Metrodome

With its association with iconic places such as the Mall of America, the state of Minnesota is quite well known for its love of big venues. The Hubert H. Humphrey Methadone, simply known as Metrodome, is definitely no exception! This facility was a large sports stadium in downtown Minneapolis, and it was notable due to its dome-like shape. The stadium was inaugurated in the year 1982, and it served as a replacement venue for a former facility, the Metropolitan Stadium. The former venue was home to the Minnesota Vikings, an NFL team, as well as the Minnesota Twins, the local MLB team. The Metropolitan Stadium was a multipurpose facility, as it was common for stadiums built in those years. However, the new facility had an even more versatile construction, which aimed to also host football games, such as the Golden Gophers, who actually started a baseball team division, which would occasionally play at the Metronome as well.

What makes this stadium quite special is the fact that the stadium’s roof was built using fiberglass fabric. The roof was self-supported because of the massive air pressure that it caused, and it was the third sports facility in the world to actually use this particular method. Later on, many other international stadiums and large venues used the Metrodome as an inspiration in terms of design. Most notably, the Tokyo Dome, in Tokyo, Japan, also featured similar design characteristics and special features. To this day, the Metrodome is remembered as the only facility in the history of sports that managed to host a super bowl, world series, MLB All-Star Games, as well as NCAA Basketball events. The incredible variety made possible by the versatility of this stadium is quite unprecedented. The story of this stadium actually came about because the Vikings were not very happy with the fact that the Metropolitan Stadium was actually quite small and didn’t have a big capacity. Only about 48,500 people could attend games, which on paper sounds like quite a lot, but it wasn’t actually that good of a number considering that the demand was much higher and that many other stadiums could draw 50 to 60 thousand people, including famed venues like the Yankee Stadium in New York City, among others.

Eventually, the stadium was demolished in 2014, as the facility was rendered obsolete. However, the Metrodome will always remain associated with local culture, and many people remember this stadium in a very positive way, not only in Minnesota but also elsewhere around the world, especially given the fact that so many stadiums and bigger event facilities actually took design pointers from it.

In addition to various sporting events, the stadium also hosted so many different events that were not related to sports. The Beach Boys performed there in 1984, and their concert took place after a game featuring the Minnesota Strikers. In addition to that, the Metrodome hosted concerts from iconic acts such as Pink Floyd, as well as The Grateful Dead, as well as Bob Dylan, who actually co-billed a show with the “Dead Heads” for the very first time, marking the beginning of a very long creative partnership. The iconic show happened on June 26th, 1986, and the opening band was Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. Famously, U2 performed at this stadium in 1997 as a part of their PopMart Tour. Through the evening, they actually paid tribute to a local music legend, Prince, by playing part of his song, Sexy FM, while on stage.

The final artist to perform there was Metallica, headlining their Summer Sanitarium Tour in 2013.