Apollo Stadium

Apollo Entertainment Centre

Apollo Stadium
Location	41 Kingston Avenue, Richmond, South Australia
Coordinates
Capacity	1969-84: 4,000 1985-92: 3,500 Basketball / Netball: 3,000
Construction
Broke ground	1968
Opened	1969
Closed	1997
Tenants
Adelaide 36ers (NBL) (1982-1991) West Adelaide Bearcats (NBL) (1979-1984) Glenelg Tigers (NBL) (1979) Forestville Eagles (NBL) (1981)

Apollo Stadium (officially called the Apollo Entertainment Centre) was a multi-purpose indoor arena located at 41 Kingston Avenue, Richmond, South Australia, just 5 minutes from the Adelaide city centre. The stadium had an original seating capacity of 4,000 until the early 1980s when the bench seats were replaced by individual plastic seats giving a reduced seating capacity of 3,000 and an overall capacity of just 3,500.

Opened in 1969, the stadium was named for the Apollo moon landing of the same year.

In 1991 it was superseded as Adelaide's premier concert venue by the new 12,000 capacity Adelaide Entertainment Centre and in 1992 the venue was superseded as the home of basketball and netball by the new 8,000 seat Clipsal Powerhouse. The building then became a church for a few years but was eventually sold and demolished, with the site subsequently being redeveloped for housing.

Sports arena

Apollo Stadium was Adelaide's major basketball arena from 1969 until 1991, being the home court of National Basketball League teams the West Adelaide Bearcats (1979–84), Glenelg Tigers (1979), Forestville Eagles (1981) and Adelaide 36ers, who were the Adelaide City Eagles in their first year (1982–91).

The first ever NBL game was played at a half full Apollo Stadium on 24 February 1979 when the Glenelg Tigers defeated the City of Sydney Astronauts 68-65. Top scorer for the league's inaugural game was Sydney's David Leslie who went for 25 points on 11/22 shooting. For the Tigers, Rick Hodges led the way with 16 points on 7/14 shooting.

The Bearcats and 36ers were almost unbeatable at the venue, with the Bearcats winning the 1982 NBL championship during their time in the league (the Grand Final win over the Geelong Supercats was played in Newcastle). During the 1986 regular season, the 36ers were undefeated at home going 13-0. The only game they lost at Apollo all season was Game 2 of the Grand Final series when they suffered a shock 83-104 loss to the Brisbane Bullets. The 36ers won their first NBL Championship at Apollo two days after their Game 2 loss when they accounted for the Bullets 113-91 in Game 3 in what was coach Ken Cole's last game in charge of the club.

As of the 2014-15 NBL season, no team has equalled Adelaide's 1986 NBL record of being undefeated at home during the regular season.

The stadium hosted the 1981 NBL Grand Final when the Launceston Casino City defeated the Nunawading Spectres as well as the 1982 NBL All-Star Game with the East team defeating the West 153-148 in a high scoring game.

Despite its low spectator capacity Apollo Stadium was known as one of the loudest venues in the NBL during its use from 1979 until 1991. With a capacity crowd of 3,000 sitting very close to the action it was an intimidating task for opposition teams with 36ers players often referring to Apollo as the teams "6th Man". Award winning Adelaide based basketball journalist Boti Nagy, who also often doubled as a sideline television commentator during 36ers games, often described the seating at Apollo as being so close to the action that you could literally get hit with sweat from the players as they ran past.

The final NBL game at Apollo was the first game of the 1991 Semi-final series between the 36ers and the defending champion Perth Wildcats. In front of yet another sellout crowd, the Wildcats defeated Adelaide 102-99. Playing for the 36ers in that game were the likes of Mark Davis, Darryl Pearce, Mark Bradtke, Butch Hays, Brett Wheeler and Mike McKay. For the Wildcats there was James Crawford, Kendall "Tiny" Pinder, Mike Ellis, Ricky Grace and Andrew Vlahov.

Apollo Stadium was the home of the State League Netball grand final (usually televised locally by Channel 9) as well as being host to international and national state netball games until the Powerhouse opened in 1992.

Apollo Stadium also hosted other indoor sports such as volleyball and badminton and the venue was generally seen as the indoor home of South Australian teams in national competitions or tournaments.

Music venue

Apollo Stadium was a significant music venue in South Australia. Among the rock bands and musicians who performed at the stadium were:

Artist(s)	Date(s)	Notes
Louis Armstrong
The Kinks	4 Jun 1971
Jerry Lee Lewis	Oct 1971
Creedence Clearwater Revival	18 Feb 1972
Jethro Tull	8 Jul 1972
Black Sabbath	19 Jan 1973
The Jackson 5	30 Jun 1973
Status Quo	4 Sep 1973	In total, Status Quo played at Apollo 6 times.
Status Quo	14 Nov 1974
Status Quo	15 Oct 1975
Status Quo	6 Aug 1978 to 8th
Wings	4 Nov 1975- 5 Nov 1975
Queen	14 Apr 1976-15 Apr 1976	with Cold Chisel and The Ray Burton Band
AC/DC	4 Dec 1976
AC/DC	12 Feb 1977
10CC	20 Sep 1977-21 Sep 1977
Elvis Costello and The Attractions	12 Dec 1978
Bob Marley and the Wailers	20 Apr 1979-21 Apr 1979
Thin Lizzy	16 Oct 1980
Cold Chisel	27 Feb 1981
Cold Chisel	20 Oct 1983-23 Oct 1983
U2	20 Sep 1984-21 Sept 1984
The Easybeats	1986
Midnight Oil	6 Oct 1987-8 Oct 1987
Joe Cocker
Bob Dylan
The Police
Ike and Tina Turner
B.B. King
Yes	21 Mar 1973
Deep Purple	8 May 1971
Supertramp
Cat Stevens	8 Sep 1972 and 9th
Adam and the Ants
The Jackson 5	30 Jun 1973
Bob Marley And The Wailers	20 Apr 1979-21 Apr 1979
INXS	29 Sep 1986 and 30th
The Stranglers	15 May 1985
Boomtown Rats	6 Jun 1980 and 7th
Blondie	30 Nov 1977
Lou Reed	5 Nov 1977
Frank Zappa	4 Jul 1973
Frank Zappa	24 Jan 1976 and 25th
T. Rex	6 Nov 1973
The Beach Boys	25 Apr 1970