Mesker Amphitheatre, Evansville's historic venue, rots with no hope in sight

EVANSVILLE – Every time you talk about Mesker Amphitheatre, you run into a new problem.

Standing outside the historic/rotting West Side venue last week, Mesker Park Zoo Executive Director Erik Beck gestured toward the penguin exhibit that sits just a few feet away.

“The zoo is right there. What we know about caring for animals nowadays versus what we knew in the 1950s and ’60s is very different,” he said. “So would we put a venue that’s gonna push out 200 decibels in close proximity to wild animals?”

If Mesker ever reopened, the city would likely have to build a giant soundwall that pushed the cacophony back into the venue and away from sensitive creatures, he said. That could cost a sizable chunk of money. And that’s on top of the millions of dollars it would take to update the 72-year-old amphitheater in every other way.

It’s a familiar refrain for Mesker, which has largely sat empty for 15 years now, ever since the Doobie Brothers cleared out after the venue’s final concert.

Beck – who oversees the city-owned venue through the zoo – walked the Courier & Press through the grounds on Feb. 8. It looked a lot like it did in 2019, the last time a reporter stepped through the gates, only even more weathered and beaten by time.

Its massive concrete pavilion, now stripped of seats, boasts a steep ramp that doesn’t even flirt with ADA compliance. The floors of the old ticket booth have the architectural integrity of a damp sponge.

And even though zoo security keeps watch on Mesker 24 hours a day, it still hosts the occasional trespasser. The brick walls that flank the cracked stage are littered with alternatingly ornate and bizarre graffiti. Nuke Vincennes, one says. Abolish anime, another pleads.

Joe Atkinson, spokesman for Mayor Stephanie Terry, said the new administration has no plans or aspirations for the facility.

Terry’s predecessor, Lloyd Winnecke, wanted to see the amphitheater back in business, but a study commissioned by the city said it would cost at least $9-$13 million to reopen it safely. And that was in 2012. Costs have only ballooned since then.

Another Midwest venue got the facelift Mesker never did

Things could have turned out differently. Just look at another amphitheater about 120 miles away.

By the year 2000, the Iroquois Amphitheater in Louisville was in bad shape. So the city, armed with $1.6 million of its own money – as well as hefty cash influxes from donations, the state and the county – embarked on a $9.2 million overhaul that updated the 62-year-old 2,400-seater while still maintaining hallmarks of its historic charm.

They gave it a new stage, new concessions, and provided shelter to protect from the possibility of rainouts – something that scared national acts away.

“We understand there are some reservations out there,” architect Dave Parker told the Louisville Courier-Journal that year. “(But) it’s in such bad shape it really won’t last in its present state much longer.”

More than two decades later, it’s now attracting a parade of famous musicians. Kansas, Les Claypool and guitar virtuoso Gary Clark Jr. all came through town last summer. There are musicals and movie nights – “Rogue One” and “Encanto” played in 2023 – and, like Mesker once did, it brings in cult movie fanatics for screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Beck has gone there himself.

“It’s a beautiful facility,” he said.

A 'white elephant' and a pattern of neglect

Mesker, however, likely missed its chance at that kind of renaissance. Nine million dollars aside, the City Council nixed $175,000 the Winnecke administration hoped to use for minor repairs in 2017. And any interest the venue has garnered from outside buyers has been cursory at best.

Throughout Mesker's lifespan, the city either ignored or band-aided problems at the facility, choosing instead to flush money into the now-departed Roberts Stadium.

Opened in 1952 thanks to a $250,000 endowment from George Mesker – whose bust still looms in the dilapidated ticket booth – the venue lost more than a quarter-million dollars in its first decade despite visits from Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte and Gene Autry.

The trust eventually sold it to the city, but the financial woes continued. Called a “white elephant” in the papers, it closed in 1972. Many thought for good.

But then came Larry Aiken. The famed promotor and now-namesake of the Aiken Theatre struck a deal with city officials: fix the place up and he'd bring in huge acts and split the profits. By the mid-1970s and early ’80s, Joni Mitchell, Ozzy Osbourne and Waylon Jennings were strutting across the stage.

Neil Young came to town. So did Willie Nelson and Aerosmith.

Still, problems persisted. In 1985, Jimmy Buffett was forced to finish his show without amplifiers when Mesker’s ancient electrical transformer wheezed its last breath. Aiken leaped on stage and implored the crowd to call city hall and tell them to “fix the (expletive) power at Mesker.”

Acts continued to come in, but the flow diminished to a trickle by the late 1990s. The final big events came in 2008 and 2009, with Bob Dylan and the Doobie Brothers, respectively. By 2012, the gates were locked.

Still, people managed to get inside. Eventually, Beck said, they had to block access to the dressing rooms under the stage for safety reasons.

In 2016, the city invited members of the public to roam the grounds again. They were given slips of paper to scrawl suggestions for Mesker’s future, resulting in hundreds of ideas. Powered by nostalgia, few understood the severity of the situation.

“Sure it needs a coat of paint and some weeds pulled and stuff like that,” one resident told the Courier & Press at the time,” but it’s not in that bad a shape.”

Other problems

Problems, however, continue to mount. And it’s not just ADA compliance and protection for zoo animals.

Parking around Mesker has always been an issue. It’s capable of seating 8,000 people – way more than nearby lots and street parking can safely accommodate.

That became horribly clear on July 9, 1985. After spectators filed out of a Bryan Adams concert, a 16-year-old Owensboro, Kentucky, girl driving her friend’s truck swerved into oncoming traffic after she said the brake failed to push down. Witnesses said something may have rolled under the pedal.

The driver darted back and struck two cars – including a white Mustang that had teenagers lounging on the hood – before running up onto the sidewalk and crashing into a crowd of people, dragging some under the vehicle.

In all, 13 young people were injured that night, some severely. The girl was cleared of any criminal wrongdoing, but the wreck sparked multiple lawsuits and an eventual $1 million payout from insurance companies. The city placed extra police officers at the venue for subsequent concerts, but victims' families said that wasn’t enough.

Any revamping of Mesker would have to address that problem – as well as myriad others.

The stage leaks into the dressing rooms, and its now-inoperable cover wouldn't support the modern technology needed by new acts. There aren't nearly enough bathrooms, either – the 2012 report said it would need about 50 more fixtures.

The list goes on and on. But as of now, it looks like a venue that hosted musical legends and brought joy to thousands of residents will be left to decay on the West Side. Every solution is either too complicated or too expensive. Or both.

"I’m from Evansville. I went to several concerts here," Beck said. "My very first concert was here.”

Contact Jon Webb at jon.webb@courierpress.com

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Evansville's historic Mesker Amphitheatre rots with no hope in sight