Since opening 20 years ago, the big arena in the middle of uptown Charlotte has had three different names — Charlotte Bobcats Arena, Time Warner Cable Arena and its current one, Spectrum Center — but, much more impressively, has hosted nearly 2,500 events.
So how do you pick just 20 to highlight as the ones that stand out most?
It wasn’t easy, given the depth and breadth of the sports and entertainment options that have been put on display at the venue, from NBA action in the form of Charlotte Hornets home games to professional wrestling and touring family events and concerts and comedy shows (plus everything in between).
But on the eve of Spectrum Center’s grand reopening (which kicks off a string of major concerts and sporting events Sunday with pop megastar Billie Eilish, after five months of renovations), we’ve done it: Here’s a look back at the 20 most extraordinary moments the arena has hosted over the past two decades, listed in chronological order.
1) 2005: The Rolling Stones start it up
Following months of deafening hype, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood christened the new building in front of a sold-out crowd of fans who paid upwards of $350 per ticket (which doesn’t sound so bad nowadays) — and who packed themselves so tightly onto the floor that it left virtually no room for anyone to dance. The venue’s original name celebrated the city’s NBA team. But on opening night, the Charlotte Bobcats were a complete afterthought thanks to the alarmingly-youthful-seeming Rolling Stones.
Quipped Richards at one point: “You really didn’t have to build a new one for us.”
2) 2006: CIAA tournament debuts in Charlotte
In 2006, Charlotte lured the CIAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments to the Queen City for the first time, beginning a long run for the tourney at the venue that ended after the 2020 season. The pomp and pageantry of the country’s best HBCU basketball tournament was well-displayed, with celebrities like Magic Johnson and LL Cool J hosting parties in uptown Charlotte that drew thousands of attendees. Hometown favorite Johnson C. Smith made it to the CIAA tournament final in both the men’s and women’s tournament before losing.
3) 2006: Kobe goes for 58 in spectacular loss
For some longtime fans of Charlotte’s NBA franchise, the team’s game on Dec. 29, 2006, still ranks No.1 on their list of favorite memories. That was the night Kobe Bryant dazzled with 58 points, and yet the Charlotte Bobcats still emerged with a 133-124 victory in triple-overtime. Bryant went 22-for-45 from the field before a sellout crowd of 19,561 that included boxer George Foreman. Kobe also fouled out at the end, and the Bobcats overcame his remarkable effort with a balanced attack. “To be honest with you, I’d much rather not do that,” Bryant said afterward about scoring 58 points. “It’s too tiring.”
4) 2007: Roth returns as Van Halen’s frontman
It had been more than two decades (and one Sammy Hagar) since Roth and the iconic rock group had played nice together, but the original lead singer and his band of frenemies managed to squash their long-simmering beef to stage Van Halen’s highly anticipated 2007-2008 tour — which they decided to kick off in Charlotte. The whole idea could have all gone terrifically sideways, but both Roth and legendary guitarist Eddie Van Halen showed up in peak form, saddling up next to each other and cracking genuine-looking smiles while cranking out hits like “Everybody Wants Some” and “Dance the Night Away.”
5) 2009: Elton John and Billy Joel team up
In a rare teaming of two iconic musicians, piano men Billy Joel and Elton John sold out the venue with their “Face 2 Face” tour in March 2009. The two shared the stage at the beginning, playing and singing duets on John’s “Your Song” and Joel’s “Honesty.” Then came a solo set from Sir Elton, followed by a solo set from Joel (who often rose from his bench and joked with the crowd, unlike John). That was followed by a return of the two men together on-stage for several duets to close the night: “Bennie and the Jets” and, of course, “Piano Man.”
The concert still ranks at No. 2 in Spectrum Center history in attendance for a non-sporting event, trailing only U2’s concert in 2005.
6) 2011: Prince digs deep in final Charlotte show
The eclectic setlist Prince punched out here (the fourth of six stops on his swing through the Carolinas that fall) was somewhat frustrating for fans who hoped to hear hit after hit. Still, at 52, he looked like he was 42, sang like he was 32, danced like he was 22, and despite making the crowd wait 13 minutes (!) for his encore played a rapturous rendition of “Purple Rain” leading into it. But whatever its flaws, the show stands as historic; Prince had never played this venue before, and his 2016 passing sadly ensured he would never play it again.
