Memorial Stadium to make grand return as concert venue in 2026

by Ken Scar

Memorial Stadium is going to be lit in 2026.

George Strait will headline the first Death Valley Nights concert on May 2. He will be joined by Cody Johnson and Wyatt Flores for a performance “in the round” that is expected to be attended by more than 90,000. The concert was announced at the Clemson Board of Trustees fall quarterly meetings.

The 81,000-seat Clemson landmark is no stranger to the ecstatic roar of crowds during the three-month football season, but it generally sits quietly the rest of the year. It’s been so for more than 25 years; the last concert at Memorial Stadium was in 1999, also headlined by George Strait.

The stadium hosted concerts by some of the most celebrated artists of all time in the 80s and 90s, starting with the most legendary of them all: The Rolling Stones. The iconic English rockers brought their Steel Wheels tour to Memorial Stadium in 1989.

In a 1989 interview with the Greenville News, Allen Corbett, a promoter with Camden-based C&C Entertainment who brought the show to Clemson, said more than 60,000 tickets were made available for the show and that the University was uniquely positioned to handle the logistics of such a large crowd.

“Basically, to me, it’s just like Clemson has another home game this year, only this time it’s not a football game, it’s the Rolling Stones.”

Tickets for that show cost $31.50 each, not exactly cheap in 1989.

In a 2017 post about the concerts on Clemson’s Facebook page, alumni Lester H. Cutter III commented: “Couldn’t afford tix for the Stones, but was able to listen to the entire concert from my dorm room at The Clemson House!”

Now, Clemson Athletics has announced a partnership with Clemson Athletic Ventures and Does Entertainment to bring concert events back to the stadium. Dubbed “Death Valley Nights,” the series of concerts will offer fans near and far the opportunity to see some of the world’s top musical acts on the shores of Hartwell Lake.

“Memorial Stadium has always been more than a football venue. It’s a place where unforgettable memories are made. With Death Valley Nights, we’re excited to bring that tradition full circle and create new experiences that will unite our students, alumni, and community in the same spirit of pride and passion that defines Clemson,” said Eric Sabin, Executive Senior Associate Athletic Director for Finance and Operations.

Perhaps the biggest touring group in history, Pink Floyd, brought their Division Bell tour to Memorial Stadium in May 1994, the night before Spring graduation.

“Although the school year had ended and many students were long gone, 50,000 fans came to campus and were dazzled on May 12 by the sounds of Pink Floyd in Memorial Stadium,” begins an article in the 1995 edition of TAPS. The story describes how the sound of the band rehearsing the massive production echoed across campus, interrupting a normally tranquil day before the start of summer semester.

Billy Joel and Elton John played the stadium in April 1995 during their Face to Face tour, and closed the show with the two of them dueting on Joel’s “Piano Man” to a sea of lit cigarette lighters swaying back and forth – a memory still fondly recalled on Clemson discussion boards to this day.

One of the best-selling musical artists of all time, The Eagles, stopped in Tigertown on their Hell Freezes Over tour in June 1996. The tour represented the first reunion of the band in 14 years. The producers promoted it as the last time audiences could see them play together, which turned out to be anything but true, as they’re currently doing a run at the Sphere in Las Vegas almost 30 years later.

U2 came to Clemson in May 1997, with opening band Rage Against the Machine, during their PopMart tour. That particular show was one of the most ambitious rock concerts ever produced. It featured an LED screen that was 170 feet wide and more than 50 feet tall, the largest video screen ever made, a 100-foot parabolic arch that looked like half of the “M” in the McDonald’s sign, and a 40-foot motorized mirror ball shaped like a lemon that the band made its entrance out of.

In March 1999, George Strait brought his George Straight Country Music Festival through Clemson. The day-long event, dubbed “The country music Lollapalooza” by Tim McGraw, also featured McGraw, Kenny Chesney, the Dixie Chicks, Jo Dee Messina, Mark Wills and Asleep at the Wheel. A story about the event in the 2000 edition of TAPS describes how, “Due to the size of the concert, the stage itself was built two weeks prior to the show.”

That was the last major non-football event held in Memorial Stadium until April 26 of this year, when the Savannah Bananas brought their traveling baseball show to Clemson and beat archrival Party Animals 4-3 in front of a sold-out crowd of 81,000 people. It was the first time the stadium was reconfigured for a baseball game, and the biggest crowd in Banana Ball history.

“That special event was over 18 months in the making, and plans for additional events have been going on for just as long,” says Sabin. “Death Valley is going to provide unforgettable experiences for the community for years to come.”

More information regarding the upcoming shows can be found at www.DeathValleyNights.com