[3] The plan was revived again as a statewide bond issue in the 1968 general election; voters outside of Providence soundly defeated the referendum.

[5] In its first year, the center hosted concerts by Pink Floyd and Frank Sinatra, as well as hockey games and political rallies, and was considered a success.

[5] In October 1974, Civic Center director Harold Copeland was convicted of soliciting a $1,000 bribe from a concert promoter.

[5] The conviction, occurring a month before election day, thrust prosecutor Vincent Cianci into the mayor's office and ended Doorley's political career.

[6] In December 2005, the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority purchased the building from the city of Providence and spent $80 million on an extensive renovation.

Major elements of the construction included a significantly expanded lobby and concourse, an enclosed pedestrian bridge from the Rhode Island Convention Center, a new center-hung LED video display board, a new restaurant, 20 luxury suites, four new bathrooms, and all-new seats with cupholders in the arena bowl.

[8] In February 2021, the state announced that the Dunkin Donuts Center would be used as a large-scale COVID vaccination site.

Dunkin' officially stated that the company would not be renewing its agreement with the convention center authority on the same day.

The Grateful Dead recorded half of their live album Dick's Picks Volume 12 there on June 26, 1974.

[citation needed] Some of the songs on the Eric Clapton album E. C. Was Here were recorded live at the Civic Center, on June 25, 1975.

The arena played host to The Rolling Thunder Revue Tour on November 4, 1975, headed by Bob Dylan.

His first was to a sold-out crowd including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis for his Variety Club International Tour on April 15, 1974, and the last on October 3, 1992.

During many of Sinatra's performances, Rhode Island State Police would attend, searching for organized crime members in the audience.

Both were threatened with cancellation by Cianci in light of The Who situation and a stabbing at a Bad Company concert ten days prior to the first date.

Rhode Island promoter Frank J. Russo scheduled the band on their Creatures of the Night Tour/10th Anniversary Tour for shows at both the Worcester Centrum on January 22, 1983, and the following night at the Civic Center, but canceled the Civic Center show when it sold only 2,000 tickets.

Hundreds of fans participated and were picked up by several chartered buses on Sabin Street in front of the Civic Center.

[16] A week later the situation was featured in a two-part WPRI Channel 12 news story by reporter Brian Rooney,[17] citing it as a prime example of how the newly built Centrum was cutting deeply into the Civic Center's business by providing aggressive competition for events.

[18] Van Halen performed at the Civic Center many times and the music video for the song "Panama" was partially filmed during a 1984 soundcheck at the venue.

A number of other professional sporting events, including Harlem Globetrotters basketball games and regular season and preseason games for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League (NHL), have been held at the arena.

[32] On May 1, 2016, Ringling Bros. ended 145 years of tradition when they staged their last performance with live elephants as part of its "Blue" tour at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.

[34] Sugar Ray Leonard fought Floyd Mayweather Sr. at the Providence Civic Center on September 9, 1978.