Reunion Arena

Reunion Arena was an indoor arena located in the Reunion district of downtown Dallas, Texas. The arena served as the primary home of the National Hockey League's Dallas Stars and the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks. The venue's capacity held accommodations for 17,000 for ice hockey spectators, and 18,190 for basketball spectators.
Reunion was also a performance venue for some of the biggest names in popular music from the 1980s through the late 2000s including Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Prince, Van Halen, Frank Sinatra, Elton John, David Bowie, Madonna, Mötley Crüe, Pink Floyd, Queen, U2, R.E.M. and Radiohead.
Reunion Arena was demolished in November 2009 and the site was cleared by the end of the year.
History.
Reunion Arena was completed in 1980 at a cost of US $27 million. It was named for the early mid-19th century commune, La Reunion. Reunion Arena was notable for two lasts: it was the last NBA or NHL arena to be built without luxury suites, and it was the last NHL arena to still use an American Sign and Indicator scoreboard (though not the last in the NBA—see Charlotte Coliseum). The color matrix messageboards on that scoreboard were replaced in 1991 with Sony Jumbotron video screens.
Home teams and sporting events.
The arena was the home of the Dallas Mavericks from 1980 to 2001 and the Dallas Stars from 1993 to 2001. Both teams moved to the new American Airlines Center in 2001. The Dallas Desperados Arena Football team used the arena for its 2003 season but ultimately returned to American Airlines Center.
The arena's last remaining full-time sports tenant was the MISL Dallas Sidekicks, but the club was inactive after the fall of 2004.
Reunion Arena also hosted the WCT Tennis Tournament in the 1980s, including Virginia Slims Invitational Tournament. Due to scheduling conflicts in 1984, the WCT Tennis Tournament forced the Dallas Mavericks to play Game 5 of their first ever playoff series at Moody Coliseum, against the Seattle SuperSonics. While Southern Methodist University competed in the Southwest Conference, Reunion Arena was known by University of Arkansas Razorbacks fans, as Barnhill South, due to the big following by the Arkansas fans away from home; the Barnhill Arena was the home to all UA games until 1993. Reunion Arena hosted the Southwest Conference's basketball tournament in the 1980s and 1990s, as well as the 1986 NCAA Final Four.
Reunion was also a venue that was frequently used by World Class Championship Wrestling in the 1980s, in which the organization held its bi-monthly Star Wars events.
Reunion Arena also served as the venue for WWE's November 9, 2000 SmackDown show.
Notable dignitaries.
In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton visited the arena to watch the University of Arkansas basketball team play in the NCAA Tournament.
President Ronald Reagan spoke at Reunion Arena at a prayer breakfast of an estimate 10,000 people on Aug. 23, 1984, during the Republican National Convention. That night, he accepted the nomination for a second term at the Dallas Convention Center.
Reunion Arena was long a hot stop for politicians campaigning in Dallas.
Barack Obama filled the arena to capacity of 17,000 at a presidential campaign rally on Feb. 20, 2008, with many others turned away by the fire department. It was one of the last events at the venue before it was razed.
Reunion Arena was the final campaign stop for Ross Perot, the Dallas billionaire, in his 1992 independent run for president. He drew about 5,000 people.
President George W. Bush headlined a campaign rally before 13,000 on behalf of Gov. Rick Perry on Nov. 6, 2006.
Early events.
The arena featured 30,000 ft² (2,790 m²) of floor space and had great sightlines, making it ideal for a number of events and games, including many high school graduations. Although The Who was widely promoted as the first concert at Reunion on July 2, 1980, the first musical act to perform at the venue was actually Parliament-Funkadelic on May 9, 1980. At least five other concerts including Boz Scaggs, The Commodores, The Oak Ridge Boys, Foghat with The Pat Travers Band, and a triple bill of Ted Nugent, Scorpions, and Def Leppard were all booked before the official opening in July.
Notable Artist/Band Performances.
Listed below are artists and bands whom performed at Reunion arena. They are divided up by the year they played, starting in the 1980s. The 1990s and 2000s are divided up a bit more by genre List 
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1980's Hitmakers.
This is a list of artists who constantly produced hits, and were considered stars during the 1980s, and performed at Reunion Arena. 
