Irving: The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory

The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory opened on September 9, 2017, with ZZ Top headlining the inaugural concert — a fitting choice for a venue built to anchor Irving’s new entertainment district. The project traces back to a 2007 Irving bond vote financing an entertainment center, and developers Noah and Richard Lazes of the ARK Group partnered with the city on a roughly $175 million buildout designed by the architecture firm Gensler.

A Name Change Before Opening Night

The complex was originally set to debut as the “Irving Music Factory” on September 1, 2017, with Dave Chappelle booked for the first show, but construction delays pushed that date back. Days later, on September 8, 2017, the development was renamed Toyota Music Factory under a new title sponsorship deal, and the Pavilion opened the following night. A $6.3 million renovation and redevelopment of the district was approved by Irving City Council in January 2024, and the venue hosted a taping of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” during MLB All-Star Week festivities in July 2024.

A Venue That Physically Transforms

What sets the Pavilion apart from most Texas amphitheaters is that it converts between a fully enclosed indoor theater and an open-air outdoor venue, holding up to 4,000 guests under cover or roughly 8,000 total once the lawn opens up. Operated by Live Nation, the Pavilion sits inside a larger mixed-use district with about 15 restaurants and bars plus an Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, and offers assigned seats, GA lawn, pit, and VIP box configurations depending on the show.

Toyota Music Factory sits across the Trinity River corridor from American Airlines Center in Dallas, giving the Las Colinas area its own indoor-outdoor answer to the big Dallas arena. Because the venue can run as either an indoor or outdoor show depending on the date, it’s worth checking the specific event listing for that night’s configuration before arriving.

I’ve been here ♪