LITTLE ROCK — In spite of a scramble to open the venue at the beginning of the year, the Arkansas Music Pavilion can count 2012 as the busiest in its nineyear existence. Venue owner Walton Arts Center reported an increase in ticket sales of about 300 percent over last year.
In late January, longterm lease negotiations for a spot at the Northwest Arkansas Mall, the only space the tent-covered outdoor music venue had ever called home,
Officials with the music pavilion rushed to find a new location, eventually agreeing to a one-year deal at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Brian Crowne, general manager for the AMP, says the process to sign a usage agreement took about a week, and that quick turnaround allowed the AMP to be moved to the venue in time for its first concert, an April 19 appearance by indie rock band Cake.
Throughout the AMP’s season, which concluded in October, about a dozen acts performed, including Miranda Lambert, The Avett Brothers, Wilco and more. Chief among them were country music artists such as Hank Williams Jr., Alan Jackson, Lambert and Brantley Gilbert.
Crowne says the influx of country acts at the AMP can be attributed to several factors, including touring schedules, availability and demand.
“It’s a combination of a lot of stuff. This market can support a heavy dose of country music,” he says. That included the venue’s largest event in its history, a one-day country festival headlined by the Pistol Annies and Miranda Lambert. The event drew in the neighborhood of 7,000 fans.
The ability to draw big-name acts and crowds to match can be credited to the additional space available at the fairgrounds, Crowne says. The smaller area for the venue at the mall meant AMP officials couldn’t book some of the bigger acts they did this year. For several shows, the extra space available at the fairgrounds was used for an auxiliary stage area that allowed artists to place giant video screens behind them, something they couldn’t do under the confines of the tent structure.
A fierce but brief July thunderstorm rendered the tent obsolete anyway. High winds, estimated by some to be in the 60 mph range, blew the tent off the stage structure, knocked over portable toilets and flattened some of the chairs at the venue. Concerts continued as scheduled, but the canopy itself was never replaced.
“That thing was designed to take a lot more than that,” Crowne says. “It was a freak thing.”
The canopy portion won’t be replaced in 2013, either. Venue officials continue to search for a permanent home for the structure but have not announced a location. At least temporarily, the venue will remain at the Washington County Fairgrounds, where board members agreed to host the AMP for another year. A full schedule of performers isn’t likely to be announced until the beginning of next year, but at least one performer is already confirmed — country act Little Big Town will perform in mid-April.
Whats Up, Pages 16 on 12/21/2012