Each borough will play host to a major concert during “Homecoming Week” in August, giving thousands of residents a chance to boogie down and enjoy the “Summer of NYC.”
The super-sized summer spectacle will be headlined by the mega concert scheduled for the Great Lawn in Central Park on Aug. 21. On Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island will hold their own musical extravaganzas in the days leading up to the Central Park show.
Produced in part by the Universal Hip Hop Museum in the Bronx, the shows will feature a wide variety of music, according to the museum’s founder, Rocky Bucano, including hip hop, Latin, freestyle, dance, techno and R&B.
“It’ll be reminiscent of the Bronx park jams to get people together to have a good time in peace, love and unity,” Bucano said during de Blasio’s July 22 press briefing. He called the “Homecoming Week” concerts “one of the most historic occasions in the city’s history.
De Blasio said the week of music will serve as a huge celebration for a city still recovering from the worst of COVID-19.
“We have a lot to celebrate,” the mayor said. “We’re closing in on 10 million vaccine doses administered. We’ve got to celebrate the distance we’ve covered in the best way New York knows, by gathering together with the arts and culture of New York City.”
Hizzoner compared the week to the Woodstock music festival of 1969 as potentially being a must-see event New Yorkers won’t want to miss — or may regret missing out on.
“Unless you want to spend the rest of your life saying, ‘Oh my god, I missed it,’ you should get to New York City in August for Homecoming week. Don’t let that FOMO (fear of missing out) thing happen to you.”
The first Homecoming Week show will take place on Monday, Aug. 16, at Orchard Beach in the Bronx, followed the following day by Staten Island’s show, on Tuesday, Aug. 17, at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.
Brooklyn will host its Homecoming Week concert on Thursday, Aug. 19, at the Brooklyn Army Terminal, while the Queens show will happen on Friday, Aug. 20, at the historic Forest Hills Tennis Stadium.
The Central Park show on Aug. 21 already has a number of iconic performers scheduled to appear, including Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson and Bruce Springsteen.
Additional details about the concerts will be announced in the days and weeks ahead. For more information, visit homecoming2021.com.
