Rahm Emanuel’s Concert Jam

Chicago Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel will celebrate his election victory with a free concert in the city’s Grant Park – home to Lollapalooza – May 14, two days before he’s sworn in. And he’s going with the hometown boys in more ways than one.

Chicago the band will headline the concert, and Chicago-based Jam Productions will stage it, despite the former White House Chief of Staff’s connections to Live Nation through brother Ari Emanuel, who is head of WME and also sits on the board of LN.

The city also has ties to C3, which produces Lollapalooza in partnership with WME – both of which reportedly contributed heavily to the new Chicago mayor’s campaign. It was also reported that LN/TM respective CEOs Michael Rapino and Irving Azoff donated $5,000 and $10,000 respectively.

Emanuel seems to be going out of his way to assure that there will be no conflicts of interest as mayor.

Mayoral spokeswoman Tarrah Cooper told Chicago music reporter Jim DeRogatis that Emanuel will continue a “hands off” policy on all city dealings with Live Nation/Ticketmaster, WME, C3 and Lollapalooza. Another mayor staffer previously told the reporter an “outside negotiator” would be brought in to handle any dealings with “these companies so that there wasn’t even a question of favoritism.”

The concert will be at the park’s Butler Field and also include fellow Chicagoans J.C. Brooks & The Uptown Sound. VIP access to the free show can be had for $50,000, which also includes a ticket to the inauguration. More acts were expected to be announced soon.