Drive-in concert events are reportedly being planned to take place in the parking lots of Yankee Stadium in New York City this summer as more artists and event promoters are starting to use the movie-inspired mass gathering format as a loophole to various states’ stay-at-home orders.
A new report shared by Time Out New York on Friday details plans for a series of festival-like events at the famous baseball stadium to take place this summer under the banner, “Uptown Drive-In.” The “carnival-like experience” being produced by MASC Hospitality Group will take place in the Stadium lots every weekend (Friday-Sunday) beginning in July, and will feature live music performances from local artists while attendees can utilize car-side catering from the city’s various food trucks to be on-site as well. Similar to the traditional drive-in movie experience, the audio from performers and event hosts on an elevated stage will stream directly into car radios.
While the concert performances are set to take place in the evening, family-friendly events are also being planned to take place during the daytime. No specific artist booking or event schedule was detailed with the initial report.
“Everyone is so excited about the possibility of connecting sooner [at this new experience] than initially planned,” says Marco Shalma, who works at MASC Hospitality Group which also produces the local Bronx Night Market and the Bronx Beer Festival.
“We’re working with city and state officials, and some of our sponsors to reduce cost as much as we can to be able to make this very affordable, and for as many New Yorkers as possible,” Shalma continued. “The tickets will be only online. Also, with the help of our partners, we will be able to raffle a bunch of tickets.”
Since the news of European artists utilizing empty drive-in movie theaters to host safe concert events began to spread across the music community late last month, promoters in North America have borrowed the innovative idea to plan social-distancing performances of their own. American electronic producer Marc Rebillet recently announced the U.S.’s first drive-in tour, while the Texas Rangers’ Globe Life Park will host a four-night drive-in concert series in early June. Spafford also recently announced plans to host their own drive-in performance to be held at Mesa, AZ’s Digitial Drive-In later this month.
[H/T Time Out New York]