Starwood Amphitheatre

Background

The venue was the idea of Steve Moore, former CEO of the Country Music Association. Moore began working for PACE Concerts, in Houston booking acts for AstroWorld and Six Flags Over Texas. In 1985, Moore moved to Nashville in hopes of opening a venue tailored to acts like The Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett and the Coral Reefer Band and the Eagles.

The amphitheater broke ground November 11, 1985. In June 1986, the amphitheater opened as Nashville's premier outdoor venue, opposed to the Mud Island Amphitheate, which opened four years earlier.

Venue information

Located in the Nashville suburb of Antioch, the amphitheatre featured one large stage, a covered pavilion with reserved box seating, and an open-air grassy area for general admission seating. A much smaller stage was located near the venue's north entrance and usually featured local bands entertaining audiences as they entered the venue. For larger music festivals, a temporary third stage would be erected in a fenced area normally used as a parking lot.

Starwood regularly hosted most of Nashville's summer concerts featuring A-list artists from all genres of music. The typical season, which generally ran from April to October, featured 20 to 25 events.

Starwood was criticized for the lack of sufficient road infrastructure in the area. Though within two miles (3 km) of Interstate 24, Starwood was located along Tennessee State Route 171 (Old Hickory Blvd), a two-lane road in a primarily residential and industrial neighborhood. It was also located along U.S. Route 41 (Murfreesboro Road), a four-lane highway that does not intersect a freeway in the immediate area. Therefore, larger crowds would result in major traffic problems both before and after events. Event attendees often faced hours before and after events waiting in the traffic on the two lane road location of the main venue entrance.

Starwood Amphitheatre was not affiliated with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

Naming rights

After opening as Starwood Amphitheatre in 1985, the venue went through several name changes in its later years. Prior to the 1999 season, naming rights were sold to locally based First American National Bank for five years, and the venue was renamed First American Music Center. That October, First American National Bank merged into Alabama-based AmSouth Bancorporation. AmSouth agreed to assume the naming rights upon the merger, and after just one season with its new name, the venue was renamed AmSouth Amphitheatre in 2000. AmSouth declined to extend the naming rights agreement past the initial five-year deal, and without a new suitor, the venue reverted to its original name in 2004.

Closing

On February 13, 2007, Live Nation announced its intention to close Starwood Amphitheatre and cancel the 2007 season in anticipation of a potential sale, despite an earlier statement that the 2007 season would take place as scheduled.

Entertainment industry insiders blame the closing on Starwood's age and size, calling it a "first-generation" outdoor venue that was only about two-thirds the size of the ones being built today and one that lacked now-standard amenities for both patrons and performers, therefore not able to attract the top-tier artists who demand larger, more modern performance venues.

Starwood grossed only $4.6 million in ticket sales during the 2006 season and was one of four underperforming venues that Live Nation put up for sale following the season. Only two events were scheduled for 2007 before the announcement to close the venue: The Charlie Daniels Band's annual Volunteer Jam, and a Brad Paisley/Kellie Pickler show.

The last show at Starwood featured Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe, two bands who had played there many times over the years.

Demolition and beyond

The Starwood offices and concession areas were demolished during the last half of September 2007, culminating with the dynamite demolition of the stage, seating area, and dressing rooms on September 29, 2007.

Live Nation announced on April 30, 2007 that the buyer of the Starwood property is Vastland Realty Group. Plans for the site were revealed the following November, when Vastland announced a $100 million mixed-use residential and commercial development named "Starwood Commons" that will feature 350,000 square feet (33,000 m²) of retail space and 250 multi-level townhomes.

More than three years later, the site had not been cleared, and the landscape remained much the same as it did following demolition of the structures. In October 2010, the current owner of the site petitioned to allow live concerts on the site as the original development plans had fallen through due in part to the late-2000s recession.

In December 2010, a Nashville band named August Christopher performed on the rubble, weeds, and stage that remained, shooting a music video for their song "Down". (lead singer Criss Cheatham states, "We literally shot the entire thing on a $50 budget!! We busted into what's left of Starwood and shot this video just before they completely tore everything down." http://www.augustchristopher.com/) Real estate developer Vastland Realty announced plans to return concerts to the site beginning as soon as Summer 2011 using a temporary stage and seating, but the plans never came to fruition.

After defaulting on the loan, Vastland Realty lost the property to foreclosure. It was purchased out of foreclosure by Orange Murfreesboro, LLC in 2013 for US$5,500,000.

As of August 2016, the site remains undeveloped and appears much as it has since the venue's 2007 demolition.