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Merriweather Post Pavilion history
Merriweather Post Pavilion company history timeline
The history of Merriweather Post begins in the mid-1960's when reknowed architect Frank Gehry was commissioned to design an amphitheather in Symphony Woods to host the summer season of the National Symphony Orchestra.
The big fish Rouse wanted was for the pavilion to be the permanent summer home of the National Symphony Orchestra, based in Washington, D.C. According to Hamilton's notes, his first contact was over lunch with NSO Director Robert Rogers in February 1965.
In a July 15, 1966 memo to Jim Rouse, Hamilton said Fallon's "basic effort, however, will be to get the bill [to fund Wolf Trap] lost in the House."
A grand opening gala was held on July 14, 1967, and Vice President Hubert Humphrey attended a presentation of "Columbia: Broadsides for Orchestra" in a driving rainstorm that flooded the orchestra to its knees.
The entire schedule for the first season in 1967 followed Rouse's vision by offering a mix of the NSO, ballet and the Russian Festival of Music and Dance.
In a memo to Finley after the 1968 season, Community Research and Development official James Wannemacher provided concession sales totals and concluded, "Rock groups may not please PTAs, but they sure as hell make a lot of money."
On May 25, 1969, The Who and Led Zeppelin shared a stage for the first and only time, playing to a crowd of 20,000.
Honorable Mention: Janis Joplin, like Hendrix, was on a pre-Woodstock upswing when she played Merriweather in July 1969. “Simply, an evening with Janis Joplin is a party and a romp,” wrote future Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein in a review for The Washington Post.
Before the start of the 1970 season, loge sections were built (adding 1,800 seats) in order to book a seven-night run of Tom Jones, featuring Gladys Knight & the Pips as the opening act.
The Nederlander Organization began managing the venue in 1971.
By 1972, the music shifted from Rouse & Merriweather's vision of symphonies to rock performers, and Charles 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.
The bill, which became law in February 1973, retained the requirement for permits issued by the county executive for concerts of more than 3,000.
Community Research and Development drew up an initial list of 200 "approved" acts for the 1973 season.
It was quite a shock to the concert-going public when Michael Spear, Columbia's general manager, announced in January 1974 that there would be a rock concert ban for the entire 1974 season.
In the summer of 1974, Howard Research and Development manager Micheal Spear banned rock music after more incidents, listing Alice Cooper, Grateful Dead, and Edgar Winter as artists that were unacceptable.
In 1977, Jimmy Buffett performed at Merriweather for the first time.
Honorable Mention: Madonna and the Beastie Boys, June 1, 1985
SFX bought the entertainment lease in 1999.
At the official ceremony, Kennedy shaved the beard he had been growing for 13 years, since the beginning of the campaign in 2003.
Green Day, August 2005
In 2005, Howard County held a charrette to discuss redevelopment of the Rouse Planned community beyond its initial 100,000 population design.
Honorable Mention: Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, June 13, 2008
The experimental pop band, whose members were raised in Baltimore County, named their 2009 breakthrough release after the venue they went to as kids.
In 2010, The Downtown Columbia Plan passed, requiring the developer, General Growth Properties (now the Howard Hughes Corporation), to renovate Merriweather before additional development could occur in Columbia.
Honorable Mention: Animal Collective, July 9, 2011
Photo above: Brian May & Roger Taylor of Queen performing at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, July 20, 2014 with Adam Lambert.
In 2014, County Executive Ken Ulman proposed a bill to relieve Howard Hughes of the renovation expense including a $10 million grant.
In 2015, the Howard County Planning Board approved a submission by Brian Spencer, a registered lobbyist and project manager by Howard Hughes.
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.
In honor of its illustrious history, legendary artists from Paul Simon and Sarah McLachlan to Santana returned to the Merriweather stage in 2017, including an Anniversary show featuring Jackson Browne, Willie Nelson, Father John Misty, and Grace Potter.
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.
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