Memorial Auditorium

March 25, 1976

Originally, the UPC show was booked into Foster Auditorium on campus. The poster for the show featured an electrified wolf’s head on a platter, designed by artist Pat Covert. It listed Foster as the venue. However, tickets began selling like hotcakes -- some would argue due to the emerging popularity of Kansas, and moved to Memorial Coliseum. Kansas stepped onstage and played music from the band's eponymous album which was released the same month as the Tuscaloosa show. Kansas was loud, ear-shattering heartland rock driven by thunderous guitars and violinist Robby Steinhardt’s accents and elaborate interplay with the other instruments. The audience was enthusiastic, to say the least. Kansas was called out for multiple encores until the lights came on and the music stopped. Bad Company was considered somewhat of an English “supergroup” in their day. A pair of former members of British blues-rock group Free (“All Right Now,” “Mr. Big”), and another from Mott the Hoople and King Crimson rounded out the ensemble. Their first album, “Bad Company,” dropped in 1974 followed by two more and a spate hit radio hits. The group was loud and played the part of a top-selling English rock band perfectly. Lead singer Paul Rodgers postured and preened around the stage belting out hit after hit to the delight of the large crowd the UPC had convened inside the largest indoor venue on campus. Bad Company was among the biggest rock groups on the planet, however, as concertgoers filed out after the lights came up at the end of the concert, it was clear that the night belonged to the little band that could, the upstart Americans from Kansas.