Penfield Library Blog: News & Highlights

Oswego Rocks! - The Rock Continues, Student Organizations, and Infamous Concerts

The Rock Continues

The Program Policy Board continued to bring in big rock acts into the 1980s and 1990s. Notable performers during this period included Pat Benatar (R&RHOF 2022), James Taylor (R&RHOF 2000), Elvis Costello (R&RHOF 2003, "After Slow start, Elvis rousts drowsy Laker crowd"), and The Ramones (R&RHOF 2002), and Modern English. One memorable concert at Laker Hall was The Jerry Garcia Band (R&RHOF 1994, inducted with The Grateful Dead), who reportedly entertained a crowd of just under 2,000 for three hours and had everyone on their feet playing original songs and covers and demonstrated Garcia's range of music by ending with the classic reggae song "The Harder They Come" ("Diverse Garcia: SUCO concert to remember").

James Taylor at Laker Hall poster, courtesy of Allan Shaw '86

Another memorable concert from this time was The Clash (R&RHOF 2003) at Laker Hall on Easter Sunday, April 22, 1984. The band played popular hits like "London Calling", "Rock the Casbah", and "I Fought The Law" ("The Clash gets down to business at Laker"). Heading into the 1990s PPB brought in big-name acts to Laker Hall like 10,000 Maniacs ("Maniacs invade Oswego... and fit right in"), Tom Tom Club and The Soup Dragons ("Hot funk with a lot of spunk"), Living Colour ("Three great bands come to Laker"), and Blues Traveler ("Interview with the Blues Traveler").

Pat Benatar ticket stub, courtesy of Andrew Hans '81

By 1997 PPB was dissolved and a new entity, the Student Association Programming Board (SAPB), began booking popular concerts with student interests in mind. Early on bands like the Barenaked Ladies ("Barenaked and Famous"), Bush and Moby ("MTV's concert is a huge success"), Rusted Root ("Rusted Root concert fills Laker Hall with record numbers"), Ben Folds ("Singer Doesn't Fold"), and Brand New ("Brand new songs, same great sound"). Change is inevitable, and popular musical performances moved away from Laker Hall and into the Campus Center Arena in the mid-2000's. Two of the first performances in the newly-build arena were N*E*R*D ("Spring time brings music to Oswego") and The Goo Goo Dolls ("Goo Goo Dolls set to take Campus Center stage") performed to large audiences.

Beyond Laker Hall

While Laker Hall was the big site for rock performances, other places across campus brought performers and audiences together. Waterman Theatre hosted the Marshall Tucker Band for two sold-out shows on November 19^th, 1973 ("Tyler Alley"). The Hewitt Union Ballroom hosted some memorable shows as well. Harry Chapin, best known for his signature song "Cat's in the Cradle", and his brother Tom put on two shows in the Ballroom on December 3^rd, 1976 while raising money to end world hunger ("Tom and Harry Chapin perform in ballroom"). English blues legend John Mayall (R&RHOF 2024, "John Mayall in town...") also put on two well-received shows in 1976. Two decades later alternative rock band They Might Be Giants played the Ballroom in 1997 ("They Might Be Giants"), as did Ska band Reel Big Fish in 1998 ("A Reel Big Disappointment"). One of the last concerts in the Ballroom occurred on September 21^st, 2013 when Walk the Moon headlined the SAPB fall concert and packed the space for a well-received time ("Walk the Moon surprises crowd despite rainy day relocation").

Student Organizations and Major Performers

Roberta Flack performing at Laker Hall, courtesy of Jim Gemza '70

Student organizations like the Black Student Union, the Latin Student Union, the Third World Caucus, and the Caribbean Student Association partnered with PPB and SAPB brought in musical performers that reflected a growing diverse student population at Oswego. The Four Tops (R&RHOF 1990) headlined the first Black Week in 1970 ("BSU to Sponsor Black Week April 20-25"), followed by Roberta Flack ("Black Week") and Mandrill (1971), War ("Sickle Cell Benefit"), The LeBron Brothers, Earth, Wind and Fire ("Earth, Wind and Fire in Laker Sunday"), and José Feliciano ("'Crazy' Jose glistens in concert").

The Four Tops in Laker Hall, courtesy of Jim Gemza '70

Wu-Tang Clan member Method Man headlined Backyard Jam '95 in the Hewitt Union Ballroom. During the fall semester Wyclef Jean and the Refugee All-Stars performed to a crowd of more than 500 at Laker Hall on October 10^th. Concert attendees at this show may be unaware that the opening act was an up-and-coming all-female R&B group called Destiny's Child performing their debut single "No, No, No". That means we can count Beyoncé as a part of Laker Lore and concert history at Oswego ("It's in the Jeans").

The Ontarian yearbook, 1998

Infamous Concerts

Not all concerts were well received. One legendary rock performer, Gregg Allman (R&RHOF 1995, inducted with The Allman Brothers Band), created some Laker Lore during one of his two visits to Oswego. According to an article in The Oswegonian, the legendary rocker played a shorter-than-expected set at Laker Hall on October 2nd, 1982. However, the story continued into the next day as Allman & his bandmates were pulled over by local law enforcement in Fulton and directed to return to Oswego and pay a bill totaling $1,161.30 in damages to a local hotel ("Band Does More Than Play"). Another infamous concert occurred on October 1^st, 1999 and involved rap superstar Busta Rhymes at Laker Hall. Roughly 1,800 concert attendees waited nearly five hours until Busta Rhymes took the stage at 12:10am the next day and performed a 45-minute set. However, an impromptu decision to refund ticketholders had already been made, partially due to about half the crowd leaving before the "Gimme Some More" singer played to the Laker Hall audience ("Busta Rhymes concert brings problems, concerns to OSU").