YOUNGSTOWN — A man who could fill his entire set with songs that topped one of the Billboard country charts will be the headliner for this year’s Y-Live concert.
Tim McGraw will perform at downtown Youngstown’s Wean Park on Aug. 2. It will be the third Y-Live concert at that location and the sixth event since the annual outdoor event debuted in 2017
Ken Bigley, chief operating officer for JAC Live and JAC Management Group, called McGraw an iconic artist.
“For Y-Live we want a certain collection of qualities, obviously being able to sell tickets and being a big star is the top one,” he said. “We try to keep it as wide-reaching as we can – (appeal to) a diverse audience, different genres, vast age groups.
“With Tim he’s an iconic artist. He’s been around 30 years, but he’s more relevant today than he’s ever been. He’s not only a music star, but I use the word icon because of what’s he’s done for country music, his collaboration with Nelly and some of the other things that helped bring country music into the mainstream, and he’s been in a lot of movies – ‘The Blind Side,’ ‘Friday Night Lights’ – a storybook marriage to Faith HIll, just all of it.”
By himself or as a featured artist with another performer, Tim McGraw has had 30 singles top either the Billboard country and / or country airplay chart. He has sold more than 90 million records worldwide, won three Grammys and was awarded Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association.
“One of the other qualities, he’s a phenomenal live performer,” Bigley said. “When you have someone who can go on stage and play an entire set, and everyone from 15 to 65 knows just about every song, that is something pretty special.”
JAC knows firsthand about McGraw’s appeal as a live artist. The singer played the Covelli Centre in 2012.
Work on each year’s Y-Live concert starts shortly after the last one ends, but the deal with McGraw wasn’t finalized until May 7.
“I happened to go on my Facebook, and you know you have memories show up, it had, ‘Great show Tim McGraw tonight.’ We confirmed it on the 12-year anniversary of the last time he was in Youngstown,” Bigley said.
Also on the bill will be Warren Zeiders, who had a No. 1 country hit last year with “Pretty Little Poison.” In his brief career, Zeiders has amassed more than 2 billion streams and more than 1 billion TikTok views and has 7.3 million monthly Spotify listeners.
Bigley compared Zeiders to artists such as Chris Stapleton and Zach Bryan, who appeal to a different niche of the country audience, and a third act will be added to the bill.
McGraw played in Pittsburgh last month, but there was no Cleveland date on his Standing Room Only tour.
After having the first Y-Live concert in 2017 with the Zac Brown Band at Youngstown StateUniversity’s Stambaugh Stadium, subsequent shows have been scheduled on a Saturday. This will be the first time the event has been held on a Friday, which Bigley said was driven by McGraw’s availability.
Those who have a traditional 9-to-5, Monday to Friday work week won’t have to get up the next morning, but those same concertgoers won’t have as much time to get to the show at the end of the work week
“It’s definitely a factor we took into consideration,” Bigley said. “The doors open at 5 with the first opening act going on at 7, so there’s still plenty of time to get to the show before the main act starts to play.
“From a local standpoint, we have huge group sales and a corporate-buying crowd and great support from local business, so we’re hoping to see a lot of those do a half-day on that Friday. For the farther out customers, we tried to set it deep enough in the day so they can still make it downtown.”
Tickets start at $65 and will go on sale at 10 a.m. May 31 through Ticketmaster. Tickets will not be available at the Covelli Centre’s Southwoods Health box office. Parking passes also will be available through Ticketmaster.
An online-only presale is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. May 30 with the password: YLIVE24
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