Fox Fun Facts

FOG-DELAYED STONES, BETTE MIDLER’S GHOST AND TURNING THE STAGE INTO AN ICE RINK

Atlanta’s Fox Theatre has played host to many world-renowned artists, from the Rolling Stones and Lynyrd Skynyrd, to Bette Midler and Widespread Panic. In July 1976, in fact, Lynyrd Skynyrd performed for three consecutive nights, recording the album One More From the Road and donating $5,000 toward the Save the Fox campaign. In February 1993, the band played another three nights, one of which was broadcast on pay-per-view television. Here are a few other rockin’ fun facts:

• The Rolling Stones have performed at the Fox twice, to date. In June 1978, the show was first billed as “the Cockroaches,” so as not to reveal too early the true identity of the performers.

• The Stones next appeared Oct. 26, 1981, playing for a standingroom-only crowd. As history has it, the bandmates traveled to Savannah for a day-trip and, due to dense fog in Atlanta, their return flight was rerouted to Macon. The show began 90 minutes late.

• Bette Midler was scheduled for a three-night gig in February 1983.

According to longtime Atlanta concert promoter Alex Cooley (who died in 2016), when she reached her dressing room she claimed that someone had died there, that it was haunted and she would not perform. The Divine Miss M was moved to another dressing room and, apparently content enough, agreed to go onstage.

• On New Year’s Day 2005,

Broadway on Ice ice-skating pros Nancy Kerrigan and Rudy

Galindo took to the stage, along with Broadway’s Leslie Uggams (a

Tony Award winner for Hallelujah,

Baby!). Creating an impromptu ice rink was an overnight process that called for spraying the stage with water and quickly freezing it.

Again and again and again.

Warm Wishes Aglow. You’re This Close.

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