Best Outdoor Music Venue for Concerts

For a little-bitty record store, CRIMINAL RECORDS has a great big parking lot and a great big sound system. No, it’s not Chastain Amphitheater, but it is a pretty tight spot to get a sunburn and a free beer while watching some bands play. Where else can you hang out with a colorful mishmash of folks while watching such bands as Mastodon, the Black Lips, Charles Walker and the Dynamites, and the Coathangers? Look to your left and you’re flanked by street people with names like Bones and Ronnie. Look to your right and you’ll see the lovely ladies from Aurora Coffee, Abbadabbas and everywhere else in L5P. And they’re all just chilling, listening to music with whomever else is passing by. less...

With its “no alcohol” policy and well-organized venue management, LANIERLAND’s Concerts in the Country is the sort of place you can safely take your grandma to enjoy a show. Plus, the attendees are some of the best behaved (and most sober) people in the state, having paid their hard-earned money to hear some real country music. Well worth the 45-minute drive out of town, the setting is beautiful, the sound is great, and the performing acts are a cross-section of old-timers such as George Jones and Tanya Tucker, and newer artists like Joe Nichols and Blake Shelton.
6115 Jot-Em Down Road, Cumming. 770-887-7464. www.lanierland.com.

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With its "no alcohol" policy and well-organized venue management, LANIERLAND's Concerts in the Country is the sort of place you can safely take your grandma to enjoy a show. Plus, the attendees are some of the best behaved (and most sober) people in the state, having paid their hard-earned money to hear some real country music. Well worth the 45-minute drive out of town, the setting is beautiful, the sound is great, and the performing acts are a cross-section of old-timers such as George Jones and Tanya Tucker, and newer artists like Joe Nichols and Blake Shelton. less...

Nestled in the picturesque, rolling hillside of Cumming, just a country mile up Ga. 400, LANIERLAND COUNTRY MUSIC PARK is a refreshing change of pace. Family-owned and operated, the no-alcohol-available facility is a throwback to the tent circuit shows of the '50s and '60s. Actually, Lanierland started under the big top as well, with a performance by Hank Williams Jr. in 1970. Now housed under a serviceable shed with pro audio and lighting rigs, the site welcomes music fans of all ages. Don't expect navel-baring country-pop here, though. This isn't Shania country, this is "pure" George Jones country, mister. Nearly every legendary country act has graced the breezy Opry-style stage at one time or another. Good, clean fun in the country. "6115 Jot 'Em Down Road. 770-887-7464. www.lanierland.com" less...

Out in the nether regions of Forsyth County, nestled in a rolling field, sits LANIERLAND MUSIC PARK. The big covered shed hosts a "Concerts in the Country" series each year featuring some of country music's greatest legends - Loretta Lynn, George Jones, John Anderson and others. The crowds wear their acid-washed jeans and display the Rebel flag without a hint of irony, but they're well-behaved, happy with who they are and obviously love the music. "6115 Jot-Em Down Road, Cumming, 770-887-7464. www.lanierland.com" less...

Summer 2002 saw DOWNTOWN Atlanta treated to two major concert series, both offering bands of national caliber performing under the stars for free most Fridays from May to August. And as if the likes of Alanis Morissette, India.Arie and They Might Be Giants wasn't enough, the drama and legal wrangling that ensued between the two series, On The Bricks (in Centennial Park) and Downtown Rocks (held just outside the park), provided a value-added entertainment bonus. Who could ask for more? less...