NYC Green Lights Forest Hills Stadium Summer Concert Series

Forest Hills Stadium, the fabled Queens, NY, venue which hosted legendary concerts by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Talking Heads, Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, and even the Monkees, with opening act Jimi Hendrix, is back in business for the summer. This after receiving conditional approval from the city of New York and Mayor Eric Adams to proceed with its 2025 slate despite some community opposition.

The AEG Presents-promoted 30-date schedule gets underway on May 31 with Bloc Party and Blonde Redhead. Other bookings include two Phish concerts (July 22-23), two dates with Mumford & Sons and Lucius (August 8-9), the All Things Go Music Festival (Sept 26-28) and a pair of Tyler Childers shows (Sept. 29-30), concluding with Big Thief on October 25.

This marks the 13th year that AEG has booked the historic, 14,000-seat venue (started under the auspices of Mike Luba’s Madison House Presents, which AEG acquired in 2014). Forest Hills Stadium, owned by the West Side Tennis Club, was first built in 1923 to host tennis’ prestigious U.S. Open, which it did until 1978, when it shifted over to the newly constructed USTA National Tennis Center across the way from CitiField in Flushing Meadows.

Like the Greek Theaters in Los Angeles and Berkeley, Forest Hills Stadium is located in a residential neighborhood, with traffic and sound something of an ongoing concerns for some disgruntled neighbors and homeowner associations. Discussions had been ongoing between AEG and City Hall that culminated in this morning’s agreement. Queens Borough President Donovan Richards has been particularly active in getting the two sides to work out their issues.

“Forest Hills Stadium is a cultural crown jewel of our borough, bringing diverse crowds from all over the world to Queens every summer through the unifying power of music,” said Richards in a statement. “This historic venue is emblematic of all that makes Queens great, and I’m thrilled to say we’ve struck a deal to ensure the shows will go on in 2025 as planned.”

The NYPD would not issue the venue sound amplification permits until the Forest Hills Gardens corporation allowed police to access private roads in the surrounding area. Instead, a “comprehensive private security strategy” employed by the promoter will be used for security on the grounds.

A City Hall spokesman added, “The NYPD’s conditional approval allows concerts to continue this summer if the stadium meets certain conditions, such as compliance with city noise code and adequate security measures.”

AEG released its own statement earlier today: “As anticipated, we’re pleased to announce that the City of New York has given Forest Hills Stadium the green light for our 2024 concert season to proceed as planned. Each year, our team works with the local community and elected official to bring world-class performances at one of the most iconic music venues in the country.”

The first Forest Hills Stadium show under the AEG banner took place in 2013 with Mumford & Sons, who return this year for their fourth and fifth appearances at the venue.

Live Nation EVP of Strategy Michael Luba, a music industry veteran who still manages String Cheese Incident after 28 years, oversaw the process with the city as part of his AEG joint venture, Tiebreaker Productions, which includes fellow members of his high school tennis team.

“There is nothing new, unusual or unique about this situation,” Luba explained. “Every venue in every city must abide by the laws of the town they’re based in. We have to go through this every year, so it’s not big news, but apparently the New York Post doesn’t agree. We don’t like to reveal how the sausage is made. These negotiations should go on behind the scenes, but it played out exactly how we said it would.  We’re not going to let this thing die on our watch.  It’s been here for almost a century, and our goal is to have it here for another century after we’re gone.”