ron valle
Live music under the summer sky sounds like the makings of a great experience. Last year, Kentucky was lucky enough to get three new amphitheaters in three different parts of the state, each with its own unique features. Visit their websites and social media to see up-to-date lists of acts coming this summer.
Newport
PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation
101 West 4th Street, Newport
859.900.2294
promowestlive.com
On the banks of the Ohio River in Newport stands PromoWest Pavilion at Ovation. The facility opened in August 2021 and boasts a spectacular view of the Cincinnati skyline as well as a unique reversible stage allowing the venue to feature both indoor and outdoor shows.
The parent company, PromoWest, is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, and hosted the popular Bunbury Music Festival on the Cincinnati riverfront for several years. This led the company to create a permanent music venue in the area. It found what it was looking for in Newport. “We are very happy to be where we landed,” said Marissa McClellan, PromoWest’s marketing director.
The facility offers capacity for 2,500 people indoors and 7,000 outdoors, the majority of tickets being general admission and standing room only. With the movable stage and options for having the audience inside or out, the stage gets twice as much use as an outdoor-only concert venue. If an indoor show is close to selling out, it could be moved outdoors in the warmer months, allowing more people to attend. “It definitely gives us a bit more versatility,” McClellan said.
Although it is billed primarily for concerts, the facility also hosts sporting events, wedding receptions and corporate functions. Its state-of-the-art acoustics and lighting are welcoming to any musical genre. Some of the artists scheduled for outdoor appearances this summer include Wallows, Bon Iver and Death Cab for Cutie.
The venue is part of an under-construction mixed-used development. The 25-acre project, called Ovation, is led by Covington’s Corporex, a commercial development firm. When completed, it will include a hotel, an office building, and retail and residential units covering about four city blocks.
“Newport, Covington and Newport-on-the-Levee are great partners, and everyone seems excited to have this new venue,” McClellan said. “Bars and restaurants are seeing traffic; people are coming to pregame and then to drink afterward. It is exciting to be part of this revitalization.”
Sharpsburg
The Barnyard Entertainment Venue
10005 West Ky. Hwy. 36, Sharpsburg
606.709.BARN (2276)
thebarnyardvenue.com
At The Barnyard Venue, the musicians don’t have to worry about bothering the neighbors. There are no neighbors. This former-farmland-turned-amphitheater might feel a little out of the way. But the payoff is amazing.
“We’ve got incredible acoustics because the pavilion is built down in a little hole, so we’ve had artists tell us, ‘No matter what you do, don’t change this. The sound is great,’ ” said Jeffrey Vice, director of operations and co-owner. “And the way it sits, even if it is hot, we’ve always got a breeze going through there.”
The Bath County facility, which opened in July 2021, is located 50 minutes from Lexington and about two hours from Cincinnati and Louisville.
Vice worked in the music business in Nashville for many years before returning home to Mount Sterling. “I retired from the music business in 2012,” he said with a chuckle. “I thought I was done with it, and somehow, I got sucked back into it.”
After scouting for the right property, the next big decision was on the size of the amphitheater. Originally, the developers had talked about building a venue for 500 people, but Vice said that reminded him of a field party with friends. “We realized if we wanted to attract the right artists, it needed to be at least 2,000 people. Then, we bumped it up to 8,000 before we even opened,” he said. “This year, we can get at least 10,000 in.”
Sporting roomy stadium seating, the pavilion is similar in size to Cincinnati’s Riverbend Music Center. One big difference, Vice said, is that Riverbend, including its parking lot, sits on about 15 acres. The Barnyard rests on 172 acres.
With all that room, there are plans to enlarge its current campground to 500 campsites by next year. This summer, in addition to big names like Lady A and Blackberry Smoke coming, The Barnyard will host its first music festival in June with five bands. Vice said that next year, the festival will span two days and feature 10 bands, and in 2024, it will be a three-day event with 15 bands.
The owners plan to add more seating on the sides of the pavilion and hope to bring in different kinds of events such as plays and Broadway-style shows. They are excited to see the positive results spill out to the little town of Sharpsburg, which is getting a facelift from all the attention of concertgoers.
But the one thing venue owners won’t change is the serene setting. “You feel like you are in the middle of nowhere, yet you are only 7 miles from the interstate [I-64],” Vice said. “The sun sets to the left of the stage, so if you’re watching a show and the sun starts to go down, it is just a beautiful thing.”
Gethsemane
The Amp at Dant Crossing
225 Dee Head Road, Gethsemane
502.917.0710
dantcrossing.com/amp
There’s a lot going on at Dant Crossing. The 350-acre campus, located 14 miles south of Bardstown in Gethsemane, is home to a distillery, an events center, a restaurant, lodging options, and a 2,000-seat amphitheater.
The property is opening in stages—Log Still Distillery opened in May 2021; the The Amp at Dant Crossing opened in July 2021; and The Legacy events venue opened in April of this year.
“The distillery is the anchor of the property, but we want to have multiple things to do there—concerts, weddings, weekend getaways, a tasting and a tour, to name a few,” said Melody LaVon, The Amp’s general manager. “We can offer many different kinds of experiences.”
The Amp will have about 30 concerts this year—most on Friday nights through the end of October. Some big names coming this summer are Dwight Yoakam, Billy Ray Cyrus and Diamond Rio.
Restaurants in the area are scarce, so Dant Crossing hired longtime Churchill Downs executive chef David Danielson to head up the culinary department. He is working on menu choices for 47 & Poplar, the on-site restaurant opening next year, as well as food options for this summer.
“It won’t be the traditional menu,” LaVon said. “I’m sure we’ll have hamburgers and hot dogs, but there will be some fun items like bourbon rice crispy treats and ice cream.”
Some of the concerts will be included in a Summer Supper Series, which includes a Chef’s Table, similar to a buffet, at The Legacy event center. “So, you can add dinner to your concert and have an additional experience,” LaVon said.
The Nelson County land where Dant Crossing is located is full of history. Once the site of Dant & Head Distillery, several generations later, the Dant family once is again making bourbon on site.
Although the location may seem remote, LaVon said visitors are just 50 minutes from either Louisville or Lexington and 20 minutes from I-65. “You are in the wonderland of bourbon, where you can listen to great music under the stars,” she said.