Germain Amphitheater
Encyclopedia
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
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Billy Ray Cyrus
Billy Ray Cyrus
William "Billy" Ray Cyrus is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor and philanthropist, who helped make country music a worldwide phenomenon...
played the first concert at Germain Amphitheater in 1994. Since that time, Germain Amphitheater has hosted some of the largest names in music including Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...
, Farmaid and Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
. Toby Keith
Toby Keith
Toby Keith Covel , best known as Toby Keith, is an American country music singer-songwriter, record producer and actor. Keith released his first four studio albums — 1993's Toby Keith, 1994's Boomtown, 1996's Blue Moon and 1997's Dream Walkin, plus a Greatest Hits package for various divisions of...
played the final show on September 16, 2007.
On June 17, 1997 at Ozzfest
Ozzfest
Ozzfest is an annual festival tour of the United States featuring performances by many heavy metal and hard rock musical groups. It was founded by Ozzy Osbourne and his wife Sharon Osbourne, both of whom also organize each yearly tour with their son Jack Osbourne...
, concert goers began throwing bottles at the stage, others smashed box office windows, started brush fires and overturned cars outside the amphitheater, after the announcement was made that Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
would not perform.
There are 6,700 seats in an open-air pavilion—much of it under cover—and room for another 13,300 people on general admission lawn seating. The majority of the concert season is announced in mid-April and typically begins in mid-May, continues through early October and features 20 to 30 concerts per year.
Germain Amphitheater was currently owned and operated by Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
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After the 2007 season, the amphitheater closed. According to The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch
The Columbus Dispatch is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since The Columbus Citizen-Journal stopped printing in 1985....
, the rising real estate values is the main reason behind the sale and also speculates competition from other similarly sized venues such as Nationwide Arena
Nationwide Arena
Nationwide Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in Columbus, Ohio, USA. It opened in 2000 and is the home of the Columbus Blue Jackets, of the NHL....
, Value City Arena, Columbus Crew Stadium
Columbus Crew Stadium
Columbus Crew Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Columbus, Ohio and the home stadium of Major League Soccer club, Columbus Crew. Built in 1999, Crew Stadium was the first soccer-specific stadium built for a professional soccer team in the second pro era of American soccer...
, and Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
Lifestyle Communities Pavilion is an indoor-outdoor concert venue, in Columbus, Ohio. Officially nicknamed "The LC," locals still refer to it as "PromoWest". It is part of the downtown Columbus entertainment area, known as the Arena District, which also includes Nationwide Arena, Huntington Park...
in the area may have contributed to the decline the in number of shows hosted by Germain Amphitheater in recent years. In 2007, only nine shows were scheduled, the least number of shows at Germain since it opened. Following the 2007 concert season the facility and property were auctioned for sale but received no bids from buyers.
Seats have been uprooted, and it has been extensively looted and vandalized.