7) 2012: “American Idol” looks for a winner
Thousands of wannabe pop (and country, and rock, and R&B, etc.) stars got up long before the sun to stake out a spot on the streets next to the arena, which was the venue for Season 12 auditions. With host Ryan Seacrest and former “Idol” champ Scotty McCreery of Garner in their midst, auditioners cheered at the top of their lungs en masse for swooping cameras and boom microphones while they waited to sing a little ditty for producers. And one hopeful’s dream did come true: Eventual winner Candice Glover of Beaufort, S.C., auditioned that day in Charlotte.
8) 2012: Obama accepts nomination at DNC ...
… but former President Bill Clinton stole a little bit of the sitting commander-in-chief’s thunder. On the second-to-last night of the Democratic National Convention, for which Charlotte’s uptown arena served as main host, Clinton gave a pitch-perfect, point-by-point argument for Obama’s re-election that ran nearly 50 minutes and kept the convention hall buzzing for much longer after that. It was widely credited as one of the pivotal moments of the campaign.
The next night, however, Obama’s final-night speech was hastily shifted from the massive Bank of America Stadium to the comparably cozy arena, potentially shutting out as many as 50,000 supporters — due to a storm that never materialized.
9) 2014: Miley Cyrus calls in sick
The former “Hannah Montana” star, then firmly in her rebel phase, managed to shock Charlotte fans without even stepping onstage, abruptly canceling a show barely half an hour before the scheduled start time. The promoter reported that she had come down with the flu.
As arena employees started dismantling the balloon columns decorating the venue and turning hordes of mostly female fans away, there was a frenzy of frustrated tweeting and lots of tears. Miley made good on a promise to return, though: Four months later, she treated her forgiving fans to a characteristically outrageous (and outrageously entertaining) performance.
10) 2014: A 24-point comeback underlines Hornets’ return
The “Hornets” name and old teal and purple colors returned in this season opener, replacing the “Bobcats” moniker, but the team didn’t show up for about two hours. Boos rained down from the home fans when Charlotte fell behind by 24 points to the Milwaukee Bucks in the third quarter. “I would have booed, too,” noted star Kemba Walker. What followed was the biggest comeback in franchise history. Charlotte tied the game to end regulation on Walker’s 3-pointer, then won it in overtime when Walker — despite cramping in his calf — told coach Steve Clifford to keep him in the game, then hit the jumper that sealed a 108-106 victory.
11) 2015: Taylor Swift extends her Charlotte streak
A phenomenon still not quite at the height of her powers, the then-25-year-old pop singer demonstrated her command over this particular venue in what marked her fourth time headlining it in eight years. Her “1989” tour was a Swiftie-geared spectacle at its finest, from the lightbulb-covered dress she donned during “How You Get the Girl” to the 15,000 radio-controlled wristbands that flashed their colors on cue throughout. Many men’s rooms were flipped to women’s for the night; but you could see hints at this show that her appeal was broadening. She noticeably has not been back to Charlotte since.
12) 2016: Purple Shirt Guy makes headlines
In 2016, Hornets fever hit a peak as the Kemba Walker-led team pulled off its first playoff win in their home arena, 11 years after it opened and then notched its first playoff road win since 2002 to take a 3-2 lead in a best-of-7 series over Miami.
But a potential series-clinching Game 6 for the Hornets — back in Charlotte — became infamous for the antics of loud-mouthed, purple-button-down-shirt-wearing Hornets fan Michael Deason, who made it his mission to heckle Heat star Dwyane Wade. Deason’s behavior backfired: Wade, clearly fired up by all the yammering, nailed two clutch 3-pointers to seal the win over Charlotte. The Heat went on to take the series in Game 7 in Miami.
13) 2018: March Madness comes to Charlotte
It was one of the holy grails of American sports — the idea that someday, somehow, a No. 16 seed was going to beat a No. 1 seed in the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament, aka March Madness. The all-time record of 16s vs. 1s was 0-135 before this one. But then UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County) showed up to take on the Virginia Cavaliers, who were 31-2 and considered the top team in the entire tournament. Score one for David over Goliath. No. 16 UMBC smacked No. 1 Virginia, 74-54, in one of the most extraordinary upsets in NCAA history.
14) 2018: Kemba sets scoring mark in loss
No player in Charlotte NBA history has done so much with so little as Kemba Walker, so it was fitting that he set the franchise’s all-time scoring record in a defeat. Playing a late-season game in 2018, Walker topped Dell Curry’s previous mark with a late layup against Cleveland to give him 21 points on the night. The Hornets lost, but that’s been the unfortunate standard for a team that hasn’t made the NBA playoffs since 2016. Walker cried when he was presented with the ball that set the record and then was embraced by LeBron James, who scored 41 points on the same night for Cleveland.
