As local music fans and dedicated concertgoers know, Nashville's Ascend Amphitheater is slated to open July 30 with a pair of unplugged Eric Church shows. Those will be followed by potentially sick appearances from the likes of Phish, Janet Jackson, Smashing Pumpkins and Marilyn Manson, Steely Dan and Elvis Costello, Jill Scott, My Morning Jacket, fake Sublime, kinda legit Skynyrd, Hall & Oates and others by the end of the venue's inaugural season.
Yesterday, we joined mayor Karl Dean and his associates in the parks and amphitheater game for a rain-soaked media tour of the nifty, new 6,800-cap rain-or-shine Riverfront-situated mini-shed. Check out some sick pics after the jump.
The city spent, like, $52 million building this joint, perhaps explaining why the main-stage structure looks kinda like a cross between a small airport terminal and a giant P.F. Chang's.
And here we see a rather huge stage upon which both Marilyn Manson and Steely Dan will soon stand and deliver sick shows.
Karl Dean and the Dean Players take the stage for a crowd of one.
A sick view from FOH.
The amphitheater is the crown jewel of a revamped Riverfront Park. The grassy area could potentially be used as a second-stage area for a festival, or for a sick game of capture the flag.
How 'bout this public art? Pretty sick, right? In case you're wondering, that's a sculpture of the Cumberland River. Ascend Amphitheater and Riverfront Park happen to be on the Cumberland. Coincidence?
No word yet on whether recreational zip lines will run from those spotlight towers to the stage, but how sick would that be?
Amphitheater venues are kind of like mullets — business in front, party in back. As such, 2,200 folding chairs will make up premium seating closer to the stage, while joints will (ostensibly) be passed and sick make-out seshes will (ostensibly) be had up on the general admission lawn.
Karl Dean, a mayor who's not afraid to get his hair wet. Let's all hope he doesn't get sick!
