Live Nation Summers Live is a concert series that takes place every summer in different cities across North America. The concert series features some of the biggest names in music performing live in iconic outdoor venues. Live Nation Summers Live allows music fans to see their favorite artists in a festival-style setting with multiple acts performing each night.
What is Live Nation Summers Live?
Live Nation Summers Live is a seasonal concert series organized and promoted by Live Nation. It brings together a diverse lineup of popular music artists to perform shows in outdoor amphitheaters and stadiums across North America during the summer months. The concert series launched in 2015 and has quickly become a major fixture of the summer concert season.
Some of the key features of Live Nation Summers Live include:
- Multiple tour dates in different cities, usually running from June through September.
- Lineups with dozens of popular, contemporary artists from various genres like pop, rock, hip-hop, country, and EDM.
- Performances held at large-scale outdoor venues such as Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, Jiffy Lube Live in Virginia, and Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater in New York.
- Special guest appearances, collaborations, and surprise sets.
- Affordable ticket prices compared to regular tours and festivals.
- Local food, drink, and artisan vendors at show grounds.
The concert series provides a more laidback festival vibe than a regular concert tour. Fans can discover new acts during the day and dance to headliners at night. It’s become a popular option for summertime entertainment and music discovery for casual and hardcore fans alike.
What cities and venues host Live Nation Summers Live shows?
Live Nation Summers Live takes place in a rotating selection of over 20 amphitheaters and venues across the United States and Canada. The specific cities and venues change from year to year, but some of the regular locations include:
- Shoreline Amphitheatre – Mountain View, CA
- Northwell Health at Jones Beach Theater – Wantagh, NY
- Jiffy Lube Live – Bristow, VA
- Coral Sky Amphitheatre – West Palm Beach, FL
- BB&T Pavilion – Camden, NJ
- Blossom Music Center – Cuyahoga Falls, OH
- Cellairis Amphitheatre at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
- The Pavilion at Star Lake – Burgettstown, PA
- Xfinity Theatre – Hartford, CT
- Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – Chicago, IL
- Toyota Amphitheatre – Wheatland, CA
- Isleta Amphitheater – Albuquerque, NM
- Budweiser Stage – Toronto, ON
The venues are typically large outdoor amphitheaters or stadiums with capacities ranging from 5,000 to over 20,000 seats. They offer open-air festival seating under the stars so concertgoers can enjoy the music in a laidback summertime setting.
Who typically performs at Live Nation Summers Live?
Live Nation Summers Live features a diverse lineup of popular music artists from many different eras and genres. The concert series aims to appeal to a wide range of music tastes.
Recent performers have included major acts like:
- Ariana Grande
- Miley Cyrus
- Maroon 5
- Luke Bryan
- Def Leppard
- Rascal Flatts
- Lady Gaga
- Deep Purple
- Brad Paisley
- Flo Rida
- Wiz Khalifa
- Jimmy Buffett
The lineup typically includes current chart-topping pop, hip-hop, country, and rock acts to appeal to younger crowds. But it also mixes in classic rock bands, comedians, alternative artists, and other seasoned performers to draw an audience of all ages.
How does Live Nation organize such large multi-city tours?
There’s an enormous amount of planning and logistics involved in organizing a major tour like Live Nation Summers Live across all its host cities. Here’s a quick look at how they pull off such a massive undertaking:
- Booking artists: Live Nation books artists for the tour up to a year in advance through its many industry contacts and relationships.
- Routing: The tour is routed across cities and venues to maximize efficiency and allow artists to play multiple shows per week.
- Local promoters: Live Nation partners with regional/local concert promoters at each tour stop.
- Marketing: Extensive marketing of the tour starts 6-8 months out across media platforms like social media, radio, and billboards.
- Sponsorships: Corporate sponsorships with major brands help underwrite the high costs of the tour.
- Personnel: Hundreds of touring personnel like managers, road crews, drivers, and security travel with the artists.
- Equipment: Stages, sound systems, lighting, video screens and effects are set up at each venue by experienced crews.
- Busing: Ground transport buses shuttle artists and crew between tour stops.
- Accommodations: Hotels across cities are booked in advance for artists and tour personnel.
It’s a monumental task to plan and execute a multi-city stadium tour with tens of thousands of fans at each show. But Live Nation has the leverage and infrastructure to organize tours at massive scale after decades of experience.
How does Live Nation promote these tours and sell tickets?
Live Nation uses its clout as the world’s largest concert promoter and ticketing agency to extensively promote its tours and drive ticket sales through the following methods:
- Advertising: Print, radio, TV, and online ads across local media in each tour market.
- Social media: Promotions across Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
- Email marketing: Email blasts to previous ticket buyers.
- Presales: Exclusive presales for members of artists’ fan clubs and Live Nation mailing lists.
- Venue websites: Show listings and ticket links on each venue’s web site.
- LiveNation.com: dedicated tour pages on Live Nation’s website.
- Ticketmaster: Leveraging Ticketmaster’s dominance as global ticketing outlet.
- Artist Websites: Show dates/ticket links posted on each artist’s official site.
- Radio Contests: Free ticket giveaways on local radio stations.
Through Live Nation’s far-reaching advertising networks, ticketing outlets, and artist relationships, it can heavily promote the shows and strategically manage pricing and availability to maximize ticket sales across all markets.
What is the concert experience like for fans?
Fans attending Live Nation Summers Live can expect an affordable, festive concert experience under the summer sun and stars. Here are some key features of the show experience:
- Outdoor festival seating at an amphitheater with open lawn or stands.
- Parking lots open early for tailgating before the show.
- Booths with local artisan goods, food, and beverages on site.
- Caricature artists, face painting, and other amusement rides and games.
- Main stage and jumbotrons so everyone has a good view.
- Diverse mix of music genres throughout the day/night.
- Thousands of fans dancing, singing and having a good time.
- Surprise guest stars and collaborations.
- Booming sound, vivid lighting and special effects.
- Affordable ticket prices compared to regular arena concerts.
The outdoor summertime vibe coupled with the festival seating makes for a lively communal concert experience for music lovers of all types. Fans can pick lawn seats for blankets and coolers, or pay a bit more for reserved seats up front.
Why are these summer tours so popular with fans?
There are several reasons why Live Nation Summers Live and similar summer concert tours have become so hugely popular:
- Outdoor party atmosphere – The outdoor lawn seating and fair-like atmosphere create a fun music festival vibe.
- Warm weather – The summer tour schedule lets music fans enjoy shows in the warmer months.
- Tour diversity – The genre variety each night appeals to more people’s tastes.
- Big names – Fans leap at rare chances to catch major artists tour outdoor sheds.
- Special performances – Artists go the extra mile with special guests and new songs.
- Affordable pricing – Lawn tickets are very affordable compared to arena shows.
- Premium options – Fans can pay a bit more for reserved seats up front.
- Local access – Multi-city approach allows more fans to catch a date nearby.
- Easy parking & access – Amphitheaters offer easy in/out and parking compared to arenas.
- Family friendly – Outdoor lawn seats make it easy to bring kids.
The summertime energy and variety coupled with the value pricing makes these tours a hugely popular seasonal tradition for music fans of all types.
Conclusion
Live Nation Summers Live has quickly become one of the music industry’s most anticipated summer concert events. Its affordable pricing, family-friendly outdoor venues, genre variety, and tailgate atmosphere create a special festival-like concert experience for fans. Live Nation leverages its industry clout to book major artists, promote the shows, and draw big crowds in cities across North America. For music lovers, it’s the perfect cure for the summertime blues.