Some years back, a concert promoter I know called North Carolina "venue nirvana" -- and in terms of raw number of seats, it certainly is. Between all the outdoor amphitheaters, indoor arenas, mid-sized theaters and on-campus halls we've got around here, the Triangle might have as many concert seats per capita as any place in America.

But a lot of seats is one thing; what about backsides to fill them? That's a question worth asking, especially with still another outdoor amphitheater schedule to come on line in the Triangle this year. For more, see the story in Sunday's paper.

Slowly but surely, the proposed downtown Raleigh amphitheater is moving forward, albeit in somewhat scaled-down fashion. The latest version is a roofless facility with a capacity of around 5,000 for concerts; and it might even be up and running by May 2010. For particulars on that, check the story in Tuesday's paper.

UPDATE (12/3/09): City Council approval.

As of today, the proposed new downtown Raleigh amphitheater remains nothing more than that, a proposal. Negotiations are still ongoing between the city and concert-promotion giant Live Nation to build and operate the venue, which would stand right next to the convention center, and nothing is settled. But the Raleigh city council did address a technicality about the issue on Tuesday.

The council voted unanimously to obtain a release on the property lien on the parcel of land where the amphitheater is to be built. The move was necessary because the city sold tax-free bonds to acquire that property as part of the convention center complex. That limits private use of the land -- such as a private company like Live Nation running a concert facility there.

Whether or not it helps the amphitheater actually get built, we'll see. At this point, it would take a minor miracle to have a facility up and running anytime this calendar year. So maybe 2010.