Word came down on Thursday about the RBC Center's name change, which got me to wondering: Will the Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater have a title sponsor by the time its 2012 concert season commences next spring? Roger Krupa, who oversees the venue for the city, says he's still working on it. But it's pretty much stuck in the same stalemate ever since the Bud Light name got derailed last year.

"I'm out there trying," Krupa said Friday afternoon. "I have some targets, been out there talking to people. But it's a really hard environment right now to try and get someone to put $300,000 into something like this. We'll see how I do."

By the time the Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater opens its second season next spring, it should have a different name -- one involving a title sponsor, which will put some dollars into the budget. As to what the name might be, alas, that's still no closer to being settled than it was six months ago.

"I am starting over with looking for a name and title sponsor," says Roger Krupa, who oversees the venue as director of the Raleigh Convention Center. "We've had three near-misses, starting with Bud Light. Nobody has complained about the price [$1.5 million for five years], so that doesn't seem to be the issue. Things are just very tight out there right now."

Meantime, attendance figures are out for the 5,600-capacity venue's first season. And it went like this:

*Connells/grand opening (June 4) -- 4,500
Backstreet Boys (June 6) -- 3,246
Paramore (July 23) -- 5,228
Shinedown (July 25) -- 4,245
Gov't Mule (July 26) -- 1,551
Slightly Stoopid (July 28) -- 4,048
Chelsea Handler (July 30) -- 4,912
Barenaked Ladies (July 31) -- 3,099
Goo Goo Dolls (Aug. 9) -- 2,951
O.A.R. (Aug. 10) -- 2,863
Umphrey's McGee (Aug. 13) -- 1,681
Heart (Aug. 14) -- 2,910
Maroon 5 (Aug. 17) -- 3,879
Sound Tribe Sector 9 (Aug. 25) -- 1,301
Dukes of September (Aug. 28) -- 2,862
*NC Symphony (Sept. 12) -- 2,500
Black Crowes (Sept. 17) -- 3,176
Vampire Weekend (Oct. 17) -- 3,560
Stone Temple Pilots (Oct. 19) -- 2,267
311 (Oct. 30) -- 1,882

That comes to 62,661 total for 20 shows. And the schedule wasn't exactly cutting-edge, but it had its moments; especially Vampire Weekend's Oct. 17 show. If a naming-rights deal comes through for 2011 and DRA management has an extra $300,000 in the budget, that will probably help with both the booking and the place's creature comforts.

While I'm at it, here's how 2010 went for the big city-owned joint in Raleigh, 20,000-capacity Walnut Creek:

Widespread Panic (April 23-24) -- 10,218
Country Throwdown (May 28) -- 8,683
Brooks & Dunn (June 5) -- 19,946
Lynyrd Skynyrd (June 18) -- 9,361
Rascal Flatts (June 25) -- 17,604
Phish (July 1) -- 12,969
Toby Keith (July 10) -- 14,016
John Mayer (July 17) -- 11,456
Tim McGraw (July 24) -- 13,810
Santana (July 28) -- 6,732
Mayhem Festival (Aug. 3) -- 8,536
Zac Brown Band (Aug. 11) -- 12,686
Jack Johnson (Aug. 21) -- 14,599
Creed (Aug. 27) -- 10,198
Brad Paisley (Aug. 28) -- 19,092
Kiss (Aug. 29) -- 13,348
Kings of Leon (Sept. 13) -- 7,484
Tom Petty (Sept. 18) -- 18,759
Sugarland (Oct. 2) -- 12,968
Avett Brothers (Oct. 8) -- 7,409

At 21 shows and just under 250,000 attendees, 2010 wasn't Walnut Creek's slowest season ever. But it was close. In fact, the only season with less attendance was 2007, which had 22 shows draw about 235,000 people. This year was a sharp drop from 2008's figures of 26 shows and 348,000 attendees.

More than ever, country is Walnut Creek's primary style. The venue's eight country shows drew 118,505 people, including the year's two biggest shows (Brad Paisley and Brooks & Dunn). But the most notable aspect of 2010 was some of the things that weren't there.

This is the first season I can remember without a show that drew at least 20,000 people. And some of Walnut Creek's most reliable regulars went missing this year, including Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Buffett, Dave Matthews Band and the Allman Brothers. In fact, this was the first year Walnut Creek didn't have the Allman Brothers, but that's an excused absence: Gregg Allman was recovering from a liver transplant.

So Paramore played the Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater on Friday night, which was opening night of the Honda Civic Tour. The T-shirts for sale listed the tour's cities and venues. And for some reason, the Raleigh date's venue was identified as "Road Runner Wireless Amphitheater" -- even though the DRA remains without a title sponsor after the recent Bud Light fiasco.

"That never had anything to do with us," Raleigh Convention Center director Roger Krupa said when asked about the name on the shirt. But he did add that he's "close" to closing a deal for a title sponsor for the venue. Stay tuned...

ADDENDUM (7/27/10): Here's some followup.

SECOND ADENDUM (8/25/10): And some more followup.

If you try to call Roger Krupa this week and he doesn't answer his phone, it's probably because he's tied up trying to sell a name. That would be sponsorship rights to the new Downtown Raleigh Amphitheater, which was to have been known as the Bud Light Amphitheater until the Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission turned down the proposal last week. The deal would have earned the city $1.5 million over the next five years; but now it's back to the drawing board.

"Plan B's are in effect," says Krupa, who oversees the amphitheater as director of the Raleigh Convention Center. "I've been talking to four interested parties, and the range of interest has been wide and varied as to the availability of cash. But I don't think we're gonna have to fire-sale this. I'm hoping I can pull this off in the next couple of weeks."

In the meantime, the amphitheater will continue operations without a sponsor's name and the $300,000 it would have added to this year's bottom line -- money that, Krupa admits, "sure would have made life a lot easier." Among other things, that money would have facilitated some sort of free-concert series to replace the Raleigh Downtown Live shows that used to happen at Moore Square.

"The thing about that is, free events are not free," Krupa says. "They're expensive. They cost the city between $10,000 and $20,000 an hour to put on. And in lean budget years, it's hard for me to get that unless I have sponsors."

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

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.