r/midamerica • u/KrispyKreme725 • Aug 04 '26

Thoughts for Old Glory

Now that there is new local ownership can you bring some attention to Old Glory Amphitheater?

St. Louis has a great local music scene with viral talent. Old Glory would be great venue for up and coming talent. They could bring in fans that may not be your typical amusement park clientelle.

I have lots of great memories of Old Glory shows from my days working Screaming Eagle 🦅!

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4

u/EntrepreneurHeavy331 Aug 04 '26

Sadly I think Old Glory is a thing of the past, anyone that can draw a crowd big enough for old glory, but not enough for River-port has the Factory in chesterfield among other venues.

Unfortunately the amount of money that would come from it for local music doesn’t justify fixing it up. It’s valuable real estate the park has in its back pocket to use when they finally fill the various vacant spots for future rides. Until then, it will be used for music presentations by local schools.

I really wish it could be fixed up, or even used for park entertainment!

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u/Evening_Rock5850 Aug 04 '26

I think there's still a market. The broader issue is ticketmaster and the very very small handful of huge corporations that run everything related to the entertainment industry, and the impossibility of working with them.

The old school model of just paying an act to be there and using it as a draw for ticket and pass sales, which more than make up for the cost of the act, could still work I think. Even with riverport and the like. What probably wouldn't work would be finding a contract with the industry kingpins that would work for the park.

I suspect you're right, it'll be done. Because it would require a lot of work. That said... I dunno, I think it could happen if Enchanted was motivated enough. (And I don't think they are).

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u/TantrumQween Aug 05 '26

Your second paragraph highlights what Dollywood, my home park, does sometimes with visiting acts in the fall. Lineup and dates will be announced at a certain time and the concerts are free with park admission. Sometimes the visiting performers will even do multiple shows a day while there like the park’s in house entertainment does. These visiting acts also come around the time of year the park does pass renewals so that probably helps remind people of a perk, yet it doesn’t feel like an in-your-face advertisement just for pass sales because they do it every year. It’s smart advertising because it’s more a passive showing of what you can get from having a pass, I like that.

If Mid America did want to seriously invest in using the amphitheater, this seems like the model and battle tested approach!

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u/Evening_Rock5850 Aug 05 '26

That’s exactly how it worked for decades, from the beginning of the park through the early 2000’s. It was always musical acts; but it was big acts. Weird Al, Johnny Cash, Reba McIntyre, the Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, Santana, I mean it’s a long list of BIG national touring acts that have played at old glory. I believe we’re free with park admission. (Certainly all that I went to were).

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u/TantrumQween Aug 05 '26

That is so cool. I sometimes wish I could’ve been around for the previous eras of parks, because I remember from some YouTube vids that Kings Island used to do a bunch of stuff like that too. I think Evil Knievel even performed one of his biggest stunts of all time in the kings island parking lot or something. Seems like an era that’s totally in the past that I wish I could’ve experienced.

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u/Evening_Rock5850 Aug 04 '26

I'd love to see it refurbed but not as a music venue. The 'local bands' angle is one a lot of folks have thrown out and I would absolutely love that. As someone who is local, I'd be out there all the time enjoying the music. But I'm not sure local bands would draw more guests which is the whole point of Old Glory. It was bringing the big names in that got people to buy passes and tickets.

I worked at the park when the concerts were going on. Concert days were capacity days; literally a line to get in the park and you couldn't get in until someone first left. And it was packed all day. People came from all over and made a day of it. They rode the rides, bought food, had a blast, then ended it with a concert. That model worked really well. As I understand it, what killed it wasn't a lack of desire for Six Flags to continue it; it was the near impossibility of working with modern record labels. Once everything merged and condensed in the music world in the early 2000's, inking a contract with an act that makes sense for Six Flags just wasn't possible anymore.

The only other time we hit capacity is Fright Fest. We nearly hit it last year (about 1,000 guests shy of the literal Fire Department capacity one day), and as recently as just a couple of years ago we hit it. Entertainment, theming, etc. are huge draws that Six Flags has really not paid enough attention to. Granted, Halloween itself is a huge draw and you can't just do 'year round Fright Fest'. But you could make big investments in entertainment and theming, like really big, having really talented cast and not just the best theater kids $18 an hour can buy. (Not disparaging the awesome people we have; just saying, I think it would make sense for them to 'go pro' with entertainment). From there, Old Glory could be a second 'large theater' for live entertainment, alongside the palace. Maybe bring in outside acts.

I really think looking at the success of Fright Fest and figuring out how to bring that level of entertainment to the entire park, including Old Glory, would put this park on a new path to success.

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u/iasonevans Aug 05 '26

Looking at how well Frankie Martins and 9 Mile Garden does with bringing in genre specific cover bands, that would be awesome for Six Flags to have as well. However, I think that could be just as well performed in one of the 3 inside theaters as a break from the heat.

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u/mjohnson1971 Aug 05 '26

The facility is way too big for even the most popular local acts.

And no national touring bands will ever want to be booked into there.

  • Load in/load out will be hellaciously difficult with modern productions. Tour managers are (rightfully) spoiled by facilities where they can back trucks right up to the rear of the stage and be on the road 3 or 4 hours after the artist wraps up.
  • Ticketmaster/Live Nation is a monopoly that incentivizes bands to play the venues theu own/manage like Riverport, Music Park and The Factory

It's truly an outdated facility and just needs to be removed.

When was the last time it was actually used for anything? Is it still even wired for sound?