Wings Stadium: A Concert History

Kalamazoo’s “Home of Rock and Roll”

It’s nearly impossible to have a conversation about the popular music concert scene in West Michigan without mentioning Wings Stadium. Beginning in the mid-1970s and continuing to the present day, Kalamazoo’s “home of Rock and Roll” has hosted more than 500 pop and rock music concerts by some of the biggest names in the business.

Kalamazoo Ice Arena

By the 1970s, festival-style indoor rock concerts (a.k.a. “arena rock”) had become a phenomenon, yet Kalamazoo lacked a suitable facility outside of WMU. The growing popularity of hockey saw the 1,800-seat Kalamazoo Ice Arena go up on South 11th Street in 1972. It was there that local promoters attempted a handful of shows by the likes of King Crimson, Blue Öyster Cult, Billy Cobham, and Bachman Turner Overdrive, but poor parking and the construction of Lawson Arena at WMU brought an end to that facility. (The building now houses West Side Beer Distributing.)

“In October 1973, the Kalamazoo Wings were granted the franchise. Plans developed following two public announcements — first that a minor league hockey team to be associated with the Detroit Red Wings was coming to Kalamazoo, and second that a new ice arena would be constructed to house the hockey franchise.”

—Keep the Quality Up, Martha Gilmore Parfet, 2014

Wings Stadium

In early 1974, entrepreneurs Ted and Martha Parfet brought professional hockey to town when they started the Kalamazoo Wings and built a new stadium home for the club on Vanrick Drive near I-94. Originally intended as a larger location for the Kalamazoo Boxing Academy, the resulting multi-use arena was designed to accommodate a variety of events, from hockey to circus and ice shows to rock concerts, for audiences up to 8,000. Kalamazoo architect Richard Schramm, was given the 1975 Honor Architectural and Engineering Award of Distinction for the building’s unique design.

This changed the local entertainment landscape considerably. In August, while the stadium was still under construction, management announced plans for “at least one or two shows every month.” Meanwhile, negotiations were already underway to bring such notables as John Denver, the Allman Brothers, the Jackson Five, and the Smothers Brothers to town. Some of those shows happened, others did not. Regardless, Wings Stadium was poised to become southwest Michigan’s leading concert venue. Just weeks after the Kalamazoo Wings’ home opener in October 1974, The Chambers Brothers, best known for their timely classic “Time Has Come Today,” kicked off a decades-long run of pop and rock concerts at the new venue.

“‘We hope to draw from all of southwestern Michigan,’ (stadium manager Mack) Long said. ‘This will be the best facility of its type in the entire area.’”

— Kalamazoo Gazette, 11 August 1974

“The Time Has Come”

The time had come, it seems, for live music in Kalamazoo. By the end of 1974, shows by REO Speedwagon, The Doobie Brothers, and megastar Bob Hope had already drawn nearly 15,000 concertgoers to the new stadium, and things were just getting started. Admission to most shows was just $6.50.

Thanks to internationally known manufacturers like the Gibson guitar company and professional sound reinforcement experts like ProCo Sound (a local manufacturer of audio cables), most touring musicians were already well familiar with Kalamazoo. And while Kalamazoo was seen as a secondary market in entertainment business circles, the stadium’s proximity to I-94 made the stop midway between two major markets (Detroit and Chicago) a no-brainer.

Leading Entertainers

Building on the success of those early shows, the years up until the late 1990s proved to be a heyday for concerts at Wings Stadium. From AC/DC to Zappa, pretty much everybody who was anybody in those days visited the place and sellouts of 7,000 or more were common. Many of the world’s leading entertainers performed there… Eric Clapton, Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Eddie Murphy, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Tool, Nirvana, Metallica, Elton John… the list goes on and on. And one would be remiss not to mention those legendary Wings Stadium audiences, which made Kalamazoo a place where entertainers sought to perform. Well-known artists began and concluded major concert tours at the stadium, some shows were recorded for radio broadcast or commercial release, and many performers returned for multiple engagements, largely due of the legions of adoring fans here.

“For the past two years Wings Stadium has been scheduling concerts that will draw the white population of Kalamazoo. If we go strictly by population percentage, one out of every 10 concerts should be aimed at drawing the black population of Kalamazoo, but this is yet to be seen.”

—Kalamazoo Gazette, 4 January 1976

“Why No Black Music?”

As more and more shows were scheduled, community members began to call attention to the lack of diversity among the concert performances being held at Wings Stadium. After three years and nearly 80 such shows at the venue, including many sellout performances, there had yet to be a single concert that would draw a predominantly black audience. “Why should we have to go out of town?” one Gazette reader asked. Another called it outright discrimination. Certainly, the demand was there.

Finally, on August 23, 1977, the stadium hosted its first black music show featuring The O’Jays, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, The Whispers, Carrie Lucas, and Truth, all top-selling R&B performers on a 75-city 20th anniversary tour.

Not surprisingly, the show was a near sellout with more than 6,000 in attendance. According to a Gazette reviewer, “The audience was estatic[sic] with cheers and applause.” Slowly but surely the promoters got the message and began to book shows that would attract more diverse audiences. Many of the resulting performances, including the Jacksons, Rick James, and Prince, were among the stadium’s most successful.

