New local venues on the horizon

The local papers (Trib here / P-G here) are reporting that PNC Entertainment Group (apparently unrelated to the bank) has filed an application with the City Planning Commission to resurrect the amphitheatre at Station Square, which has been closed since the summer of ‘06.

As the articles mention, the Chevrolet Amphitheatre left Station Square to develop a new venue at Sandcastle on the Monongahela. I’m a bit confused, though, as to why the P-G article reports that the venue at Sandcastle never opened; I attended the Pittsburgh Irish Festival there last fall. In fact, I watched a few of the Festival’s headliners perform on what seemed to be a completed amphitheatre stage, and it was a pretty cool place to catch a show: a grassy hill sloping toward the river, a meandering sidewalk leading to a concession and picnic area among some trees—a huge improvement, in my opinion, over the chainlink-enclosed pavement parking lot behind Station Square.

Let's hope that if this plan goes through, the developers put a little more effort into it than just throwing up some fences and a temporary tent and raising a stage frame beside the railroad tracks. I always considered the old Station Square amphitheatre the city’s worst venue, as its sole boon was ease of access.

Happier news comes from across the Ohio: not only does it appear that the North Shore riverfront amphitheatre should be open by summer 2010, but it’s also being reported that Toby Keith is interested in adding a link to his chain of I Love This Bar bars alongside the amphitheatre. Yeehaw. Both the North Shore and Station Square amphitheatres are projected to hold about 5,500 people. The northernmore of the two sounds like the nicer design, and if the financial mêlée between man and money, mud and machine known as the “bore to the shore” ever sees the light of Heinz Field, access to both would be comparable.

Despite any reservations about returning to the asphalt desert behind Station Square, I’m hopeful that competition from both shores will help to bring more mid-sized acts to the Burgh and keep ticket prices (reasonably) low. My curiosity remains piqued, though, as to the future of that stage by the waterslides. It’s on the Mon, mon.