SHAKOPEE, Minn. — There is excitement in the city of Shakopee as construction crews continue working on a 19,000-seat amphitheater near Canterbury Park.
This week, the city of Shakopee and developers announced Live Nation will operate the new amphitheater and the plan is to start hosting concerts in the summer of 2025.
"This is the largest amphitheater in Minnesota,” Shakopee Director of Planning and Development Michael Kerski said. “We’ve been told the plan with Live Nation is to hold between 30 and 45 shows in a normal season.”
Kerski says 2025 will be an abbreviated season because the concert venue will likely open later in the summer. The amphitheater is one piece of a larger entertainment district that is being built next to Canterbury Park.
"This is one of the largest redevelopments in the state,” Kerski said. "The site is over 140 acres. There is 28 acres still open for development.”
Besides the amphitheater, the entertainment district will include shops, restaurants and hotels.
City leaders are hoping this new entertainment district will reaffirm Shakopee’s commitment to being a premiere entertainment hub in the Twin Cities.
"We have Valleyfair. We have Canterbury Park with live racing and they have a card room, Mystic is just down the road," Kerski said. "We have the Renaissance Festival. We're used to big events."
The Twin Cities music scene already features several unique live music venues, but developers believe this new amphitheater fills a void in the market.
There are other outdoor amphitheaters in the market, including The Ledge Amphitheater in Waite Park and Vetter Stone Amphitheater in Mankato, which each hold a few thousand people.
Target Field can also host outdoor concerts with a capacity of around 40,000 people, but Kerski says this new venue will bring big-name acts to the Twin Cities who are looking for a large permanent outdoor venue to host their shows.
"There will be great seating, skyboxes, a big lawn with beer gardens, things that just don't exist at any of those other amphitheaters or facilities,” Kerski said.
“This venue is really designed around the customer and experience and the artist experience. The back of the house is really important for artists as they travel all over the country. The developers on this project wanted to have a facility in the back of the house where artists can relax and get ready for an event.”