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Vintage St. Pete: Concerts under the Dome
Since last October, when its fabric roof was shredded by Hurricane Milton, Tropicana Field has been open and exposed to the elements. And with the big white dome gone, the building isn’t much use to anyone, particularly the home-team Tampa Bay Rays – the boys of air-conditioned summer will be playing someplace else while the City of St. Petersburg figures out what to do.
There was a time, in the years B.B. – Before Baseball – when the downtown leviathan was one of the largest indoor concert venues in Florida. And it brought the crowds.
A little history: Tropicana Field was constructed, at a cost of $110 million, between 1986 and 1990. Claiming eminent domain, the City of St. Petersburg had bought up 86 acres of an historically Black section of town and paved the whole thing over with a mantra straight out of Field of Dreams: If you build it, they will come.
The “it” in St. Pete’s case was a vinyl-domed indoor stadium, with seating for up to 50,000, to lure Major League Baseball to the city.
The Florida Suncoast Dome, as it was initially known, opened to the public March 3, 1990 with a big-ticket, black-tie cocktail party for 1,800. There was glitz, glamor and tuxedo-clad hob-nobbery. There were marching bands, a “dancing waters” spectacular, and there was a 60-minute performance by Kenny Rogers.
What there wasn’t, was a baseball team.
It would be six years before MLB officials approved the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as the 13th expansion team in league history. And St. Pete got to work, reconfiguring the place into a proper baseball stadium (at an additional cost of $60 million).
In the interim, there were sporting events like the 1990 Davis Cup Finals, NBA and NCAA Basketball and the AAU Junior Olympics; the Arena Football League’s Tampa Bay Storm (formerly the Pittsburgh Gladiators) played home games there between 1991 and ’96.
The nascent Tampa Bay Lightning skated through three seasons in St. Pete (1993-96) while Tampa’s hockey arena (first known as the Ice Palace, it later became Amalie Arena) was under construction. The Florida Suncoast Dome was re-branded the somewhat sexier – and therefore more marketable – ThunderDome.
Along with the expected calendar of home shows, bridal shows, garden shows, graduation ceremonies and the International Folk Fair, the Dome – whatever its title happened to be at the time – played host to some of the biggest names in musical entertainment, 1990s-style.
Promoters liked the place because it accommodated headliner acts that could draw more than the aging Bayfront Center (capacity 8,600) the University of South Florida Sun Dome (capacity 10,000), but likely couldn’t pack Tampa Stadium, which could seat up 74,000 but, of course, didn’t have a roof to keep out that pesky Florida weather.
But the St. Petersburg powers-that-were wanted baseball. Once the Rays moved in, the days of big-ticket concerts were numbered.
(Note: Every effort has been made, using available source material, to make the following list as accurate as possible.)
1990 (Florida Suncoast Dome)
March 3 Kenny Rogers (opening concert)
March 6 Billy Joel
May 4 David Bowie. Management tries its “scaled-down” seating configuration for the first time, using curtains to block off sections of the stadium and simulate a more “intimate” environment. Estimated attendance is 10,000.
June 29 Don Henley
July 14 Janet Jackson
July 27 Eric Clapton
Aug. 11 New Kids on the Block. The up-to-the-time record breaker: Approximately 47,000 tickets sold, most of them, according to the St. Petersburg Times, with pre-teen girls: “An elaborate plan that allowed parents to deposit and pick up children safely had 16th Street South looking like a valet service for a Girl Scout convention.” This would hold the record for the most people in the stadium until the WWE Royal Rumble in January, 2024.
Oct. 20 Black Crowes/Robert Plant
1991
Jan. 12 Alabama, The Judds, K.T. Oslin, Garth Brooks. This was just before Brooks became the biggest thing in country music. He was bottom of the bill.
