LL Cool J, Elvis Costello, Andrea Bocelli, Carlos Santana and the New York Philharmonic, along with Bruce Springsteen and other artists, will be at the starry Central Park concert next month, which the city plans to announce its comeback from the pandemic, Mayor Bill announced de Blasio on Tuesday.
The mayor said that concert-goers would need to show a vaccination card.
“We want this to be a concert for the people,” said Mr. de Blasio at a video press conference, announcing additional headliners – and the name – of the We Love NYC: The Homecoming Concert, which will take place on August 21st take place on the Great Lawn. “But I would also like to make it clear: it has to be a safe concert. It has to be a concert that will help us advance our recovery. “
“So if you want to go to this concert, you must have a vaccination card,” he added.
The line-up includes artists and music icons from a range of eras, genres, and styles, including the Killers; Earth, wind; Wyclef Jean; Barry Manilow and the previously announced cast including Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson and Patti Smith.
While 80 percent of the tickets are free, proof of vaccination is required to participate. (Adequate accommodation would be provided for those unable to be vaccinated because of a disability, the city said in a press release.) Masks will be optional due to the vaccination requirement and the fact that it takes place outdoors.
Free tickets will be released to the public in batches from Monday at 10 a.m. on nyc.gov/HomecomingWeek. Others will be available for purchase on Monday.
Gates will open at 3 p.m. on August 21 for the concert produced in partnership with Live Nation, and the show will start at 5 p.m. CNN will also broadcast the event live worldwide, including on CNN en Español.
The venerable music producer Clive Davis, a native of Brooklyn, has been working on the concert since May. He had lived in New York for most of his life, he said at the press conference, but he had never seen anything like the events of the past year and a half.
“As a born, raised, and true New Yorker, I know exactly how resilient we are and how New York keeps coming back,” said Mr. Davis. “And yes, ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be back. And I really can’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate this than an unforgettable concert in one of the most extraordinary places in the world: the Great Lawn at Central Park. “
