Concerts returning to Chicago this summer
CHICAGO - It has been a long year for the music industry and its fans.
But that is all changing with a very welcome announcement on Tuesday. Wrigley Field says concerts are coming back, and they're not the only ones.
Wrigley announced at least a half dozen shows that had to be canceled last summer, including: Chris Stapleton, Guns N’ Roses, Green Day, Fall Out Boy and Weezer, Lady Gaga, Def Leppard and Motley Crue, and Maroon 5.
A similar announcement was made from Ravinia Festival, which will be back with live music starting in July.
"It actually will have been two years since there's been music on the stage cause the last time was 2019 and that's a very long time," said Ravinia President and CEO Jeff Haydon.
The schedule is not out, but he promised the same variety of music, the same summer residency for the Chicago Symphony, and improved speaker quality on the lawn, which this year will be divided up for social distancing.
"We’re actually going to draw hundreds of squares out on the lawn and when you go to buy your ticket for the lawn, it'll be like a seating chart for the lawn," Haydon said.
Music lovers are urged to get tickets early. With COVID-19 restrictions, most shows are expected to sell out.
"There will be some things different. Everything will be outside. No indoor performances. It will be a reduced capacity," Haydon said. "What that capacity is, we don't know right now but we know it will be reduced."
The final Ravinia schedule is expected to be released at the end of April, tickets will go on sale in May, and the season itself will run July through late September -- about a month later than a typical year.