John F. Kennedy Stadium - Concerts

Concerts

JFK Stadium occasionally hosted rock concerts, including the American portion of Live Aid on July 13, 1985.

The Supremes played at the stadium on September 10, 1965.

The Beatles played at the stadium on August 16, 1966.

Judy Garland gave her last concert in America here in 1968.

Yes, Peter Frampton, Gary Wright and Pousette-Dart Band played the "1976 Bicentennial Concert" here on June 12, 1976 to 130,000 fans.

Led Zeppelin was scheduled to conclude their 1977 US Tour at the stadium, but the final 7 concerts of the tour were cancelled, due to the death of Robert Plant's 5 year old son Karac. The original Led Zeppelin never played in the US again, although the surviving members performed at Live Aid.

Peter Frampton returned from a seven-month lay-off and played with Lynyrd Skynyrd, The J. Geils Band, and Dicky Betts & Great Southern before 91,000 fans on June 11, 1977.

On June 17, 1978, The Rolling Stones performed before a crowd of 100,000 fans. Opening acts included Bob Marley's former bandmate Peter Tosh and Foreigner. After The Stones finished their set, rowdy concert goers began throwing anything they could get, onto the stage that was shaped into The Rolling Stones "tongue" logo. Damage to the stage was estimated at a million dollars as smoke came pouring out marring an otherwise great day of vintage Rolling Stones. They also began their 6th U.S. tour on September 25, 1981.

On June 20, 1981, The Allman Brothers Band, Outlaws, Molly Hatchet, 38 Special and The Marshall Tucker Band played at The Roundup.

Blondie concluded their Tracks Across America Tour here, on August 21, 1982. They disbanded shortly thereafter, due to guitarist Chris Stein being diagnosed with a rare life-threatening disease, pemphigus and The Hunter having sold very poorly. They did not perform live again for 15 years, until 1997. Genesis was the headliner and used the open air stadium for one of their spectacular nighttime laser and fireworks shows. The show started at 3pm and also featured Elvis Costello and the Attractions, A Flock of Seagulls and Robert Hazard and the Heroes.

The Who performed at the stadium on September 25, 1982, early into their (then) Farewell Tour which also supported their album It's Hard. Opening acts for the show were Santana and The Clash. A total of 91,451 were in attendance, one of the largest ticketed single-show, non-festival stadium concerts ever held in the U.S., as documented by Billboard.

Journey headlined a concert June 4, 1983. The show featured Bryan Adams, The Tubes, Sammy Hagar and John Cougar (as he was referred to at the time). This show provided the majority of the concert footage for an NFL Films produced documentary called "Journey, Frontiers and Beyond".

The Jacksons performed four concerts at JFK Stadium on September 1, 2 and 28, 29, 1984 during their Victory Tour.

Pink Floyd held a concert there on September 19, 1987, in front of a crowd in excess of 120,000 (general admission was sold on the field), but the show was not sold out.

The stadium played host to The Monsters of Rock Festival Tour, featuring Van Halen, Scorpions, Dokken, Metallica and Kingdom Come, on June 11, 1988.

The stadium also played host to Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! Benefit Concert on September 19, 1988. The show was headlined by Sting and Peter Gabriel and also featured Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Tracy Chapman, Youssou N'Dour and Joan Baez.

It was not known at the time, but the stadium's last event was The Grateful Dead's concert on July 7, 1989, with Bruce Hornsby & The Range as their opening act. Fans at the show recall concrete crumbling and bathrooms in poor shape. The Dead closed the show with "Knockin' on Heaven's Door"; it would be the last song played at the stadium. In 2010, the concert recording was released on a CD/DVD combination, titled Crimson White & Indigo.