August 1 1983/2023

On August 1 2023 I returned from New York City to Toronto. I dislike flying, this was the smallest plane I’ve ever been on, and my ears popped and cracked the whole time. I did a fair amount of Stop Making Sense research in NY which I’ll communicate here in due time.

At some point the tour entourage travelled between New York and Virginia.

On August 1 1983 Talking Heads played the first official concert of the Speaking in Tongues tour in Hampton, Virginia at the Hampton Roads Coliseum. I have been so far unable to locate a recording, review, photograph or ticket stub from this date.

This article appeared on page 31 of the Daily Press Newport News Virginia on July 29 1983. The event was general admission. $9.50 advance/$10.50 day of performance. As with most of the dates on the tour, no opening act.

Now named the “Hampton Coliseum” the venue is quite distinctive looking.

I’m not sure how much information I should include about each venue on this site. At the very least I want to mention that the amazing Talking Heads Concert History website says that this event was a “Half-house arena set-up.” I’ve been unable to find reports of ticket sales, or capacity at this time. Most current sources list capacity at around 9000-12,000 but some of the “book your conventions in Virginia”-type sites say things like “scalable seating capacities from 3,000-12,800.” So it’s difficult to gauge how many actually attended the concert. Did it sell out? In Virginia? I’m guessing 5000 is a safe estimate,

Several good resources on the venue are the venue’s official website, the Society of Architectural Historians, Jerry’s Broken-Down Palaces. It’s behind a paywall, but it also looks like the Daily Press newspaper has a great archive of photos and articles.

I’m somewhat stressed about documentation and this blog. I’m feeling regrets about research decisions I made years ago based on available resources at the time. I didn’t purchase copies or make notes about the technicalities for each venue when I had access to the tour manager’s documents. And I used the two above images of the venue without proper documentation and I’m sure Google doesn’t feel screencaps of their directions are public domain. However, I’m trying to be less perfect and more productive. It feels very uncomfortable. Especially as an aspiring archivist.