Roberto Clemente Coliseum ( Spanish: ''Coliseo Roberto Clemente'') is a sports and concert
arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectator ...
located in
San Juan, Puerto Rico
San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the ...
. It was, for many years, Puerto Rico's largest indoor event facility, and remains one of the largest.
General information
The Coliseum is named after
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
hall of famer
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Enrique Clemente Walker (; August 18, 1934 – December 31, 1972) was a Puerto Rican professional baseball right fielder who played 18 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Pittsburgh Pirates. After his early death, he was pos ...
, who died in a plane crash off Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport in Carolina in 1972, while flying with relief articles to be given to victims of the Nicaragua earthquake. Construction of the facility began in the early 1970s, it was finished in January 1973, and inaugurated in February of that year by the Fania All-Stars.
The coliseum has been host to a variety of events, including world championship
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...
and
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
, business expos, circus, concerts and other things.
Many Puerto Rican and international performers have been at the arena, among others.
Concerts that have been held there include:
* Saga/FM: Silent Knight/City Of Fear Tour
**January 10, 1981 (The photo that appears on the Worlds Apart Album was shot there)
* Santana: Zebop! Tour - April 18, 1981 and April 19, 1981
* Judas Priest: Point Of Entry Tour - December 15, 1981
* Quiet Riot: Metal Health Tour - December 3, 1983
* Chicago - August 17, 1984
* José José - May 10, 1985
* Bon Jovi/Ratt: The World Infestation Tour '85 - December 13, 1985
* W.A.S.P./Kiss: Asylum Tour - January 12, 1986
* John Butcher Axis/Night Ranger: Seven Wishes Tour - February 8, 1986
* Hall & Oates - May 16, 1986
* Loverboy/Dokken: Under Lock And Key Tour - July 26, 1986
* Rough Cutt/Dio: Sacred Heart Tour - October 11, 1986
* Cyndi Lauper: True Colors Tour - January 3, 1987
* 38 Special/Kansas: Drastic Measures Tour - January 31, 1987
* Duran Duran: Strange Behavior Tour - August 7/8, 1987
* Def Leppard: Hysteria Tour - January 19, 1988
* Triumph: A Sport Of Kings Tour - March 25, 1988
* Saga - April 22, 1988
* R.E.O. Speedwagon/Information Society - January 7, 1989
* Jetboy/Stryper: Against The Law Tour - October 20, 1990
* Meat Loaf/Extreme: Pornograffitti Tour - January 31, 1992
* Chicago - February 29, 1992
*
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has bee ...
: Into The Light World Tour - March 14–15, 1992
* Sting: Ten Summoner's Tales Tour - March 9, 1993
* INXS: Full Moon, Dirty Hearts Tour - March 23, 1994
*
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan (; born Gloria María Milagrosa Fajardo García; born 1 September 1957) is a Cuban-American singer, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has bee ...
: Evolution World Tour - January 17–18, 1997
* Boston: Livin' For You Tour - September 6, 1997
* El Reencuentro - 1998
*
Maná
Maná () is a Mexican pop rock band. The band is considered one of the best-selling Latin music artists and the most successful Latin American band of all time with over 40 million records sold worldwide. The group's current lineup consists o ...
: Sueños Líquidos Tour - April 10, 1998
* Simone: Brazil O Show - August, 1998
* Mötley Crüe: Greatest Hits Tour - December 12, 1998
* Puya/Kiss: Psycho Circus Tour - April 14, 1999
* Alanis Morissette: Junkie Tour - December 18, 1999
*
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...
: Christina Aguilera in Concert - January 14, 2001
* Sting: Brand New Day Tour - February 3, 2001
*
Luis Fonsi
Luis Alfonso Rodríguez López-Cepero (born April 15, 1978), known by his stage name Luis Fonsi (), is a Puerto Rican singer. He is known for multiple songs, one of them being "Despacito" featuring rapper Daddy Yankee.
Fonsi received his first ...
: Eterno Tour - February 10/11, 2001
*
Laura Pausini
Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single " La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an interna ...
: 2001–2002 World Tour - October 21, 2001
*
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...
