June 4, 2014 at 11:42 am

This Stadium Was Home to 3 Sports Teams. Zeppelin, Elvis, Floyd and The Who Played Here

by twistedsifter

On 23 August 1975 the Pontiac Silverdome officially opened its doors. For 22 years it was the largest stadium in the National Football League (NFL). The stadium complex, which sat on 127 acres (51 ha) of land, had a capacity of 80,000+.

The Silverdome hosted the Detroit Lions of the NFL (1975–2001), the Detroit Pistons of the NBA (1978–1988), the Detroit Express (for both outdoor and indoor soccer) of the NASL (1978–1980), the Michigan Panthers of the USFL (1983–1984), the NBA All-Star Game (1979), Super Bowl XVI (1982) and four first-round games during the 1994 FIFA World Cup. [source]

Here’s a brief list of notable performers who played at the Pontiac Silverdome over the years:

December 6, 1975 – The Who (attended by 75,962 fans)
December 31, 1975 – Elvis Presley (his first New Year’s Eve show, attended by 62,500 fans)
April 30, 1977 – Led Zeppelin (attended by 76,229 fans)
March 5, 1978 – Kenny Rogers and Dottie West (attendance of over 60,000 fans)
August 17-19, 1984 – The Jacksons performed three concerts during their Victory Tour
September 4, 1985 – Bruce Springsteen performs to record crowd for “Born in the USA” tour
August 7, 1987 – Madonna’s Who’s That Girl World Tour with 56,000 attendance
July 21, 1992 – Guns N’ Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour with Faith No More as opening act.
July 15, 1994 – Pink Floyd perform Dark Side of the Moon in entirety for 1st time since 1975

On 29 March 1987, the World Wrestling Federation’s WrestleMania III set the record for the largest attendance for a live indoor sporting event in North America with 93,173 spectators. That record stood until 14 February 2010 when the NBA All-Star Game broke the indoor sporting event record with an attendance of 108,713 at Cowboys Stadium.

The record-setting 93,173 attendance was the largest in the Silverdome’s history. However that record only stood for 4 months as on 7 August 1987 Pope John Paul II held mass at the Silverdome with an attendance of 93,682. To this day it is the largest attendance in the stadium’s history. [source]