Show series called successful

After presenting eight concerts at the Columbia County Amphitheater, For the Fans Entertainment partner Jayson Sabo deemed the Music Evolution Series a success.

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"It was incredible," he said. "It was great just to see the camaraderie, for everyone in the area to come out and support things like that."

In February, For the Fans Entertainment announced the concert series during a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The series kicked off in March with American Idol contestant Bo Bice headlining the show.

The series lasted through September and featured such popular acts as Lady Antebellum, Saving Jane, Luke Bryan and Gin Blossoms.

"There were people coming in from all over the country for a lot of these shows, and we've developed a pretty strong fan base among a lot of those people," he said. "I thought we did very well with the different genres of music that we brought."

A ninth show was scheduled for the end of October, but Sabo said the entertainment group preferred a different option.

"We wanted to do a Christmas show instead," he said. "We thought it would be fun."

The Christmas-theme musical show will be held Dec. 6 in conjunction with Columbia County's annual Christmas in America tree-lighting festival, he said.

Interested bands or artists can visit www.forthefans entertainment.com to acquire auditioning information.

Stacie Adkins, the county's community events manager, said she also was satisfied with the concert series.

"I was pleased with it," she said. "It was a good variety of music and showed off the facility. We had a good response."

The concert series brought much exposure to the amphitheater and the county, Adkins said.

"It helps me as far as with other events, because now when we hold other concerts out there and other events, (people) know where it's at, and they know the surroundings," she said.

Adkins said she is willing to discuss another concert series with For the Fans Entertainment for next year.

Instead of holding eight concerts, she said, she would like to decrease the number of shows to about four to six beginning after Masters Week.

Sabo said that the group does aim to scale back on the number of concerts in 2009 and that not every show will be held at the amphitheater.

"It'll be exciting to have new concerts in different areas in Columbia County," he said. "Each show will be a new, refreshing type of concert."

Though Sabo did not have exact attendance numbers, he said he was elated with the overall turnout.

"For the launching of this for the first time, we were very pleased with the attendance all year," he said.