2 Atlanta music venues will be renamed, partnering with Georgia gas provider
Two longtime Atlanta music venues now have new names.
Buckhead Theatre and Lakewood Amphitheatre, both run by entertainment company and concert promoter Live Nation, have entered a naming rights partnership with Georgia-based natural gas provider Scana Energy. Effective today, the venues will be known as Scana Energy Amphitheatre at Lakewood and Buckhead Theatre by Scana Energy.
“I think this gives us the opportunity to have a connection to two venues that carry a lot of weight on their own,” Jen Bowden, Scana Energy’s general manager, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Zoom.
Located on Roswell Road, the roughly 1,400-capacity Buckhead Theatre initially opened as a movie theatre in 1930. In the 1970s, late concert promoter Alex Cooley and Peter Conlon (now the chairman of Live Nation Georgia) converted it into a music venue. It served alternately as a live music venue and movie theater through the late 1980s, when it exclusively focused on live performances. Buckhead Theatre has had various names over the years, including the Coca-Cola Roxy (a title that was resurrected in 2017 for a bigger venue located in the Battery). Live Nation assumed operations in 2017.
The venue, known for its intimate vibe, has hosted acts like Charli XCX and Victoria Monét. It also holds comedy shows and private events.
Established in 1989, Lakewood Amphitheatre, an outdoor venue in southwest Atlanta, has similarly experienced several name changes over the years, including Coca-Cola Lakewood Amphitheatre, HiFi Buys Amphitheatre and Aaron’s Amphitheatre at Lakewood. The amphitheater holds roughly 19,000 people, between covered and lawn seating. Live Nation took over operations in 2006.
Over the years, the company hasn’t booked as many concerts there as at Alpharetta’s Ameris Bank Amphitheatre, another Live Nation venue (as of now, the venue has one concert booked compared to Ameris Bank’s eight).
Young Thug and Kehlani were among the acts to perform at the Lakewood Amphitheatre this year.
This is Scana Energy’s first naming rights partnership. The Buckhead company has served thousands of Georgia customers since 1998. During the summer, the company made plans to rebrand and connect more with communities, leading to the Live Nation partnership. Live Nation and Scana Energy declined to share terms of the deal.
“We started thinking about where are there experiences where people have a sense of having good energy and really getting into that mindset of where are people feeling really positive,” Bowden said. “Music is one of those is one of those experiences.”
Bowden added that having two venues under their belt at the same time wasn’t the original plan but aligned with their goals of broader expansion, per Live Nation’s suggestion.
This marks the third naming rights partnership for an Atlanta-based Live Nation venue this year. In August, Florida credit union iThink Financial renamed the Tabernacle to the Tabernacle presented by iThink Financial. Last year, Live Nation venue Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park was renamed Synovus Bank Amphitheater at Chastain Park.
A representative for Live Nation was not made available for an interview, but they told the AJC via email that the timing of the partnerships was coincidental and don’t reflect a broader marketing effort.
“A packed lawn at Lakewood and a crowd close to the stage at Buckhead Theatre are two different ways to spend a night with live music,” said Rob Scolaro, senior vice president and head of venue sales at Live Nation, in a prepared statement. “Scana Energy is putting its support behind both, while also investing back into the community these venues call home. That’s a commitment that reaches well beyond the stage.”
When asked about the philanthropic element of the deal, Bowden said those details are being finalized and will be shared later.
Upcoming shows at Buckhead Theatre include country duo the War and Treaty and comedian Adam Ray. Rock band Iron Maiden will perform at Lakewood Amphitheatre in May.