Tallahassee bicentennial celebrated with performance by T-Pain
T-Pain returned to his hometown to perform for the Tallahassee bicentennial celebration at The Adderley Amphitheater on Sunday.
(This story was updated to add new information and photos.)
From platinum-selling rock band Pierce the Veil and chart-topping Mexican music star Ivan Cornejo to and “Ordinary” pop hitmaker Alex Warren and Grammy-winning Christian music star Lauren Daigle, Oklahoma City’s Zoo Amphitheatre has hosted a slew of star-powered concerts in 2025.
Away from the stage, upgraded, well-lit bathrooms, a revamped lawn area with restored original stonework, newly paved pathways and more also have been the stars of this year’s shows.
“Last year, was the sexy ‘dig a hole, put money in the hole, cover the hole back up’ (phase of renovations). Then, this year, you’re able to see some of the fancy, flashy but needed changes,” said Jenny Oppenheimer, marketing executive for the amphitheater’s new operators, Gate 52.
“While it’s called the OKC Zoo Amp, it serves the entire area. This is a really top-tier venue.”
One of the oldest OKC entertainment venues still operating, the new and improved Zoo Amphitheatre is closing its 2025 concert season on Saturday, Oct. 25, with a stop on Grammy Award-winning rapper and singer T-Pain’s 20th anniversary tour. Billed as “TP20,” the tour also features Earthgang and Armani White.
“This season’s wrapping up in October, and our last three shows all have been pretty much sold out. Then, we’ve started to see confirmations for 2026 come through, and I’m getting excited,” said Shelley Rowan, the Zoo Amphitheatre’s marketing director.
With the city-owned venue celebrating its 90th anniversary season in 2026, millions of dollars have been invested since last year in modernizing the OKC amphitheater, while preserving its historic charm, according to a news release.
“The Zoo Amphitheatre is an iconic venue in our city that can fill an important niche in our concert portfolio, but like any venue, it needs investment to stay current. After the recent improvements and the commitment we’re seeing from the current operator, I’m excited about the amphitheater’s future,” OKC Mayor David Holt said in a statement to The Oklahoman.
What is the history of OKC’s Zoo Amphitheatre?
One of OKC’s most beloved outdoor concert venues, the Zoo Amphitheatre’s storied history dates back to 1933, when construction started on the venue as part of the Civilian Conservation Corps, an economic recovery program established to provide jobs during the Great Depression.
Between 1933 and 1936, about 400 men lived in tents and wooden barracks in the area while they labored to lay the groundwork for Lincoln Park, the Oklahoma City Zoo, Zoo Lake and the Zoo Amphitheatre.
The first public works project to be completed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in Oklahoma City, the venue affectionately known as the Zoo Amp as been offering live entertainment since 1936, with “The Circus of 21 Death-Defying Acts” playing for the amphitheater’s first audience.
In its early years, the Zoo Amphitheatre hosted circus extravaganzas, pageants, theatrical performances and public meetings, as well as concerts.
Although it’s had its ups and downs, the venue has hosted over the decades some of the top acts in music, including the Grateful Dead, Sting, Dire Straits, the Steve Miller Band, Santana, Judas Priest, Willie Nelson, Marvin Gaye, Joni Mitchell, Heart, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Oklahoma’s own JJ Cale, Cross Canadian Ragweed and The Flaming Lips.
In 2024, the venerable venue entered a new era as Los Angeles-based Gate 52, formerly SaveLive, was brought on as new management. A national concert promoter and venue management company, Gate 52 also manages the OKC venues The Criterion, Tower Theatre, Beer City Music Hall and Ponyboy.
Along with investing in upgrades to the amphitheater, the national partner installed a seasoned local management team to produce the 2024 and 2025 concert seasons and beyond.
“The longer I’m working with it, the more I hear people say that this is where (they saw) their first concert, where they had other big life experiences,” Rowan told The Oklahoman during a tour of the recent renovations.
“From the historic aspect of it, looking into past (news) stories, it was Oklahoma’s main venue for a really long time. So, with these improvements, especially backstage — improving the facilities for artists, improving the guest experience for everyone — it’s just continuing really the legacy of this venue.”
What improvements have been made to OKC’s Zoo Amphitheatre?
It may be an iconic venue, but Rowan said the Zoo Amp was in need of some tender loving care, as well as updated amenities that many contemporary concertgoers expect.
The start of the 2024 concert season was delayed to late summer for the installation of new water and sewer lines, among other necessary upgrades.
For the 2025 season, the venue rolled out more improvements, including:
- New climate-controlled restrooms, expanded concession stands and additional entry gates to improve ticketholder convenience and minimize wait times
- A renovated lawn area that reveals the venue’s original stonework, plus a terraced seating layout for improved views and comfort
- State-of-the-art backstage upgrades designed to attract more top-notch touring artists to Oklahoma City
- A new VIP “Glampground,” featuring a custom Airstream bar, leveled turf patio, ample seating, yard games and exclusive VIP restrooms
- Expanded and upgraded seating options for an elevated audience experience, including more than 4,000 new reserved seats
“Ninety percent of these improvements were paid for by Gate 52, not city money,” Oppenheimer said.
How are improvements to the Zoo Amphitheatre expected to bring top-notch acts to the historic venue?
Acts who play the Zoo Amphitheatre now have more flexibility in choosing a configuration for their concerts, from seating primarily in the venue’s removable folding chairs to mostly general admission lawn seating.
“We were able to keep the original stone. We unearthed it and re-tiered it and then brought in new stones that match from Colorado to just bring it back to its original look. The chairs are out for most of the shows … But with our configuration, sometimes it’s just GA pit, sometimes it’s fully seated, depending on the show,” Rowan said.
“At the Zoo (Amphitheatre) before, there’s a lot of blankets. You can still have that experience on the GA lawn, but having the seats just helps give a new experience to the Zoo.”
Improving the seating and pathways to make the venue more accessible for concertgoers with disabilities also was a priority, she said.
“From the 1970s renovation, there was one ADA paved path. … Now, as you’ll go through, it’s paved throughout, even the backstage. That was just dirt, which, when we have weather, since we’re outside, was not great,” Rowan said as the behind-the-scenes media tour of the venue moved backstage.
“Having pavement back here, we’re able to have the busses get in here, load in their stuff, and not be in the dirt or the mud if it’s been raining.”
Although a pop-up storm ultimately prevented Incubus from performing their July Zoo Amp concert, Production Manager Drew Stogsdill said the band’s tour brought in nine semi-tractor trailers and five busses. The rockers and their team were impressed with the backstage upgrades, including new production offices, a catering kitchen, bathrooms, dressing rooms, laundry facilities and more, Oppenheimer said.
“When we were advancing the show, they said, ‘OK, we’ll need a couple generators for catering, a couple of pop-up tents. We’ll need this. We’ll need that.’ And we sent them pictures of what it looks like now, and they just wrote back, ‘wow.’ So, we’re getting really great feedback from artists,” she said.
The backstage improvements are designed to help the Zoo Amphitheatre attract top-notch touring artists, Rowan said.
“Bringing in big touring acts is just a goal across the board for our venues. So, to hear Incubus say that they brought a camp kitchen before to the Zoo Amphitheatre and wanted to come back says a lot about how much they love Oklahoma” she said. “But we are glad to be able to have a proper facility for them, and we hope they tell their friends.”
For local historian Amy Stephens, it’s what has been left and restored that means as much as the new additions to the Zoo Amp.
“I love the fact that they worked hard to keep … the original rock work in some form and that they kept so many of the oak trees,” she said. “It feels very nostalgic.”