Stony Brook University
Venue | 2006Founded in 1957, Stony Brook University has been a pioneering and leading venue for the presentation of a wide variety of concerts on Long Island. Stony Brook’s storied concert line-ups—particularly in the mid-1960s through the late 1970s—is a veritable dictionary of rock, pop, jazz, folk, blues, and classical music artists. Many of these performers made their East Coast debut on a Stony Brook stage, including The Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Jefferson Airplane, Pink Floyd, Odetta, Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, Chuck Berry, Frank Zappa, Carlos Santana, Billy Joel, U2, and many, many more. Long Island bands, such as Blue Oyster Cult, were local campus legends before achieving international success. The Allman Brothers’ archival release, S.U.N.Y. at Stony Brook (1971), caught the band live at the height of its power and talent. The primary producer of these legendary concerts was the Student Activities Board, a branch of the undergraduate student government. Many of the SAB producers went on to successful careers in the music industry as did alumni of WUSB, the university’s eclectic non-commercial radio station.