Chuck Negron and Three Dog Night were first band to play Nassau Coliseum

For Long Islanders, one of the biggest concerts of 1972 was the very first one held at Uniondale’s brand-new Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Headlining the bill was one of the most successful rock groups of the moment, Three Dog Night, whose founding member and vocalist Chuck Negron died Monday at the age of 83.

Newsday estimated at the time that Three Dog Night "has made more high-quality hit singles than any American group since the Supremes," while The New York Times called the band "a powerful favorite with the mass of young people who fill the thousands of seats at New York's many pop music programs."

Roughly 16,500 fans flocked to the Nassau Coliseum on April 29, 1972, to see a show that included the now-forgotten group Kindred and Southern rockers Black Oak Arkansas. (An image of what appears to be a ticket, posted to a local Facebook group, shows a price of $6.50.)

A security team of 150, plus volunteers, had met the night before to discuss how to handle any possible marijuana usage, although that turned out to be a nonissue. "I haven’t smelled less grass at a concert since I saw David Cassidy last summer," Newsday critic Robert Christgau scoffed in his review. All told, the event turned out to be an all-ages crowd-pleaser.

Three Dog Night played just about every hit in its catalog, according to The New York Times, including "Eli's Coming," "Easy to Be Hard," "One Man Band," "Joy to the World," "An Old Fashioned Love Song," "Never Been to Spain," "The Family of Man" and their No. 1 cover of Randy Newman’s "Mama Told Me Not to Come."

"Music makes me get up and dance," 25-year-old Minna Lipstein told Newsday during the show. "When they play ‘Joy to the World,’ I just have to get up and go."

It certainly beat sitting at home, according to Jeremy Slavon, 23, of Merrick. "And besides," he said, "in person it’s always better than the radio and the records. You can feel your body getting heavy, the blood flowing."

Some in attendance would remember the show even decades later. "I recall singing along," Michael Kornfeld, of Huntington, told Newsday in 2015, adding that it was his first-ever concert, as a 12-year-old. "I thought I was so cool being there: a hippie teenager listening to great rock and roll music."

Recalling the show in 2022, Rick Swanson, of Smithtown, called it "more than sold-out," adding: "My girlfriend and I were sitting on folding chairs that were added onto the walkway behind the last row of actual seats."

That evening in 1972 also marked the start of a Long Island tradition: Parents hauling their kids to concerts at the Nassau Coliseum. "I hear the records that blast all day long, but I had to make my son happy," said Marie Venezia, of East Northport, who brought her 12-year-old, Martin. "It was a challenge to find the Coliseum. It was a challenge to get the tickets. And for me, it will be a challenge to sit through the show."

Three Dog Night would go on to play a 1973 concert at the Coliseum as well as many more during the ensuing decades at the Westbury Music Fair.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com