The Pioneer Amphitheatre is an

amphitheatre An amphitheatre (British English) or amphitheater (American English; both ) is an open-air venue used for entertainment, performances, and sports. The term derives from the ancient Greek ('), from ('), meaning "on both sides" or "around" and ...

located at the north-eastern corner of the Hayward Hills Campus of

California State University, East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 pos ...

Hayward, California Hayward () is a city located in Alameda County, California in the East Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area. With a population of 162,954 as of 2020, Hayward is the sixth largest city in the Bay Area and the third largest in Alameda Coun ...

. The venue is managed by the Sequoia Management Group. In addition to outdoor concerts and university functions the Pioneer Amphitheatre is also plays host to numerous graduation ceremonies of local high schools and is an assembly area for the university in the event of a disaster or emergency.

History

Prior to 2004, the Pioneer Amphitheatre was used primarily as a venue for outdoor concerts held by the music ensembles of the university, and was the home to ''Al Fresco'', a welcome back festival held every October. In addition to music department events, the amphitheatre was also home an intermittent concert series held by the Associated Students board of the school. In 2004, the management of the venue was handed over to the Sequoia Management Group in hopes of booking bigger acts to create a revenue stream for the university. Since 2004 the Amphitheatre has been the home of the

KBLX KBLX-FM (102.9 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Berkeley, California, and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned by Salt Lake City-based Bonneville International. The radio studios and offices are along Junipero Serra Bou ...

Stone Soul Picnic, a day-long festival of

Urban Adult Contemporary Urban adult contemporary, often abbreviated as urban AC or UAC, (also known as adult R&B,) is the name for a format of radio music, similar to an urban contemporary format. Radio stations using this format usually would not have hip hop music on ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

and R&B music. The first picnic at the amphitheatre (which was the seventh annual picnic including other venues), in May 2004, featured the

Isley Brothers Isley is an English surname. The name can also be used as an anglicized variant for the German surnames Eisele and Eisler. Notable people with the surname include: *The Isley Brothers, American musical group **Ernie Isley (born 1952), American mus ...

Teena Marie Mary Christine Brockert (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010), known professionally as Teena Marie, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and producer. She was known by her childhood nickname Tina before taking the sta ...

, Cameo and

Rick James James Ambrose Johnson Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in ...

. Performers at subsequent picnics include

Isaac Hayes Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, actor, songwriter, and composer. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, where he served both as an in-house songwri ...

.Isaac Hayes to Headline Stone Soul Picnic May 28
California State University

History

See also

References

See also