Built in 1966 using the best ground-motion engineering technology available at the time, the Oakland Coliseum Arena seats 15,000 and is used for a wide variety of sporting events, exhibitions and performances. Featuring a complex arrangement of steel cables connected to a central, 45-foot in diameter steel tension ring, the 106 foot high arena roof is particularly striking at night. The venue's size and easy accessibility have made it a popular performance site since the late sixties. Eric Clapton played there as early as 1968, and the Coliseum hosted its first Dead show, produced by Bill Graham Presents, in 1979.