People of a certain age in the Nashville area have long fond memories for Starwood Amphitheatre. For 20 years, it was the primary outdoor music venue for middle Tennessee. Despite several name changes during its run, it will always be known to locals as Starwood. Today marks 35 years since the opening of the venue and even to this day locals debate on what former Nashville landmark they want back the most: Starwood or Opryland.
When country music station WKDF transmitted under the rock music format, they held a fundraiser concert that opened the venue. Blue Oyster Cult and the Fabulous Thunderbirds were a few of the acts that helped christen the 8 million dollar amphitheater in 1986. Over the 20 years the site was operating, it was the preferred summer venue for countless tours and fans alike.
As someone who grew up down I-40 West in Memphis, I had no idea what Starwood was until the late ‘90s. I first discovered what Antioch, the home of Starwood Amphitheatre, was in the summer of 1988 while I sat in the Mid-South Coliseum while waiting for INXS to play. I had just sat down in my seat after buying my Kick tour t-shirt after Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers opened the show and took a gander at what cities the tour was going to. There were your traditional cities that every band typically stopped in for the night like Philadelphia, Chicago, and Atlanta. Somewhere in the middle of them stood a name I did not recognize from the state from which I was born and raised in. Thirteen year-old me thought “what the hell is an Antioch?” It seriously bothered me for quite some time and then one day when I was going to wear the shirt, I remembered that I had not solved the mystery of the foreign city.
I grabbed my dad’s map of states because in the year of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the internet as we know it did not exist and if you wanted to know how to get somewhere, you had to know how to read a map. I flipped to Tennessee in the book and squinted really hard until I came across Nashville and there in small type sat Antioch, TN. After my discovery, I became even more upset, because to me it seemed to make more sense just to put Nashville on the shirt instead of Antioch. Things didn’t always make sense to 13 year-old Steven.
Nine years later in 1997, I made the trek up I-40 East to see the first of about ten Lilith Fair shows. Starwood and amphitheaters in general were made for tours like Lilith Fair. I was beyond ecstatic to see Sarah McLachlan, Susanna Hoffs, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Fiona Apple and so many other talented female artists on the same bill. Other than returning the following year to see the Spice Girls, I can not fully remember who else I saw there but for someone who lived a few hours away, I always enjoyed making the drive to see a show there.
Unfortunately, all good times must come to an end. Live Nation announced in February of 2007 that they intended to close Starwood for the 2007 season in hopes of a potential sale. With the sudden announcement of the venue’s closing, that meant that October 19, 2006, was the last day live music was heard from the site as a star-studded double bill of Aerosmith and Motley Crue closed the venue unknowingly.
The Woods at Fontanel just outside of Nashville in Whites Creek, TN that set on the land of Barbara Mandrell’s former home tried to fill the gap that Starwood left behind, but closed its doors in 2016, a year after Ascend Amphitheatre opened. Ascend sits on the banks of the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville and has stamped its place as one of the best outdoor venues in the country. 2021 brings another outdoor music venue to the middle Tennessee area with the opening of FirstBank Amphitheater south of Nashville in Thompson Station.
It has been 25 years since the first note was played at Starwood and 15 years since the last encore and people to this day still reminisce about all the fun times had listening to some of the greatest artists around. Only time will tell if Ascend or FirstBank will spark up the type of nostalgia that Starwood does in people but it is great to have a place or two to go to hear great live music outdoors from some of the biggest artist and bands in the world. Summer just isn’t summer without an outing to an outdoor concert for good times and good tunes.
Steven McCash is the Music Columnist for SoBros Network, and host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast. He is the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music, in addition to the occasional live show review. Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
Check out the SoBros Shop. Become a Patron. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Watch on YouTube.
