Wrecking Ball

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/68146932.html

Never being mistaken for the World's Most Enthusiastic Concertgoer, I'm naturally skeptical over the feelings that fans and musicians have been known to express when a landmark concert venue is being closed down - and even knocked down.

"I don't want to say goodbye to this place. I don't even want to think about it yet. I just want to keep . . . rocking." - Eddie Vedder, kicking off the last concert ever at the Spectrum

I'm not immune to these feelings on a grassroots level, having joined in with Townspeople who expressed disappointment over Philadelphia's old TLA (Theater of the Living Arts) getting a phony, new name and bemoaning the long-ago demise of intimate local clubs like JC Dobbs and Bacchanal, but the sense that a building is somehow sacred and should be saved is foreign to me.

On Friday, Vedder expressed similar regrets. "Why don't they just save the f- place?" he asked. "Forty-two years is not that old. I'm 44," he said, showing off his biceps.

Maybe we've never had that historic a rock venue in Philly, or maybe I never appreciated the soon-to-be demolished Spectrum, the basketball/hockey/concert arena that has stood since the late '60s. I like my share of hoops - and lord knows I love my Flyboys - but the Spectrum as some legendary concert venue? Eh...

Have you ever lost a rock venue that really mattered to you, the way the loss of the Spectrum obviously meant to Eddie Vedder?