New York City will host five huge free concerts in every borough next month to mark the city’s recovery from the pandemic. Earlier this summer, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced plans for a “mega-concert” on Central Park’s Great Lawn in August and later revealed the show’s three major headliners: Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Jennifer Hudson. On Thursday, the mayor said there will be four additional free concerts, one in each borough, as part of a weeklong celebration dubbed “Homecoming Week.”
“I am issuing a FOMO alert,” de Blasio said during a press briefing on Thursday. “Unless you want to spend the rest of your life saying, ‘oh my god, I missed it,’ you should get to New York City in the month of August.”
The city is partnering with the Universal Hip Hop Museum to produce the four additional concerts. During the press conference with the mayor, Rocky Bucano, the executive director of the museum, said the concerts will feature a variety of musical genres, including Hip Hop, Latin, freestyle, dance, R&B, techno, and funk.
“Just like Hip Hop music triumphantly emerged originally from the tumultuous ’70s, the Universal Hip Hop Museum is proud to produce a part of the NYC Homecoming celebration,” Bucano said in a statement. “Hip Hop culture reflects the mosaic that makes NYC, with its sound coming from all genres and spanning many communities. Working in partnership with the City and others, this is our love letter to music fans from all over NYC.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio speaks at the Global Citizen Festival in Central Park on September 23, 2017. Photo credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr
The date and location of the Homecoming Week concerts are as follows:
Monday, August 16 at Orchard Beach in the Bronx
Tuesday, August 17 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark on Staten Island
Thursday, August 19 at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in Brooklyn
Friday, August 20 at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens
Saturday, August 21 at Central Park’s Great Lawn in Manhattan
According to the mayor, the four outer-borough events will lead to the grand finale of the Central Park concert, expected to have a capacity of 60,000 people. De Blasio last month tapped legend Clive Davis to produce the Central Park show.
Live Nation will be involved with the concert’s production and ticket sales. There will be vaccinated and unvaccinated viewing sections, with 70 percent of tickets designated for those fully vaccinated, as the mayor’s office told the New York Times. It’s not clear how many people will be able to attend the four additional concerts, or what COVID-related protocols will be in place.
The city’s “Homecoming Week” will serve as a weeklong celebration of New York City, as well as an affirmation of the city’s recovery following an awful year.
“This is going to be an amazing, memorable, once-in-a-lifetime week in New York City,” de Blasio previously noted.
In addition to the five free performances, Homecoming Week will include free movie screenings from Rooftop Films, Summer Streets, NYC Restaurant Week, cultural activities, and other events across the city.