The Rady Shell’s 2023 summer season includes 8 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees
The lineup mixes such legends as Buddy Guy, Van Morrison and Patti LaBelle with younger acts, including Charlie Puth, Tash Sultana and The National Youth Orchestra
Sting is not the first Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee who has marveled aloud — as he did last December — about The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park while performing at the striking outdoor venue, which is more informally known as The Shell.
That distinction goes to Sting’s former band mate in The Police and fellow Rock Hall of Famer, Stewart Copeland. He performed at The Shell in August 2021, the same month the $85 million Shell opened.
The performance kicked off a 40-concert outdoor season for the new venue, whose lineup includes orchestral performances by Jason Mraz, Police co-founder Stewart Copeland and rapper Nas
“It’s a fantastic venue. Venues like that are the reason we play music,” said Copeland, a onetime Ocean Beach resident, in a Union-Tribune interview that year.
“The Shell is amazing,” agreed Austin Howle, the principal tuba player in the Montreal Symphony. “It’s by far the best outdoor venue — hands down — I’ve ever played in. The sound is great on stage.
“My understanding is that it sounds just as good in the audience. And The Shell has an amazing vibe, being right by the bay. You guys are lucky to have something that special.”
Howell has performed several concerts at The Shell as a substitute tuba player. Copeland appeared with the San Diego Symphony as part of The Shell’s inaugural season, while Sting was accompanied there by his five-piece band last December for a private corporate gig.
The concert, a prelude to a national 2021/2022 tour, will feature the San Diego Symphony, Paul McCartney’s lead guitarist, three singers and more
The Shell’s 2023 summer season — which opened June 30 with Rafael Payare conducting the symphony — features orchestra-free concerts by at least eight other Rock Hall of Famers.
They include Mavis Staples, Buddy Guy, Van Morrison, Gladys Knight, The Beach Boys, Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo, and The Jacksons, whose three principal singers were inducted as members of The Jackson 5.
Two-time rock Hall inductee Neil Young performs a sold-out show July 11. His concert was booked by an outside promoter and is not part of The Shell’s season, which concludes with an Oct. 12 double-header by Richard Marx and John Waite.
The two-time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee is hitting the road, sans band, for his first tour of any kind since before the COVID-19 pandemic
This summer’s lineup also includes concerts at which the symphony will perform alongside such stylistically disparate artists as Mariachi Los Camperos, the hip-hop group Cypress Hill and the rock band Guster.
“There was a lot of anticipation and excitement when we opened The Shell,” said Payare, the symphony’s charismatic music director. He also leads the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and is a frequent guest conductor in Europe.
“Now that people have been to The Shell and seen and heard what it can do, that excitement has grown. When I perform in Canada and Europe, people there know about The Shell and ask me about it.”
The concert in New York is a prelude to the symphony’s Nov. 4 grand re-opening concert at Jacobs Music Center’s Copley Symphony Hall, following the venue’s $125 million revitalization
‘A very dynamic venue’
No matter who is headlining — or whether the concert is with, or without, orchestral accompaniment — The Shell is a venue with many more moving parts than most concertgoers notice or can even imagine.
“That is absolutely the case. There are hundreds of moving parts and it’s a very dynamic venue,” said Travis Wininger, the symphony’s vice president of venue operations.
Just how dynamic was most recently demonstrated on the weekend of June 16-18, when The Shell hosted three concerts by three different artists, with three different seating configurations each night.
For John Legend’s June 16 performance, the tables at the front two sections of the venue were removed to make room for more rows of seats. The capacity was 7,000.
For the June 17 show by DJ, producer and instrumentalist Seven Lions — for which The Shell was rented by an outside promoter — all the seats were removed and the concert was standing-room-only. The capacity was 8,500.
For the June 18 performance by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees Earth, Wind & Fire, the seats were set back up, along with the tables. The capacity was 5,000.
“We set the 7,000 seats up on Thursday night for John Legend’s Friday concert “ Wininger said.
“Then, on Friday, as soon as his show ended and the audience had left, we removed all the seats — starting at 10:30 p.m. — for Saturday’s Seven Lions concert. That took until 4 a.m. or 5 a.m. After Seven Lions, we put the tables and seats back for the Earth, Wind & Fire concert, but not as many seats as for John Legend.
