Van Halen played a gig at Magic Mountain’s Showcase Theater in 1977 just before recording its debut album and embarking on a world tour — joining a lineup of big name acts on their way up, at their peak or after their fame that headlined the soon-to-be-demolished Six Flags venue.
The outdoor amphitheater at Six Flags Magic Mountain that hosted concerts by Johnny Cash, Tina Turner, Cheap Trick, Poison, Motley Crue, INXS, R.E.M., Weezer and more than 100 top bands will be demolished to make room for an anticipated new attraction in 2024 or 2025.
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Quiet Riot, Motley Crue and R.E.M. played Magic Mountain just as the bands were emerging and becoming rock radio regulars.
Donovan, Del Shannon, The Kingston Trio, The Righteous Brothers, Chubby Checker, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Jan & Dean, Blood, Sweat & Tears and Three Dog Night made tour stops at Magic Mountain long after their fame had faded.
Chuck Berry made a host of regular appearances between 1982 and 1992 that could have qualified him as annual passholder at the Valencia amusement park.
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The heyday of Magic Mountain’s Showcase Theater was the five-year span between 1982 and 1986 with shows by Oingo Boingo, Eurythmics, Psychedelic Furs, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, Los Lobos and X.
The pinnacle year was 1983 with gigs by The Bangles, Berlin, The Plimsouls, The Call, Great White and Ratt.
Along the way, a hodgepodge of one-hit wonders played the Magic Mountain venue — including Katrina & the Waves, Bow Wow Wow, Vanilla Ice, Autograph, Golden Earring, Right Said Fred, A Flock of Seagulls and Modern English.
Kiss played the theater in 1978 when Magic Mountain was used as the setting for the “Kiss Meet the Phantom of the Park” made-for-television movie.
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Spinal Tap performed as the second billing to a puppet show at a sparsely attended concert at a fictional theme park in a scene from the 1984 “This is Spinal Tap” mockumentary movie that was filmed at Magic Mountain’s Showcase Theater.
The pace of live concerts at the rechristened Golden Bear Theater slowed down after a 1993 riot when a TLC show at Magic Mountain was oversold and violence erupted.
Over the next three decades, a smattering of shows brought “Weird Al” Yankovic, Weezer, The Offspring, The Jonas Brothers and Modest Mouse to the Six Flags stage.
Here’s a year-by-year list of big name acts that played Magic Mountain between the opening of the park in 1971 and today, according to the Setlist.fm website.
1971
- The Grass Roots
- Jimmy Durante
- Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
- Pat Boone
- Red Skelton
- Sonny & Cher
1972
- Tiny Tim
1973
- Bobby Darin
- Jose Feliciano
1974
- Jerry Lee Lewis
- The Supremes
1975
- Tanya Tucker
1977
- Van Halen
1978
- Kiss
1980
- Chuck Berry
1981
- The 5th Dimension
- Elvin Bishop
- Gatlin Brothers
- Jan & Dean
- Juice Newton
- Kingston Trio
- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- The Temptations
1982
- A Flock of Seagulls
- Bow Wow Wow
- Chubby Checker
- Chuck Berry
- Conway Twitty
- Del Shannon
- Gang of Four
- Golden Earring
- Greg Kihn Band
- Huey Lewis & the News
- Johnny Cash
- Loretta Lynn
- Marshall Crenshaw
- Mel Tillis
- Merle Haggard
- Missing Persons
- The Motels
- Motley Crue
- Oingo Boingo
- Plimsouls
- Ricky Nelson
- Sparks
- Talk Talk
- The Tubes
- The Waitresses
1983
- The Bangles
- Berlin
- Bow Wow Wow
- The Call
- Chuck Berry
- Eurythmics
- Great White
- Greg Kihn Band
- INXS
- Jan & Dean
- Modern English
- Plimsouls
- Psychedelic Furs
- Quiet Riot
- REM
- Ratt
- Ricky Nelson
- Romeo Void
- Sparks
- Thompson Twins
- Three Dog Night
- Tina Turner
- Wall of Voodoo
1984
- A Flock of Seagulls
- Berlin
- Blood, Sweat & Tears
- Cheap Trick
- Chuck Berry
- DeBarge
- Dwight Twilley
- Grandmaster Flash
- Lita Ford
- Molly Hatchet
- Night Ranger
- Oingo Boingo
- Righteous Brothers
- Sparks
- Spinal Tap
- The Spinners
- Talk Talk
- Three Dog Night
- Thomas Dolby
- The Tubes
- Wang Chung
1985
- Autograph
- The Bangles
- Blue Oyster Cult
- Chuck Berry
- Dokken
- Donovan
- Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
- John Waite
- Katrina & the Waves
- Lords of the New Church
- Loretta Lynn
- Los Lobos
- Missing Persons
- Oingo Boingo
- Three Dog Night
- X
1986
- A Flock of Seagulls
- Blow Monkeys
- Blue Oyster Cult
- The Call
- Chuck Berry
- Fabulous Thunderbirds
- Fine Young Cannibals
- Four Tops
- Juice Newton
- Lita Ford
- Modern English
- Sparks
- The Spinners
- Stryper
- The Tubes
- Untouchables
1987
- Beat Farmers
- Charlie Daniels Band
- Debbie Gibson
- The Fixx
- Richard Marx
- Sha Na Na
- Untouchables
1988
- Belinda Carlisle
- Bo Didley
- Expose
- Martha Reeves & the Vandellas
- Nia Peeples
1989
- New Kids on the Block
- Paula Abdul
1990
- Expose
- Poison
1991
- C+C Music Factory
- Chuck Berry
- Vanilla Ice
1992
- Chuck Berry
- Dramarama
- Four Tops
- Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
- Right Said Fred
- The Spinners
1993
- Gene Loves Jezebel
- Kris Kross
- TLC
1994
- “Weird Al” Yankovic
1995
- “Weird Al” Yankovic
1996
- “Weird Al” Yankovic
2001
- Offspring
- Weezer
2007
- Jonas Brothers
- Modest Mouse
2009
- Aquabats
Feel free to jump into the comments to add any missing band from the list and the year they played Magic Mountain.
