Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon and Jennifer Hudson are among the first batch of artists announced to headline the New York City “homecoming concert” in New York’s Central Park this summer.
While the concert, taking place on the park’s Great Lawn as part of a weeklong celebration of the city’s reopening, was provisionally scheduled for Aug. 21, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news conference Thursday that there are “a lot more details to come” about the event, which is booked in collaboration with the iconic music producer Clive Davis.
“This is going to be one of the greatest Central Park concerts in history,” de Blasio said. “This is something for the ages.”
Davis has previously said that eight “iconic” stars will round out the show, with an audience of 60,000 expected.
Springsteen has already become a fixture of the city’s reopening, with his show “Springsteen on Broadway” reopening on June 26 and running through Sept. 4. While The Boss will perform on Broadway most Saturdays, an Aug. 21 date is missing from the schedule.
“[Springsteen] is beloved in New York City in an extraordinary way,” de Blasio said, “even though he happens to come from Jersey — no one’s perfect.”
Simon famously performed in Central Park with Art Garfunkel in 1981, a performance memorialized in a concert album released the following year. He performed in the park again, solo, a decade later.
Davis took over Columbia Records in 1960s and signed Springsteen to the label in 1972. He also worked with Simon & Garfunkel, who released all their studio albums under Columbia. In 2006, Davis signed Hudson to J Records.