“On show days, the stage crews for visiting bands and solo acts usually load in at 8 a.m. On any given night, we have probably 100 employees, not including food and beverage people, which would take it up to 160. And that doesn’t include the 60 volunteers we have at each show.”
Concertgoers encounter some of those employees and volunteers, but much of the work takes place before the doors open each night. As The Shell launches its third summer season, its profile appears set to grow.
“Part of our mission is to attract more people to come to San Diego for cultural tourism,” said San Diego Symphony CEO Martha Gilmer.
“And we’re seeing that more and more with The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park. With our indoor home, the Jacobs Music Center, reopening this fall, we really plan to shine a light on this city.”
Did you know?
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park occupies 3.6 acres within Embarcadero Marina Park South and is open 85 percent of the year as a public park. More than 99 percent of The Shell’s $85 million budget was covered by philanthropic donations.
The Shell’s 2023 Rock Hall of Famers
At least eight Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees will perform as part of the San Diego Symphony’s 2023 summer season at The Shell, among them:
The Beach Boys (July 1): Formed in Hawthorne in 1961, this quintessential Southern California band scored 36 U.S. Top 40 hits, including “I Get Around,” “Fun, Fun, Fun” and “Good Vibrations.” You’ll hear a good number of them when 82-year-old lead vocalist Mike Love, the Beach Boys’ sole original member, leads the latest iteration of the group down memory lane. It will be the band’s first time here with its two newest members, drummer Jon Bolton and lead guitarist John Wedemeyer.
The Jacksons and the Village People (July 16): How do Marlon, Jackie and Tito fare on stage without their brothers, Jermaine, Randy and the deceased Michael Jackson? How long is their extended live version of The Jacksons’ 1978 disco hit, “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)?” You can soon find out. And speaking of disco, the show features the current edition of the Village People, led by founding lead singer Victor Willis, a San Diego resident.
Mavis Staples (Aug. 6): This Chicago-bred vocal dynamo will turn 83 on July 10 and may well steal the show when she appears at The Shell with Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Ziggy Marley and the Robert Randolph Band. Staples sits on a chair for part of her concerts these days, but when her voice ignites she is still a mighty force of nature.
Gladys Knight (Aug. 19): At 79, this classic Motown singer is younger than most of the other Shell-bound Rock Hall of Famers. Her 2021 Shell concert found Knight in strong voice and high spirits as she performed songs from her eight-decade career. (Knight was only 8 years old when she won a 1952 edition of the TV show “Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour.”) With vocal powerhouse Patti LaBelle, also 79, sharing the bill at this Shell concert, expect both singers to up their game.
Van Morrison (Sept. 4): Will Van Morrison change his repertoire for American concert audiences? His recent European tour found the storied Irish troubadour sounding re-energized and earning rave reviews for shows that averaged 20 songs a night, all by artists who influenced him in his youth. Most of them are from his latest album, “Moving on Skiffle,” including Elizabeth Cotten’s “Freight Train,” Lead Belly’s “Cotton Fields” and Hank Snow’s “I’m Moving On.”
Buddy Guy’s “Damn Right Farewell Tour,” with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram (Sept. 7): Blues giant Buddy Guy turns 86 on July 30, but he’s barely slowing down. His 2023 farewell tour finds the incandescent guitarist and singer doing 128 concerts on multiple continents. His Shell show will represent a passing of the torch — his opening act, 24-year-old blues wiz Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, is a protege who is already extending Guy’s legacy.
The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park 2023 Season Lineup
All concerts are at 7:30 p.m. unless indicated otherwise. Shows marked * are presented by outside promoters, not the San Diego Symphony.
Friday, June 30: Opening night, with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Rafael Payare, featuring trumpeter Pacho Flores. $22-$100.
Saturday, July 1: The Beach Boys. $22-$220.
Sunday, July 2: “ARETHA: A Tribute,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Lucas Waldin, featuring vocalists Capathia Jenkins, Ryan Shaw, Sydney Harper, Rajdulari and Randy Chalmers. $22-$100.
Tuesday, July 4: San Diego’s 4th of July Dance Party: C&C Music Factory and DJ Prince Hakim. $22-$100. (7 p.m.)
Friday, July 7: “Apollo 13 in Concert,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Nicholas Buc. $32-$135.
Saturday, July 8: “How to Train Your Dragon in Concert,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Nicholas Buc. $22-$100.
