifice in Mission Valley.
Longest run
From 1975 to 1986, the annual Kool Jazz Festival drew large numbers of R&B fans. (Its name notwithstanding, jazz had little to do with this festival.) The lineups during the event’s run boasted such giants as Aretha Franklin, Dizzy Gillespie, Marvin Gaye, B.B. King and, of course, Kool & The Gang.
Second-longest run
The Beach Boys performed 10 times at the stadium between 1982 and 1994, usually following that day’s Padres game. For those seeking a trip down memory lane, the band’s all-oldies repertoire ensured some good vibrations.
Famous couples
Simon & Garfunkel’s 1983 “Summer Evening” reunion tour included a rapturously received stadium show here on Aug 28, 1983. It would be 20 years before the famously fractious musical duo toured again.
On Sept. 27, 2018, the husband-andwife team of Jay-z and Beyoncé brought their “On the Run II” stadium tour here. It came after both had released albums, her “Lemonade” and his “4:44,” that addressed his marital infidelity. While each soared onstage at times, some of their video interludes lasted longer than many of their songs — the better to accommodate the frequent costume changes by the evening’s two superstars.
Famous audience members
U2 performed the second date on its 1997 “Popmart” tour at the stadium for an audience that included Mick Jagger, Tiger Woods, Courtney Love and Smashing Pumpkins mastermind Billy Corgan. The ambitious concert soared a number of times, but also suffered from erratic pacing. It included U2 guitarist The Edge singing, of all things, an off-the-cuff version of The Monkees’ 1967 hit “Daydream Believer” (which was written by San Diego native and Kingston Trio alum John Stewart).
Here we come
Three of the four members of The Monkees reunited for a 1986 stadium tour that included an Aug. 23 stop here. Their postgame concert also featured the Grass Roots, the San Diego-bred Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, and a curiously Herman-less edition of Herman’s Hermits.
The last time?
The Rolling Stones performed at the stadium in 1981, 1984 and 1998, when it was still known as Qualcomm. The legendary English band’s 2020 tour was set to open here last May. It was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic, then canceled altogether when the razing of the stadium was announced. It remains to be seen if the Stones will return here. Until they do, I’ll most fondly recall the band’s wet, windy concert at the stadium on Feb. 3, 1998. Rather than beat a quick retreat from the rain and cold, the Stones doubled down and rocked with increasing vigor. The headline for my review aptly summed it up: “Stones take Squall-comm by storm — fans soak up memories.”
Sis-boom-bah?
Crosby, Stills & Nash’s Sept. 1, 1984, concert was surprisingly solid, considering that David Crosby was at the height of his heroin and cocaine addiction during CSN’S final tour before Crosby began a prison sentence on drug charges. But the concert’s most striking and downright strange aspect was provided by a bevy of young cheerleaders from a local private school. They danced and gyrated on the field, directly in front of the stage, for the duration of the concert. Apparently, nothing underscores such classic CSN lyrics as “I feel like letting my freak flag fly” and “You got to speak out against the madness” nearly as well as pompoms and splits.
Keying in
For his first San Diego performance in 11 years, Elton John teamed up with Billy Joel for a doubleheader on March 22, 1995. Appearing before a sold-out crowd of 55,000, the two piano men began their tour-opening 37-song concert with touching, unaccompanied duo versions of John’s “Your Song” and Joel’s “Honesty.” It concluded nearly four hours later, after each had performed individual sets with his own band, with unaccompanied duo versions of Joel’s “Piano Man” and John’s “Candle in the Wind.” It was apparently the first concert at the stadium to include two American Sign Language interpreters, who signed the entire concert for about 40 deaf fans seated next to the stage.
Hit the stage, literally
The English boy band One Direction drew a sold-out audience of 52,381 to the opening date of its 2015 “On the Road Again” tour. It was the first big concert at the stadium since the Justin Timberlake-led NSYNC played there in 2001. During “Through the Dark,” One Direction’s Harry Styles took a tumble after he unwisely grabbed a microphone stand that was bolted to the stage. His band mates laughed heartily. One Direction split up at the end of the tour.