Nicks Stevie.Plant, Robert.Neil Young.Jack White, Lana Del Rey, and Phish.Weezer. Each of those iconic performers’ first Huntsville concerts were held at Orion Amphitheater over its first four seasons.
The Venue Group, also known as tvg, the business the city hired to manage Orion’s design and construction, is now planning to create a new venue in Huntsville with a capacity of 2,500–3,000.
Orion has an 8,000-person capacity. The Mars Music Hall of the Von Braun Center can accommodate about 1,600 people.
The city’s concert level venue mix, which also includes the Mark C. Smith Music Hall (about 2,000) and the VBC’s Propst Arena (6,500 to 8,500 capacity, depending on layout), would be completed by the proposed new TVG arena.
A news release from the City of Huntsville states that TVG is now looking for potential locations for a new mid-sized facility.
Our collaboration with Huntsville started with The Orion, a project that changed the city’s cultural identity and garnered national attention, according to a statement from tvg managing partner Ben Lovett, who is also a musician with Grammy-winning folk-pop group Mumford & Sons. We are excited to investigate another top-notch venue that will further solidify Huntsville’s position as a cultural center. Huntsville’s dedication to its music ecology is unmatched.
“The Orion has become a source of pride for Huntsville,” said Tommy Battle, the mayor of Huntsville, in a statement. Working with TVG to investigate a new TVG venue that will provide even more chances for artists, audiences, and the community at large excites us to take the next step in bolstering our city’s cultural infrastructure.
Mumford & Sons will do two shows this week in honor of Orion’s 100th performance, with alt-country singer/songwriter Margo Price serving as the opening act.
Plans to construct a world-class amphitheater in Huntsville that would rival famous, iconic facilities like the Red Rocks in Colorado and the Hollywood Bowl were greeted with considerable skepticism. For concert tours, Huntsville was merely a tertiary market. The aeronautical engineering industry was well-known in the city. Music? Not at all.
However, doubters have been repeatedly disproved after Orion Amphitheater opened in Huntsville in the spring of 2022. Orion made Huntsville famous musically with its modern modifications and historic coliseum-inspired style. Rolling Stone and other media took notice.
The live music trade newspaper Pollstar nominated Orion for Outdoor Concert Venue of the Year in 2024. The aforementioned Hollywood Bowl was one of the other nominees for the prize, which was named for Red Rocks Amphitheatre.
The facility Group’s third project in Huntsville would be a mid-sized facility. Phase one of TVG’s long-awaited restoration of the cherished, eccentric downtown venue The Lumberyard launched this spring.
“A lot of the work has gone into kind of re-establishing the soul and the identity of what makes the Lumberyard so unique space,” Lovett told AL.com at the time.
Jason Isbell, Emmylou Harris, Waxahatchee, Brittany Howard, and Drive-By Truckers were among the artists that performed at Orion’s Alabama-themed opening weekend in spring 2022. Billy Strings, Willie Nelson, blink-182, and Lil Wayne are notable 2025 Orion bookings.
Luke Bryan, a country music legend and American Idol judge, was the first performer to book gigs at both Orion and Birmingham’s new Coca-Cola Amphitheater in the same season, with an announced show on Sept. 4.
Orion’s position as Alabama’s preferred amphitheater for major tours is under threat as Coca-Cola Amphitheater has secured an amazing lineup of performers for its inaugural season this year. These performers include Rod Stewart, Phish, Jessie Murph, Def Leppard, Pantera, and Alabama Shakes. The dominant force in the U.S. touring market, Live Nation, operates Coca-Cola Amphitheater.
Around 626,000 people have visited Orion Amphitheater since it opened, according to a TVG press release. In its first three years, Orion brought in over $45 million in revenue and, including direct, indirect, and induced effects, contributed to a total economic output of $131 million for the Huntsville region, according to that announcement.
Additionally, according to the press release, 48% of Orion tickets were purchased by tourists from outside the area, which is good news for nearby lodging facilities, dining establishments, shops, etc. Additionally, according to the Venue Group, Orion is expected to go up from its 2023 position of number 33 to into Pollstar’s Top 10 Worldwide Amphitheaters by ticket sales in 2025.
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