Jan. 25 Jimmy Buffett
Feb. 22 AC/DC, Kings X
May 19 Chicago
Oct. 12 Rod Stewart
Nov. 3 George Michael (canceled)
Dec. 12 Van Halen/Alice in Chains
Dec. 28 Guns N Roses/Soundgarden. Axl Rose and company were at this moment the hottest ticket in rock ‘n’ roll; MTV video-recorded several songs at this show for use on its New Year’s Eve special. Attendance: 31,000.
1992
Feb. 29 Rush/Primus
April 11 MC Hammer/Boyz II Men/Jodeci
May 24 Eric Clapton
May 29 Paula Abdul/Color Me Badd
June 5 The Cure/The Cranes
July 31 Michael Bolton, Celine Dion
1993: The Times laments the name Florida Suncoast Dome: “It’s too long. It’s unwieldy. It’s exceedingly boring … and it rarely fits in a headline.” With the Tampa Bay Lightning scheduled to play hockey in the remodeled stadium when the season begins in the fall, the City Council votes to change the stadium’s name to ThunderDome.
1993 (ThunderDome)
Oct. 3 Depeche Mode, The The
1994
Jan. 22 Janet Jackson
Feb. 10 Billy Joel
March 4 Rush, Candlebox
May 27 Bette Midler
May 29 Phil Collins
Aug. 19 Steely Dan
Oct. 29 Monster Bash (moved from the Pier because of weather): Richard Marx, Backstreet Boys, Kathy Troccoli
1995
March 1 Eagles
March 14 Van Halen, Collective Soul
April 15 Jimmy Buffett
Sept 7 Eric Clapton
Sept. 9 R.E.M., Radiohead
Oct. 21 Super Bowl of Country Music with George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Alabama, John Anderson, Sawyer Brown, Aaron Tippin, Shelby Lynne, David Ball, Billy Ray Cyrus
1996
Jan. 20 AC/DC
March 10 Carman (free show)
May 22 Ozzy Osbourne, Rollins Band, Type O Negative
Aug. 28 Hootie & the Blowfish
Sept. 18 Gloria Estefan
Sept. 20 Kiss, the Verve Pipe. This was Kiss’ “reunion tour,” with franchise owners Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley performing alongside their long-ago dismissed original bandmates Ace Frehley and Peter Criss.
Sept. 21 Alanis Morissette. The 21-year-old Canadian singer/songwriter was in the middle of her victory lap for the million-selling Jagged Little Pill album. Attendance: 20,000.
1996: The ThunderDome subsequently closes for 15 months, to be remodeled for the arrival of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and re-branded for Tropicana Products, which purchased naming rights to the “new” stadium.
Dec. 29, 1999: Metallica. Photo: metallica.com.
1999 (Tropicana Field)
Dec. 29 Metallica, Sevendust, Kid Rock, Creed
2000
Feb. 24 Backstreet Boys, EYC
June 10 Michael W. Smith
Black Sabbath reunion at Ozzfest, July 14, 2001. Photo: Black Sabbath Facebook/Ryan Berroyer.
2001
March 3 Rebecca St. James, Out of Eden, Earthsuit
July 14 Ozzfest (Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osborne, Marilyn Manson, Linkin Park, Slipknot, Papa Roach and others). Moved to Tropicana Field from the originally-scheduled Zephyrhills Festival Park, after the violence at the “Livestock” Festival (including a drug overdose death) made Pasco County officials understandably nervous. Security was tight, but no trouble was reported as metal fans fist-pumped to a dozen acts inside the Dome and on a second stage in the parking lot.
2002
Oct. 5 Wild 98.7 Last Damn Show 4 (P. Diddy, Ying Yang Twins, 3LW, Cam’ron)
2005
Aug. 20 Steven Curtis Chapman
2007: The events that follow are part of the “Rays Concert Series,” free performances that began at the conclusion of home games. A portable stage is wheeled onto the field.
