[UPDATE 6/3/21]: Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage has detailed its full 2021 season lineup.
The long-running free festival will take place throughout the summer at various venues including Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park, Queens’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park, and Coney Island, Brooklyn’s Coney Island Amphitheater.
The 2021 SummerStage season will open with a free concert featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis on Thursday, June 17 in Central Park.
Two days later, on June 19th, music fans can head to Marcus Garvey and celebrate Juneteenth with a free, outdoor screening of Questlove‘s award-winning new Summer of Soul documentary about the nearly-forgotten 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival in the same park in which the festival originally took place. The 2021 SummerStage schedule also features a drive-in movie series at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
The Charlie Parker Jazz Festival will also return to the SummerStage docket this year, with saxophonist Donald Harrison and more set to perform at the August 28th–29th event in Harlem.
SummerStage in Central Park will also host several paid benefit performances this season. Blue Note at SummerStage will present three shows, each with two seatings, a matinee and an evening show. Blue Note at SummerStage performers on the schedule include Chris Botti, George Clinton & Parliament-Funkadelic, Galactic w/ Anjelika “Jelly” Joseph and special guest MonoNeon, On June 20th, GRAMMY award-winning trumpeter Chris Botti will kick off the series.
The Bowery Presents benefit shows will include hip-hop/rap-rocker Machine Gun Kelly, genre-fluid outfit Lake Street Dive, folk-rockers Dawes, and a folk-rock co-bill featuring Indigo Girls with Ani DiFranco. Tickets must be purchased in advance for all benefit performances and are on sale now at at the SummerStage website.
“The last year has been enormously difficult for our city, but New York City’s parks have provided needed respite. Now, our parks will help us re-engage with one another, generating the unique energy that is sparked only by experiencing live performance collectively,” said Heather Lubov, City Parks Foundation’s Executive Director. “This year’s SummerStage line-up reflects our city’s tenacity and spirit, its vibrancy and creativity. We are thrilled to be back.”
Of note, all of this year’s performances, both free and pain, will require you to book a ticket to attend.
SummerStage will be operating at modified production levels and performances will initially be held at a reduced capacity at all venues to abide by social distancing requirements. Ticket pod requests must be made in advance through our online entry form. Forms will be available three (3) weeks prior to each show. Ticket request forms will open on Mondays at 12:00PM ET on the show specific webpage at SummerStage.org.
Requesting a ticket does not guarantee entry. Attendees who are selected at random will be emailed their ticket confirmation in advance of the show. Sign up for the SummerStage newsletter here for show information and ticket reservation reminders closer to show dates.
As New York State and City safety guidelines for public gatherings are rapidly changing, City Parks Foundation will frequently update our audiences on venue safety protocols. Details will be shared on our website and on our Twitter and Facebook pages in advance of each show. For the most current guidelines, show updates, and additional venue information and restrictions, click here.
Click below to see a full list of 2021 events at all SummerStage venues.
Coney Island, Brooklyn:
July 17: Gloria Gaynor at Coney Island with DJ Stormin Norman
July 18: La India
August 7: Funk Flex Birthday Party with Ginuwine and Friends at Coney Island
August 29: Invincible: A Glorious Tribue to Mike Jackson with DJ KS360 at Coney Island
[4/12/21]: With ticketed events finally allowed to return to New York City this spring, the city’s longest-running music festival Capitol One City Parks Foundation SummerStage will reopen for business at the Rumsey Playfield (Central Park) and Marcus Garvey Park (Harlem) venues.
On Monday, City Parks Foundation, the non-profit that runs the SummerStage city-wide concert series, announced its first of hopefully many ticketed events for the 2021 season with an in-person concert from Dawes and Erin Rae scheduled for September 17th in Central Park. Tickets for the event go on sale starting this Friday, April 16th, at 10 a.m. ET. Prior to that, CPF has promised free music and dance performances throughout the summer.
According to reports, SummerStage will “follow all state and local regulations regarding large-scale outdoor events, including limited capacity and socially distanced seating.” To enter the venue, attendees will be required to show proof of a COVID-19 vaccine and/or a negative COVID-19 test, while also partaking in health screenings.
All 2020 SummerStage events will also be streamed online, rights permitting.
Click here for event ticket info.
We are thrilled to announce our return to live, in-person performances this summer! Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage will return with free music and dance performances, pending adjustments to current NYC restrictions. Stay tuned for more! https://t.co/KA7ugZxjFz pic.twitter.com/DOW4e6Y2rB
— SummerStage (@SummerStage) April 12, 2021