As Paycom Center breaks concert record, here are 6 shows coming to the OKC arena in 2023

Brandy McDonnell, Oklahoman
·5 min read

When the curtain fell on Greta Van Fleet's Friday night show at Paycom Center, the Oklahoma City arena had broken a record.

The Grammy-winning rock band's Nov. 4 tour stop marked the 30th comedy or music show at the downtown venue in 2022, the most concert events ever to play the facility in a year.

Paycom Center notched its 31st show of 2022 Sunday night with the OKC stop on the "R&B Music Experience" tour featuring Monica, Bell Biv DeVoe, Tamar Braxton and more.

The arena's previous record of 29 concerts in a year was set in 2013.

“This is a competitive business and these shows don’t have to come to OKC," Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said in a statement. "Two big contributors to this success are the team booking the shows and the residents buying tickets."

Reba McEntire performs Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Reba McEntire performs Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022, at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.

How has the OKC arena boosted its concert numbers?

Also home to the OKC Thunder professional basketball team, the arena is breaking its concert record in the same year it's celebrating its 20th anniversary.

"I think it's a combination of a healthy supply of major tours who have returned to the road post-pandemic, combined with a very aggressive, intentional booking strategy," Paycom Center General Manager Chris Semrau told The Oklahoman.

"In 2018, we revamped our approach to securing touring content, and we saw a big jump in '19. We had an even bigger jump in 2020 prior to the disruption. ... We worked throughout the pandemic to position ourselves so once the industry was ready to return that we were on the radar of decision makers and already positioning Oklahoma City to be a must-play on those tours."

Events included in the record-breaking number are touring live music and stand-up comedy shows. Not included are sporting events and Thunder games, family shows like the Professional Bull Riders and WWE and non-touring events.

"I think people want to live in a community that attracts great sports, art, music and culture events. And we think it's important to do our part to deliver a real level of content to the community, as well as be an economic engine for Oklahoma City, with the amount of folks who are traveling to the community to attend these major events," Semrau said.

"For Pearl Jam, as an example, the downtown hotels and the airport had some of their biggest days of the year based on guests from outside the community traveling as a destination to see that show. More tickets were sold outside of Oklahoma City than in Oklahoma City for a show of that magnitude, and you really feel that impact around the city on a show day."

What have been the Paycom Center's 2022 concert highlights?

Since 2013, the closest the arena has previously come to breaking its concert record was in 2019 with 26 music and comedy events.

Paycom Center started its record-breaking 2022 in January with a sold-out crowd for Elton John's farewell trek, one of the biggest tours of the year.

Other highlights of the venue's 2022 concert lineup so far include country music star and first-time headliner Morgan Wallen's sold-out March performance, a full house for Andrea Bocelli's Oklahoma debut in June and tour-opening summer concerts by Kendrick Lamar and My Chemical Romance.

In September, Pearl Jam finally played its pandemic-delayed Paycom Center show, which spent a mind-boggling 970 days on sale, drawing a full 360-set crowd. Last month, Oklahoma native Reba McEntire sold out the venue in her first headlining arena gig in OKC, where her singing talents were discovered back in 1974.

What concerts are coming next to Paycom Center?

Paycom Center is continuing to build on its recording-breaking 2022, with plans to host a total of 37 concerts by year's end. Upcoming shows include:

Dec. 30: Country up-and-comer Parker McCollum plays the arena's last concert of 2022.

"The demand for high-quality live entertainment, plus artists wanting to get back out on the road ... we're seeing and feeling that continue into next year," Semrau said. "We don't anticipate a major slowdown in the touring industry and believe it'll be another robust year for events in Oklahoma City in 2023."

What 2023 concerts have been announced at Paycom Center so far?

Several 2023 concerts at Paycom Center have already been announced, including:

"If people support arena-level content, we will get more opportunities from major tours. So, it's great that we can book those events, but it's equally important that the community supports those events — which they have done in 2022 and which is generating more opportunities for 2023," Semrau said.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: 6 shows coming in 2023 to OKC's record-breaking Paycom Center arena