What acts will perform at Live at the Garden?
Rascal Flatts, Gladys Knight, and Boy George & Culture Club are among the acts set for the 18th edition of Live at the Garden. The lineup for the Memphis Botanic Garden’s annual concert series was announced Wednesday night, confirming a five-show summer program for the nearly 7,000-capacity venue.
The concerts — sponsored by Duncan-Williams Inc. — will kick off June 1 with country combo Rascal Flatts and support act Carly Pearce. Rock hitmakers Train will play June 29, while July 13 brings a pairing of ‘80s pop favorites Boy George & Culture Club and the B-52s. Veteran soul singer Gladys Knight will headline the Garden on July 28, and the series will wrap up with a show from duo Big & Rich on Sept. 7.
“We’re really pleased with the variety this year,” said Sherry May, Live at the Garden co-director. “We’re so happy to have an R&B legend in Gladys Knight. With Rascal Flatts and Big & Rich, we’re happy because we’ve had real success booking country acts, and the response
operation, and three more will be added during May. MATA’s cars include replica Birney Trolleys, built in the U.S. in the early 20th century, and Melbourne Trolleys, built in Australia up until the mid 20th century.
Cars will initially run every 30 minutes Sunday-Thursday and every 20 minutes Fridays and Saturdays. Waiting times will decrease as more cars are added.
Hours of operation will be 6:45 a.m. to midnight Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to midnight Saturday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday.
“Almost four years ago the rail trolleys stopped running, and now, we are proud to announce that the Main Street Trolley line will be back in service serving the Memphis community and visitors in just two weeks,” Rosenfeld said. “We are proud that we have diligently and meticulously restored the trolley cars to be the safest in the nation,” he added.
MATA has been testing the electric trolleys on Main Street and training drivers for a couple months, but the cars haven’t been carrying passengers.
Rosenfeld asked for people to be diligent in looking out for the trolleys because the cars are much quieter than the old system and people aren’t used to seeing them on Main Street.
The complete cost of getting trolleys back on track hadn’t been calculated yet, but $5.5 million to $6 million for cars and $3.5 million to $4 million for engineering and development puts the price tag in the neighborhood of $10 million, Rosenfeld said.
The service supports improved public transit, which typically delivers a high return on investment, and aids a revitalized Downtown, Rosenfeld said.
When service halted, the trolleys were carrying about 1.5 million passengers a year, including about 700,000 out-of-town tourists.
After the shutdown, an industry panel criticized MATA’s maintenance practices and poor condition of cars.
Rosenfeld said MATA has rewritten policies and procedures, stockpiled spare parts and generated 3,500 to 4,000 pages of information on how the system is run and maintained.
During the testing phase, “We’ve had very few issues to date with the trolleys mechanically speaking. Still doing some public outreach with the cars parked in the way and trying to educate our public to move out of the way quickly when the trolley’s approaching, but for all intents and purposes the maintenance, the quality of the rebuild, has been excellent,” Rosenfeld said.