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Jun 15, 2009 | Posted by: roboblogger

Popular '80s West Hartford Music Hall To Be Demolished

Full story: Hartford Courant

A demolition crew will soon bring the house down at the long-closed Agora Ballroom, which drew crowds in the 1980s to hear R.E.M., The Band, the Ramones and other national and regional bands.

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RockOn

Wallingford, CT

Judged:

After the inside was vandalized it wasn't repaired. Then it sat vacant. I heard the place also sat vacant because the land underneath is contaminated from the West Hartford dump - the owners couldn't do anything with it. That whole area is probably contaminated.

Colon McEnroe

Barrington, NH

Judged:

The Agony Ballroom, I remember it well.

D Man

East Hartford, CT

Judged:

I agree with Jim Koplik, the place was a dump. The A/C was never turned on in the summer, filthy restrooms and it was always a battle to get a drink. Typical greedy club owners. Parking was great!

Shark Bait

Middletown, CT

Judged:

Ah yes.....

Remember it well...

You knew you were close to finding the bathrooms as the stench of vomit overtook your senses......

Ah yes...

The good old days.....

Did see some great shows there

Rick Danko, Levon Helm, Garth Hudson ......great night

NRBQ shows were usually excellent

mailer

Cromwell, CT

Judged:

i remeber going there but barely remember leaving. ahhhhh the 70's and 80's were great .

Mark

Bristol, CT

Judged:

I was able to see Steppenwolf, The Allman Brothers and I think John Valby at the Agora. What a dump… It was wonderful!

Hootchie Cooo

Old Lyme, CT

Judged:

I was there when Wendy Williams blew up that Caddilac with blood running down her face, chainsaw in hand. Pretty good theater but so-so music.
I was there when Lou Reed took to the stage after an extended delay and was so hammered that he could barely stand let alone sing. He wobbled around the stage singing off time and out of key before stopping the show to swear at the audience.
I was there for the Average White Band, Aerosmith, and several other good shows.
Besides the Shaboo it was the place to go. Too bad there isn't a place like that today.

gust

Naugatuck, CT

Judged:

You could buy a six pack for 9 bucks. The floor was always sticky from spilled drinks. I remember seeing the Talking Heads there. One of the best shows I have ever seen.

John Patrick Lennon

North Haven, CT

Judged:

I saw The Ramones, Peter Gabriel, The English Beat, Big Audio Dynamite, The Divinyls, The Cult, NRBQ with Carl Perkins, and many of Connecticut best indie bands like The Reducers, Motive 8, and Paisley Jungle play the Agora. Security was often brutal and steroid-fueled, but for the most part, I always had a great time there.

MrNY

New York, NY

Judged:

That is a sad story. Hartford will never have a music venue like that again and in typical, sad Hartford style, it was destroyed by vandals... locals. Was it stupid kids, destroying there own stomping grounds or was it an angry, selfish neighbor. Either way, Hartford has few gems left, better start appreciating them before they are all gone.

you go jodi

Manchester, CT

Judged:

oughta shut down the tiger next

Smoke em if you got em

Granby, CT

Judged:

There was a point in time when Hartford did not sux.

sleepless in wh

West Hartford, CT

Judged:

Good times, great memories, very cool to have a venue so close by; I had this, my kids had the Webster...oh well. That's life.

Rick From Texas

“Born & raised in Connecticut”

Since: Aug 08

2,884

Addison, TX

ISP: Addison, TX

Judged:

I saw U2 there during a snowstorm so bad only about 100 people or so showed up.

They had just released their second album, October, and they played that album and their first one, Boy, flawlessly. Best show I ever saw.

Saw the Tubes there too, another awesome show.

Boy this article sure takes me back. I'd say this is the end of an era but that era actually ended a long time ago.

14yrtcit

Wallingford, CT

Wow, we were recently just talking about the Agora and how much fun we had there.

WTB

Taipei, Taiwan

Was always nice to go to a club with room to move. I was at many of the same shows listed above, many great times. Living in between both, perferring to dance big, I always liked to go here, rather than being sholder to sholder at toads.

Jughead

Waterbury, CT

Judged:

Spent many nights there, Ted Nugent John Valby and more. Got inside the building about 10 plus years ago, crawled through a hole in the rear wall and the building was destroyed. As far as I was concerned it had been torn down already. I did see an old concert promotion poster for a band I never heard of. It was on the wall in a small room (remember the pale blue wall paint) were bands were. I wished I had took it. I felt pretty bad for the place. It was what 70s rock and roll was all about, what you see in the movies......

Pasquale Daly

West Palm Beach, FL

Judged:

That's when "cool people" ruled !!!! That's when girls teased their hair into a mountainous heap..and guys wore tight navy blue jeans .... sea breezes and draft michelob were the flavor of the day... orange camaros and Foghat tapes were a common sight and sound !! That is when we all knew the words to every song and sang with joy as we cruised down 84 !!!! That is when we went to bed happy and woke up happier !!!!! YEEEE HAWWWWW !!!! BYE AGORA !!!!! Memories, like the chorus of my mind !!!..... SLOW DOWN ..TAKE IT EASY !!!

leftdialmuzkgrl

Middletown, CT

I was there for the Wendy-O show, they opened for Billy Idol .. what a lot of memories. I've seen so many shows at the Stage West/Agora. A lot of well named bands and a lot of unknown bands. The Clash, X, Echo & the Bunnymen to Huey Lewis and the News, The Ramones (several times), the Cult, Todd Rundgren and the Tubes. Too many shows to remember. We've missed you dearly Stage West/Ballroom. Thanks for the memories.. RIP

The Real Richard

Rockville, MD

John Patrick Lennon wrote:

I saw The Ramones, Peter Gabriel, The English Beat, Big Audio Dynamite, The Divinyls, The Cult, NRBQ with Carl Perkins, and many of Connecticut best indie bands like The Reducers, Motive 8, and Paisley Jungle play the Agora. Security was often brutal and steroid-fueled, but for the most part, I always had a great time there.

X, The great Doors cover band 'Crystal Ship', The Gang of Four, REM, Big Country, the Kinks, and all the rest.

Better than traveling to Toads or Northhampton. The Webster doesn't quite fill the bill and the XL is too big.

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