From last spring until this fall, we loved the #musicmoves you shared with us from Levitt lawns across the country! Levitteers filled our #musicmoves live feed with photos and videos capturing the excitement at hundreds of free Levitt shows throughout the 2016 concert season. Watch our #musicmoves highlights video, and below, check out this year’s #musicmoves contest winners who won iTunes gift cards for showing us their moves! Continue reading
The Levitt AMP grant applications are in—and soon, you will be able to help decide which towns and cities will have the chance to win $25K in matching funds to present their own free outdoor concert series! This year’s applicants span the entire country, from Vermont to Washington state, and all have the goal of revitalizing an underused public space in their communities through free, live music.
Because community involvement is the key to all Levitt programs, your votes make each Levitt AMP Music Series possible. Online public voting opens next Tuesday, November 1, so rally your friends, family, neighbors, and colleagues now to sign up to vote!
Singer-songwriter Paul Thorn has a heavy touring schedule of about 150 shows a year, but what keeps the Southern rocker energized through it all is the “collaboration of joy” between artist and audience. “I go out and try to lift people up,” he told us for this latest Meet the Artist video.
The Levitt veteran artist uses his music to spread positivity to the masses, because he knows that for many of his fans, there’s nothing like ending a long day with a night of music, especially at the Levitt Shell Memphis. It’s here where Thorn witnesses the power of music firsthand, with neighbors of all backgrounds coming together for a good time. “Magic,” indeed!
Fan of the blues? Punk? Jazz? Gospel? Then you’ve got to check out Seratones, closing out the Levitt AMP North Adams Music Series this coming Sunday. This genre-bending band formed in 2013, and just two years later, Seratones signed to indie label Fat Possum, which boasts an impressive roster of blues and rock artists, including The Black Keys and Al Green. Continue reading
These buddies sure got a blast of blue earlier this concert season at Levitt AMP Sheboygan! Levitteers in this Wisconsin city were invited to take part in art activities prior to each free show, including face painting, writing poetry, and chalking up the streets (and each other!). Though on such fun-filled evenings, there’s no way you can feel blue!
While we look back at Levitt lawn action from this summer, the music goes on at Levitt AMP Charlottesville and Levitt AMP Cleveland, with free concerts continuing over the next two weeks. Check out their lineups and bring your buddies to the next show!
In anticipation of Levitt Pavilion Denver’s 2017 debut, Levitteers from the Mile-High City will be treated to the rootsy folk music of Levitt veteran performer John Fullbright tonight at Civic Center Park. This free concert will complete Levitt Denver’s teaser series, which featured five shows headlined by acclaimed musicians.
At just 28-years-old, Fullbright has already received numerous accolades for his music, including a GRAMMY Award nomination (Best Americana Album) for his album, From the Ground Up (2012), that put him alongside high-profile names like The Avett Brothers and Bonnie Raitt. The prodigal singer-songwriter began playing the piano at the age of five, and by his senior year in high school, Fullbright was slotted to play the Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in his hometown of Okemah, Okla. Continue reading
Pop legend Jimmy Webb first played Levitt Pavilion Los Angeles in 2013. He returned to the venue this past summer, treating excited audience members to an acoustic rendition of his iconic song, “MacArthur Park.”
September is National Piano Month and we’re celebrating the talented pianists who have graced Levitt stages throughout the years. Moving a grand piano on stage is no easy task—though it’s well worth the effort to hear this colossal instrument produce a wide range of colorful sounds, from delicate arpeggios to bombastic rhapsodies. It’s no wonder why artists as diverse as Marcia Ball (New Orleans blues), Vijay Iyer (jazz) and David Troy Francis (classical) are inspired to play the ivories. Can you guess how much a grand piano weighs? Find out the answer and other fun facts about the instrument below, then listen to our playlist of piano virtuosos who have played Levitt venues! Continue reading
Legendary tenor saxophonist George Coleman returns to his hometown of Memphis this weekend and will grace the Levitt Shell Memphis stage with the Rhodes College Jazz Band. Coleman has toured and collaborated with music’s most celebrated players, including Miles Davis, BB King and Ray Charles. His decades-long career in music started just two years after picking up the alto saxophone at the age of 17, inspired by influential bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker. Continue reading
Summer is coming to an end—that means earlier sunsets, fall foliage and students back in school. But before the season turns, moms, dads, siblings, cousins, grandparents, aunts and uncles across the country are outdoors soaking up the sun together enjoying this Labor Day holiday.
Whether you’re cooking up a delicious barbecue, picnicking at a park, or grooving to the sounds of Funky Blu Roots on the Levitt AMP Utica lawn, we wish you and your family a fun holiday!
Tonight, Levitt AMP Asbury Park will host an inspirational show to close out its free music series headlined by Vy Higginsen’s Harlem Teens Choir. The choir is part of the Gospel for Teens program, founded by New York radio personality Vy Higginsen and her daughter Ahmaya Knoelle, with the purpose of preserving the gospel music genre. “[Gospel is] a story of a people in song, created out of an American experience,” said Higginsen in an Emmy Award-winning segment of “60 Minutes” that documented the music education program. Continue reading