Zac Brown Band to kick off a “full concert season” at Forest Hills Stadium
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The Zac Brown Band will kick off a new concert season at the Forest Hills Stadium, photo courtesy tasteofcountry.com
The aging classic Forest Hills Stadium, a storied New York venue, is looking to reestablish itself as a destination for entertainment. To kick off what is promised to be a full concert season: A June 21 performance by the Zac Brown Band, according to the AP.
The stadium was the original home of the U.S. Open and the Davis Cup, and in the 1960s it played host to several notable live acts. Frank Sinatra, Jimi Hendrix, Diana Ross, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Barbara Streisand, The Talking Heads and The Who – they all played there, according to the stadium website. Oh, there were two consecutive, sold-out Beatles shows in 1964, too. And they arrived to the shows in a helicopter. Cool, right?
Ok, so maybe all of that is old news, but when you really think about it, the names in that list are the names today’s musicians look up to, so there’s a chance Zac Brown and his band won’t be the only decent headliner gracing the grass this summer.
While all of this sounds like good news – and it is – there are some issues in need of address that were brought up by a few concertgoers who attended an August 2013 Mumford & Sons show. For one, it seems that show was oversold to the point where, “The stairwells were packed and dangerous,” according to Bronx-based Yelper Angela G.
“I really thought at one point they would shut down the show because of the overcrowding. I really thought the fire department would have deemed it unsafe and well beyond capacity,” she commented.
But interlaced with the complaints about over-crowding, it seems like the overall concert experience was good, even from Angela G’s perspective.
Avid Yelp reviewer Lindsey S. said, “Since it used to be a tennis stadium, it totally gives you that AMPHITHEATER vibe and it’s just mind-blowing to see a WALL OF PEOPLE cheering for the band!!!! Since the venue is designed to be elevated towards the back, EVERYBODY had a good view of the band. I actually looked around 360 several times just to see the wall of people bouncing up and down in unison. I see a huge potential in this venue.”
She goes on…
“Sure, they do have a lot of kinks to iron out; but it was their first time in 20 yrs. There are bound to be some mistakes and under-preparation here and there. I am not willing to measure the venue with the same metrics as I would with other venues with longer history.”
Tickets for the ZBB show are set to go on sale March 22.
