Atlantic One to bring amphitheater back to life

ROANOKE RAPIDS — Finishing touches are being made at the Atlantic One Amphitheater for its new owners’ first show of the season Saturday.

“This will be a family show,” Shawn Elliott, part of the Atlantic One management team said at the venue yesterday, explaining there would be activities for children along with food, craft tables and vendors for what is being dubbed as a stimulus show with a dollar per person ticket cost.

The festival-type show will feature Zapp, a 1980s punk band, The Adam Stone Band, a country music group, and Maurice Wynn, who plays rhythm and blues.

The stimulus concept is two-fold, said J.J. Ghatt, the public relations consultant for Atlantic One. First is to stimulate interest in the venue, formerly referred to as the Carolina Crossroads outdoor amphitheater. “They really didn’t do many concerts last year. The new managers are trying to stimulate interest with (what is essentially) a free concert. It’s really a reverse Welcome Wagon.”

The owners of the venue are aiming for at least a concert a month and already have two festivals planned, one on May 30 and another in the fall. The amphitheater is located in the heart of Carolina Crossroads Music and Entertainment District at Exit 171 off Interstate-95.

Atlantic One plans to have a wide-range of musical acts, Ghatt said. Representatives have traveled to Nashville, Tenn., to book country acts but since coming to own the venue in January, learned the major country acts book venues six months in advance. Work is ongoing to bring in country acts, as well as other popular acts including hip-hop and rock. “Some of the bigger names are waiting to see what happens with the show on the 30th,” Ghatt said.

The May 30 show will also be an all-day festival — the Frankie Beverly Experience, featuring the R&B act Maze.

The second part of the stimulus concept, Ghatt said, is to provide inexpensive entertainment and food in tough economic times.

While some 30,000 people have attended shows at the amphitheater in the past, Ghatt said success for the new owners will be gauged on lesser numbers. “We’re hoping to get a minimum of 5,000,” she said. “We’re hoping to have between 5,000 to 10,000 people. We’re hoping with the first event, a free concert, we ought to get at least 5,000 people.”

A beehive of activity was taking place yesterday to prepare for the show, which begins at 11 a.m. Saturday.

William Pitt, whose brother Donald, is president of Atlantic One, was spray painting barricades, which will be placed in front of a permanent stage while Leslie Lancaster, Joseph Knight and Sean Ricks, of LRL Construction, were putting the finishing touches on a new paint job for the ticket gate.

Elliott was excited about the event, especially in light of the weekend weather forecast. “It’s supposed to be really nice.”