Dos Equis Pavilion is an outdoor amphitheater in the Fair Park complex in Dallas, Texas, that has served as one of the city’s premier concert venues since it opened on July 23, 1988. Built at a cost of about $10 million, the venue broke ground in August 1987 and welcomed its first crowd with a Rod Stewart concert, launching a run that would include some of the biggest touring festivals of the 1990s and 2000s.
Owned by the City of Dallas and operated by Live Nation, the venue is known almost as much for its revolving list of corporate names as for its music. It opened as Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre, then cycled through Starplex Amphitheatre, Smirnoff Music Centre, Superpages.com Center, Gexa Energy Pavilion, and Starplex Pavilion before becoming Dos Equis Pavilion in 2018, a naming history Dallas concertgoers still joke about today.
Stats at a Glance
- Location: Fair Park, Dallas, Texas
- Type: Outdoor covered amphitheater
- Opened: July 23, 1988
- Capacity: About 20,000 (7,500 pavilion seats, 12,500 lawn)
- Owner: City of Dallas
- Operator: Live Nation
- Famous for: Hosting Lollapalooza (1991-1997), Ozzfest, Lilith Fair, and Vans Warped Tour
A Venue With Six Names
Few venues in the country have changed names as often as this one. Since opening in 1988 as Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre, the pavilion has carried the names Starplex Amphitheatre, Smirnoff Music Centre, Superpages.com Center, Gexa Energy Pavilion, and Starplex Pavilion before Dos Equis secured naming rights in 2018. Longtime Dallas fans often still refer to it simply as “Starplex” or “Gexa” out of habit, regardless of what the marquee says.
The naming changes reflect shifting sponsorships rather than any change to the venue itself, which has kept its original outdoor, partially covered design throughout. The layout splits capacity between a roofed seating pavilion and an open lawn, a format that has remained popular with touring artists and fans for decades.
Festival History
Beyond individual concerts, the venue built its reputation as a festival stop during the 1990s and 2000s, hosting Lollapalooza during several of its original touring years, Ozzfest, Lilith Fair, and stops on the Vans Warped Tour. That run cemented it as a fixture of the Dallas live-music scene well beyond typical single-artist bookings.
The amphitheater continues to host major touring acts each concert season, with Live Nation booking a mix of rock, pop, and country shows that draw on both the covered seating and lawn capacity across its roughly 20,000-person footprint.
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Dos Equis Pavilion FAQs
What was Dos Equis Pavilion originally called?
It opened on July 23, 1988 as Coca-Cola Starplex Amphitheatre, the first of several sponsor names the venue has carried.
What is the capacity of Dos Equis Pavilion?
The venue holds about 20,000 people, split between roughly 7,500 covered pavilion seats and 12,500 general admission lawn spots.
Who owns and operates Dos Equis Pavilion?
The City of Dallas owns the venue, which is operated by Live Nation as part of Fair Park.
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Photo: Hasteur / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.