The Arizona Financial Theatre (formerly known as the Dodge Theatre, the Comerica Theatre and the Arizona Federal Theatre) is a multi-use theatre in Downtown

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

. The venue seats 5,000 people.

History

Jerry Colangelo Jerry Colangelo (born November 20, 1939) is an American businessman and sports executive. He formerly owned the Phoenix Suns of the NBA, the Phoenix Mercury of the WNBA, the Arizona Sandsharks of the Continental Indoor Soccer League, the Ari ...

, longtime former owner of the Phoenix Suns and

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

, was one of the original investors. The facility, designed by

Dan Meis Dan Meis, FAIA, RIBA (born 1961) is an American architect best known for designing sports and entertainment facilities including Staples Center, Safeco Field, Paul Brown Stadium Stadio Della Roma, and Everton FC's new Everton Stadium. He bega ...

NBBJ NBBJ is an American global architecture, planning and design firm with offices in Boston, Columbus, Hong Kong, London, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, Pune, San Francisco, Seattle, Shanghai, and Washington, D.C.. NBBJ provides services in arch ...

, was designed to fill the need for performers that don't need a huge sports stadium, but are too large for the smaller, intimate venues. It opened in the spring of 2002 as part of the ongoing redevelopment efforts in Downtown Phoenix, and reached the 2 million mark in attendance in 2009. Live Nation began operating the venue in 2007. The theater's name was first changed in October 2010 after

Comerica Bank Comerica Incorporated is a financial services company headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and strategically aligned by three business segments: The Commercial Bank, The Retail Bank and Wealth Management. Comerica focuses on relationships, and helpin ...

acquired the naming rights. On December 18, 2019, the theatre was renamed to Arizona Federal Theatre, as

Arizona Federal Credit Union Arizona Financial Credit Union (or Arizona Financial) is a federally insured credit union headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It has $3.4 billion in assets and is the second-largest credit union in the state. As of July 2022, there ...

owned the naming rights. On July 11, 2022, the theatre was renamed once again to Arizona Financial Theatre after the rebranding of Arizona Federal Credit Union into Arizona Financial Credit Union.

Events

The theatre is probably best recognized as the stage for the comedy movie '' Blue Collar Comedy Tour: The Movie''. In addition to this,

George Lopez George Edward Lopez (born April 23, 1961) is an American comedian and actor. He is known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has rece ...

's most recent HBO Special, ''America's Mexican'', was aired live at the venue. Rock group Chickenfoot recorded their live album ''Get Your Buzz On'' there and it also hosted the 2010

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when André the Giant was posthumously i ...

Induction Ceremony and the 2015

NFL Honors The NFL Honors is an annual awards presentation in the National Football League (NFL). The television special is held the night before the Super Bowl (except 2022 when it was held on a Thursday) at the game's host city and on the network carryi ...

. It is also a venue for

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and family stage shows that play the Phoenix area, and in the theater's first few years the Arizona edition of the

Radio City Christmas Spectacular The ''Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes'' is an annual musical holiday stage show presented at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The 90-minute show features more than 140 performers and an original musical score, an ...

took place at the venue. On September 14, 2004, Barney's Colorful World - Barney's fifth stage show and third national stage show tour was taped here. Mexican pop singer

Paulina Rubio Paulina Susana Rubio Dosamantes (; born 17 June 1971) is a Mexican singer. Referred to as " The Golden Girl" and " Queen of Latin Pop", she first achieved recognition as a member of the successful pop group Timbiriche from 1982 through 1991. Af ...

performed here on May 14, 2005, on her "Pau-Lenques" tour in support of her 2004 album ''

Pau-Latina ''Pau-Latina'' is the seventh studio album by Mexican singer Paulina Rubio, released on February 10, 2004, by Universal Music Latino. Musically, Rubio wanted to make a "futuristic folk", thus incorporating eclectic latin music in its sound with i ...

''. Lorde brought her Pure Heroine Tour to the theatre on April 17, 2014, performing here in between her two shows at

Coachella Coachella may refer to: * Coachella, California * Coachella Canal, in California * Coachella (festival), an annual music and arts festival in California * "Coachella – Woodstock in My Mind", a 2017 song by Lana del Rey See also

* Coachell ...

. Janet Jackson performed a sold-out show at the theatre on April 8, 2011, as part of her Number Ones, Up Close and Personal World Tour. She returned to the theatre on October 19, 2015, as part of her Unbreakable World Tour.

Lana Del Rey Elizabeth Woolridge Grant (born June 21, 1985), known professionally as Lana Del Rey, is an American singer-songwriter. Her music is noted for its cinematic quality and exploration of tragic romance, glamour, and melancholia, with frequent r ...

performed her first show in Arizona at the theatre on April 15, 2014, as part of her Paradise Tour. Latin singer

Yuridia Yuridia Francisca Gaxiola Flores, commonly known as Yuridia, (born October 4, 1986) is a Mexican singer. She came in second place in the fourth season of the reality show '' La Academia'', which launched her career. In 2005, Yuridia released her ...

performed here on November 21, 2012, as part of her Para Mí Tour.

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter, actor and YouTuber. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with EMI Australia in 2013 and released his thi ...

has performed shows here for both his Suburbia Tour and Bloom Tour.

Notable concerts

References

{{Authority control Music venues in Arizona Sports venues in Phoenix, Arizona Concert halls in Arizona NBBJ buildings Buildings and structures in Phoenix, Arizona Tourist attractions in Phoenix, Arizona Sports venues completed in 2002 Music venues completed in 2002 2002 establishments in Arizona