Start of June might be busiest concert stretch in Pittsburgh history
It’s gotten to the point where if there’s a major concert announcement, you almost expect it to be in the first two days of June.
Already, Live Nation has booked five major concerts on those dates:
June 1: Super Bowl halftime star (or bust?) Justin Timberlake at PPG Paints Arena, Uptown, and the Dave Matthews Band at KeyBank Pavilion in Burgettstown.
June 2: Kenny Chesney (and all the craziness he brings) at Heinz Field, North Shore; Journey and Def Leppard at PPG Paints Arena; and X-Fest with Jack White and Cold War Kids at KeyBank Pavilion.
On top of that, the North Shore’s Stage AE, managed by PromoWest, has a big indoor show on June 1 with Frank Turner & Sleeping Souls. Going back one day, on May 31, the Decemberists play the Benedum Center, Downtown, while Royal Blood is at Stage AE.
We haven’t even heard yet from the Three Rivers Arts Festival, which opens in Downtown June 1 and generally has a big headliner to kick off the event in Point State Park. That will be announced some time in March.
Rich Engler, co-founder of DiCesare-Engler Productions, which promoted concerts here since the early ‘70s, can’t remember a busier two-day stretch in Pittsburgh.
“No, not with that magnitude,” he said. “The good news about those shows is that they’re not all in the exact same category.”
“As you know, artists tour nationally and globally, so date options are usually limited for shows in any town,” said Tom Loudermilk, president of Live Nation’s Western Pennsylvania office. “While this weekend wasn’t planned, I believe that there are more than enough live music fans in Pittsburgh to make these events successful.”
In July 2016, Billy Joel and Kenny Chesney played PNC Park and Heinz Field, respectively, on back-to-back nights (July 1-2). Then, Guns ‘N Roses played Heinz Field on July 12, and on the following day, we had Justin Bieber (PPG Paints Arena), Dead & Company (KeyBank Pavilion), Ryan Adams (Stage AE) and Culture Club (Heinz Hall).
Those were the bigger jam-ups in recent memory, but it’s nothing like what happens this year, and it’s just the beginning of what will be a much busier summer of concerts.
Last year, U2 was the only stadium show. This year, there are already three announced for Heinz Field — Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift and Luke Bryan — and Ed Sheeran will play PNC Park. The Country Megaticket also has expanded from three shows in 2016 to six shows thissummer.
It’s worth keeping in mind that at its peak in the mid-’90s, the KeyBank Pavilion — then known as Star Lake, which some Pittsburghers still call it — was doing more than 40 shows a year. In recent decades, it has cut that number by half, but more shows are being booked at the arena, and Stage AE, which holds just 5,000 outdoors, has picked up some of that action. The venue, which announced alt-J and Portugal.The Man the past two days, is just beginning to unveilits outdoor lineup.
By the way, the Pirates will be in St. Louis that first weekend of June, so PNC Park is wide open in case, like, Billy Joel wants to come, too.