The 2024 season of the Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage will kick off with a free concert by Anita Baker in Central Park on June 1. The singer is one of the featured headliners for this year’s outdoor performing arts festival, which will include close to 100 free and benefit shows across New York City’s five boroughs.
Fresh off her performance at the TD Pavilion at the Mann, Day’s Summerstage show is in association with the Blue Note Jazz Festival. Ahead of her big gig, the ‘Rise Up’ singer will perform for a one-night-only show at the Howard Gilman Opera House on May 6.
Other free concert highlights in Central Park include performances by Gary Clark Jr. and the Sun Ra Arkestra on June 13, Dixson on June 16, and Colombian music star Bomba Estéreo on July 10.
Elsewhere, Summerstage will take shape at neighborhood parks such as Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, Herbert Von King Park and The Coney Island Amphitheater in Brooklyn, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, Crotona Park in the Bronx, and Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden in Staten Island.
Some of those highlights include the 40th Radio Anniversary Party on Aug. 1 in Herbert Von King Park, and ‘Special Uptown Edition: Celebrating 40 years of Red Alert & Marley Marl’ in Marcus Garvey Park on Aug. 18.
New York City’s long-standing R&B radio station WBLS will host its 50th Anniversary Celebration with performances by Jon B, Vivian Green, Horace Brown, Jeff Redd, and music from dee-jay Funk Flex on Aug. 11 at The Coney Island Amphitheater in Brooklyn.
‘SummerStage is back for another incredible season of free performances,’ City Parks Foundation executive director Heather Lubov said in Tuesday’s announcement. ‘It’s always an honor to bring a lineup of both established and rising artists that celebrate the rich cultural fabric of our neighborhoods across the city to parks, all for free.’
Some of the ticketed benefit concerts in Central Park will be performed by soca band KES on June 8; rapper and producer T-Pain on June 23; rock/folk band Counting Crows on July 11; Robert Glasper featuring Yebba on Aug. 1; comedians Hannibal Buress, Sarah Silverman, Fred Armisen and more on Aug. 8; and The Roots with Jungle Brothers and Digable Planets on Aug. 23.
More benefit shows to support the CityParks mission are expected to be announced throughout the season.
