Live music is coming back to Suffolk Downs.
Artist Steve Lacy will be performing in the first show at the former East Boston horse racetrack in 20 years when he takes the stage June 16 – the beginning of The Stage at Suffolk Downs.
The city’s newest outdoor music spot takes up 186,000 square feet, featuring room for up to 8,500 fans.
Suffolk Downs hasn’t hosted a musical show in roughly 20 years, but the venue has attracted some major artists in its existence. The Beatles marked the first band to perform there, playing to 25,000 fans in 1966. The Jackson 5, Radiohead and Bjork also held concerts.
The Stage represents an attempt at reviving the live music scene in Eastie, and fans can expect the new era of shows to be something between a festival and a headlining concert, said Josh Bhatti, senior vice president of The Bowery Presents, a leading concert promotion and venue management company along the East Coast.
“What we were trying to do was have an outdoor venue in a field, nothing more elaborate than that,” Bhatti said, “an area where people can come in, not have a reserved seating section, spread out, have a blanket and spend the day taking in music. That’s something, out of a festival atmosphere here in the city, we really don’t have.”
Lacy kicks off an opening weekend that will also feature shows from rock band LCD Soundsystem on Saturday and supergroup boygenius on Sunday. Tickets are available for the first two shows, but boygenius is sold out.
The Bowery Presents worked with the artists to curate the undercards, Bhatti said.
Gates will open at 3 p.m., with music beginning at 4 and lasting until 10:30 every night.
“To these headlining artists, it takes them out of having to necessarily play in an arena or play a larger bill, where they can play to a good sized crowd,” Bhatti said. “It’s a great way to kick off what the season is here.”
Fans will enjoy the entertainment from the infield of the track, which has been without entertainment since hosting the last horse race in 2019. The new music space offers a 68-foot-wide seasonal stage, and the VIP area includes a dedicated bar, concessions, restrooms and shaded unobstructed views of the performing artists.
Outside of opening weekend, The Stage will stay relatively quiet for the remainder of the summer, besides a two-day Breakaway Festival scheduled for Sept. 14 and 15.
The Bowery Presents is looking to expand over the years, with several shows booked and confirmed for 2024 already, Bhatti said.
His company is opening The Stage in partnership with Boston-based The HYM Investment Group LLC, which is leading the city’s largest private development project in history. That effort will bring about 10,000 apartments and condos, along with retail and restaurants, to Suffolk Downs.
The development project has designated 40 of Suffolk Downs’ 161 acres to open green space, Bhatti said.
“We are contained within that area,” he said. “Over time, things will move and shift around, but the idea is to keep music here for a long time, kind of building the development around it.”
