Matthews Arena also proved famous as a concert venue during much of its lifetime. On Saturday evening May 3, 1958 the 'Big Beat' Rock n Roll show hosted by [[Alan Freed]] was cut short due to riots inside the Arena and a non-fatal serious stabbing outside. Headlining the bill were [[Jerry Lee Lewis]], [[Chuck Berry]], and [[Buddy Holly]] & The Crickets. Alan Freed was arrested after police repeatedly had the house-lights turned on to stop teens jiving in the aisles, and Freed issued the now infamous line, "I guess the police don't want you to have fun." Other famous acts to grace the arena were [[The Doors]] in a 1970 concert that was later released to the public. Another famous concert was the [[Phish]] New Year's Eve concert on December 31, 1992. The show was the highest attended Phish concert to date and was played on [[WBCN (FM)|WBCN]] the next day.

Matthews has hosted all or part of the [[America East Conference]] men's basketball tournament a total of seven times and hosted the 1960 [[Frozen Four]].<ref name="NCAA D1 Men's Ice Hockey History">{{cite web|title=D1 Men's Ice Hockey|url=https://www.ncaa.com/history/icehockey-men/d1|website=NCAA}}</ref> The arena also served as the original home to the annual [[Beanpot (Ice Hockey)|Beanpot]] tournament between Boston's four major college hockey programs.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/30/sports/hockey/30arena.html?_r=1&th&emc=th |title=Matthews Arena, the Ice Rink That Changed Boston Hockey |last=Klein |first=Jeff Z. |date=December 29, 2009 |work=New York Times |access-date=December 30, 2009}}</ref>