Page 8 - The Hunt - Summer 2024

EDITOR'S NOTE
Sounds of Summer
As a diehard live music fan, I can’t wait until the weather warms and a host of acts big and small come out of hiding to tour their latest albums. For me, the unofficial start of the season was this past March, when I headed to Austin, Texas, for five days to watch up-and-coming bands from all over the world perform at the South by Southwest Conference & Festivals. Thousands of artists performed at venues throughout the city, and though I’d never heard of most of them, the sheer glut of talent on display was energizing.
My teenage summers were littered with indelible concert moments. My parents (reluctantly) dropped me off at the Spectrum
to see Heart for my first show at age 12. As I recall, Ann and Nancy Wilson fronted one of the loudest bands in rock at the time. I remember sitting there enthralled, ears ringing, in the arena’s last row, fixated on these tiny, swaying bodies on a distant stage. Three years later, in 1981, the Rolling Stones played an epic summer show at John F. Kennedy Stadium. Quite a few people I know were among the 90,000 sweaty souls blissfully gutting it out on that hot August day. My future wife was there, too—though we didn’t know each other at the time.
Two years later, 105,000 fans packed JFK for a September show headlined by the Who. One of three bands opening the show, legendary punkers the Clash were greeted with boos and, as I recall, a grapefruit hurled from the audience. I also witnessed an altercation in the audience where an Entenmann’s chocolate cake was heaved at the bare back of an unwitting spectator. By that time, we’d already seen sets by Santana and hometown heroes the Hooters.
(Barely) standing since 1926, JFK wasn’t exactly a plush venue. The beleaguered stadium was finally leveled in 1992, seven years after hosting Live Aid. Sadly, I missed that one.
Forty years on, summer tours are still big business. Tickets to the Rolling Stones’ 1981 show at JFK were $16. If you want to check out the Stones on June 11 at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, you can expect to pay at least $145 for a seat way up in the 200 level. In Wilmington, the Grand Opera House has some great live music planned, including new wave icon Joe Jackson (June 14), the Beach Boys (June 23) and acclaimed singer/songwriter Suzanne Vega (Sept. 21). Or head to Rockford Park (Mondays) and Brandywine Park’s Sugar Bowl (Wednesdays)
for the Delaware State Parks Summer Concert Series. Shows run
June-August, and admission is free.
In the Philadelphia suburbs, the Wayne Music Festival celebrates its ninth anniversary, with regional favorites Tommy Conwell & the Young Rumblers headlining. For those who
love to swing, there’s Wilmington’s Clifford Brown Jazz Festival June 19-22. Midsummer brings Rick Springfield ( July 18), Ludacris ( July 20), Turnpike Troubadours ( July 27) and other national acts to the Delaware State Fair in Harrington, and jam-band superpower Phish hosts a four-day festival Aug. 15-18 in Mondegreen.
See you out there.
Hobart Rowland Editor-in-Chief
6 THE HUNT MAGAZINE summer 2024
ED WILLIAMS