Here’s one thing we know for sure: Music lovers in Alabama care about the fate of Oak Mountain Amphitheatre.

The concert venue in Pelham, about 20 miles south of downtown Birmingham, has been a mainstay on the statewide music scene since 1986. In fact, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre was touted for decades as the largest outdoor concert venue in Alabama — excluding, of course, the occasional shows held at stadiums such as Legion Field.

The 10,500-seat amphitheater, located at 1000 Amphitheater Road next to the Pelham Civic Complex, has undergone several changes over the years — lawn expansion, upgrades, the addition of a third tier of seats and more — and is now owned by concert giant Live Nation.

It’s probably a stretch to say the amphitheater is beloved in the Birmingham metro area — it’s not a gorgeous historic building like the Alabama Theatre or Lyric Theatre — but concertgoers here have seen a long list of major stars perform on Oak Mountain’s stage, from Jimmy Buffett and Lynyrd Skynyrd to Foo Fighters and Nine Inch Nails. (See photos from some concerts at Oak Mountain in the photo gallery at the top of this post.)

With hundreds of memorable shows to its credit, the amphitheater matters to music fans. It’s been an essential part of the state’s entertainment scene, drawing crowds during the warm weather months and filling a crucial niche, in size and tone, between concert halls and arenas in central Alabama.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15, Oak Mountain Amphitheatre will close its 2024 season with a sold-out concert by Post Malone, who’s touring on his “F-1 Trillion” country album. There’s been no official confirmation from Live Nation, but the headlining performance by a genre-hopping rapper could be the final show at the Pelham venue as we know it.

But let’s not get all weepy just yet, or engage in rampant speculation.

Live Nation, an entertainment powerhouse, is being tight-lipped about the future of Oak Mountain Amphitheatre, declining to reveal specifics about its plans for the venue in 2025. That’s because a new amphitheater is under construction in downtown Birmingham, owned by the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex and managed by Live Nation.

A ceremonial groundbreaking for the new amphitheater, a $46 million project, took place on June 3 at the corner of 15th Avenue North and 24th Street North, on the 50-acre campus of the former Carraway Hospital. Organizers at the BJCC have said the Birmingham Amphitheater is expected to be completed in summer 2025, with a target date set for June.

Once the downtown amphitheater is finished, Live Nation plans to shutter Oak Mountain Amphitheatre and book its regional concerts at the downtown venue. But it’s unclear if the Pelham amphitheater will be sold, torn down, repurposed or something else. (If Live Nation does sell the Oak Mountain Amphitheatre property, it will not be a concert venue as part of an agreement with the BJCC.)

READ: Everything to know about Birmingham’s Amphitheater: Will Oak Mountain Amphitheatre close?

Theoretically, it’s possible that Live Nation could present some shows at Oak Mountain early next year, depending on the completion date of the downtown amphitheater. Music fans would likely come out in force for blowout bash in the spring, for example, if Live Nation decided to stage a milestone event with multiple bands, marking the end of its venue in Pelham. The company is staying mum, however — there’s no word on any type of farewell for Oak Mountain — and fans are left to wait and wonder.

Officials at the BJCC said in September that construction of the new amphitheater is on track, and a kickoff concert remains possible for June 2025. Still, a lot of work has to be done over the next nine months, as the Birmingham Amphitheater rises from the ground and becomes a part of the Magic City skyline, just north of Protective Stadium.

The new amphitheater — formerly known as the Carraway Amphitheater and the Star Amphitheater — promises to significantly boost the profile of the Uptown entertainment area. The 9,380-seat venue is expected to host around 20 shows during the summer season and inspire concertgoers to visit restaurants, hotels and other businesses in the area. Also, the amphitheater will accommodate a variety of festivals, community gatherings, special events and more.

READ: Your first look at The Birmingham Amphitheater: When will it host its first concert?

Live Nation made its first concert announcement for the Birmingham Amphitheater on Oct. 1, confirming a show by Teddy Swims on Aug. 15, 2025. The seating map for the amphitheater, visible in the Teddy Swims ticket listing, includes a standing-room pit near the stage, seats behind the pit, a lower tier of seats, a section for box seats and seats in two upper tiers. (See another seat map for the amphitheater here.)

READ: First show announced for Birmingham Amphitheater: R&B/soul star to perform at new venue in 2025

It’s unclear if the Teddy Swims concert will mark the debut of the new amphitheater. But if goes well with construction, music fans could see more shows confirmed for late June or early July. Country star Thomas Rhett, for example, has announced a concert in Birmingham on June 27, 2025, with the venue listed as TBA.

Rhett has played at Oak Mountain in the past, including shows in 2019 and 2021, and he seems a likely candidate for the new amphitheater. When asked about the location of his Birmingham show next year — a stop on Rhett’s 2025 “Better in Boots Tour” — a publicist for the country singer said, “We wanted to let fans know he will be stopping in Birmingham, but we are not ready to announce the venue yet. Stay tuned!”

As the future of Oak Mountain Amphitheater hangs in the balance, some folks have wondered if the state’s music scene could support two amphitheaters in the Birmingham metro area — especially now that the Orion Amphitheater has made a big splash in Huntsville. (The Orion, a $40 million, 8,000-capacity venue, opened in 2022 and made Billboard’s list of the Top Music Venues in 2024.)

Let’s not forget that Alabama has other amphitheaters, as well. The Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater in Tuscaloosa and Sand Mountain Amphitheater in Albertville are within easy driving distance of Birmingham. In the southern part of the state, The Wharf Amphitheater in Orange Beach has plenty of clout and a history of concerts dating back to 2006.

How many amphitheaters can survive and thrive in the state? It’s an interesting question. And while it’s tempting for concertgoers to make predictions, gazing into an ordinary music lover’s crystal ball, that’s just guesswork. Live Nation is in a position to address the topic, but the company, a dominant force in the global concert industry, simply isn’t saying.

We do know that Live Nation has made a significant investment in the new amphitheater, contributing $5 million upfront for the venue’s construction along with the BJCC, City of Birmingham and Jefferson County.

In November 2022, before the downtown project was finalized, AL.com asked readers to weigh in on the idea of a new amphitheater in Birmingham and the potential closure of Oak Mountain. This generated a great deal of discussion about the new amphitheater’s location, parking, traffic, safety, funding and more. It also prompted some concertgoers to leap to Oak Mountain’s defense and reminisce about the great shows they’d seen there.

READ: Is new $50 million amphitheater in Birmingham a good or bad idea? Here’s what readers say

As the 2024 season draws to a close at Oak Mountain Amphitheater, it seems like a good time to celebrate the powerful music history of the concert venue, instead of simply bemoaning the prospect of its demise. (Tom Petty! Dave Matthews Band! Phish! Don Henley! Stevie Nicks! Sting! Tool! Pearl Jam! Bob Dylan! Buddy Guy! R.E.M.! Indigo Girls! Mumford & Sons! X-Fest! Stevie Ray Vaughan! Widespread Panic!)

And if the stage in Pelham is truly going dark after this week, then the amphitheater is leaving on a high note, instead of limping to its doom.

This season has included shows by two current mega-stars — Post Malone and Hozier — and placed an emphasis on the trend for ‘90s nostalgia, with concerts from Creed, Hootie & the Blowfish, Live and Stone Temple Pilots, Train, Third Eye Blind, Staind and Limp Bizkit. The 2023 season at Oak Mountain was noteworthy, too, with concerts by Foo Fighters, James Taylor, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival and more.

No matter what happens to Oak Mountain in the weeks and months to come, the amphitheater has been an important spot for concertgoers here for nearly four decades. Yeah, we’re gonna miss that place.