: Let's Get Loud Concert - November 2001
* The Cranberries: Wake Up And Smell The Coffee Tour - June 9, 2002
* Firehouse/R.E.O. Speedwagon/Journey - May 8, 2004
* Boston - August 27, 2004
* Stryper - August 19, 2005
* Judas Priest: Angel Of Retribution - September 16, 2005
* Incubus - December 5, 2005
* Firehouse/Slaughter/Poison:20 Years Of Tour - August 31, 2006
* Metal Church/Queensryche - August 16, 2008
* R.E.O. Speedwagon/Kansas - October 18, 2008
* Puya/Sebastian Bach/Guns N'Roses: Chinese Democracy World Tour - April 15, 2010
* Air Supply: 2012
* Soulfly/Fear Factory: The World Industrialist Tour - August 28, 2012
* Stryper/Tesla/Bret Michaels: Get Your Rocks On Tour - October 6, 2012
Van Halen
Van Halen ( ) was an American rock band formed in Pasadena, California, in 1972. Credited with "restoring hard rock to the forefront of the music scene", Van Halen was known for its energetic live shows and for the virtuosity of its lead gu ...
were scheduled to perform during their
III Tour
The III Tour was a concert tour by American hard rock band Van Halen, in support of their eleventh studio album, ''Van Halen III''. It is the only concert tour to feature vocalist Gary Cherone.
Background
Despite positive critical reviews, the ...
on September 20 and December 11, 1998, but the shows were cancelled.
It has been the home of three different BSN professional
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
teams and the BSN has also used it as a neutral site for their most important games, including game 7 of the championship finals, several times.
The Coliseum has also been used by religious leaders for conferences and religious services.
Most of the world championship boxing bouts fought in Puerto Rico during the late 1970s and early 1980s were fought at the Roberto Clemente coliseum, including
Roberto Durán
Roberto Durán Samaniego (born June 16, 1951) is a Panamanian former professional boxer who competed from 1968 to 2001. He held world championships in four weight classes: lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight, as ...
's world title defense versus Mexican Leoncio Ortiz,
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, ...
defended his title against
Jean Pierre Coopman
Jean-Pierre Coopman (born 11 July 1946) is a retired Belgian boxer who is best known for his title fight against Muhammad Ali in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which Ali won by KO in round 5.
Early life
Jean-Pierre Coopman was born on 11 July ...
, the only time a world Heavyweight championship fight has been held in Puerto Rico.
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman (born January 10, 1949) is an American former professional boxer, entrepreneur, minister and author. In boxing, he was nicknamed "Big George" and competed between 1967 and 1997. He is a two-time world heavyweight champi ...
had his last fight (and experienced the vision that led him to become a
born-again Christian
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sep ...
in one of its dressing rooms) before announcing his first retirement there, and
Julio César Chávez
Julio César Chávez González (; born July 12, 1962), also known as Julio César Chávez Sr., is a Mexican former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 2005. A multiple-time world champion in three weight divisions, Chávez was list ...
had one of his first important fights there, on the undercard of Edwin Rosario's world Lightweight championship win against
José Luis Ramírez
José Luis Ramírez (born December 3, 1958) is a Mexican former professional boxer who was a two-time World Lightweight Champion.
Career
A native of Huatabampo, Sonora and a resident of Culiacán, Ramírez made his professional debut on March 2 ...
. Because of all the boxing action going on during that era, many observers call the period from the middle 1970s to the middle 1980s as the ''golden age of boxing in Puerto Rico''.
The arena also hosted the final phase of the
1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...
NBA.com
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...
Puerto Rico, sede del Pre-Olímpico Américas 2003 9 December 2002
The Coliseum has also been the place of large political rallies, and Puerto Rico's ''electoral commission'' uses its facilities to count votes after each election, and also hosted Miss Universe 2002, won by
Oxana Fedorova
Oksana Gennadyevna Borodina (russian: Оксана Геннадьевна Бородина, Oksana Gennad'yevna Borodina; née Fedorova, russian: Фёдорова, Fyodorova; born 17 December 1977), known professionally as Oxana Fedorova, is a ...
of
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
. The Van Halen concert was cancelled due to a hurricane. Some days later the band sent a cargo plane with care packages.