15) 2019: NBA’s all-star game (finally) shows up
The NBA’s All-Star Game came to Charlotte in 2019, after being put off for two years due to the controversy surrounding HB2 (commonly known as “the bathroom bill”), which the NBA and many other businesses viewed as discriminatory.
Once the world’s best basketball players got here, Steph Curry was the biggest headliner — in his return to the place he grew up — and Kevin Durant was the game’s MVP. The all-star game itself was a mishmash of unguarded dunks and 3-pointers and no one remembers who won. But it drew tons of attention and had an estimated economic impact of $100 million.
16) 2019: Zion, Duke edge UNC in ACC tourney
In 2019, there was no bigger star in college basketball than Duke’s Zion Williamson. He was returning from injury for the ACC tournament semifinal, which featured excellent UNC and Duke teams both ranked in the top 5 in the country. Williamson showed he was worth the hype, scoring 31 points and the winning basket in a 74-73 nailbiter played before 20,116 fans.
UNC had three shots to win the game in the final 30 seconds, but missed them all. Of Williamson, UNC coach Roy Williams said afterward: “The guy that’s been hurt came back and put on his Superman jersey again and was incredible.”
17) 2020: Oprah spends all day trying to inspire
The former talk show host — arguably the most popular woman on the planet — put her imprint on a sold-out women’s empowerment event that sprawled across more than five hours and featured about as much motivation as attendees could handle. Though assisted by a cast of guest stars that included Laila Ali, Julianne Hough and Amy Schumer (the latter the subject of a hilarious interview), the show revolved ably around star Oprah Winfrey, who shared enough inspirational quotes and stories of her finding her way to happiness to fill the swag bags each ticketholder found at their seats several times over.
18) 2021: Phil Collins and Genesis say goodbye
Their “The Last Domino?” tour represented what finally felt like a “normal” concert, 20 months into Covid, so much so that we didn’t even mention the pandemic in our review.
We did mention, meanwhile, the mixed emotions we felt seeing Phil Collins push through degenerative nerve damage and chronic pain to deliver stirring renditions of “Land of Confusion,” “Throwing It All Away” and more, as his son Nic manned the drums. Big farewell shows can feel like money grabs, especially when the artist manages to return again a few years later. But this one felt like it truly was goodbye.
19) 2023: Caitlin Clark dazzles in Charlotte
Caitlin Clark was spectacular in the only high-level basketball game she’s played thus far in Charlotte, scoring 44 points as her Iowa team edged Virginia Tech. On a Thursday night in November, playing at the same time as the Carolina Panthers, Clark helped the Ally Tipoff draw 15,196 fans — the highest attendance for any women’s college basketball game in North Carolina. Little girls and their parents filled the stands, watching Clark play all 40 minutes and score 55% of her team’s points.
Said Clark afterward: “It’s very hard to wrap my head around the environments we get to play in. … It’s incredible, honestly.”
20) 2024: Alcaraz, Tiafoe light up tennis court
Although one of the few sports Charlotte lacks at the professional level is tennis, it does draw an occasional high-level exhibition event, as it did in late 2024 — when the world’s most popular player, Carlos Alcaraz, came to town. Alcaraz played an exhibition against American Frances Tiafoe in the uptown arena, which turns out to hold a tennis court nicely and hosted 16,194 fans.
Both players entertained the crowd, hitting occasional underhanded serves and between-the-legs winners, and Tiafoe sported a Charlotte Hornets jersey for the match. Tiafoe won in a tiebreaker, while Alcaraz went on to establish himself as the world’s No. 1 player in 2025.
Spectrum Center quick facts
Top 10 live non-sports events in attendance
1. U2 (Dec. 12, 2005)
2. Billy Joel / Elton John (March 7, 2009)
3. Justin Timberlake (Jan. 7, 2019)
4. Dave Chappelle (Oct. 26, 2023)
5. Drake (Sept. 23, 2022)
6. Kevin Hart (March 31, 2018)
7. Jonas Brothers (Aug. 21, 2009)
8. Bad Bunny (March 26, 2022)
9. Drake (Sept. 22, 2022)
10. Bon Jovi (April 22, 2010)
Note: the Drake shows were on back-to-back nights.
More Spectrum Center by the numbers
Opening event: Rolling Stones (Oct. 21, 2005)
Highest-attended NBA game: Hornets-Lakers (Dec. 15, 2018)
Artists with the most performances: Eagles / Jeff Dunham / New Kids on the Block (6 apiece)
Number of Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductees that have performed: 44
Touring family show with the most visits: Monster Jam (17)
Number of WWE events: 26