My only personal experience with a music venue with onsite camping is Deer Creek in Indiana. Renowned for being a great place to see a show, it looks like Austin is in store for something pretty similar. Though, like all venues in the U.S., Deer Creek has since been renamed the Verizon Wireless Music Center-- just like venues in San Antonio, Virginia Beach, Kansas City, Charlotte and Los Angeles. Happily, from this write-up it doesn't sound like Austin's new venue will meet the same fate.

As you can tell from the date on the write-up (9/02) this isn't news, but I thought I'd share anyway. It refers to the venue as Big Sky, but I think this has since been renamed Two River Canyon Amphitheater. In fact, it looks like this years July 4th picnic with Willie and the Dead will be its inaugural event. From what I hear, the amphitheater won't be 100% ready, but I hope its start is inidicative of its future. With what they have in mind, it sure sounds like they're starting with the right ideas:

* Out in the hill country with what looks like a great view of Texas greenery
* On site camping and RV park to "attract the two and three day festivals"
* Large stage to "attract major festivals"
* Vaulted pavillion roof so the lawn doesn't get an obstructed view
* Room for 25,000
* Less than 2 acres of concrete total in entire construction
* Project manager is the guy behind the Gorge Ampitheater in Washington
* Hot tubs
* No "six dollar beers and bad food"
* Secondary stage, BMX track, an equestrian center and a rodeo arena
* 3 waterfalls and a lake

Let's just hope this isn't all too ambitious. Sounds great.

Update: I found this link on the Austin American Statesman.

By Gary at 09:36 PM in Music | Comments (2)  

Thanks for posting the old article bro. I went out to talk to the guys working on then Big Sky Pavillion last summer just before the inaugural Austin City Limits Fest so needless to say I was pretty optimistic about the future of major music in austin, but like everything in Austin isnt on the up and up cheesy martini bars are slowly shutting down our local scene but people are fighting back. The now named Two Rivers Canyon have some backing from the folks who own the Austin favorite (and mine) the Backyard are working dilligently to get everything ready for Willie and the dead, and epic and weird yet so right weekend. It will all a temp set up as they do shows to build the capital to fulfil the dreams they have, but the dreams are big and Im happy they are in town.

Posted by: Jason at April 11, 2003 01:05 AM

Hey y'all, Im glad to see some positive talk about our complex. Some of the info is out dated. I suggest you check our web site to keep up to date on what's happening out on the ranch. But I guarantee it will be like nothing Austin and the Hill Country has had in the past. We will be building the complex in phases, with the amphitheater as our primary focus. We still have not decided on the covered seat section yet as it will block the beauty of the hills. We will have several venues of differing capacities on site. We will eventually have a full service RV park with all the ammenities. 80 to 100 acres of parking.
Equestrian Center and a rodeo/extreme sports facility is in the future. This will include BMX, motorcross, etc. But like I said, we are building in phases. I think everyone will enjoy Two River Canyon and look forwward to seeing y'all.

Willobee (General Manager)

Posted by: Willobee at April 16, 2003 12:02 AM