A number of acts were so popular they booked (and usually sold out) multiple consecutive dates. Some of the most successful multi-night engagements at Reunion Arena included Stevie Wonder (November 2-3, 1980), AC/DC (February 1-2, 1982 and October 11-12, 1985), Rush (February 28-March 1, 1983, January 12-13, 1986 and January 19-20, 1988), Bob Seger and the Silver Bullet Band (May 4-5, 1983), Bryan Adams and Journey (June 8-10, 1983; Journey returned August 2-3, 1986), ZZ Top (four-night stints September 28-October 1, 1983 and August 30-September 4, 1986; two-night engagements on August 30-31, 1986, April 22-23, 1991 and October 29-30, 1994), The Police with UB40 (November 13-14, 1983), Neil Diamond (December 4-6, 1983, December 6-8, 1984 and June 9-10, 1986), Van Halen (September 10-11, 1981, November 18-19, 1982 and July 14-16, 1984), Prince (December 30, 1984 - January 1, 1985), Genesis (January 18-19, 1987), David Bowie (October 10-11, 1987), Pink Floyd (November 21-23, 1987), Michael Jackson (April 25-27, 1988), Madonna (May 7-8, 1990), Mötley Crüe with Lita Ford and Faster Pussycat (July 30-31, 1990), Depeche Mode with The The (October 13-14, 1993), Garth Brooks (February 13-15, 1998), Backstreet Boys (March 3-4, 2000), Dixie Chicks (August 10-11, 2000), and Paul McCartney (May 9-10, 2002).
Hard & Classic Rock Artists.
Reunion was considered one of the top venues for hard rock and heavy metal artists and in its first five years music videos for Queen's Another One Bites The Dust , Scorpions's Still Loving You and Mötley Crüe's Home Sweet Home were all shot in and around the venue.
Classic Rock Acts.
Several classic-rock acts played the 18,000-plus seat venue including:
On March 18, 1995 Led Zeppelin principals Robert Plant and Jimmy Page -- each of whom had played the venue as headliners and Page with British supergroup The Firm -- reunited to play blues covers, songs from their respective solo careers and Zeppelin classics fin the style of their 1994 collaboration "No Quarter". The duo returned to Reunion Arena September 27, 1998 in support of their follow-up "Walking Into Clarksdale".
Country artists.
Country music superstars also dominated the scene at Reunion Arena in the 19802 beginning with a triple bill of 
Willie Nelson, Ray Price and Lucy J. Dalton on December 30, 1980.
Other country artists of note at Reunion Arena included 
Soul, R&B, funk, rap and hip-hop acts.
Many top names in soul, R&B and funk played at Reunion including Teddy Pendergrass, Commodores, Diana Ross, Rick James, The Temptations, Ray Parker, Jr., The Gap Band, Marvin Gaye, Al Jarreau, The Isley Brothers, Ray Charles, Luther Vandross, Earth, Wind & Fire, and Gladys Knight & The Pips. The Jacksons -- brothers Michael, Jermaine, Jackie, Marlon, Randy and Tito -- performed on July 11, 1981 as part of the Triumph Tour, performing both a Jackson 5 medley as well as covers of Michael's 70s hits including "Off The Wall," "Rock With You," "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," and more. In April 1988, Michael Jackson returned for a three-night engagement in support of his "Bad" album. Janet Jackson headlined Reunion Arena on July 2, 1990 touring behind her smash album Rhythm Nation 1814. Prince played two New Years Eve shows at Reunion Arena -- on December 31, 1982 with Vanity 6 and The Time, and again on December 30-31, 1984 through January 1, 1985 with Sheila E.
The venue was also host to some of the first large-scale hip-hop and rap concerts in Dallas including Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on November 29, 1980 and a triple bill with Run-DMC, Beastie Boys and Timex Social Club on June 15, 1986 (the Run-DMC/Beastie Boys pairing proved successful enough to warrant a return engagement on July 24, 1987). In the 1990s and 2000s hip-hop and rap acts as diverse as MC Hammer, Bobby Brown, Method Man and Redman, DMX, Jay-Z, and Eminem would eventually headline the venue.
1990s and 2000 Performances.
1980s Groups Performed in 1990s.
Many 1980s stars played Reunion in the early 1990s including:
Pop Acts.
