Capital Centre was a wonderful place to see concerts

This used to be a country where things were built to last.

When Abe Pollin built the Capital Centre in 1973 and moved his Baltimore Bullets basketball team to Washington, they played in the most modern arena in the country. The Capital Centre was the first indoor arena to have the sort of telescreen for replays that is now found almost everywhere.

Before the decade was out, Washington played in the NBA finals three times, with the Bullets winning their only championship in 1978. By 1976, Washington had a hockey team as well, leaving the Cap Centre an extremely busy venue.

The other thing Pollin did was give Washington a big-time concert venue, and for 30 years, nearly all the big national tours played there.

It's funny. In my memory, I felt like I went to a dozen concerts there, but when I looked at a list the other day, I realized I only saw eight concerts there from 1974-81. They were eight pretty incredible shows, though. The first show might have been the best. Bob Dylan and the Band in January 1974, the first time Dylan had toured in six or seven years.

Dylan and The Band, 1974

That was the tour, as I recall, when the idea of people lighting matches for an encore first took hold. I remember so much about that concert, especially the feeling that Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door" was maybe the most beautiful song I had ever heard.

Of those eight concerts, I attended all but one with the same person. We were engaged in 1974, married in 1975 and falling apart by the seventh concert in the fall of '79.

The Eagles, 1979

We saw Crosby Stills Nash & Young in the summer of 1974, the Beach Boys/Chicago show and Loggins and Messina in 1975, Electric Light Orchestra in 1978 and Billy Joel in 1979 before winding everything up with the Eagles in the fall of '79. We separated for good three months later.

I think I saw a few ballgames there after that, but there was only one more concert for me at Capital Centre, the only one I saw with a different date. We saw the Rolling Stones in December 1981, nine years after I saw the same group at RFK Stadium on July 4, 1972.

By the end of the century, the brand-new arena wasn't so new anymore, and by 2002 it was torn down to be replaced by some massive retail development. Washington's indoor sports teams play downtown these days, at a newer, even more futuristic building.

My last concert at the Capital Centre was more than half a lifetime ago. The last really big-time concert I saw was in 1985, when I went with co-workers to see Bruce Springsteen in St. Louis.

Great memories, at least as long as my memory holds up.