The last note of Pittsburgh's outdoor concert season will be some manner of ear-shattering blast from Lamb of God when the Virginia metal band plays the Amphitheater at Station Square tonight, right across the river from the free Clean Energy Jobs Now! Tour with Joan Jett at Point State Park.

It puts a cap on a summer concert season that was livelier than anyone expected considering that most people's dwindling incomes are directed toward such essentials as food and Steelers jerseys.

The busier schedule was partly a result of two mid-sized venues returning from the dead.

The Amphitheater at Station Square, back under the new Pittsburgh Concert Group, presented seven shows, along with a three-day rib festival, and is now darkening the doors for a haunted house next month. The amphitheater vanished after the 2005 season as Station Square owner Forest City Enterprises chose not to renew its lease with Live Nation (in hopes of luring the casino there).

The two biggest nights at the reopened amphitheater, according to promoter Brian Drusky, were folk-pop up-and-comer Jason Mraz and a bill topped by local laptop sensation Girl Talk, both doing more than 4,000. Among the other successes there were the Black Crowes, Yes/Asia and an all-star Tribute to Fallen Officers. Drusky says that with the new stage and infrastructure in place, the amphitheater will be back next season regardless of what happens with the Steelers' proposed amphitheater on the North Shore.

Making a quieter comeback was Riverplex at Sandcastle in West Homestead, which hadn't been used for shows since 1997. Joker Productions dipped its feet into the outdoor concert business there with a trio of shows: All Time Low, Neko Case and Gov't Mule. John Legend was moved to the Palace Theatre in Greensburg, and Chickenfoot ended up canceling due to low ticket sales.

Although the two venues only accounted for about 10 more shows, they piled on to an already stacked schedule between the Post-Gazette Pavilion, Mellon Arena and Heinz Field.

In its mid-'90s heyday, the Post-Gazette Pavilion was cranking out about 44 shows and selling out a dozen or so. Post-9/11, those numbers dropped dramatically industry-wide. This season the Post-Gazette Pavilion posted 21 shows. Live Nation doesn't reveal attendance figures as former owners Pace and SFX did, so only the promoter knows what the books look like. We do know there were three sellouts (that is, over 21,000): Jimmy Buffett, Toby Keith and Phish, the latter of which had Phishheads trucking in from all over the country. Inching toward sellout range were Rascal Flatts, Nickelback, Blink-182, No Doubt and Lil Wayne.

"Nine Inch Nails, we were ecstatic about the turnout," says Live Nation Pittsburgh exec Michael Belkin running through his show list. "No Doubt was practically sold out. Dave Matthews [who did two shows] always kills. Buffett is the gold standard of amphitheater shows. Aerosmith was decent -- glad we got a play in before it got blown out. Kid Rock got his best Pittsburgh play ever. Warped was outstanding. Def Leppard was great. Nickelback was huge. Lil Wayne was huge, in the high teens. Mayhem [with Marilyn Manson and Slayer] did really well -- better than Cleveland, which is odd, but it was a Saturday night."

Live Nation sweetened the deal for concert-goers all season with various lawn ticket specials and No-Fee Wednesdays. Belkin won't name any disappointments, but let's just say it was surprising that season opener, Coldplay, drew in the 12,000 range, according to reports. Open seats and grass space were in abundance for New Kids on the Block. One show that definitely struggled was the reunion of Creed. "It was the first date of the tour," Belkin says, "and those early dates are really weird. For the most part there weren't too many disappointments."

Live Nation also packed Mellon Arena with 16,000-plus for both Bruce Springsteen and the Jonas Brothers. The arena got close to its more limited 12,000 capacity with American Idols Live, Keith Urban, Green Day and Barry Manilow. (The arena has one more summer, and marketing director Rob Goodman says the Penguins and SMG have "plans to retire this building in style.")

Along with Kenny Chesney's annual Heinz Field country hoedown, the Pirates did shows with O.A.R., Zac Brown Band and KC and the Sunshine Band and have Foreigner coming this weekend. As for freebies, the Three Rivers Arts Festival was back in Point State Park with The Black Keys and others, and the county parks gave us alt-country greats Steve Earle, Son Volt and the Old 97s.

Putting an exclamation point on the season was the NFL Kickoff Concert Downtown with Tim McGraw and a dazzling set by the Black Eyed Peas that still has people talking.

And now, an epilogue:

• The Aerosmith train was breaking down even before the tour started, but it rolled off the tracks when Steven Tyler did a soft-shoe off the side of the stage in South Dakota in early August. We got the tour in late June, and ZZ Top was the better band that night.

• Creed had to make its tour comeback on Aug. 6 look good for the VH1 cameras, which meant lots of comp tickets and fans coming down from the lawn to fill in the pavilion. Crowds have picked up as the tour has gone along.

• Trent Reznor announced at the Nine Inch Nails show that this would be the band's last time around. NIN just concluded a brief "Wave Goodbye Tour" in Los Angeles, where he told a crowd, "I'm not stopping making music ... I just don't want to be touring, and I'm going to die if I keep it up." Touring mates Jane's Addiction had to cancel its Australian tour due to drummer Stephen Perkins' arm infection.

• Slayer and Killswitch Engaged shared a stage here -- rather unhappily -- for the Mayhem Tour. A feud was brewing on the tour when Slayer's Kerry King dismissed K-E's stage antics as "silly." Bassist Mike D'Antonio shot back: "They don't get it, and probably never will, that you can actually be in a metal band and have fun and smile."

• The reunited Phish has released its new CD, "Joy," to some of the best reviews the band has gotten, and more shows are planned, including the traditional Halloween bash in Indio, Calif.

• Shortly after the Pittsburgh show, the Motley Crue drummer was out for 11 days with a "hand" after he caught it on fire playing with lighters. His mom didn't teach him right.

• Joe Satriani dropped his plagiarism lawsuit against Coldplay after a settlement was reached.

• Kenny Chesney announced that he will take a year off from touring next summer, leaving a huge void to be filled by ... Rascal Flatts?

• Lil Wayne's 2008-2009 North American tour ended up grossing $42 million, breaking the Mary J. Blige/Jay-Z record ($34.6 million) for hip-hop tours. When it was over, Lil Wayne had a new lil one, Lennox Samuel Ari Carter, on 09-09-09.