RALEIGH, N.C. — Friday night closes a chapter for live music in downtown Raleigh. Red Hat Amphitheater stages its last concert at its original location on Oct. 23, with a sold-out Steve Lacy show set for 8 p.m. at 500 S. McDowell St.
The amphitheater opened in 2010 and has hosted close to 1,000 events. A later show by Victoria Monet, booked for Oct. 27, was called off, which left Friday as the farewell. The city plans to take the venue out of service after the concert, clear out its equipment and furnishings and get the site ready for demolition.
That land is set aside for the expansion of the Atlantic Union Bank Convention Center, which the city says will add 298,100 square feet, among them 13 additional meeting rooms, flexible exhibit halls and a ballroom of 18,000 square feet.
A new amphitheater is going up one block to the south. Kerry Painter, executive director of the city’s convention and performing arts complex, said the project remains on schedule for a June 2027 opening. It will hold more than 6,000 people on sloped seating with clearer sightlines, and it adds permanent restrooms, upgraded dressing rooms and a catering area for performers.
Painter described the move as bittersweet after years of shows in the smaller space. The city buried a time capsule at the new site on Oct. 5 that holds signs, art, posters, a record player and an original seat from the first venue.
Neighbors along McDowell Street should expect truck traffic, equipment staging, occasional lane closures or detours and construction noise and dust as work continues, according to the city.
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