Huntsville's beloved Orion Amphitheater celebrates its second anniversary this month. Since his opening in 2022, Orion has been bringing music, entertainment, festivals, and fun to the Tennessee Valley.

For decades, Huntsville's main entertainment and gathering place was the Von Braun Civic Center. Ultimately, however, city leaders recognized the need for an ultra-modern, large-scale outdoor facility that could accommodate the most elaborate and notable entertainers.

Performances at Orion Theater shortly after it opened included the Dave Matthews Band, Jason Isbell, Kenny Chesney, The Black Keys, Widespread Panic, Jelly Roll, Willie Nelson, Major artists such as Snoop Dogg performed.

Jason Isbell, one of the members of that group, spoke highly of Orion during their performance there.

“Hey, this is a really nice place,” he told the packed audience. “This is such a beautiful place. It's our last show of the year, and this is the perfect way to end it.”

Looking ahead to 2024, the venue has announced that tickets are now available for the following shows:

• Greta Van Fleet: May 8th 7pm
• Need to breathe: May 24th 7:30pm
• Laney Wilson: August 8th 7pm
• Styx and the alien: August 17th 6:45pm

In 2023 alone, Orion Theater held 32 performances and sold 187,000 tickets. About 46% of that was sold outside the state, with the majority coming from Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. It was also featured in Rolling Stone magazine last year.

For more information, Events in Orion is available on the website.

Austin Shipley is a staff writer at Yellowhammer News.