JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The grand opening act for the new Daily's Place amphitheater this summer will be Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, the Jaguars announced Friday.
The acoustic concert on May 30 will follow the opening show of homegrown Jacksonville favorite Tedeschi Trucks Band on May 27 and a Memorial Day weekend show featuring Train, O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield.
The Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds concert is one of a limited schedule for the pair, and will be their only performance in Florida this year, officials announced.
The Jaguars created an event-planning company, Bold Events LLC, to attract and plan events at the new Daily's Place venue and EverBank Field, which is expected to be completed before Memorial Day.
The Jaguars have partnered with Live Nation to bring a summer concert lineup to the venue, featuring:
- Tedeschi Trucks band with special guest TBA on May 27
- Train with O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield on May 28
- Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds on May 30
- Third Eye Blind with Silversun Pickups on June 11
- Chicago and The Doobie Brothers on July 1
- Dierks Bentley with Cole Swindell and Jon Pardi on July 13
- Foreigner with Cheap Trick and Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience on Aug. 3
- Zac Brown Band on Sept. 21
Live Nation is also bringing Bryan Adams, the Goo Goo Dolls, 311 and Kidz Bop to the amphitheater, but dates for those concerts have not been announced.
“This is only the beginning,” said Bold Events president Mark Lamping. “Daily’s Place is a landmark project in the ongoing revitalization of downtown Jacksonville. Our goals for the amphitheater have always been twofold -- to build a state-of-the-art facility that would attract first-class artists to downtown Jacksonville and to program the venue year-round with a cross section of musical genres for fans across the First Coast and beyond. Today’s announcement represents the first of many to come.”
Ground was broken in August on the state-of-the-art 5,500-seat amphitheater, which is expected to host concerts on Saturday nights before home games and be another venue for events and activities, such as the Florida/Georgia game.
The plan is for the facility to feature about 35 to 40 events each year.
Lamping said he sees other opportunities down the road to possibly use the entire complex for a large-scale music festival.
"All three could be used in a musical situation where you have the main stage on the field, the secondary stage with the amphitheater and a stage in the flex field," Lamping said.
Ticket on-sale dates for this first wave of confirmed shows will vary between acts, but will begin as early as Friday, Feb. 10, with Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. The most up-to-date ticketing information will be available at www.dailysplace.com. Entertainment fans are encouraged to visit the site and register to receive concert and event alerts.
The Jaguars also announced a new priority purchasing benefit for their season ticket members. Ticket renewal notices will be sent to existing season ticket members on Monday. Beginning immediately, all renewed and new Jags365 members will receive presale purchasing opportunities for shows at Daily’s Place.
Could HRO be an issue?
As the Jaguars announced the summer concert lineup that will break in the much-anticipated Daily's Place amphitheater, some in the city are concerned that the big-name acts could shy away from Jacksonville if an expanded Human Rights Ordinance isn't passed.
The Jacksonville City Council is considering a proposal that would amend the city's HRO to include protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
A controversial law in North Carolina, dubbed the “bathroom bill,” caused sporting events and entertainers to shun that state, and raised questions about whether not having LGBT protections on the books could hurt other states and cities financially.
Jacksonville is the largest city in Florida not to offer legal protection to LGBT groups in issues of housing and employment.
For the HRO to pass, 10 out of 19 council members would have to vote in favor of it, and then Mayor Lenny Curry would have to approve the bill.
“Over a year ago, I gave a city directive extending protections to city employees,” Curry said when asked about the issue Friday. “City Council is having a discussion right now on that issue. If they enact legislation, it will come up on my desk, and I will evaluate the legislation at that time.”