RICHMOND, Va. — Around 30 musical acts, from Allison Krause to Weird Al Yankovic, are set to perform this summer at the new Allianz Amphitheater at Riverfront in Richmond.
"I'm excited for Boys II Men. I think that's an amazing show," Rebecca Street, general manager with Live Nation, the owner of the amphitheater, said.
The 7,500 capacity open-air venue will be ready to rock when the bands Kansas and 38 Special take the stage on Friday, June 6 for the first concert.
"As you can see behind me, the stage is almost there. So the next couple weeks are really exciting, because all of the fun things start to come in as the project comes together," Street said.
But as exciting as the new venue may be for some, Oregon Hill resident Jasmynne Royals says she has mixed emotions about it.
"We've had people park in our parking lot, in our parking spaces that are numbered for the residents that live here. It's just something we don't want to deal with. Having to live here and this is our home we feel we shouldn't have to," Royals said.
Emory Powers said Richmond has punished Oregon Hill by making it the parking lot for special events in the city.
"They don't provide enough parking so everyone, whether there's parking elsewhere or not, parks in Oregon Hill," Powers said.
Street said she and her team have heard the neighborhood's concerns.
"We're very mindful of the impact that an event like this or several events like this, could have on the surrounding community," she said.
Street says the venue will send messages to ticket holders and through social media platforms, suggesting places for drivers to look for parking in an effort to be good neighbors.
"We partnered with a traffic engineering company, and they did a study and found that there were 1000s of parking spots in downtown Richmond. Many of them are free on nights and weekends, which makes it really great because that's when we have our shows," Street said.
For neighbors concerned about concert noise, Street said city code requires the music to stop at 11 p.m. and cited the venue's design.
"The cool thing is, these delay towers behind me will have speakers hanging from them, so they will direct the sound into that hill that you see behind you. So yeah, so it's very controlled. We'll have decibel monitors at front of house and at our property line, so that that keeps us compliant and helps us be a good neighbor too," Street said.
Powers and Royals said they appreciated the thoughtfulness and will await the results.
"Well, that'll be wonderful. I mean, I'm open to that it could be better than I fear," Powers said.
"With our view and having the concert, we are excited to see what it can bring for our neighborhood," Royals said.
The first concert is scheduled for Friday, June 6. For more information on all the concerts scheduled for this summer, visit the venue's website
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