New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and music industry veteran Clive Davis are putting together a massive concert on the Great Lawn of Central Park, which is tentatively scheduled for August 21, 2021. They’re aiming to finalize eight “iconic” performers for a three-hour show with up to 60,000 attendees, plus a global TV audience.
Davis, who is now 89 years old, has worked with many major artists over the past five decades, including Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys and Bruce Springsteen.
Mayor de Blasio is calling the week leading up to August 21 “Homecoming Week,” which will be a week-long celebration of the city’s reopening following the pandemic. The event itself is tentatively titled “The Official NYC Homecoming Concert in Central Park.”
“This concert is going to be a once in a lifetime opportunity,” de Blasio stated. “It’s going to be an amazing lineup. The whole week is going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before in New York City.”
Davis added, “I can’t think of a better place than the Great Lawn of Central Park to be the place where you say that New York is reopening.” He also said he was “greatly honored” when de Blasio called him with the opportunity three weeks ago.
There have been no hints at what kind of artists will be playing the concert, but the mayor’s office said they’re looking into sponsorship deals and will announce a broadcast partner shortly. What is known about the event is that Live Nation is involved with the production, that general admission tickets will be free and VIP seating will be available.
The Great Lawn is a 13-acre oval-shaped lawn in the center of the park, near landmarks like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Delacorte Theater and the reservoir. Concerts on the Great Lawn are rare due to the strictness of the Central Park Conservancy’s requirements for issuing performance licences there, but it has also been the site of some massive historic performances by artists including Carole King, Elton John, Simon & Garfunkel, Diana Ross, Luciano Pavarotti and Dave Matthews Band. The only acts that plays the venue regularly are the New York Philharmonic, who tour city parks every summer, and the artists involved with the Global Citizen Festival, which has included Beyoncé, Metallica, Neil Young and Coldplay.
Leave a Comment