How Diamondbacks share Chase Field with Green Day, Journey—it's concert season in Phoenix

It's concert season at Chase Field, right in the middle of what could be another run to the postseason for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Def Leppard, Journey and Steve Miller Band rocked the stadium on Friday night, much of the available seating filled halfway through the opening performance. The three rock legends played many of their hits to an appreciative crowd that filled what would be the outfield for a baseball game, much of the lower level and up to the last row in the upper deck.

On Sept. 18, Green Day performs at Chase Field. There are two full days to set up for the show after Arizona's final game of a homestand on Sept. 15 and several more to get the field baseball-ready again before the Diamondbacks return from a two-city road trip.

"Capacity and downtown location make it an ideal spot," Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall said in an email interview with the Republic. "Additionally, we provide quick load-in and load-out without space restrictions and own our own flooring. Icing on the cake, depending on time of year, can have concerts under the stars."

In what has become an annual ritual, it's another year of big names for performances at Chase Field. The Diamondbacks and their events company, Arizona Diamondbacks Events and Entertainment, took over booking and promotion of concerts, along with stadium maintenance, from Maricopa County in a deal reached in May of 2018. Ever since — with 2020 and 2021 off due to the pandemic — the club has staged multiple concerts each year.

"It's just given us a tremendous opportunity to be incredibly creative and flexible with the ballpark and find different ways to use it, "said Michael Hilburn, vice president of event development & production for ADEE. "Really try to push this ballpark to be an event space 365 days a year. ... It frees us up to maximize the use of the ballpark. It's exciting. It's been awesome so far."

Comparing calendars and choosing a concert date

Many concert tours happen in the summer, and the Diamondbacks have to synch calendars when the team is away from home with the touring schedules of bands and artists. Hilburn said the booking work for next year has already begun since the 2025 Major League Baseball schedule has been released.

A music festival of some kind is on the horizon.

"We are more than open to hosting as many (concerts) as we can and will be creating our own annual music festivals," Hall said. "We definitely see concerts growing at Chase Field. We have been able to generate new revenues that we can reinvest in our stadium, and as our reputation continues to grow as a 'can’t-miss' venue through word of mouth and promoters, our opportunities will increase. We are landing huge headliners, and can sense a great deal of momentum and tailwinds."

The club couldn't have known that the baseball team would make a run to the World Series last year when it booked Morgan Wallen, Metallica, and Pink with Brandi Carlile. The Pink concert on Oct. 9 didn't have to be postponed or moved to another day even though the Diamondbacks were amid the National League Divisional Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers because Game 2 that day was in L.A.

That meant there was enough time to set up the stage and show infrastructure before the concert and execute the takedown of everything before Game 3 on Oct. 11.

The key to faster setup time is the turf field, installed in 2019. It's why the ADEE doesn't need more than a Diamondbacks' six- to 10-day road trip to install the concert infrastructure, have a night or two of shows, and then take it down in time for the next baseball homestand.

The B1K synthetic surface is designed specifically for baseball. Hilburn called it a "game changer" because the turf is flexible enough to quickly rise to ordinary playing level when the concert flooring is removed. It takes about a day to be ready for baseball.

"It was the right move for us to do in the desert, the amount of water we use to grow that (real) grass, the amount of sun that needs to be put on it that then heats the building," Hilburn said. "The other side of it, and the tremendous advantage of having it, has been what it has opened up for us on the non-baseball side. The ability to do these concerts and events in season without the harm of damaging natural grass and having to replace grass midseason. That has been completely removed from the equation."

Hilburn and his staff make it a point to attend a concert somewhere around the country featuring the bands booked for Chase Field sometime before they get to Arizona. The idea is to observe how the show goes, how the bands sound both with a crowd and in sound check and what the setup looks like.

For Journey/Def Leppard, Hilburn went to PNC Park in Pittsburgh last month.

"It just helps us be ready as a building, as a team, on the production side," Hilburn said. "Every tour kind of brings a different element to it. They have special effects or production components that we need to prepare for. It's a lot better than hearing from an email from somebody like "Oh, you can expect this when we come in.' Let's just put our own eyes on it and be ready for it."

Setting up Chase Field for the show

On Wednesday morning at Chase Field, the entire baseball field, except for the infield diamond and pitcher's mound, was covered with protective flooring, and the stage was in place, though not fully set up.

The transformation into a rock concert venue means covering the artificial turf playing surface to protect it and then modifying field access for concert-goers with floor seats. Temporary restrooms will be installed on the field, and the backstage area is the service level of the stadium, not including the home and visiting clubhouses at Chase Field.

In November, Chase will host a different kind of event for the first time: the Hondo Rodeo Fest. The event will feature three days of rodeo action followed by live musical performances from country stars, including Brooks & Dunn, Hank Williams Jr., and the Zac Brown Band.

The baseball season, including the World Series, will be over by then.

"It's going to be such a unique thing," Hilburn said. "The prospect of having, really, like the World Series of rodeo in here with some of the biggest names in the sport competing for a $1 million purse, followed up by some of the biggest names in country music each night for a concert, is going to be so awesome. And again, it just speaks to the flexibility that we have in this ballpark, that we can do anything."

Concerts at Chase Field

Fall 2024

Aug. 23: Def Leppard, Journey, and Steve Miller

Aug. 31: Grupo Control (postgame)

Sept. 18: Green Day

Nov. 7-9: The Hondo Rodeo Fest (with performances by Zac Brown Band, Brooke & Dunn and Hank Williams Jr.)

Tickets and other event information at https://www.mlb.com/dbacks/tickets/concerts.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Baseball first, but Arizona Diamondbacks always looking to book big events