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The new Backyard begins to take shape
Late one night in early 2008, parking lot attendants from a nearby shopping center towed the car of Lana Nelson, daughter of Willie Nelson, as she attended a show at Bee Cave music venue the Backyard. For Tim O’Connor, owner of the legendary venue as well as owner and president of music booking agency Direct Events, that was the final sign that the Backyard’s original location — once isolated and serene but now surrounded by suburban shopping centers and an attendant crisis in parking — had grown untenable.
“That was the last straw for me,” recalls O’Connor. “At some point trying to deliver the right environment for both the musicians and the fans, both of which deserve the highest regard and treatment … if you can’t do that you step into a zone where all that matters is greed, and I couldn’t do that.”
With that realization, he closed the venue after an October 2008 show featuring longtime Backyard favorite Willie Nelson, with plans to relocate. More than a year later, the new venue, located on Bee Cave Parkway off Highway 620, less than half a mile from the original, is finally beginning to take shape, with plans to open in the spring and host Willie Nelson’s Fourth of July Picnic.
For those wondering just why it’s taken so long, O’Connor says the grim economic forecast of the last 18 months played a central role.
“It killed us. It’s been arduous,” says O’Connor. “Every financial scenario that we put together we had to wad up and throw in the trash can and start over. We had to persevere. It’s been real tough.”
After scouting locations as far afield as Round Rock, he eventually settled on a hillside patch of 38 acres just west of 620. Much work remains to be done on the new location — construction on the stage, VIP area and many other key facilities has yet to begin. But the artist’s area — comprised primarily of buildings shipped over from the original Backyard — is beginning to take shape.
The new Backyard will ultimately include 2500 spaces for on-site parking, with the ability to accommodate as many as 7,500 concertgoers, who will be able to access the venue both from Highway 620 and Texas 71. Plans are also under way to include a South Austin-inspired trailer food court. Direct Events has worked with the City of Bee Cave to keep disruptions from the venue to a minimum, and anticipates that, because the stage faces a hillside, sound issues should be kept to a minimum.
But it’s the venue’s green features that O’Connor, a longtime resident of Austin and clear fan of the Hill Country, is most proud of. The new venue will be pavement-free, featuring grass pavers, and sports retention ponds and other environmentally friendly measures. The construction crew is even moving two 75-year-old trees currently in the line of needed roads to other locations on the property to avoid cutting them down.
For O’Connor, who was deeply invested in the original Backyard — which opened its doors in 1993 and hosted shows from Willie Nelson to David Bowie — the new venue is a point of pride that, while exciting on its own terms, is no attempt to replace the original.
“It’s a lot like the place you were born, the home you were born in. At some point you get a new home and you move in and you look forward to those memories you’ll build,” says O’Connor. “But you never forget your backyard that you played in and grew up in and threw your first baseball.”
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By Michael Chancy
January 25, 2010 1:22 PM | Link to this
WOW! The 4th can”t get here soon enough. Having Willie open the new Backyard, it’s just awesome…….:)
By Bathrooms?
January 25, 2010 6:40 PM | Link to this
I’ve seen lots of press about the new Backyard touting new features, but they don’t mention the number of bathrooms. I really hope they upgrade the number of bathrooms from the old venue. Mr. O’Connor is a bit old school in thinking that waiting in bathroom lines for 15 minutes at the Music Hall is “the right environment for fans”.
By Matt B
January 25, 2010 6:42 PM | Link to this
Great news! The Backyard was always a great place to see a show, and I’m glad the owners have persevered through the economic mess. It would have been so much easier for them to throw in the towel. Let’s hope the acoustics at the new venue are as stellar as ever!
By Sports Ponds?
January 26, 2010 12:24 AM | Link to this
What the heck is a sports retention pond?
By M
January 26, 2010 12:41 PM | Link to this
The word “sports” can also be used as a verb as a replacement for “has” or “possesses”. When they say it “sports retention ponds” they could equally say “Has retention ponds”.
Besides the grammar lesson, I am very happy to hear that the Backyard will reopen on their new site. The change will probably be welcomed as the old site had outgrown its location, parking, and was just too close to the ugly site of commercialism and big-box shopping. Even a short distance down the road will be an improvement. Looking forward to coming out to the new venue.
By Sports Ponds?
January 26, 2010 1:57 PM | Link to this
Thank you for the grammar lesson, professor. However, if you are going to flaunt your self-evaluated genius by putting others in their place then, among other things, don’t end your post with an incomplete sentence.