BankPlus Amphitheater looks to deliver a big 2024 season with Hozier, Lainey Wilson & more
In 2023, BankPlus Amphitheater at Snowden Grove resumed hosting concerts after being dormant for four years. The renovated BankPlus — which underwent nearly $11 million in improvements — launched its concert season with a dozen successful shows, from Dave Matthews Band to Jelly Roll.
With three shows already set for 2024 — and all of them on their way to selling out — it looks like BankPlus is fully back, and perhaps better than ever.
“We were very pleased with how everything went this year,” said Todd Mastry, who runs BankPlus, which has already confirmed concerts by country star Riley Green, international pop sensation Hozier and CMA Entertainer of the Year Lainey Wilson for next year. “This year was a great start, and we’re obviously looking forward to continuing things in 2024.”
The effort to bring music back to BankPlus was part of a larger years-long effort. The 11,000-capacity Southaven venue, which opened in 2006, had been working with national concert powerhouse Live Nation Entertainment to handle the venue's operations since 2017. That contract ended in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as much of the entertainment and touring industry was at a standstill.
In July 2021, the DeSoto County Convention & Visitors Bureau and the City of Southaven announced they were formally partnering to manage BankPlus. Mastry, longtime executive director of the Landers Center — which is owned by the DeSoto County CVB — was tapped to take over as BankPlus Amphitheater executive director, overseeing booking and operations for both venues.
2023's BankPlus concerts included a record 12 shows — the venue had never booked more than eight during a season. The concerts included sold-out performances by Dave Matthews Band and Jelly Roll, as well as shows by the Goo Goo Dolls and Dwight Yoakam.
The experience for concert-goers at BankPlus was markedly different following the venue’s renovations — which tripled the number of entrances and doubled the number of restrooms, as well as recast a large back lawn area into mostly reserved seating and moved from zero concession stands to multiple stands around the venue.
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Those changes were greeted positively by fans and performers. “From a fan/guest standpoint and an artist standpoint, there was lots of excitement,” he said. “We achieved what we were looking to do with the changes. But we plan to continue to reinvest in the venue. Even though we’ve just put all that money into it, you still look and see every year what you can do better, how you can improve and adjust. That philosophy doesn’t change.”
Although only a handful of 2024 shows have been announced, Mastry said he hopes to equal last year’s dozen show count. “But we’re not chasing a number — it’s more about doing the right shows, quality over quantity,” he said. “Our focus is getting the best shows for the Mid-South. I think we’ve proven that with the three we’ve announced already — one is completely sold out (Hozier), the other is closing in on that (Lainey Wilson), and the third one is moving right along.”
Mastry noted the synergy of having two thriving venues in Southaven, with BankPlus and the 8,500-seat Landers Center, has helped within the industry.
“The success this year with BankPlus as well as the shows at Landers, it all rolls into one,” he said. “From a promoter/agent standpoint, they look and see what we're doing and they realize this is where they want to put their artists in terms of the market.”
The upcoming BankPlus concert season will run from the first Saturday in April to the second Saturday in October. “Things can get dicey once you get on either side of those with the weather,” noted Mastry, who expects to announce several more shows at the start of the new year.
“There’s a lot we’re working on,” he added. “It’s going to be a great summer of shows in 2024.”
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Concerts coming to BankPlus Amphitheater in 2024
These 2024 shows have been announced so far for the Southaven venue:
Riley Green: April 5
Hozier with Allison Russell: April 25
Lainey Wilson with Ian Munsick and Zach Top: Aug. 9
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: What's planned at Southaven's BankPlus Amphitheater in 2024?
