PALM SPRINGS FANDANGO: Oak View Group Co-Founder Irving Azoff is flanked by OVG CEO Tim Leiweke, left, and the Doobie Brothers’ Patrick Simmons, John McFee and Tom Johnston at the opening of Acrisure Arena in Thousand Palms, California. (VenuesNow Staff)

Comedy Fans Turn Out For First Show

Acrisure Arena, a linchpin for expanding live music in Greater Palm Springs and the home of the AHL’s new Coachella Valley Firebirds, was comedically christened Wednesday (Dec. 14) with a sold-out Chris Rock/Dave Chappelle show.

Earlier in the day, members of The Doobie Brothers, the first musical act to play the $300 million, facility tonight (Dec. 15),  joined Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke, Co-Founder Irving Azoff and John Bolton, the building’s general manager, plus a host of dignitaries for an official ribbon-cutting ceremony that included a Native American blessing.

The arena was privately funded by OVG, Live Nation and the NHL Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds’ parent team.

Capacity runs about 11,000 for concerts and 10,000 for hockey in a building expected to book major tours in a desert resort market that’s a two-hour drive southeast of Los Angeles. The arena features touches of indoor/outdoor aspects common among Southern California venues, but with elements that speak to the desert climate.

Leiweke joked that cost overruns resulted in a vintage aircraft flyover by planes from the Palm Springs Air Museum, instead of the jets that were originally ordered to…