Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall, two of New York’s most iconic venues, announced their reopening plans today as the city continues its climb out of the pandemic shutdown era. Leading the charge will be band Foo Fighters, with a June 20 concert that marks MSG’s return as a full-capacity arena rock venue.
The Foo Fighters news comes a day after Bruce Springsteen announced his June 26 return to Broadway in a revival of Springsteen on Broadway and Mayor Bill de Blasio broke news that a massive concert in Central Park, with Clive Davis recruiting talent, will take place in August.
Carnegie Hall, meanwhile, said today that it will reopen in October, with its 2021-2022 season to include more than 100 performances presented on the Hall’s three stages and across New York City. Presented from October through June, the season will feature performances encompassing classical, jazz, and popular music, with highlights including series curated by pianist and composer Jon Batiste and violinist Leonidas Kavakos.
MSG execs are touting the Foo Fighters concert as an historic moment “ushering in the post-Covid arena rock era with Madison Square Garden’s first concert in more than 460 days.”
Said Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl in a statement, “We’ve been waiting for this day for over a year. And Madison Square Garden is going to feel that HARD. New York, get ready for a long ass night of screaming our heads off together to 26 years of Foos.”
Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director, was only a bit less emphatic. “Music and culture are fundamental to the life of this great city, and they will play a central role in helping to underpin our city’s recovery,” he said. “With the health and well-being of our concertgoers as a top priority, we feel it is vital that we do all we can to bring live music back as soon as possible.”
Additional highlights of Carnegie Hall’s 2021-2022 season will include concerts featuring Valery Gergiev with both the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Mariinsky Orchestra; Andris Nelsons with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Yannick Nézet-Séguin with both The Philadelphia Orchestra and The Met Orchestra; and Franz Welser-Möst with The Cleveland Orchestra, plus four performances by the New York Philharmonic with Music Director Jaap van Zweden and conductor Susanna Mälkki.
Also this season at Carnegie: trumpeter and composer Theo Croker in a performance blending post-bop, funk, and electronic music; Grammy Award-nominated singer Jazzmeia Horn in an intimate Zankel Hall concert; Broadway star Jessica Vosk making her Carnegie Hall headlining debut with a program honoring her favorite singers and composers, joined by special guest Kristin Chenoweth; two Zankel Hall performances with singer-songwriter Michael Feinstein; three concerts with Steven Reineke and The New York Pops celebrating music from Broadway plus holiday classics; and Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Youssou NDOUR who returns for an evening featuring his high-voltage brand of Sengalese pop.
In another highlight of the season, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and composer-conductor John Williams will present Across the Stars: The Music of John Williams, a gala evening of Williams’s film music and his new violin concerto written for Mutter, performed with The Philadelphia Orchestra in a special one-night-only April concert benefitting Carnegie Hall.