Sunday, July 9: Charlie Puth presents the “Charlie” Live Experience with opener Alexander Stewart. $50-$280. (7 p.m.)
July 11: Neil Young, with Chris Pierce. Sold out. *
Friday, July 14: Steve Hackman’s “Tchaikovsky x Drake,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Steve Hackman. $22-$100.
Sunday, July 16: The Jacksons and the Village People, $32-$135.
Tuesday, July 25: Cypress Hill Performs “Black Sunday” with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, $32-$225.
Friday, July 28: National Youth Orchestra-USA, with Sir Andrew Davies and Gil Shaham. $20-$75.
Saturday, July 29: Guster, with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez. $22-$100.
Sunday, July 30: Mariachi Los Camperos with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Enrico Lopez-Yañez. $20-$75.
Friday, Aug. 4: “Beethoven by the Bay,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Johann Stuckenbruck, featuring pianist Eric Lu. $22-$100.
Saturday, Aug. 5: “Clouds in My Coffee: The Trailblazing Music of Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Carly Simon,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Ted Sperling, featuring vocalists Andréa Burns, Morgan James and Capathia Jenkins. $22-$100.
Sunday, Aug. 6: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue and Ziggy Marley, with Mavis Staples and the Robert Randolph Band. $32-$135. (6 p.m.)
Friday, Aug. 11: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, in Concert” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Justin Freer. $32-$135.
Saturday, Aug. 12: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2, in Concert” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Justin Freer. $32-$135.
Sunday, Aug. 13: Gipsy Kings, featuring Nicolas Reyes. $32-$135.
Friday, Aug. 18: Judy Collins and Madeleine Peyroux, with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sean O’Loughlin. $32-$135.
Thursday, Aug. 17: Michael Franti & Spearhead, with Soja. $55-$85. *
Saturday, Aug. 19: Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle. $45-$220.
Sunday, Aug. 20: “When The Saints Go Marching In,” with trumpeter and conductor Byron Stripling and the San Diego Symphony, featuring vocalist Miche Braden, keyboardist Bobby Floyd and bassist Rob Thorsen. $22-$100.
Aug. 22: Tash Sultana. $44.50-$54.50. *
Friday, Aug. 25: “Broadway Romance,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Rob Fisher, featuring vocalists Mikaela Bennett and Ross Lekites. $22-$100.
Saturday, Aug. 26: “In the Air Tonight: A Symphonic Celebration of Genesis and Phil Collins,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Stuart Chafetz, featuring drummer Brian Kushmaul and vocalists Aaron Finley and Brook Wood. $22-$100.
Aug. 27: Michael Bolton. $32-$115.
Friday, Sept. 1: “Tchaikovsky Spectacular,” with the San Diego Symphony, conducted by Christopher Dragon, featuring pianist Steven Lin. $22-$100.
Saturday, Sept. 2: The Music of Selena, featuring vocalist Isabel Marie Sánchez, with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Dragon. $22-$100.
Sunday, Sept. 3: Counting Crows, with Frank Turner. $45-$220. (6:30 p.m.)
Monday, Sept. 4: Van Morrison. $65-$325.
Thursday, Sept. 7: Buddy Guy’s “Damn Right Farewell Tour,” with Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, $32-$135
Saturday, Sept. 9: “Bebop and Beyond: The Music of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie,” with alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, trumpeters Gilbert Castellanos and Jeremy Pelt, alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, bassist David Wong and drummer Joe Farnsworth. $20-$75.
Friday, Sept. 22: “Classic Albums Live performs Creedence Clearwater Revival: Chronicle, Vol. 1,” $22-$100.
Saturday, Sept. 23: “Classic Albums Live performs Led Zeppelin II,” $22-$100.
Tuesday, Sept. 26: Jethro Tull. $45-$220.
Wednesday, Oct. 4: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo. $32-$266.
Sunday, Oct. 8: 98° & All-4-One. $32-$115. (7 p.m.)
Thursday, Oct. 12: Richard Marx, with John Waite. $32-$135.
Friday, Oct. 13: Nickel Creek. $34.50-$84.50. *
Phone: (619) 235-0804
Box office: The Shell’s box office, located at 222 Marina Park Way, is open Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday, from 11a.m. to 5 p.m.
Online: theshell.org
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