Tuesday, December 19, 2006

anyone wanna buy an amphitheatre?

deer creek (aka verizon wireless music center) is up for sale. when it was first built in '89, it was out in BFE in noblesville. now suburban sprawl has overtaken the surrounding area, and the land is suddenly a lot more valuable.

Live Nation, which owns the Verizon amphitheater, has no plans to relocate the 24,000-seat amphitheater if it's sold. And no preference will be given to buyers that want to keep the site as a music venue, said Nick Arterburn, a first vice president and broker in Indianapolis for CB Richard Ellis, the commercial real estate company that's handling the sale.

"We're not against selling it to another entertainment group . . . as long as they are the entity that pays us the most money," he said.

in other words, it's theoretically possible that live entertainment could continue there after this summer, but it won't happen.

it's telling that much of the online reaction to this news has been indifferent. the space itself was nice enough, but it was a major pain to get in and out on 238. some people are clamoring for a new outdoor venue closer to downtown. it's a nice thought, but i'm not sure where it could go.

personally, while i went there last summer for the nin/bauhaus show (where i had a reasonably good time), that was probably the first time i'd been in 8 years. the kinds of musicians i like generally don't play in venues that big. of course, i listen to weird stuff, but it seems i'm hardly in the minority when it comes to indifference toward that place. still, i hate to see yet another venue get shut down.

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