2007
June 23 Sha Na Na
July 28 Chuck Negron
Aug. 18 ‘70s Disco Party hosted by Barry Williams
Aug. 25 The Original Family Stone
2008
May 24 Commodores
May 31 Trace Adkins
June 12 Kool & the Gang
July 5 Loverboy
July 19 MC Hammer
Aug. 9 LL Cool J
Aug. 30 We The Kings
Oct. 10 David Archuleta
Oct. 23 Los Lonely Boys
Nov. 8 Jeezy
2009
May 30 Three Doors Down
June 13 Ludacris
June 27 Pat Benatar
July 11 Smash Mouth
July 31 Flo Rida
Aug. 1 Daughtry
Aug. 15 B-52’s
Aug. 22 Big & Rich
Sept. 4 Miggs
Sept. 5 Beach Boys
Oct. 30 Switchfoot
2010
April 24 John Fogerty
May 1 ZZ Top
May 15 Nelly
May 28 We the Kings
May 29 Daryl Hall & John Oates
June 25 Tantric
June 26 Barenaked Ladies
July 9 Vanilla Ice
July 30 Los Lobos
Aug. 14 Train
Sept. 18 Adam Lambert
Sept. 25 Dierks Bentley/Bret Michaels
2011
April 30 REO Speedwagon
May 14 Darius Rucker
May 28 Avril Lavigne
July 3 The Wiggles
Aug. 5 The Go-Go’s
Aug. 6 Goo Goo Dolls
Aug. 7 Darius Rucker
Sept. 3 Miranda Cosgrove
Sept. 24 Miranda Lambert
July 13, 2012: Train. Photo: Rays Renegade.
2012
June 2 LL Cool J
June 17 ZZ Top, Gretchen Wilson, 3 Doors Down
June 30 Earth, Wind & Fire
July 13 Train
July 21 Gavin DeGraw
Aug. 5 The Wiggles
Aug. 24 O.A.R.
Aug. 26 Rodney Atkins
Sept. 7 Calvin Harris
Sept. 9 Coco Jones
2013
May 11 Kenny Loggins
June 8 Martina McBride
June 16 Imagination Movers
June 29 Felice Brothers
July 13 KC & the Sunshine Band
July 14 Carly Rae Jepson
Aug. 17 One Republic
Aug. 18 Victoria Justice
2014
June 7 Weezer
June 21 O’Jays
July 12 Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
July 27 Imagination Movers
Sept 7 The Wiggles
2015
May 23 The Jacksons
May 24 Cody Simpson
June 13 Lee Brice
July 25 Kacey Musgraves
Oct. 3 Steve Aoki
2016
June 18 The Fray
July 16 Bret Michaels
July 30 Hunter Hayes
Aug. 21 Kidz Bop
2017
June 25 Sabrina Carpenter
July 9 Lauren Alaina
Rays ownership discontinues the series in 2018 and 2019 due to “stress on the artificial turf”; the pandemic takes care of 2020.
2021
Jan. 31 Bad Bunny (at the WWE Royal Rumble, produced for broadcast without fans in the building )
May 20 Casting Crowns (drive-in parking lot concert)
2023: The Rays concert series is revived.
2023
May 19 AJR
Aug. 11 Lee Brice
Sept. 8 Montell Jordan, Tone-Loc, Rob Base, Vanilla Ice
Aug. 10, 2024: The penultimate show in the Rays postgame concert series: Country singer Riley Green. Photo: Tampa Bay Rays.
2024
July 26 Jimmy Eat World
Aug. 10 Riley Green
Aug. 17 T-Pain
Oct. 9: The 34-year-old vinyl fabric roof is destroyed during Hurricane Milton.
ADDITIONAL READING: Vintage St. Pete: Concerts at the Bayfront Center Arena
ADDITIONAL READING: Tampa’s Curtis Hixon Hall made music history
ADDITIONAL READING: Curtis Hixon Hall Part 2: The concerts (1965-87)
ADDITIONAL READING: Jammin’ at the stadium: A look back at Tampa Bay’s biggest concerts
