Music fans will have more options than ever to catch a concert in Atlantic City this Memorial Day weekend, but that's not when the music stops. The entire southern Jersey shore region will popping with music of all kinds this summer — including rockabilly, jazz, classcial, rock, blues, R&B and reggae.
The Persuasions perform on the beach in Somers Point for a free concert Friday, July 20.
Music fans will have more options than ever to catch a concert in Atlantic City this Memorial Day weekend, but that's not when the music stops. The entire southern Jersey shore region will popping with music of all kinds this summer — including rockabilly, jazz, classcial, rock, blues, R&B and reggae.
This year, the Atlantic City region has a full slate of top-tier concerts, from Beyoncé and Metallica to Phish, Yes, J Lo, and James Taylor.
With the June 1-3 Atlantic City Multi-Cultural Festival, the Atlantic City concert series at Gardner's Basin, the International Series at Kennedy Plaza (presented by the Atlantic City Free Public Library) and the Somers Point Beach Concerts series (celebrating its 20th year) music lovers will have many opportunities to chill out and listen to free concerts this summer.
The five-show series, co-sponsored by the City of Atlantic City and Atlantic City Free Public Library, kicks off on Saturday, June 2. Opening acts begin at 1pm and headliners start at 4pm and play until dusk. The concerts are free and open to the public.
The schedule for the series at Gardner's Basin is as follows:
• Saturday, June 2 – Third World, Evelyn “Champagne” King and Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes headline the show. Sensa Motion Band, Bob Sterling and Jackie Greggs open the show.
• Saturday, June 23 – Tavares, Con Funk Shun and Kool Moe Dee headline the show. Eddie Morgan Rek’d 4 Jazz, The Emperors and Essence Pittman open the show.
• Saturday, July 21 – War and the Chi-Lites headline the show. Rick Cason Express, Mark Big & Tasty Baxter, Jack and Judah Dorrington open the show.
• Saturday, Aug. 4 – 2012 Gospel Fest featuring Kurt Carr and The Kurt Carr Singers
• Saturday, Aug. 18 – Cameo and Enchantment headline the show. Coolist & Maceo Mobley, Special Occasion, and Angela Burton and Passion, open the show.
The Friday evening Somers Point Beach Concert (free, 7-9pm, Somers Point beach on Bay Avenue)) series 20th anniversary schedule includes:
• Friday, June 15 — Lionel Young Band (Multi Blues Award Winning Violinist)
• June 22 — Bonerama (Rockin’ Funky Trombone led Brass Band from New Orleans)
• June 29 — Commander Cody Band (Country Swing and Rockin’ Boogie Woogie Recording Stars)
• July 4 — Bob Campanell Band featuring Danny Eyer (Jersey Shore Rock ‘n Roll Icon with his favorite lead guitarist)
• July 6 — Jeremiah Hunter Band (Favorites from The Soul Survivors & Fullhouse)
• July 13 — Rick Estrin & The Nightcats (World Class Jump, Swing Blues Recording Artists)
• July 20 — The Persuasions, plus The Shakes (Legendary Doo-Wop Vocal Stars PLUS Motown Party Dance Songs)
• July 27 — Dr. Bobby Fingers, plus Hawkins Road (Popular Sing-a-long songs PLUS The Best Country Rock)
• Aug. 3 — Scott Kirby w/ Lew London (One of Margaritaville Radio’s most requested Artists)
• Aug. 10 — Billy Walton Band with Arthur Migliaza (Jersey Shore Rock ‘n Roll Hero with New Orleans Piano)
• Aug. 17 — Midori Brothers Band feat. Franny Smith (Swingin’ Tribute to Benny Goodman & New Orleans Favorites)
• Aug. 24 — Walter Trout (International Rockin’ Blues Guitar Headliner)
• Aug. 31 — Jill West and Blues Attack (Western Pennsylvania’s No. 1 Party Dance Band)
• Sept. 7 Reverend Raven & the Chain Smokin' Altra Boys (Rockabilly Swing & Roots Rock ‘n Roll)
Also, the Atlantic Club (formerly the Hilton) has announced it will be starting up a jazz series at the property's Ono restaurant. Kicking off the weekly series will be Michael Pedicin (June 10), who will be followed by John DiMartino (June 17), Elio Villifranca (June 24), John Collianni (July 1) and Alex Brown (July 8). The peformances are 6-9pm and there is no cover charge.
Finally, this holiday weekend, Peter Nero and the Philly POPS perform at the new Convention Hall in Cape May (Sat., May 26, 8pm, $150).
“The location was the key. A beautiful backdrop of the bay, with all types of boats cruising past, and the Ocean City skyline [across the bay].”
Plus the Viking Cooking School's Hot Summer Line-up, Atlantic City's International Nights concert series and Drew Toonz
The casino and entertainment industries and the millions of visitors expected over the next 12 weeks are each gearing up for a summer entertainment program that seems to be picking up where the packed season-launching weekend left off.
A look back at 2011 in the Atlantic City area in photographs.
This year’s Atlantic City “Thunder Over the Boardwalk” Air Show will tie into the series with seven outstanding bands performing Monday through Wednesday, Aug. 15-17, including about six hours of music beyond when the air show ends (around 3:30pm) Wednesday.
"I lost 25 years of music, man. All of my reel-reel tapes, just a whole bunch of different stuff that I collected through the years. The same thing with a lot of people, man. Gatemouth Brown, his whole house almost blew away. Talking to musicians, you can hear story after story about how they lost basically everything. So, yeah, a lot of stuff has been lost, but when the people got scattered, like we were talking about — like when I moved to Austin, Texas, the gumbo spilled into the chili. And that means that everywhere people from New Orleans got to, the gumbo is now in all of those places too, so it’s like New Orleans’ culture is America’s culture now. We are everywhere. There’s gumbo being cooked in places where gumbo had never been cooked before. There are black Indians somewhere in the snow! You know? So, our culture has been spread all over the United States."
"I mean I’m still in the process of rounding out my game, even now. I think that’s something you’re always shooting for. And especially me, I am a late bloomer. I’m really just starting to be able to actually kind of do it at this stage of my life, which is sad because those hit records that I had, if I could’ve done what I do now, who knows what could have happened?"
When it comes to southern New Jersey in the summer, the most plentiful freebie out there is music. Hey, even the sand and the surf aren’t free in most beach towns. But thanks to the Atlantic City Boardwalk, the Somers Point bay beaches and other spots around the region, there’s never a shortage of free concerts to enjoy.
Between Friday and Monday, Atlantic City will experience the single biggest weekend of entertainment the town has ever seen, and with the most demographically diverse collection of artists, too. Few cities anywhere can match the quality, quantity and calibre of shows this weekend, if ever.
“I dreamed that this would happen and it’s here. It’s so great to be back with Brian. It’s a remarkable milestone. Fifty years is a long time. Everything about this made sense. Capitol Records offered us a record deal and we were thrilled about that."
“We’re just pleased that people have responded to what we do,” Carney says. “It’s a lot different than when we started out.”
A comprehensive listing of entertainment coming to the Atlantic City casinos, Boardwalk Hall and Bader Field.
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