The DTE Energy Music Theatre
is a 15,274-seat amphitheater located in Clarkston, Michigan. It was originally known as the Pine Knob Music Theatre
, due to its proximity to the nearby Pine Knob ski area and golf course. The name was changed in early 2001 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" or "the knob".
The amphitheater held its grand opening in June 1972 with an Andy Williams concert. However, on June 25, 1972 (a few days before Williams' appearance), there was a "pre-opening" concert featuring teen idol David Cassidy. The huge sound system was novel in its day, a theatrical performance system in an outdoor theater and was built by Peter Walsh while employed at Audio Equipment Company of Dearborn. Mr. Walsh also worked as Chief Engineer of Motown and later Chief Engineer of Artie Fields Productions, a TV film commercial maker. Since those concerts, many of the greatest stars in music have performed there. Chicago has appeared at this venue almost every year since 1972, and Eddie Money typically opens the concert season each spring. In May of 2006, Eddie Money was asked and did the national anthem in front of 22,076 fans at a Detroit Pistons playoff game. This was widely believed to be a cross promotion for his show the following day at DTE. Annually, the music theater has consistently ranked among the top-selling outdoor concert venues in the nation.
The amphitheater is owned by Palace Sports and Entertainment. Its is not uncommon for the employees to work a Detroit Shock game at the Palace of Auburn Hills in the early afternoon and then drive out and do a double shift at DTE.
DTE Energy Music Theatre also hosts the Clarkston High School graduation ceremony, typically held at the end of May or beginning of June.
DTE is the usual Detroit area stop for some of the biggest tours of the summer concert season, including Ozzfest, Gigantour, Reggae Sunsplash and the Family Values Tour, and was the Detroit area stop for Lollapalooza (in all years it played there but one) before that tour signed an exclusive deal with the city of Chicago.
Canadian Power-Trio Rush have regarded DTE as one of their favorite venues to play in the U.S.A.
For many years, Independence Township (local unit of government where the theatre is located) has had an ordinance in effect forbidding concerts or events to be played past 11:00PM there due to complaints from nearby residents of the noise. The band(s) playing there are subject to a $5000 fine for going over the 11:00PM time limit and are then charged $10000 per minute fine for every minute past 11:10PM they are playing. Some concert events have had to be moved up from original posted times due to this, although a fair amount of bands choose to play anyway (typically Aerosmith) with the fine money given as a deposit.
In 2006, the amphitheatre experinced its latest show ever, Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe, on October 11th. This was almost 2 weeks after the usual end to the concert season, which is usually a country show in September.
In 2008, the amphitheatre had its earliest concert ever, the michigan stop for Gigantour, on May 3rd.
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DTE ENERGY MUSIC THEATRE TICKETS
| EVENT | DATE | AVAILABILITY |
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| Meghan Trainor Tickets 6/12 | Jun 12, 2026
Fri, 6:30 PM |  | | The Strokes, Thundercat & Hamilton Leithauser Tickets 6/15 | Jun 15, 2026
Mon, 7:00 PM | | | Machine Gun Kelly & Wiz Khalifa Tickets 6/16 | Jun 16, 2026
Tue, 7:00 PM | | | Santana & The Doobie Brothers Tickets 6/18 | Jun 18, 2026
Thu, 7:00 PM | | | Sammy Hagar & Rick Springfield Tickets 6/19 | Jun 19, 2026
Fri, 6:30 PM | |
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