Other Notable Events
In 1987, Pope John Paul II, during a Papal visit to Columbia, spoke in front of 60,000 people at the stadium.
On August 30, 1990, the Chicago Bears beat the Buffalo Bills 35–7 in an NFL preseason game.
Metallica and Guns N' Roses performed at the stadium during their co-headlining Guns N' Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour on September 7, 1992, with Faith No More as their opening act.
On September 23, 1992, Irish rock band U2 performed at Williams-Brice Stadium on the third leg of their Zoo TV Tour.
On May 7, 1993, Paul McCartney and his band performed at Williams-Brice Stadium on the North American leg of The New World Tour.
In 1993, the stadium was the setting for The Program, a college football movie starring James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Epps, Craig Sheffer, and Kristy Swanson. The stadium was also featured in overhead footage for the final scene in the 1998 football comedy, The Waterboy.
On September 25, 1994, British rock legends The Rolling Stones performed at Williams-Brice Stadium during the first leg of their Voodoo Lounge Tour.
In 1995, the Carolina Panthers of the NFL proposed Williams-Brice Stadium as their original home while their permanent stadium was under construction in Charlotte, North Carolina. However, athletic director Mike McGee nixed the idea when he noted that the Gamecocks should be the only major football team in town. Despite the overwhelmingly negative public reaction to his comments, McGee maintained that he was acting in the best interest of the Gamecocks.
October 12, 1996 Farm Aid A string of natural disasters in 1996, including a drought in the Great Plains and Hurricane Bertha in the Carolinas dealt substantial blows to family farm income and made it harder than ever for farmers to make a living from their land. Farm Aid coordinated a farmer to farmer haylift in which farmers from the Carolinas sent hay out to drought stricken farmers in Texas and Oklahoma. Farm Aid '96 was held in Columbia, South Carolina. As Farm Aid founder Willie Nelson stated at the news conference, "We are proud to hold Farm Aid '96 in Columbia, South Carolina, a region with a rich agricultural tradition and hard working men and women who struggle every day to make a living on the land. We hope this concert will remind the nation that we need to change the way we think about the food we eat and the people who grow it. It's important that we have someone there growing the food who cares for the land." The concert took place on October 12 and included Columbia's own Hootie and the Blowfish, the Beach Boys, Martina McBride, Grand Old Opry star John Conlee, and Jewel. Once again, TNN: The Nashville Network, televised the show.
In December 2007, Barack Obama attracted approximately 29,000 attendees to a presidential primary campaign stop. Also present was his wife Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey.
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Famous quotes containing the words notable and/or events:
“a notable prince that was called King John;
And he ruled England with main and with might,
For he did great wrong, and maintained little right.”
—Unknown. King John and the Abbot of Canterbury (l. 2–4)
“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)