My mother has an old friend who is known best for her ability to leave. Whenever she and her husband are coming, we are all excited because they are a very entertaining, energetic couple. However as the weekend moves on, the stories about how wonderful they are get old as do the passive aggressive actions by her to coerce the husband into the bedroom. By the end of the weekend we are all ecstatic so see them leave. For sure, we are glad to see them, but are especially glad to see them leave because they do it so well. They clean the bathroom, run the vacuum cleaner, and put the sheets in the washing machine before packing! They offer an experience afterward that is like no other, and are a perfect metaphor for the long-awaited Raleigh downtown amphitheater which opens today.

The project stands on land formerly occupied by Sir Walter Chevrolet, one block to the west of the Raleigh Convention Center. That center was designed for future expansion into the lot. In the meantime Raleigh officials have erected a 5,500-seat, “temporary” amphitheater site which will host around 20 events per summer.

It is important to keep the long-range plan in mind when visiting the site, because it is bare bones to say the least. There are no velvet cloaks at the entrances. If you are expecting something nice like Koka Booth Amphitheatre or Time Warner Pavilion, you will be sorely disappointed. The stage is boxed in only by a very basic lighting rig that complies to industry shed tour standards. The bathrooms are in trailers, which is a step up from porta-johns in Moore Square. The concessions are all from temporary trailers and folding tables. There is no in-house video, and spot lighting is from extremely temporary scaffolding that looks like it could blow over in a 20 mph wind.

While all of those items are expected and excusable, there are some choices designers made that will severely hamper the experience, especially for those who drive long distances and pay first rate prices for shows.

The seating is somewhat similar to Walnut Creek in that it is arranged much like a baseball diamond. Around the outer infield arc there is “box” seating, which consists of stacking chairs separated by pipes, much like the boxes at Walnut Creek. Between the stage and this arc, however, there is nothing but a sea of concrete. Officials told me the plan is to place stacking chairs in this zone to simulate reserved seating. The problem here is that there is absolutely no rise from the front row to the box seats, so everyone in the entire infield will have to stand if Row A decides to stand (and you know they will). Are these the stacking chairs from inside the Convention Center? What happens during times like now when graduations and other events demand the Convention Center chairs? How is security going to control a crowd that has stacking chairs to throw?

Behind the box seats is the only East-West arc aisle, and behind this aisle there is a large section of permanent, reserved seats which slope upward only slightly. At Walnut Creek this East-West aisle is cleverly sunken so people on the lawn are not disturbed. Not here. Patrons in the reserved seating area will have to stand in order to see the stage. That may be par for the course at rock concerts, but it presents real problems for stage productions like Rent and Chelsea Lately.

The remaining land behind the reserved seating is general admission lawn “seating”. While this area does actually have a steep rise, the view of the stage from at least 1/3 of the space, at least right now, is obstructed by tents for the soundboard and for box seating. Most likely these tents will have to go.

The entire seating area is exposed, so be sure to bring a poncho if there is any chance of rain. There is no shelter to speak of, which may present problems for some productions. The real catalyst for the project was the receipt of a framework for a tent to cover much of the seating area. We received this for free from Denver, but had to buy a new fabric skin, which apparently was cost prohibitive given the extreme bare-bones nature of this facility.

While sight-lines and shelter are concerns for this facility, the sound looms as the biggest. Raleigh’s newest landmark, the Shimmer Wall, borders Left Field, and will probably be known as the Silver Monster to musicians. The angle of the stage is such that the entire stage left bank of PAs will be aimed directly at the shimmer wall, and likely create an acoustical mess. Rap Bap….Rap Bap is what two snare drum hits will sound like for anyone along the 3rd baseline. It will be interesting to hear music from the right baseline as the music from the stage left bank will be hitting those fans almost a full second after the stage right bank hits.

For some reason the design of the amphitheater is within the confines of the arcing access road to the Convention Center’s service tunnel. A better design would have been to relocate this road directly adjacent to and parallel to W. Cabarrus St. This would have allowed the stage to be tucked back closer to the Cabarrus/Dawson intersection, thus allowing the stage to be turned more to the south. Perhaps a better grading plan would have allowed the stage to be lower than Dawson, and the outfield to be higher than McDowell streets. This would have provided much better sightlines.

The real advantages the amphitheater has (over most in the country, in fact) come from its location. Ingress and egress will be outstanding, and a very welcome feature to those who have sat in office building parking lots in Cary for well over an hour without moving. Downtown Raleigh has well over 10,000 parking spaces, and most of them are empty during the times of use for this facility.

For people who want to kick around after the show, downtown Raleigh offers the finest nightlife experience in the Triangle. In fact, there are over 70 places to drink in downtown Raleigh, and most are a short walk from the amphitheater.

The amphitheater will end up being a great move for the City Manager’s books, especially if weather and crowd control are not problems. Built on a shoestring that would even make Tom Fetzer proud, the place is positioned to be a huge cash-cow for the city. The facility is built to be in place only a few years, and if convention center expansion gets pushed back, a renovation plan will have to be in the works. Given the rise of the internet and the stagnation of the world economy, that expansion may be further off than anticipated. In fact, I predict that the expansion of the convention center will not happen until at least 2025, probably 2030.

What will probably happen is that after 3 summers, the city will probably realize that expansion is still just a long-term goal, and must then deal with mounting complaints about The Walt. I expect to see permanent bathrooms, more substantial field lighting rigs, permanent gold circle seating implemented in the short run.

Is this review premature? Perhaps. Yes, I have not heard a band in the facility yet. The problem is that nobody else had either. As of 21 hours before showtime, the time all of these photos were taken, the facility had no PA system, no lighting in place, the bathroom access ramps had not been built, no vendors were in place, no ticketing facility was in place, and no seating existed for the gold circle. A lot will have to happen before the paying public comes in two days. We’ll know a lot more about the facility by the end of the weekend.