Here's the story on the new amphitheater's grand opening. Also, check out this photo gallery.

ADDENDUM (6/7/10): And here's a review of the first ticketed show there, Backstreet Boys.

By David Menconi
Staff writer

RALEIGH -- Following years of talk and a few frantic months of construction, downtown's new Raleigh Amphitheater opened to the public Friday afternoon. It was just barely ready to go by the appointed hour.

"Of course we're not ready," assistant Raleigh Convention Center director Doug Grissom joked a few minutes before the gates opened shortly after 5 p.m. "But we're opening anyway. The temporary things we've got will work until Monday."

Friday's debut was a low-key event, a free open-house preview that felt more like a cookout than a concert. Doug Van de Zande was among the first attendees inside, and he made a beeline for the beer stand.

"I got the first beer," he said happily.

The 5,500-capacity amphitheater represents Raleigh's latest attempt to boost downtown with an urban alternative to Cary's bucolic Booth Amphitheatre, and a more intimate setting than 20,000-capacity Walnut Creek. Friday's opening had seven local acts on the bill, beginning with gravel-voiced solo folk-blues player Th' Bullfrog Willard McGhee and ending with venerable alternative-pop band The Connells. The show revealed a venue that's still a work in progress with some kinks to work out.

Right up until the moment the gates opened, workers were bustling about setting up chairs and sweeping sawdust from the newly built (as in, that day) decks adjoining the bathroom trailers. The trailers and huge dirt pile behind the stage give the space a temporary feel that won't abate until there are more permanent structures on the site.

On the positive side, the venue already boasts a pretty solid sound setup. Even acoustic music carried all the way to the back of the venue, with nuances clearly audible. The amphitheater sits in a block bounded by Cabarrus, Lenoir, Dawson and McDowell streets, but traffic noise wasn't overly distracting except for the occasional passing train or ambulance siren.

"I like it so far," said Jonathan Lee as he listened to the twangy rock band Small Ponds play. "It sounds good. It's just weird to have something like this right in the middle of town, you know?"

Even when the uptempo guitar-pop band Sleep Control played, the volume was in the family-friendly range. Small children ran around playing on the grassy hillside at the back of the venue.

If the amphitheater's sound is in good shape, however, there are some issues with sightlines. The best view in the house is actually looking out from the stage, which gives a perfect view of the convention center's shimmer wall and the city skyline.

But viewed from the seats, the enormous stage feels out of scale to the surroundings. The roof is so high that it dwarfs the performers and makes them seem tiny. Also, tents over the soundboard and VIP area cut off the view from a lot of the fixed seats at the rear of the venue.

"Yeah, that's a problem," said Raleigh Convention Center director Roger Krupa. "We'll have to do something about that. But it still turned out all right."

The first ticketed show at the Raleigh Amphitheater happens Sunday. It's the Backstreet Boys, one of 12 shows on the scheduled booked by Live Nation. There will probably be another three to six more Live Nation shows there in 2010, along with live theater, a bluegrass festival and possibly ballet.

david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759

Here we go: This weekend brings the public debut of downtown Raleigh's spiffy new outdoor concert venue, starting with tonight's freebie shakedown-cruise preview featuring some very fine local acts. Then Sunday brings the first show there that you'll have to pay for, the Backstreet Boys. For logistical details on the venue, see the story here.

Meantime, the title-sponsor issue remains unresolved for now. But even though the Bud Light name is not yet official, I submit that it's not too early to start calling the place a shortened version of that name. Henceforth in this space, the downtown Raleigh amphitheater shall be known as...

...The B'Light.

Word is out today about a sponsorship deal for Raleigh's new downtown amphitheater, which the city hopes will be called the Bud Light Amphitheater. But the deal isn't quite as far along as has been reported elsewhere.

"We've reached no agreements yet, which we can't do until the [Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission] gives permission," says Doug Grissom, assistant director of the Raleigh Convention Center. "What we have done is talk to Anheuser-Busch about conditions if we get a sponsorship. Now we're going to the ABC to see if we have the ability to do this."

At issue is a state law that bans alcoholic beverages as part of the name of a public venue. Whether or not to grant an exception will be taken up at the next ABC panel meeting in June. But that means it won't be resolved by the time the venue opens in early June.

"We will open as the Raleigh Amphitheater," says Grissom. "We found that out today."

The venue's official grand opening is June 6 with former teen idols Backstreet Boys. There will also be a free June 4 preview show, possibly featuring Raleigh rock band the Connells -- who opened up Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in 1991.

ADDENDUM (5/15/10): Controversy.

Take a drive down South Saunders Street in downtown Raleigh, and you can get a look at the city's still-unnamed amphitheater as it comes together. The stage is going up this week, and it shouldn't be long before photographs supersede renderings like this one. There should also be an actual name attached to it by the end of this week.

"Nothing is worrying us now," says Raleigh Convention Center director Roger Krupa. "We've got our permits, the inspectors seem happy with us about everything. It's gonna happen."

He'd better hope so. The first Live Nation show at the new venue is the Backstreet Boys on June 6 -- just 26 days from now.

Little by little, the concert schedule for Raleigh's new downtown amphitheatre continues to take shape. The latest addition is the Black Crowes, as part of what is being billed as a "pre-indefinite-hiatus" tour, according to a tour schedule sent out by the band's publicist. That brings the total number of Live Nation shows there to seven, with another dozen or so still to come. So far, the schedule looks like this:

June 6 -- Backstreet Boys
July 23 -- Paramore, Tegan and Sara, New Found Glory
July 25 -- Shinedown, Chevelle, Puddle of Mudd, Sevendust, 10 Years
Aug. 10 -- O.A.R., Citizen Cope
Aug. 25 -- Sound Tribe Sector 9
Sept. 17 -- Black Crowes
TBA -- Heart

For more information about other outdoor shows in the Triangle, see the outdoor-music preview in Friday's Weekend section.

(Thanks, Jedidah, for the catch!)

ADDENDA:  Another show was just announced, Slightly Stoopid with Cypress Hill and Collie Buddz on July 28; which brings the total show count to eight. Also, here's something on shows we'd like to see there.

We have some late-day concert news to report. First and foremost, Tom Petty's tour has been rerouted -- pushing back his May 6 Raleigh date at Das Shed, which was to have been the opening date on his U.S. tour. But Petty's Raleigh show has been rescheduled to Sept. 18. If you've already bought tickets, those will be honored; or refunds are available from point of purchase starting Tuesday.

Also, a few more shows have been announced for the still-under-construction Raleigh Amphitheatre: former teen idols Backstreet Boys on June 6 (on sale April 24), and space-age jam band Sound Tribe Sector 9 on Aug. 25 (on sale Wednesday).