NOBLESVILLE, Ind. -- For the last 35 years, the concert venue currently known as Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville has served as the center of live music for Central Indiana.
On Monday, the Ruoff Music Center celebrated its 35th birthday, preparing for the start of the 2024 concert season. Over the past 35 years, the Noblesville venue has gone by many names, including the Deer Creek Music Center, the Verizon Wireless Music Center and the Klipsch Music Center.
This comes after the venue was named the top amphitheater in the world in ticket sales by Pollstar in 2023. According to previous reports, Ruoff Music Center was also ranked third worldwide in gross sales.
According to a news release from the venue, the first headline performance at the venue was Sandi Patty on May 20, 1989. Other people who performed at the venue that season included Bob Hope, George Strait and The Beach Boys.
Other famous concerts that the venue has hosted over the years include:
- Grateful Dead performed 14 shows at the venue, including the venue's first sold-out show on July 15, 1989. Other iterations of the band, including Dead and Company, have also performed at the venue.
- Phish has performed 29 times at the venue, with the first being on June 19, 1995. The band is set to perform their 30th, 31st and 32nd shows as part of the 2024 season of Ruoff Music Center.
- The venue has hosted multiple Farm Aid events, including ones in 2001 and 2023. Performing artists have included Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price and Bob Dylan.
- Guns N' Roses performed a two-night run in the 1991 "Use Your Illusion Tour," including the live debut of "November Rain."
The artists scheduled for concerts at the Ruoff Music Center during its 2024 season include:
- May 23: 21 Savage
- May 28: Hozier
- May 31: Noah Kahan
- June 1: HARDY
- June 8: Hootie and the Blowfish
- June 11: James Taylor
- June 14: Dierks Bentley
- June 20: Kenny Chesney
- June 22: Maroon 5
- June 23: Santana and Counting Crows
- June 27: Tyler Childers
- June 28-29: Dave Matthews Band
- July 5: KIDZ BOP Live
- July 6: Third Eye Blind
- July 10: Train & REO Speedwagon
- July 11: Halestorm and I Prevail
- July 12: Bret Michaels - Parti Gras 2024
- July 13: Niall Horan
- July 19: Dan + Shay
- July 20: Earth, Wind & Fire and Chicago
- July 21: LOSERVILLE 2024 with Limp Bizkit
- July 25: Red Hot Chili Peppers
- July 26: Styx & Foreigner
- July 27: Alanis Morissette
- Aug. 2-4: Phish
- Aug. 6: Slipknot
- Aug. 7: Cage The Elephant
- Aug. 9: Thirty Seconds To Mars
- Aug. 10: Creed
- Aug. 16: Five Finger Death Punch
- Aug. 17: The Doobie Brothers
- Aug. 20: Imagine Dragons
- Aug. 23: Glass Animals
- Aug. 25: New Kids On The Block
- Aug. 26: Pearl Jam
- Aug. 30: Sammy Hagar
- Aug. 31: Rob Zombie and Alice Cooper
- Sept. 1: Pitbull
- Sept. 7: Luke Bryan
- Sept. 13: Staind and Breaking Benjamin
- Sept. 14: ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Sept. 15: Stone Temple Pilots and LIVE
- Sept. 20: Megadeth
- Oct. 4: Meghan Trainor
For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.