IMS to keep Indy 500 Legends Day concert downtown in 2023; here's who will headline
County music star Brad Paisley will headline this year’s Legends Day Concert on May 27, the night before the Indianapolis 500, in a return to the TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced Tuesday.
Paisley, the three-time Grammy Award winner and one of country music’s most successful artists, follows Dierks Bentley’s performance from a year ago in a what was both a return of a Month of May staple as well as a change to race week festivities. The first six Legends Day concerts, which began in 2014 and have included Jason Aldean, Florida Georgia Line, Blake Shelton, Keith Urban, Sam Hunt and Zac Brown Band, were held on the IMS grounds until the pandemic altered the race’s lead-up and forced IMS officials to cancel concerts in 2020 and 2021.
When they returned a year ago, track owner Roger Penske and president Doug Boles opted to move the Saturday evening concert away from the track to try and divert the flow and excitement of the day towards the city center and allow track workers to prepare to host what last year was 325,000 fans on race day.
Legends Day will begin Saturday morning with the public drivers’ meeting and driver autograph session in Pagoda Plaza at IMS. Though the schedule for the morning’s festivities at the track have not yet been released, IMS says it will open the gates for fans from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The 500 Festival Parade starts downtown Saturday at noon as a series of bands, floats, celebrities, public officials and all 33 drivers from the 500 grid will circulate through the downtown streets.
Paisley and guest artists Russell Dickerson and Jackson Dean will cap the day with their show at 7 p.m. Tickets will be available starting at 10 a.m. Friday, March 31 at LiveNation.com. Ticket prices were not announced. The TCU Amphitheater typically holds about 3,500 on its lawn and 2,500 reserved seats.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy 500 Legends Day: Brad Paisley to perform at TCU Amphitheater
