In November 2015, The LaGrange Daily News wrote a story previewing the new Sweetland Amphitheatre. Many of the amphitheater’s details were just coming into focus, such as acts that might perform, the number of seats available and how much tickets would cost.

Not even three years later, the amphitheater has seen its share of big names stop by, from Willie Nelson to the Beach Boys. County star Vince Gill was the first performance to sell out at Sweetland.

Martina McBride, one of the biggest stars thus far, performed Friday night to a sold-out crowd.

The severe thunderstorms beforehand likely kept a few people away, but the overall crowd was still impressive. 

According to Sweetland Amphitheatre director Keyal Loveland 35 percent of tickets were purchased outside the LaGrange area. The furthest someone traveled was Houston, Texas.

This isn’t even the first time visitors from out of state have traveled to LaGrange for a Sweetland Concert. People have traveled from California and South Carolina to attend concerts in the past.

In the short time that Sweetland has been open, it’s become a destination.

We hope everyone enjoyed Friday’s concert and visitors were impressed with LaGrange and everything it has to offer.

The next concert in the Sweetland Summer Series is Pat Benatar and Neil Geraldo on July 21.

We look forward to seeing more people discover America’s greatest little city then.