Live music returns to Carter Barron Amphitheatre this summer, but only for three nights.
For more than 60 years, the outdoor venue in Rock Creek Park hosted everything from Shakespeare to Springsteen, but because of maintenance issues, it has been silent the past 10 years.
“Here we are, and I am so excited to be a part of the Carter Barron making any sort of comeback,” singer-songwriter Sylver Logan Sharp said. “It’s amazing.”
The stage that hosted many great performers since the summer of 1950 — Ella Fitzgerald, Bruce Springsteen, Roberta Flack, the National Symphony Orchestra and the godfather of go-go, Chuck Brown — was deemed unsafe in 2017.
Sharp understands what Carter Barron meant to D.C.
“It was the inclusiveness,” she said. “It was about having so many different types of music here that everyone could enjoy.”
“Carter Barron was the melting pot of music in D.C., especially during the summer months,” Sharp said. “I miss it so much.”
The three concerts are being produced by the Rock Creek Conservancy that has been working to bring Carter Barron back to life for years.
“We already know there’s palpable excitement about this place, but nobody’s really been able to see it up close for a while,” Rock Creek Conservancy Executive Director Dan Pushkar said. “It’s not in the state it was back in 2016, the last year it had a full season of performances. But this space, if you sit here, you know how powerful it is.”
While live music is coming back to the historic venue, the artists won’t be on the original stage, which is still unsafe. Organizers are going to set up a temporary stage over the first few rows of seats. And while the venue can hold more than 4,000 people, they’re going to limit the audience to about 400 for these shows.
“I have to say the National Park Service has been incredible in their desire to open the gates once again,” Pushkar said. “We’ve been able to work with them to come up with something a little novel.”
There are plans to rebuild the stage with a roof, but that’s still years away, so these shows will be more like pop-up concerts.
There will be no concessions, but fans can bring a small cooler, but no glass containers and no alcohol. And there’s no plumbing inside, so portable restrooms it is.
The conservancy hopes fans won’t have to wait another 10 years for concerts at Carter Barron.
“I’m hopeful that we are on the cusp of being able to bring this place back to truly reopen it as it is meant to be,” Pushkar said.
“I hope this means we can bring more than just the music back, but all of the arts back to Carter Barron in the future,” he said.
“Whatever it takes to get this back up and going, to get the neighborhoods back together, to get the camaraderie that we had, music still is the universal language that will never change, no matter where you’re from, what you look like,” Sharp said. “And Carter Barron represented that, and I’m just happy to bring it back.”
Summer in the Parks runs Aug. 20-22. In addition to Sharp, the D.C. Jazz Allstars and Black Alley are among the artists performing. Tickets are $15 and on sale at the Rock Creek Conservancy’s website.
