2002. Events The park's Southern Star Amphitheater opened in 1980 and hosted a variety of performers, including The Beach Boys, The Cure, Destiny's Child, Bob Dylan, the Grateful Dead, Heart (1985), Billy Idol, The Monkees, and Selena. The music video for the Debbie Gibson song "Staying Together" was filmed at the concert venue in 1987. The venue hosted music festivals such as Joyfest, featuring Christian groups Jars of Clay and Point of Grace (1990s). Six Flags AstroWorld originated the "Fright Nights" special event for the Halloween season in 1986, designed to help drive attendance during the otherwise light fall season. The event was renamed "Fright Fest" in 1993, and continued until the park closed in 2005. Holiday in the Park was held around Christmas. The park had other seasonal attractions, like Alice Cooper's Brutal Planet. The singer also performed at AstroWorld. Personnel Dan Dunn and Jeff Martin worked as a caricaturists at the park. Daniel Johnston operated River of No Return. In 2018, former employees organized the AstroWorld 50th Anniversary Employee Reunion. Media and legacy On December 28, 1968, ABC aired the children's television special The Pied Piper of Astroworld, starring Soupy Sales, Lesley Gore, and Kenny Rogers and The First Edition, featuring Patrick Swayze in a bear costume and The Muppets. Robert Altman directed Bud Cort as a reclusive inventor living in the Astrodome for the cult classic film Brewster McCloud, released in 1970, with scenes from AstroWorld including the Lost World Adventure riverboat ride. The model of AstroWorld built by Ed Henderson in 1967 was displayed publicly again at the Houston Public Library Central Library's Julia Ideson Building starting in 2011. In 2016, the library announced the model would be exhibited there permanently. In 2015, the bar Moving Sidewalk launched an AstroWorld-themed cocktail menu. American rapper and singer Travis Scott, born and raised in Houston, called his third studio album Astroworld (2018) to commemorate his hometown. In an XXL interview, he said of the park's closure and demolition, "They took AstroWorld away from us in Houston." Scott announced a festival taking Astroworld's name for 2018. Scott mentioned one of the motivations of the festival was to "bring back the beloved spirit and nostalgia of AstroWorld, making a childhood dream of Travis' come true". In 2019, Craig Hlavaty of the Houston Chronicle called the Astroneedle a Houston landmark. See also History of Houston List of defunct amusement parks Six