Top 1990s pop acts also played the venue, including Melissa Etheridge, Jewel, Ricky Martin, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, Third Eye Blind, The Wallflowers, Everclear, No Doubt, Creed, The Black-Eyed Peas, and Gwen Stefani.
Although legacy hard rock acts like Aerosmith and Rush continued to be big draws in the 1990s and 2000s the headliners at Reunion Arena were often aggressive radio-rock acts like Primus, Korn, Incubus, Pantera, Rob Zombie, Limp Bizkit, Staind, Bush, Blink-182, Marilyn Manson, Godsmack, Kid Rock, Rammstein, System Of A Down, and Tool.
Alternative rock bands including Sonic Youth, Social Distortion, U2, Pixies, Morrissey, Radiohead, Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins, Pearl Jam, Alanis Morissette and PJ Harvey all played Reunion Arena in the 1990s and 2000s.
After the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks moved to American Airlines Center in 2001, that newer and larger venue also began to attract sporting and concert events. In early 2002, Reunion Arena booked engagements including Bob Dylan, *NSYNC, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and Paul McCartney. But the venue fell out of favor with music promoters that summer and went more than two years without a major concert event. The Black-Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani played on November 11, 2005, the last major act to perform at Reunion Arena.
The final performance at Reunion Arena was Christian hip-hop act Group 1 Crew with Phoenix-based pop-punk group Stellar Kart on June 28, 2008.
Reunion Arena in live recordings and music videos.
The music video for Queen's "Another One Bites The Dust" was filmed at Reunion Arena on August 9, 1980.
The video for the Scorpions' "Still Loving You" was filmed at Reunion Arena in 1984.
Mötley Crüe shot the video for "Home Sweet Home" partially at Reunion Arena (exteriors and time lapses) on October 2, 1985. The concert footage was shot two days later at Houston concert venue The Summit.
Judas Priest played June 27, 1986 recording the entire show which parts can be found on the "Priest...Live!" album. A full concert DVD was released as well. Pink Floyd played three consecutive shows at Reunion in November 1987. Pop songstress Whitney Houston played two sold-out concerts at Reunion in September 1987.
Country music superstar Garth Brooks filmed his first television special, "This Is Garth Brooks", in the arena on September 20, 1991. The concert became noteworthy after Brooks and guitarist Ty England smashed two guitars on stage.
Country music star Shania Twain filmed her performance for the Come On Over Tour in the arena on September 12, 1998 and later released on her first DVD, "Shania Twain Live".
Frank Sinatra played Reunion Arena three times: in 1984, 1987 and 1989. His October 24, 1987 concert was recorded and released in 2018 as part of the "Standing Room Only" album.
Metallica's February 5, 1989 show at Reunion Arena was broadcast nationally on FM radio and widely bootlegged. An abbreviated version of this recording was eventually released on CD in 2001 as part of the "Fan Can 4" box set.
Other uses.
On the morning of September 11, 2001, Reunion Arena was opened to serve as the location for an emergency blood drive.
In late 2005, the arena and the Dallas Convention Center were used as the primary Dallas shelters for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina.
Closure and demolition.
After a unanimous vote by the Dallas City Council, Reunion Arena officially closed on June 30, 2008. In August 2008, the council said it would implode the arena if it could find an entity willing to foot the bill. The council hoped for the implosion to be part of a movie scene with the film company picking up the tab for the implosion. When no filmmaker seemed interested, the city decided to demolish it using other methods, a process which took several months.
Demolition was officially completed on November 17, 2009 and the site was completely cleared by the end of the year. Post-demolition, the site has seen little use. In 2011, Prince was to perform as part of Super Bowl XLV-related festivities, but the show was canceled due to inclement weather. And in September 2012, Cirque du Soleil's "Koozå" took place here. As of October 2013, the adjacent parking garage remained standing and there were no plans for construction on the site.
Former Reunion Arena site today.
The Reunion Arena site today is now known as Reunion Park with events throughout the year. In 2014, Bruce Springsteen played a concert at the park as the Dallas region played host to March Madness. In 2015, Weezer headlined a concert at the park.
In other media.
In the "Walker, Texas Ranger" episode "In God's Hands", Texas Rangers Cordell Walker (Chuck Norris), and James "Jimmy" Trivette (Clarence Gilyard), are attending a Stars game at the Reunion Arena when they decide to abandon the game; only to walk out of the arena and witness a robbery of an armored truck.