5 days ago
Richmond summer concerts go big
After three years of effort, Richmond's highly anticipated Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront finally opens to the public next week.
Why it matters: Allianz's arrival solidifies what's shaping up to be Richmond's hottest summer concert season in recent memory.
The big picture: If you haven't been paying attention, Richmond's summer concert scene — which was already pretty stellar — has been steadily getting even better in recent years.
Since 2021, Richmond has landed Iron Blossom and Live Loud, the not-Friday Cheers Brown's Island concert series from the Broadberry Entertainment Group.
Meanwhile, After Hours, the series formerly known as Innsbrook After Hours, moved to a bigger space at Meadow Event Park in Doswell and Groovin' in the Garden at Lewis Ginter returned after a decade-long hiatus.
Those series joined long-running favorites like Friday Cheers, Richmond Jazz Festival, Flowers After 5, Music at Maymont and at least a dozen other hyper-local summertime shows.
But the biggest and most exciting new outdoor music venue for Richmond in decades is the Allianz Amphitheater.
State of play: Since the earliest plans for the 7,500-seat venue were shared in 2022, the Charlottesville-based team behind the amphitheater has promised it would bring around 30 major acts to RVA a year.
The amphitheater's ability to draw those big names looked iffy when the first slate of artists was announced late last year (no offense, Dwight Yoakam, Styx and "Weird Al" Yankovic).
But here we are, three years and two name changes later, on the eve of the June 6 opening (hey there, Kansas) and it looks like the amphitheater delivered. At least for its opening year.
The must-see shows coming to Allianz this year include:
Dave Matthews Band (July 15 & 16)
Riley Green (Aug. 2), Mumford & Sons (Aug. 5), Neil Young (Aug. 10) and Simple Plan (Aug. 26)
James Taylor (Sept. 1), Leon Bridges (Sept. 6) and Widespread Panic (Sept 12 & 13)
Plus, Boyz II Men (June 19), Jason Isbell (July 19), The Head and The Heart (Aug. 1), Richmond rockers Lamb of God with GWAR (July 24) and Alison Krauss (Aug. 29).
Meanwhile, Live Loud is bringing the The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse (Aug. 3) and Sierra Ferrell (Sept. 9) to Brown's.
