The bluest bar-on-a-stick in town gives a 360-degree overview of the area around White Oak Music Hall, which held its first concert Saturday on a temporary stage next to the still-under-construction main building. Renderings released last year for the concert complex, next to the already-in-action Raven Tower at the crossing of I-45 and Little White Oak Bayou (above), showed plans for 2 indoor stages and a 3rd outdoor pavilion, with a 3,000-person events lawn between. Developer Will Garwood told the Houston Chronicle last week that while he would still like to add a permanent stage someday, the temporary stage would be getting reused in the meanwhile — possibly requiring special event permits (like the one issued for Saturday’s concert) multiple times each month.

Here’s what the scene looked like on Wednesday evening, as crews continued working past sundown to get everything in line for the weekend:

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The temporary stage’s not-quite-Raven-Tower-blue roof can ben seen on the left of the east-facing shot above, prior to being raised into place. The stage sits next to parking lot A for the complex; here’s the venue’s map of the 4 complete or under-construction main parking lots:

To the north across North St. from the Raven Tower is recently completed parking lot B: 

To the northwest of the venue are the Skylane Apartments, built along I-45 in the early 1960s:

Across Little White Oak Bayou to the southeast, the strip of cleared residential lots currently employed as parking lot D is visible:

From straight down the side of the tower to the south, the Raven Bar’s patio and matching turquoise umbrellas are visible just north of Little White Oak Bayou (running just outside of the top of the frame):

To the west next to the performance stage, a colorfully dystopian mishmash of Houstonia and surreal cultural iconography provide a cheery backdrop:

The patio gate opens out to a small parking lot, complete with space for food truck docking:

A small goldfish pond is tucked along the base of the tower to the tower’s stem, to the north:

Raven climbers can take the multiple flights of concrete-and-metal stairs that wind around a central elevator shaft, or take the lift instead. Here’s a view straight up, from 1 landing to the bottom of another:

And here’s the view as you enter the top of the tower, which now contains a small bar and rooftop patio: 

One last short flight of steps gets you to the top:

• Neighbors, city officials question ‘temporary’ concert stage [Houston Chronicle]
• Previously on Swamplot: Newly Blue Raven Tower Bar to Swoop Into Place Ahead of White Oak Music Hall; White Oak Music Hall Rising on N. Main Next to Houston’s Best-Known Bachelor-Pad-on-a-Stick

Images: Swamplot inbox (photos), White Oak Music Hall (map)