NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday that the city is planning a large-scale concert at Central Park in celebration of the city's reopening.
The mega concert will be held on the Great Lawn in August and will be the focal point of "Homecoming Week," a weeklong celebration to declare that New York City is bouncing back from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We decided to do something classic, iconic - a massive concert in Central Park to celebrate the rebirth of the city," de Blasio said. "It will emphatically make the point - there is no stopping New York."
The mayor’s office asked music industry giant and Brooklyn-born Clive Davis to produce the show and sign up musical stars for the event with an emphasis on New York artists.
"This concert is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," de Blasio told the New York Times. "It’s going to be an amazing lineup. The whole week is going to be like nothing you’ve ever seen before in New York City."
So far, no artists have been confirmed, but early plans call for eight "iconic" artists to perform a three-hour set for 60,000 people that would also be broadcast on televisions worldwide.
Davis, who has worked with acts including John Legend, Alicia Keys, and Kelly Clarkson, said that the mayor reached out to him about the concert, approximately three weeks ago.
"I can’t think of a better place than the Great Lawn of Central Park to be the place where you say that New York is reopening," he said.
The majority of tickets will be free with some V.I.P. seating, Davis added.
There would also be vaccinated and unvaccinated sections at the concert, with about 70 percent of tickets offered to those who are vaccinated, the mayor’s office said.