Tickets.com Client Spotlight: Sweetwater Amphitheater

Music fans, get ready. An outdoor concert series is bringing some big names to Bedford County, Virginia.

Seven major acts will perform over the next month at a new regional amphitheater.

Soon thousands will crowd the field for the first ever Mariner's Landing Summer Concert Series at Smith Mountain Lake. Not even a little rain is slowing them down.

"The guys are actually pretty happy about it," says concert series creator Holly Sweet. "It's cooling them off quite a bit."

Sweet and her husband Darrin Snyder are local natives who spent the last 15 years in Nashville.

"It's combining our hometown with our hometown in Nashville," says Sweet. "Smith Mountain Lake and an outdoor concert venue go hand-in-hand."

Sara Evans will be there Friday. Acts like Lonestar and TobyMac will follow in the coming weeks.

"It is a festival setup, so we do want people to remember to bring their lawn chairs, bring their blankets," says Sweet. "The stars are supposed to be out, the weather's supposed to be great, so I think it's going to be terrific."

The Summer Concert Series is just a preview of what you'll see at the Sweetwater Amphitheater, a new Tickets.com client. Sweetwater Amphitheater will be an outdoor entertainment facility capable of hosting national musical artists, theatrical performances, festivals and other cultural events.

With a total capacity of 7,000, Sweetwater will become the premier outdoor entertainment facility in the Smith Mountain Lake region, delivering a variety of entertainment choices to the area community and visitors alike.

"Because that site was not going to be ready this year, we wanted to at least show the area what we are looking to achieve with Sweetwater Amphitheater," says Sweet.

Sweetwater will be a permanent venue with shows running from April to October. For now though, the focus is on Friday and getting 7,000 people down the narrow roads leading to the concert site.

It will be a good test run for the crowds they'll see when the amphitheater's finished.

The Sara Evans show starts tonight at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $35.00 in advance, $40.00 at the gate and can be purchased at www.tickets.com.

You can see a full schedule of upcoming concerts at www.smlconcerts.com.