City leaders cautious about possible return of Mud Island concerts

Yahoo

18-02-2025

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Flyers have been circulating on social media about concerts coming back to the Mud Island Amphitheater in April, but according to many city leaders, they are not sure if it will actually happen.
The mayor of Memphis has not officially given the green light to bring concerts back to Mud Island.
'This event, as of right now, has not been approved by the mayor, we do have some concerns regarding the structural integrity of the Amphitheater, itself,' said Julius Muse, Deputy Chief of Operations of the City of Memphis.
For two years, there have been several discussions and studies about how to bring Mud Island back to life.
Mud Island stage could be grooving again in April with popup concerts
Last month, Jerred Price with the Downtown Neighborhood Association announced a three-day pop-up concert in the spring.
'We are missing that element of that size show and that size venue downtown. We are losing those tax dollars, those tourism,' said Price.
And while many agree, during Tuesday morning's city council meeting, city leaders say it's going to take a lot of work before they can safely host an event at the Amphitheater.
'You have to provide accessible parking around to the event. And if you have it inside the amphitheater, you have to have accessibility vertically and horizontally, and you have to have accessibility to the restrooms,' said City of Memphis Chief Operations Manager Antonio Adams.
'I'm not comfortable at this point having the discussion of planning something at this event and knowing that we're not ADA compliant in the location that they want to have it in,' said City Councilwoman Rhonda Logan.
We walked around the entire facility of the Mud Island Amphitheater. These are the current conditions: Graffiti at checkpoints, broken elevators, rotted railings, and damaged bathrooms – just to name a few.
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'We had thousands of people out there in 2018. Nothing about the venue has changed. So if we could have concerts, then surely we can have concerts now,' Price said.
City leaders say the three-day pop-up concert idea is great, but a few details about the event may have to change.
'The concept is great, the location, right now we don't know about it,' said Adams.
City leaders will continue the discussion in the next meeting about short-term plans with Memphis River Parks Partnership before the mid-April event.
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