Music is in the air at Richmond’s newest concert venue. But the drink menu has been causing a bit of a record scratch. 

The prices “definitely get your attention,” said Emily Pumphrey, who first visited the Allianz Amphitheater, the new riverfront venue opened in May 2025 by entertainment conglomerate Live Nation, for a Dave Matthews Band show in mid-July. Ticket prices to that three-night run of shows caused a stir of their own, but the local-ish superstar hadn’t played Richmond in three decades, so Pumphrey ponied up. Still, “nineteen dollars for a beer” at the concession stand gave her pause.

Actually, a 24-ounce can of Modelo Especial or Michelob Ultra at the Amphitheater will run you $19.50. It works out to just over $0.81 per ounce—and that’s before tax or tip.

Pumphrey isn’t the only one who had to take a beat after eyeing the Amphitheater’s offerings for the first time. On social media, Richmonders have posted reactions ranging from astonishment, to anger, to resignation. “The price gouging on alcohol is eye[-]popping,” one person posted on Richmond’s lively r/rva subreddit. “[I]t’s the going rate at venues like this,” another countered.

Richmond doesn’t really have a venue like the $30-million Amphitheater, which seats approximately 7,500 and offers partial views of the James River behind a towering, state-of-the-art stage. But a Richmonder spot-check of other outdoor entertainment venues around the city suggests its newest attraction’s pricing is on the high end. 

The Diamond (seating: 9,560) doesn’t serve Modelo, but it does serve Michelob Ultra; 25-ounce cans go for $11.75, which works out to $0.47/oz (pre-tax and tip.) At City Stadium (seating: 6,000), a 32-ounce Modelo draft costs $15, a price that doesn’t include tip but does include tax.

“We're big proponents of all-in pricing,” explained Camp Peery, president and chief operating officer of the Richmond Kickers, which has played home games at City Stadium since 1995, in an email exchange. 

Of course, those are minor-league stadiums, and both fairly long in the tooth. (The Diamond opened in 1985, while City Stadium was built way back in 1929.) By contrast, Allianz Amphitheater is brand-new, and about as “major” as Richmond has to offer, drawing name-brand acts like Brad Paisley, Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit, and Dave Matthews in its rookie season. 

(Richmond Raceway, home to the city’s only major league sports event, the NASCAR Cup Series, is the odd venue out, as it allows fans to bring their own beer from home into its stands.)

It stands to reason that concertgoers would pay a premium for the Amphitheater’s concessions. But even looking further afield, to the upper echelons of the country’s top-tier sports leagues, its prices stand out. According to data from Bookies.com published in September 2024 by VinePair, a beverage publication, 75% of National Football League stadiums charged less per ounce of beer on average last season than Richmond’s newest concert venue is getting for Modelo this year. Ditto, nearly half of National Basketball Association arenas. 

“Consumers generally expect—and see—a higher price per ounce on-premise vs off-, and even more so at a venue like a sporting event or concert,” said Kate Bernot, the lead analyst of Sightlines, a market-intelligence platform focused on the beverage-alcohol industry. She also noted that “draft tends to be less expensive per ounce than the comparable packaged product” due to higher volumes and lower fixed costs. This makes the comparison to the NFL and NBA even less precise, because those venues do much of their beer sales in kegs.

“Even given that, though, [almost] $20 for 24 ounces of beer strikes me as especially high,” Bernot told The Richmonder. “Personally, as a consumer, I would balk at [that] price for any kind of mass-produced beer.”

The Amphitheater also serves a 19.2-ounce “stovepipe” of craft beer during concerts ($19.50), as well as 25-ounce cans of High Noon vodka-seltzer ($19.50) and bottles of wine (starting at $40), and mixed drinks (a well double is $25).

As another inexact point of local comparison, the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden charges $12 for a 16-ounce craft beer at its “Groovin’ in The Garden” concert series, which are held in its (much smaller) outdoor grass amphitheater, and typically feature smaller acts. That works out to $0.75/oz, compared to the $1.01/oz Allianz Amphitheater is getting for its craft beer.

At "Music at Maymont" events, 16-ounce craft beers are $10 ($0.63/oz); other events at the park, including its summer kick-off concert and Garden Glow tour, the going rate is just $8 ($0.50/oz.)

Friday Cheers, the long-running summer concert series on Brown’s Island, charges the same amount ($8) for a drink ticket that can be redeemed for a 16-ounce draft craft beer within eyeshot of Richmond’s shiny new venue.

When contacted by The Richmonder, a representative for Live Nation, Chandler Owens, expressed surprise that the Amphitheater’s prices compared unfavorably to area venues.

“Obviously value is trending right now, so we were trying to stay in line and make sure all folks [...] have access to a good time at our shows,” she said, citing the Amphitheater’s recently concluded “$30 Ticket to Summer” program, which offered lawn access, and in some cases seats, for $30. She also referenced a $5 deal for a 12-ounce can of value beer — "usually Busch or Busch Light" — that is “standard across all LiveNation venues.” 

Two Richmonder reporters were unable to see the deal advertised on a menu, but were able to request it, and one was told it was available at certain locations only.

“We saw a couple that had some 12-ounce High Lifes,” said Kristen Runberg, who took in a Dwight Yoakam show with her husband in late June. The pair confirmed they were $5 apiece, or around $16 after tax and tip. “Still pricey but within reason [given the] venue,” remarked Runberg, “but they were sold out well before the headliner went on.”

“I go into a venue expecting the drink and food prices to be dumb,” she added, “but this was kind of over the top.”

For more on how Amphitheater came up with its drink pricing, Owens copied The Richmonder on an email with Christina Karas, Live Nation’s head of venue communications. Karas did not respond to an interview request.

For Pumphrey, the drink prices weren’t enough to dampen the experience of seeing Dave Matthews perform on the James. But like the frugal tailgaters who have already figured out the best vantage points outside the Amphitheater’s gates from which to score a free show, she counseled would-be concertgoers to think strategically.

“For a great show, Richmonders seem largely accepting of higher prices,” she said. “Or they’ll opt for a pre-show happy hour instead.”

Dave Infante is an independent journalist who lives in Richmond. He publishes The Church Hill Lookout.

This story has been updated to include pricing at Maymont events other than the "Music at Maymont" concert series, at which prices are set by a third-party firm, Haymaker Productions.