Xfinity Theatre

Xfinity Theatre
The Meadows
Former names	Connecticut Centre for the Performing Arts (planning/construction); Meadows Music Theatre (1994–2000); ctnow.com Meadows Music Theatre (2000–2005); New England Dodge Music Center (2005–2009); Comcast Theatre (2009–2013)
Location	Hartford, Connecticut
Public transit	: 34, 38
Owner	City of Hartford
Operator	Live Nation
Type	Outdoor amphitheatre (summer); Indoor theatre (fall/winter)
Seating type	reserved, lawn
Capacity	30,000 (7,500 indoor)
Opened	1994
Website
	www.livenation.com

Xfinity Theatre (originally known as the Meadows Music Theatre) is an outdoor/indoor amphitheatre located in Hartford, Connecticut, owned by Live Nation. The capacity of the venue is 30,000. The indoor area holds 7,500 and the outdoor lawn area holds an additional 22,500 during the summer months making it one of the largest amphitheatres in the country. Live Nation predecessor SFX bought the theatre in 1997.^[1]

Notable performances

The Spice Girls played a show on July 3, 1998, during their Spiceworld Tour.
On June 6, 2001 Aerosmith kicked off the North American leg of their Just Push Play tour, with the show airing live on VH1.^[2]
At the 2013 Funny or Die: Oddball Comedy Festival comedic headliner Dave Chappelle refused to perform his routine after he experienced what he considered to be heckling from audience members. He instead remained on stage for the minimum amount of time his contract required him to and smoked cigarettes while taunting the audience. He said things such as "if North Korea were to drop the bomb tomorrow, he would hope it lands in Hartford, Connecticut." He returned for an unannounced appearance at the festival the next year to apologize to the crowd.^[3]
On September 22, 2018 the annual Farm Aid charity concert was held at Xfinity featuring Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves and others. After the COVID-19 pandemic sidelined live performances in 2020 it returned to Hartford in 2021.