Pine Knob Music Theatre is back -- but did the name really ever go away?

For many it was and will always be Pine Knob

CLARKSTON, Mich. – Pine Knob Music Theatre turned into DTE Energy Music Theater 20 years ago, but as the concert venue gets set to celebrate its 50th anniversary this summer -- it’s going back to its roots.

What’s old is new again. The name DTE Energy Music Theater never really stuck and for a lot of people it has been and will always be Pine Knob.

Original report: Pine Knob returns: Name of DTE Energy Music Theatre changed back to classic venue

“Artists come on stage and say it’s great to be back at Pine Knob,” President of 313 Presents Howard Handler said. “Pine Knob is just this kind of beloved, the nostalgic thing for many, many generations.”

Handler said when their partnership with DTE Energy was up they started to think about bringing up the original name.

“So we started to feel like, Wow, maybe we could bring back the Pine Knob Music Theater name,’ give it back to the community in conjunction with the 50th anniversary,” he said. “When we went and spoke to United Wholesale Mortgage and Trinity Health, they said, ‘We love that.’”

What’s so special about the name anyway? Why couldn’t people get used to the new one? Howard said it’s because when it opened it was the first of its kind.

The first act ever to perform at Pine Knob was David Cassidy. He took the stage in June of 1972.

Read: More entertainment coverage


About the Authors:

You can watch Kim on the morning newscast weekdays from 4:30 to 7 a.m., and frequently doing reports on the 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.