Parking Problems

For the first few years of the stadium’s existence, onsite parking was provided for 1,381 cars, with some overflow parking along nearby Van Rick Drive. While perhaps enough for average hockey crowds, limited capacity and troublesome traffic flow off I-94 and Sprinkle Road created new challenges as larger events became more frequent. Seemingly without advance notice, stadium officials decided to start charging a $1 parking fee for special events ahead of a June 1978 concert, something to which local concertgoers (and stadium staff) were not accustomed. Inbound traffic along I-94 was at a standstill that evening, even while the show was in progress.

In response, the stadium added 6 acres of additional parking to the south and another 4 acres across the street, providing spaces for up to 2,100 vehicles. An exit onto Covington Road was also added to help relieve traffic congestion.

“The 2,100 parking spaces will provide adequate parking for more than the stadium’s capacity of 7,200 if the industry figure of 3.5 persons per care is applied.”

—Robert Lemieux, Kalamazoo Gazette, 14 August 1978

Crowd Control

On December 3, 1979, tragedy struck in Cincinnati, Ohio, when eleven concertgoers were killed as the crowd rushed the entry doors at Riverfront Coliseum. Although Wings Stadium continued to book general admission shows, stadium management saw the Cincinnati event as a wakeup call and responded with necessary additional crowd control both inside and outside the stadium. And while reserved seating for all shows proved impractical, the configuration for the majority of concert events was changed to a combination of reserved and general admission seating to help control the rush for seats as the doors opened. A limited number of tickets typically provided general admission “festival” seating (without chairs) on the main floor, while permanent seats around the arena were reserved. This practice remains in place today.

Improvements

Over the years several significant changes were made at the stadium to improve the patron experience. The parking lot was expanded and a new air conditioning system was installed in 1986 to help keep things cool during warm weather events. The 130-foot by 260-foot Wings Stadium Annex (now known as the “Valley”) was added in 1989, along with a third rink called the “Cube” (now called “The Zoo”), both of which would provide space for additional events, including small concerts. Hallways, restrooms, and concessions inside the existing stadium were expanded, and in October 1993, the stadium seating area was designated smoke-free.

End of an Era

The concert schedule at Wings Stadium dwindled to just two or three shows each year after 2000. Competition for local entertainment dollars had become significant by then, it seems. Many of the larger attractions migrated to the 12,000-plus-seat Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids (opened in 1996), while numerous smaller shows were filling Kalamazoo’s 1,800-seat State Theatre. Just 20 minutes to the east, the 6,200-seat multi-purpose Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek (opened in 1980) hosted a number of rock shows during the 1980s and 1990s. Many of the artists that should have been standard fare at Wings Stadium… Ozzy, Kiss, Metallica, Johnny Cash, et al… were filling seats in Battle Creek instead.

There was significant organizational upheaval going on, as well. The Kalamazoo Wings hockey team, nicknamed the K-Wings, was dissolved in April 2000, and the stadium’s special events coordinator, Scott Warren, resigned shortly thereafter. Warren was credited with keeping the Kalamazoo concert scene alive during his tenure in the face of growing adversity. His departure, along with uncertainty over stadium ownership, skyrocketing concert ticket prices, and the inherent draw of other concert venues had a stunning effect on the concert schedule at Wings Stadium. One could argue that the era of monthly (and at times weekly) rock shows at the stadium had come to an end.

Wings Event Center

But that’s not to say that there haven’t been important performances at the stadium on Vanrick Drive since 2000. Appearances by Mötley Crüe, Rascal Flatts, Bob Dylan, comedian Larry the Cable Guy, Greta Van Fleet, Umphrey’s McGee, and Elton John have all drawn capacity crowds.

Wings Stadium became the Wings Event Center in 2015 “to better illustrate everything that can be held at the facility,” and while concert attractions have been few and far between as of late, it appears that more could be on the way. Veteran metal bands Judas Priest and Queensrÿche, contemporary Christian rockers We The Kingdom, and Michigan guitarist Billy Strings all appeared at Wings Event Center during the fall of 2022, and other shows were in the works. Who knows, the venerable old stadium might still be “the home of Rock and Roll” after all. Only time will tell.

Continuing Research

Like many of our Local History essays, this article and the list that follows is a work-in-progress. If you have new information, corrections, or items you’d like to share, please contact the author or the Local History Room.

Written by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, July 2022. Updated August 2024.

A List of Concerts at Wings Stadium

The following is a relatively comprehensive chronological list of concerts and musical events at Wings Stadium. Entries were compiled from local newspaper announcements, advertisements, post-concert reviews, ticket stubs, etc. Individual “scrapbook” pages with advertisements, post-concert reviews, etc., are being added for each show as time allows. Those are linked to the main list via the event date.

Seating: GA: general admission with main floor festival seating (without chairs). RES: reserved seating in the outer arena and in chairs on the main floor. GA/RES: Combination reserved seating in the arena and general “festival” seating on the main floor.
Attendance: Based on published attendance figures (if available)