Merriweather Post Pavilion is an outdoor concert venue located in theplanned community ofColumbia, Maryland. In 2010, Merriweather was named the second bestamphitheater in theUnited States byBillboard magazine.[2] The venue was also ranked as the fourth best amphitheater in the United States byRolling Stone in 2013.[3] It was again ranked byConsequence of Sound at number 29 of all music venues in the nation out of 100 in 2016.[4] In 2023,Fodor's Travel named Merriweather the 6th-best outdoor music venue in the country.[5]
Merriweather Post Pavilion was commissioned by theRouse Company for its Howard County development project Columbia. The first design was rejected and the theatre was redesigned by award-winning architectFrank Gehry, who is best known for challenging architectural norms, and N. David O'Malley with the firm of Gehry, Walsh and O'Malley.[6] It opened in 1967 on the former grounds of theOakland Manor slave plantation.[7] It is named for theAmericanPost Foods heiressMarjorie Merriweather Post to honor her for her years of sustained financial support for the National Symphony. The theatre was originally intended to be a summer home for theNational Symphony Orchestra.[8] It later became a venue for popular music concerts, including performances byJimi Hendrix,Janis Joplin,The Doors,Led Zeppelin,The Grateful Dead, andThe Who.[7]
A grand opening gala was held on July 14, 1967,[9] and Vice PresidentHubert Humphrey attended a presentation of "Columbia: Broadsides for Orchestra" in a driving rainstorm that flooded the orchestra to its knees. The Orchestra went bankrupt the next year.[10] In the 1968 season, controversial presidential candidateGeorge Wallace held a 7,500-person rally on June 27, 1968, followed shortly after by candidateEugene McCarthy.[11][12]
On May 25, 1969,The Who andLed Zeppelin shared a stage for the first and only time, playing to a crowd of 20,000. Led Zeppelin performed "Whole Lotta Love" live for just the second time ever, and allegedly ran long in their opening slot, resulting in their plug being pulled by The Who's production crew.[13]
Before the start of the 1970 season, loge sections were built (adding 1,800 seats) in order to book a seven-night run ofTom Jones, featuringGladys Knight & the Pips as the opening act.[14]
Pavilion seats prior to renovation
In 1970, Columbia's manager Richard Anderson dropped bookings of rock groups after gate crashing and disturbances at aSteppenwolf concert.[15] TheNederlander Organization began managing the venue in 1971.[16] By 1972, the music shifted from Rouse & Merriweather's vision of symphonies to rock performers, andCharles E. Miller proposed bills that would disallow performances of entertainers with a history of violence in venues with a capacity of 3,000 or more.[17] In the summer of 1974,Howard Research and Development manager Micheal Spear banned rock music after more incidents, listingAlice Cooper,Grateful Dead, andEdgar Winter as artists that were unacceptable.[18]
In 1977,Jimmy Buffett performed at Merriweather for the first time. He played a total of 42 times, the most by any act.[19]
In 2003, development byGeneral Growth Properties threatened to shutter the pavilion, drawing the ire of local Columbia teens, along with former bandmates Ian Kennedy and Justin Carlson, who launched and sustained a grassroots "Save Merriweather" campaign to keep the concert venue open. As part of the fight, Kennedy vowed not to shave his beard until the future of Merriweather was secure.[22]
As "Save Merriweather" began to pick up steam, General Growth Properties offered to sell Merriweather to Howard County on condition that the pavilion be converted into a much smaller, enclosed theater. Shortly thereafter,9:30 Club owner Seth Hurwitz's I.M.P. was chosen as Merriweather's new promoter amidst the claim by GGP's General Manager that trying to make Merriweather Post Pavilion profitable was like "trying to sell ice cubes in the middle of winter."[23][24]
In 2005, Howard County held acharrette to discuss redevelopment of the Rouse Planned community beyond its initial 100,000 population design. In 2010, The Downtown Columbia Plan passed, requiring the developer,General Growth Properties (now theHoward Hughes Corporation), to renovate Merriweather before additional development could occur in Columbia. In 2014, County ExecutiveKen Ulman proposed a bill to relieve Howard Hughes of the renovation expense including a $10 million grant.[25][26][27] The final plan which only granted $9.5 million to the developer was announced at aJack Johnson concert on June 5, 2014, removing a major development restriction.[28]
Virgin Mobile's FreeFest was hosted at Merriweather Post Pavilion for five years, from 2009 to 2013. Each festival was free to attend contingent on attendees completing charitable tasks in their community. VIP tickets were also available to purchase, with proceeds donated to the RE*Generation House homeless youth shelter in Washington, D.C. An estimated 50,000 people attended each year, which included guest appearances byVirgin's CEO,Sir Richard Branson, and such acts asJack White,LCD Soundystem,Pavement,The Black Keys,Vampire Weekend,M83,TV on the Radio,MGMT, andSt. Vincent.[29][30]
The majority of the wooded and open field land surrounding Symphony Woods and Merriweather served as a park, festival site, event parking, and site of yearly Symphony of LightsChristmas light displays. As part of the redevelopment initiative, the owner Howard Hughes Corp rezoned the land for a project called the "Crescent", which would relocate theBanneker fire department, redevelop the area into 2,100 homes and 1,125,000 square feet (104,500 m2) of general and medical office space, in 20-story-high buildings.[31] The Crescent project gets its name from the shape of the work area surrounding the pavilion, as well as Rouse's (Howard Hughes') partnership with Crescent Real Estate Equities on itsWoodlands development.[32]
In August 2014, the site made national news when two patrons died and twenty others were hospitalized from drug overdoses after aMad Decent concert. Venues across the country implemented stricter drug enforcement controls after the incident.[33]
Merriweather Post draws a regional traffic base with 90% of concert attendees traveling from outside of Howard County.[34]
In 2015, the Howard County Planning Board approved a submission by Brian Spencer, a registered lobbyist and project manager by Howard Hughes. The $8.4 million design by Jamie Pett (JP2 architects) includes renovation with new concession stands around the 9:32 club and replacement of the condemned restrooms.[35]
On November 30, 2016, The Howard Hughes Corporation transferred ownership of Merriweather Post Pavilion and Symphony Woods to the Downtown Columbia Arts and Culture Commission, a nonprofit organization helmed by "Save Merriweather" co-founder Ian Kennedy. At the official ceremony, Kennedy shaved the beard he had been growing for 13 years, since the beginning of the campaign in 2003.[22]
2017 marked Merriweather Post Pavilion's 50th season, celebrated in part by I.M.P.'s signing of a new 40-Year lease to continue operating Merriweather through 2057. The celebration continued with the completion of $55 Million of renovations creating 15,000 square feet of dressing rooms and backstage areas including a swimming pool and dining room. The renovations also include the expansion of the stage house in preparation for raising the pavilion's famed roof, the installation of a turntable inset in the stage, and new bathrooms and concessions for patrons, as well as a new VIP rooftop bar.[36]
Early in the morning on January 13, 2018, the roof overhanging the reserved seating at the venue suffered a total failure and collapsed. It was in the final stages of a five-month project to raise the structure by 20 feet (6.1 m) to improve sight lines for patrons on the lawn. Management quickly issued a statement indicating that the roof would be replaced, and that the venue would open as scheduled for its 2018 concert season.[37]
Two tracks from a remastered edition ofMen at Work'sCargo were recorded at Merriweather on July 28, 1983.
Animal Collective's critically acclaimed 2009 albumMerriweather Post Pavilion is named in tribute to the pavilion, though the band did not actually perform there until 2011.
