AUSTIN, Texas — April 20 will mark one year since Austin's Moody Center officially opened its doors.
The venue opened to the public on April 20 and April 21 of last year, with its first concerts from John Mayer. The venue held its official grand opening on April 29 and April 30, when George Strait, Willie Nelson & Family and Randy Rogers Band took the stage for two nights of sold-out shows.
In its first year, 1.5 million fans have visited Moody Center. In December, Billboard Magazine it the highest-grossing venue in the world for arenas of its size in 2022.
On Wednesday, the venue's general manager told KVUE the arena has changed which artists decide to make a tour stop in Austin.
"Austin always has a proud music history. Our club venues, our festivals have drawn tons of artists to the city recently. But because we haven't had a world-class venue, a lot of the major touring artists have been skipping the market. And this venue has changed that overnight," Jeff Nickler said.
The 15,000-seat venue has hosted a variety of events in its first year, from Texas Basketball and San Antonio Spurs games to big comedy names like Adam Sandler and music superstars like Lizzo and SZA. Moody Center also scored Austin a six-day Harry Styles residency, making it one of only a handful of U.S. cities to host the residency. The venue also hosted this year's CMT Music Awards, which have historically been held in Nashville.
Moody Center has a stacked lineup for the rest of this year. Some of the acts scheduled to perform there include The Cure in May; Duran Duran in June; Paramore, Tears for Fears, Alicia Keys and Blink-182 in July; Lionel Richie and Earth, Wind & Fire in August; Depeche Mode in September; and KISS in October.