
Two Unexpectedly Controversial Concerts At The Nat In Amarillo, Texas
The Nat is a legendary spot in Amarillo, Texas. It started out as a swimming pool, and today is a big antique mall. Before it was filled with antiques, it spent time as one of the best places around to catch a concert. There have been many iconic performances in The Nat, and some of them live in infamy. Here are two unexpectedly controversial performances from The Nat's heyday.
The Infamous Shirtless Little Richard In Amarillo, Texas
Some of the most important names in American music graced the stage at The Nat. One of those is Little Richard. Little Richard is one of the fathers of rock n' roll. His influence on music can't be overstated. He was also one hell of a performer.
The story goes that Little Richard was told that there were some changes that needed to be made to his set before performing at The Nat. In true rock n' roll fashion, Little Richard staged a protest. He shocked the city by performing...with his shirt off. Things escalated to a ridiculous degree when he was arrested for the stunt. The charge was lewd behavior.
Kind of funny for a place that used to be a SWIMMING POOL.
The Controversy Surrounding The King Of Rock And Amarillo, Texas
The King of Rock N' Roll, Elvis, has plenty of history in Amarillo, Texas. If you're lucky, you can find people that remember seeing him perform in Yellow City. What might be a bit tricky is finding people who remember it being at The Nat.
The reason why is that there are a lot of conflicting opinions on when he performed there, if at all. Some say Elvis performed there, and it's used to promote The Nat by most of us in the city. Others say it's a case of mistaken memories. He performed in Amarillo, just not there. The most famous performance was in 1977 at the Civic Center.
I wasn't able to find a date for when Elvis performed at The Nat. I did, however, find an article about the tour he kicked off in Amarillo that wound up getting him banned in Corpus Christi.
You can find a complete list of famous musicians who rocked the walls of The Nat below.
LOOK: Famous Musicians Who Played At The Nat Ballroom
Gallery Credit: Sarah Clark/TSM
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Gallery Credit: Charlie Hardin