“A Toast To Summer”: 2024 Summertime By George Concert Lineup Revealed

(KNSI) – Raise your glasses to the 2024 Summertime by George lineup, which was revealed on Thursday evening.

This year’s theme is “A Toast to Summer.” Committee Chair Jill Magelssen says they chose it to convey a big-time party feel.

“You can have a beverage and toast our wonderful event anywhere in the park, and we’re really excited to make the experience so much more user-friendly for anyone that attends. You can look forward to other things. We understand we’re going to have some large inflatable kinds of things, we’ll have some prize drawings.”

The new layout allows alcoholic beverages to be sold and consumed anywhere inside Eastman Park. A wristband system will still be used to ensure sales are made to adults 21 and older.

Like last year, there will only be eight concerts in this series. In addition to the revamped layout, organizers discussed doing the little things right. Proper sound checks and equipment tuning will be handled by a crew at the event, giving the performances a professional feel.

This year’s headliners include four members of the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame. Organizers say the quality of the opening acts is what really makes this a strong year.

Magelssen explained to KNSI News what is driving the change to a later 5:30 start time for the openers. “Well, originally, we started at five thinking that people would come maybe from work straight to Summertime by George, but what what we were finding is that it was actually a little more difficult. We have a lot of young families. For them to get it all together and get down to the park on time, they weren’t quite able to…”

The shows begin on June 19th and run consecutively except for a one-week break around the 4th of July.

The full lineup is listed below.

June 19 – Mason Dixon Line/Harper’s Chord
June 26 – Fred Savage and the Unbeatables/Pandemic
July 10 – Shane Martin (a tribute to Alabama)/Kat Blue
July 17 – Janelle Kendall’s Perfect Storm/Green Light Night
July 24 – The 70s Magic Sunshine Band (new to SBG)/Radio Nation
July 31 – Pamela McNeill (Fleetwood Mac tribute)/Going To The Sun
August 7 – John King/Sawyer’s Dream
August 14 – The Fabulous Armadillos and Collective Unconscious (Eagles and Doobie Brothers tributes/Walter’s Wheelhouse

Rotary is looking to get attendance back to pre-pandemic levels and has stressed tribute bands playing songs everyone knows and loves taking center stage. Extreme heat and weather caused some problems last year, so a couple of acts are getting a second look in 2024, hopefully in more favorable conditions.

More information is here.

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