SerpApi.Org
Carter-Finley Stadium has hosted its share of iconic performers, and this week’s one-two concert punch — legacy rock band Guns N’ Roses followed by singer-songwriter Noah Kahan — serves as a reminder of how far the Triangle has come in attracting major tours.
For much of the 1970s and ’80s, some of the biggest arena tours bypassed the Triangle in favor of the Greensboro Coliseum or Charlotte Coliseum. Raleigh did not yet have a large, modern indoor arena capable of accommodating the biggest productions, causing some acts to travel between Washington, D.C., and Atlanta without stopping in the area.
RELATED: Headed to see Guns N' Roses? Here's what you need to know
Still, Raleigh was not completely absent from the touring circuit. Dorton Arena hosted an impressive run of performers during the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, including the Beach Boys, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Prince. Reynolds Coliseum also welcomed major acts, while the Smith Center brought arena tours to Chapel Hill after it opened in 1986.
Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, now known as Coastal Credit Union Music Park at Walnut Creek, opened in 1991 and became the Triangle’s primary summer concert destination. The Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena — now Lenovo Center — opened in 1999 and finally gave Raleigh a modern indoor venue for major touring acts.
Before those facilities arrived, Carter-Finley offered the region something few other local venues could: enough room for a full-scale stadium spectacle. It was the bridge between the Reynolds/Dorton era and the opening of Walnut Creek and later, Lenovo Center.
Here are some of its most memorable concerts.
June Jam: Boston, Van Halen, Poco and The Outlaws — June 2, 1979The all-day June Jam was effectively the first major rock concert at the venue, then still known as Carter Stadium.
Van Halen had released its debut album a year earlier and was rapidly gaining popularity. The band performed before Boston, which was touring behind its blockbuster second album, “Don’t Look Back.”
Accounts from the show describe Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth stopping the performance to confront people in the front rows who were throwing cups toward the stage. The music resumed only after Roth delivered a profanity-laced warning to the crowd.
The 1988 show was part of the band’s A Momentary Lapse of Reason Tour. Rain dampened the stadium, but the visuals were world-class, and “when pigs fly” jokes were finally vindicated.
It was Pink Floyd’s first tour without Roger Waters, leaving David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright to lead the band. The Carter-Finley performance was expected to be an even larger production than Pink Floyd’s two sold-out shows at the Smith Center in fall 1987.
The setup required dozens of trailers and four days of preparation. Years before Stormy the Ice Hog became a beloved sight across the street at what is now Lenovo Center, Pink Floyd’s famous flying pig hovered above the stadium.
The band returned in 1994 with its Division Bell Tour and another elaborate production featuring lasers, fog, massive lighting structures and oversized stage props. The visual effects took on a different character in the rain.
The show demonstrated why stadiums had become necessary for the era’s largest rock tours: The production was nearly as much of an attraction as the musicians. For all the mystery surrounding Pink Floyd’s image, the band fully embraced grandiose rock showmanship.
The Who’s Kids Are Alright Tour was promoted as a celebration of the band’s 25th anniversary and arrived near the height of Carter-Finley’s concert era.
About 53,000 people attended the show, with tickets priced at $22.50. The band played classics including “Who Are You,” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” and “Pinball Wizard” during a set that lasted nearly three hours.
Guitarist Pete Townshend played acoustic guitar for much of the night while dealing with hearing damage and tinnitus. Rain fell briefly before the show but did not dampen the extended trip through the legendary band’s catalog.
The Rolling Stones were already familiar with the Triangle by the time they reached Carter-Finley. The band performed at Reynolds Coliseum in 1965 and later played Duke’s Wallace Wade Stadium in 2005.
The 1989 Carter-Finley concert was part of the Steel Wheels Tour, widely viewed as a reunion after years of tension between Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Living Colour opened the show.
The Stones returned in 1994 with Lenny Kravitz as the opening act, delivering the kind of massive, visually sophisticated production that had come to define modern stadium rock.
Their final Carter-Finley appearance came in 2015, with North Carolina’s Avett Brothers opening. More than 40,000 people attended, according to NC State’s Technician. It was also the Stones’ final Raleigh performance with drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. A 71-year-old Jagger showed his trademark flamboyance.
