On Labor Day Weekend 1982, B.B. King performed at Memphis’ then-new Mud Island Amphitheater, closing out its inaugural week with a powerful late-night set. Photographer Alan Copeland documented the moment in stunning black-and-white images—twelve of which, scanned directly from the original negatives, will be publicly displayed for the first time at the Stax Museum.
The exhibit runs July 24 – October 19, 2025, and includes a curated jukebox in the Stax Museum lounge featuring music from the 1982 setlist and rare live-on-air audio from WDIA archives.
This exhibition and the processing of the Alan Copeland Collection was funded under a grant contract with the State of Tennessee.