The stars that have visited Millett Hall

Millett Hall opened on Dec. 2, 1968 when the basketball team played against the Kentucky Wildcats; unfortunately, the Wildcats won. Since then, among many other basketball games, Millett has hosted numerous well-known performers.

A few notable performers are Billy Joel, Ray Charles, Jay Leno, The Goo Goo Dolls, Barry Manilow, Hootie and the Blowfish and George Burns. Bill Cosby and Bob Hope have both performed at Millett multiple times. Hope performed during parents' weekend in 1980 and was a guest speaker at the commencement ceremony in 1969.

However, according to setlist.fm, O.A.R and Widespread Panic hold the record for most performances at Millett, with four performances each.

Joel’s concert was short and sweet, but he still managed to fit in a few of his top songs: “Piano Man” and, fitting for Miami University, “Miami 2017 (Seen the Lights go out on Broadway).”

The Goo Goo Dolls performance was much longer in comparison, with 22 songs played in total. Here, the group played top hits such as “Iris” and “Here is Gone.”

Simon and Garfunkel played their popular song “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for only the second time before it was released at Millett for a crowd of around 11,000 people — the largest crowd hosted at the time.

“Bridge Over Troubled Water” went on to win Best Song at the Grammys in 1971. At that concert, Simon and Garfunkel played four songs from the unreleased album “Bridge Over Troubled Water.”

They also played the original song “Cuba Si, Nixon No” which they never released. All in all, the concert lasted an hour and 10 minutes, and Simon and Garfunkel played 25 songs. Now, audio recordings of the concert are commonly bootlegged because of the high quality of the sound. The concert is also commonly thought to have happened on Nov. 11, 1969, but unbeknownst to popular belief, it took place on Nov. 9, 1969.

Another notable performer was 50 Cent in 2003. Before coming to Miami, 50 Cent had controversies with violence at concerts. This led city manager Jane Howington to ask Miami to cancel the concert because of public safety concerns. However, a representative from Miami said the concert would continue as planned and that the university was not anticipating any problems.

“This event is putting the entire community at risk, an action that I most vehemently oppose,” Howington wrote. “If any problems occur, Miami will be accountable in answering to the community, the student body and their parents.”

Ray Charles performed in 1989, and a student noted that he came on stage 30 minutes late. When James Taylor performed a year later in 1990, the same student said that Taylor told the audience, “Thanks, you make it easy” at the end.

Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter

Millett is a staple at Miami for basketball, volleyball, plays and concerts. While there are plenty of basketball games scheduled for the next few weeks, Millett will also host the Spring Teacher Job Fair on March 14. It will host Pan Rocks/Steel Band on April 5, where the combined Miami Student and Alumni Steel band will perform rock and roll classics with guest artist Tracy Thorton.

mulforsj@miamioh.edu