Grateful Dead fans were accustomed to unpredictability, but the weather added another layer during the band’s Carter-Finley appearance.
A thunderstorm knocked out power during a cover of Chuck Berry’s “Promised Land,” forcing the band to stop the song and resume after electricity was restored.
The line “I straddled that Greyhound and rode him into Raleigh” drew a loud cheer from the crowd.
Paul McCartney — July 22, 1990Paul McCartney arrived at Carter-Finley during his first North American tour in 13 years. The career-spanning set mixed in songs from The Beatles, Wings and newer solo material. The sellout crowd of more than 51,000 came all for Paul, as there was no opening act. McCartney paid tribute to John Lennon by combining "Strawberry Fields Forever,” “Help!” and “Give Peace a Chance.”
The former Beatle’s performance came less than two weeks after the Grateful Dead concert, making July 1990 one of the busiest stretches in the stadium’s concert history.
George Strait Country Music Festival — May 30, 1998George Strait headlined an all-day country festival featuring Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Lee Ann Womack and several other performers.
Strait closed the event with a 29-song set, giving Carter-Finley one of the deepest country lineups ever assembled in the Triangle.
Jimmy Buffett and Little Feat — July 4, 1998About 47,000 Parrotheads attended the Fourth of July concert, remaining at the stadium through yet another round of stormy weather.
One account of the show said Buffett slipped on stage during “Stars on the Water.” Despite the storm, a WRAL report said fans stayed in place to keep the party going.
With the city’s fireworks postponed, Buffett supplied the holiday finale himself, closing the rain-soaked show with James Taylor’s “Carolina in My Mind.”
U2 — Oct. 3, 2009U2’s 2009 concert came 12 years after a scheduled Carter-Finley appearance was canceled when wind damaged equipment used during the band’s PopMart Tour.
The long-awaited Raleigh performance drew about 60,000 people and required 51 tractor-trailers to transport the claw-shaped stage used for the 360° Tour. The enormous structure barely fit on the field and took nearly a week to install. Bono joked about the production shortly after taking the stage.
“We’ve got old songs, we’ve got new songs, we’ve got songs we can barely play ... and we’ve got a spaceship,” he told the crowd.
The field had to be covered during the concert and completely resodded afterward. Promoter Live Nation paid to restore the turf before NC State’s next home football game one week later.
U2 had already built a decades-long reputation for intense, emotionally driven performances, dating at least to its breakthrough appearance at Live Aid in 1985.
This was the show that was the notorious start of Carter-Finley concert traffic. Some fans missed part of the concert, while others said they never made it inside. One disappointed ticket holder told WRAL that a state trooper said the parking lots were full. Another WRAL report said traffic backed up for about six miles on Interstate 40.
Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour arrived amid controversy, severe weather and extraordinary anticipation surrounding her recently released album, “Lemonade.”
Lightning forced a delay of about an hour, sending fans to their cars, the stadium concourse and NC State’s indoor football practice facility for shelter.
When the concert resumed, Beyoncé embraced the conditions and delivered the high-energy spectacle fans had expected.
“The rain is actually beautiful,” she told the crowd.
The performance also included a tribute to Prince, who had died less than two weeks earlier.
Because of the delay, the show continued well past midnight. Raleigh officials did not issue a fine for violating the city’s noise ordinance.
The concert also came shortly after North Carolina passed House Bill 2, which required people to use the bathroom of the gender they were assigned at birth. Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and other performers canceled North Carolina appearances in protest, but Beyoncé continued with the Raleigh show and used her website to highlight organizations opposing the law. She did not address the issue from the stage.
“This rain ain’t stopping this show. Ain’t nothing stopping my love for y’all,” Beyoncé told the crowd before thanking fans for staying through the storm.
Brown’s show was the first major concert at Carter-Finley since Beyoncé and a sign of the financial realities facing many college athletic departments as they seek new sources of revenue.
Fittingly, rain (July, not November) is in the forecast for the Guns N' Roses show on July 23, 2026. Officials are telling fans to be patient, arrive early and follow road signs for the upcoming events.
Copyright 2026 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved.
