The Meadows Music Theatre / Xfinity Theatre

When Great Woods opened in June 1986 in the sleepy Massachusetts town of Mansfield, it redefined Southern New England’s live-music landscape between the months of May and September, becoming so successful that its owners increased its capacity from 12,000 to 19,900 in 1994. But in July 1995, a brand-new indoor/outdoor venue in Connecticut reshaped the regional scene on a year-round scale: The Meadows Music Theatre in Hartford, which holds 30,000 and has presented a parade of era-defining acts, among them Diana Ross, David Bowie, Tina Turner, Elton John, Bruce Springsteen, The Doobie Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, Boston and The Who.  

There’s been relatively limited competition between the two since Hartford and Mansfield are about 100 miles apart, so major acts often appear at both venues during summer tours. Like Great Woods, which is within relatively close proximity to Boston, Worcester and Providence, the Meadows’s location has been key to its success; Hartford’s population was only around 135,000 when it opened but it’s within reasonable driving distance of three significantly larger cities (25 miles from Springfield, 40 from New Haven and 60 from Worcester), allowing it to draw folks from each. With indoor seating of 7,500, it holds less than half the capacity of Hartford’s PeoplesBank Arena (formerly Hartford Civic Center, which holds up to 16,300), but it’s nearly double PeoplesBank’s capacity between the months of May and September, when the Meadows’ 22,500 lawn seats are in use.   

BACKGROUND, OPENING, ORIGINAL NAME, OTHER NAMES  

The theatre was the brainchild of concert promoter Jim Koplik, who announced his intention to open a new venue in Hartford in late 1993 after finding himself consistently frustrated by the limited number of concerts he could schedule at Hartford Civic Center. “The difficulty with the Civic Center is that they only have 51 days each calendar year where I can book shows. They have other events that fill the calendar there,” he told The Newtown Bee. “It’s great that they can fill their schedule, but it creates difficulties for me. There have been times, four or five times a year, when I would have liked to bring something into the state but couldn’t because of conflicting schedules.”   

After considering various partners for the $30 million project, Koplik cut a co-ownership deal with Nederlander Worldwide Entertainment, a pioneer in the amphitheater business that owned about 30 such venues in the US at the time. The City of Hartford floated $20 million in bonds to help construct the space – in return for 10 percent of the Meadows’s gross ticket sales and two percent of its gross concessions and merchandise sales – while Nederlander and Koplik’s company, Metropolitan Entertainment, put in the other $10 million. According to Koplik, the Meadows created over 600 jobs in its first year and 75 percent of them went to Hartford residents. Live Nation Entertainment predecessor SFX bought the theatre in 1997 and Live Nation is the current owner.   

Opened as The Meadows Music Theatre, it was called Connecticut Center for the Performing Arts in the planning and construction phases; Nederlander and Koplik announced the actual name a few weeks before the venue opened. It pays homage to the neighborhood in which it’s located, North Meadows, and “it also has an alternative quality to it,” General Manager Mike Graney told The Hartford Courant, noting that the name was the result of around 300 interviews that ad agency Mintz & Hoke conducted with potential concertgoers to come up with something short and memorable. The venue has had five different monikers since that decision was made due to naming-rights agreements with different organizations: CTNow.com Meadows Music Theatre (2001-2005); New England Dodge Music Center (2006-2008); Meadows Music Theatre (without the word “The,” 2009-2012); Comcast Theatre (2013) and Xfinity Theatre (2014-2025). In December 2025, Live Nation rebranded it under its original name, The Meadows Music Theatre. 

FIRST CONCERTS, NOTABLE 1990S APPEARANCES 

The first band to take the new venue’s stage was Hootie & The Blowfish on July 9th, 1995, just five weeks after their debut disc, Cracked Rear View, hit #1 in the Billboard 200. Five days later, Connecticut’s own Michael Bolton became the first solo artist to appear, followed later in July by acts including James Taylor, Fleetwood Mac and Pat Benatar. Lollapalooza came to the Meadows in late July with appearances by Moby, Sonic Youth, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and others and in August the venue hosted two pop icons, Diana Ross and Elton John, and two perennial crowd favorites, Tom Petty &The Heartbreakers and Jimmy Buffet. Other acts included Santana, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Allman Brothers Band and B.B. King. 

Arguably the biggest event later in ’95 was David Bowie’s appearance in mid-September, though there were plenty of noteworthy acts, among them Ronnie Spector, The Ramones, Bad Company, Gene Pitney and REM (with opener Radiohead). In 1996, a number of major ‘60s and ‘70s artists and bands took the stage including The Eagles, Steely Dan, Crosby, Stills & Nash, AC/DC and The Doobie Brothers; among others were Sting, The Cure, Pearl Jam, Warren Zevon and Céline Dion. The Meadows hosted Lollapalooza, Lilith Fair, Ozzfest, the HORDE festival and other multi-act events during the last few years of the ‘90s and a number of New England-based acts took the stage, among them Boston, Bonnie Raitt, Ronnie Earl, Tracy Chapman, Sugar Ray Norcia, Paula Cole, Tracy Bonham, Face to Face, Rob Zombie, Morphine and Guster. The ’97 schedule included shows by Santana, George Clinton and The Who and the ‘98/’99 roster ranged from Stevie Nicks and Shania Twain to Black Sabbath and Journey.  

NOTABLE 2000S APPEARANCES 

The Meadows began the 21st century with a characteristically eclectic roster that included KISS, The Pretenders, Iron Maiden, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Phish and Bob Dylan and the variety continued over the next decade with shows by Paul Simon, Ozzy Osbourne, Brian Wilson, Bruce Springsteen, Susan Tedeschi, Godsmack and Staind, among others. Over the past 15 years, a wide swath of well-established acts have made their first appearance at the venue, among them Janet Jackson, Guns N’ Roses, Jane’s Addiction, Christine Ohlman and New Kids on the Block, and in 2018 and 2021 the amphitheater hosted the annual Farm Aid charity concert featuring Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Neil Young and others.  

Asked in 2019 for his comments on the venue as it approached its 25th year of operation, original co-owner Koplik said it was still a great place to see concerts even though ticket and concession prices have increased exponentially since Live Nation acquired the amphitheater (and a number of others) in the late ‘90s. “From the day you buy your ticket, you’re probably dealing with Live Nation right through the entire concert experience. Live Nation manages the bands, owns the venues and handles the tickets,” he told Donnie Moorhouse of Springfield, Massachusetts-based The Republican. 

Despite the fact that Live Nation has grown to be so powerful that it’s able to book artists for full tours at venues across the US, Koplik said that there’s still a lot of nuance involved in promoting shows in different areas. “Each market has its own culture,” he told Moorhouse. “What may work in Ohio won’t necessarily work in Connecticut or Western Massachusetts. And we don’t always get a shot at shows. It’s Boston, New York, Philly, and then, maybe Hartford. In that sense, the business is less personal than it was. There isn’t anyone out there saying ‘Let’s make sure we get Jimmy Koplik a date on this tour.’” 

(by D.S. Monahan)