Pine Knob Music Theatre
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| Former names | Pine Knob Music Theatre (1972–2001) |
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| Address | 7774 Sashabaw Road, Clarkston, Michigan, 48348 |
| Location | Independence Township, Michigan |
| Coordinates | 42°44′44″N 83°22′21.60″W / 42.74556°N 83.3726667°WCoordinates: 42°44′44″N 83°22′21.60″W / 42.74556°N 83.3726667°W |
| Owner | Palace Sports and Entertainment |
| Type | Amphitheater |
| Capacity | 15,274 (7,202 in pavilion; 8,072 on lawn) |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1972 |
| Opened | June 25, 1972 |
| Website | |
| DTE Energy Music Theatre website | |
DTE Energy Music Theatre (originally Pine Knob Music Theatre) is a 15,274-seat (7,202 seats in the pavilion; 8,072 on the lawn) amphitheater located in Independence Township, Michigan, approximately 40 miles northwest of Detroit (it has a Clarkston, Michigan mailing address). Built by Nederlander Organization in the early 1970s, it was originally known as Pine Knob Music Theatre due to its proximity to the nearby Pine Knob ski area and golf course. The name was changed before the 2001 concert season when DTE Energy (the parent company of Detroit Edison) purchased the naming rights to the amphitheater in a ten-year, $10 million deal. Despite this change, many people still continue to call the venue "Pine Knob", "The Knob", or "The Hill". Palace Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Detroit Pistons, The Palace of Auburn Hills, and operates Meadow Brook Music Festival, purchased the amphitheater in 1990. Annually it ranks among the top-selling outdoor concert venues in the world and has won dozens of awards in the industry, including Pollstar's Best Major Outdoor Concert Venue (2000), Billboard's Top Amphitheater for attendance (2011) and Pollstar's Top Amphitheater Venue Worldwide for total tickets sold (2011).
The amphitheater held its grand opening on June 25, 1972, with a matinee performance by teen idol David Cassidy.Andy Williams performed the first evening concert two nights later. At the time of its opening Pine Knob was the largest amphitheater in the country with a capacity of 12,500.
One of the iconic features of the first years of Pine Knob was the dramatic entrance way to the amphitheater. Long cement retaining walls that cut through the hill/lawn were professionally hand-painted with the logos of every band that had played there. The walls were filled in and replaced by stairs and more lawn seating during the early 1980s, thus increasing the amphitheater's capacity to more than 15,000. The original sound system was novel in its day, a huge theatrical performance system designed for an outdoor theater with a custom console and large-array distributed speaker system.
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