YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) – The headline act for the 2023 Y-Live concert in Youngstown was announced on Monday.

Kid Rock will take the stage on Saturday, July 29, at Wean Park. Promoters say Kid Rock performs a high-energy show and “really gets the crowd going,” and while they’ve had a run of country acts, Kid Rock fills the bill spanning many genres.

“We think Kid Rock will be perfect for this kind of show. He is a rock ‘n’ roll icon. He has been around for many years and has sold over 30 million albums. He’s just sort of genre-bending and he’ll sort of cover a lot of ground. He does a little bit of hip-hop with his ’90s stuff and he does rock and country. We think he’ll just be the perfect blend for the show,” said Phoebe Breckenridge, director of marketing for JAC Management Group, which is promoting the concert.

Breckenridge said Kid Rock sold out the Covelli Centre 10 years ago.

Upping the ante every year is what promoters say they want to do and believe they have delivered for the concert series.

“When we’re choosing someone, we look for someone who’s been around for a while. We always look for someone who was an icon, someone that many people will know, immediately recognizable,” Breckenridge said. “Not only do we want the people of Youngstown to enjoy this event, we want this event to put Youngstown on the map. So a big name like Kid Rock will help attract people from Cleveland and Pittsburgh and outside as well to come to see our city and what we’re about. So his name recognition, his rich history of hits. I mean, he just has a million songs we think make him perfect for this.”

Wean Park was chosen as the venue for its great space with the backdrop of the city.

So once again, this year, the stage will be in the parking lot behind the Covelli Centre, in front of which will be 8,500 reserved seats, and behind which will be lawn seats. Total capacity will be 23,000.

Seating will be the same setup as last year with some tweaks to signage and traffic flow.

“I think we’ve learned a lot just being able to see the space. We have some ideas on maybe marking things a little differently, some different signage options just to make it abundantly clear to everyone who goes where they need to be and how to get into the show. But for the most part, it worked out really well. We were gonna use a similar setup as far as seating and lawn goes. Just a couple of little changes, but it worked really well last year so we hope to do something very similar,” Breckenridge said.

Last year, there were problems getting access to concession stands. That has been corrected.

“We’ve just worked out a couple things as far as transactions going through a little bit quicker, getting people in and out of the lines faster,” Breckenridge said.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, April 14, on ticketmaster.com.

Along with Kid Rock, there will be country singer Lee Brice and rock band Buckcherry.

Businesses in downtown Youngstown that serve food and alcohol have the date circled as the area around Wean Park will be flooded with people.

Penguin City Brewery is a 10-minute walk from Wean Park and owner Aspasia Lyras-Bernacki was thrilled to learn that Kid Rock will be headlining this year’s Y Live concert.

“When I saw the lineup, I knew that it’s going to be another sell-out night for downtown Youngstown,” Lyras-Bernacki said.

Last year, the stage at Wean Park hosted country star Luke Bryan, and Penguin City was open and ready.

Lyras-Bernacki: “That was amazing. I mean, the energy downtown, it was crazy.”
Reporter Stan Boney: “Did you have a good night that night?”
Lyras-Bernacki: “Oh, 100% we did.”

“We have Cockeye Barbeque. We’re going to work on a pre-game kind of celebration and they’re going to bring their barbeque and I think we’re just going to build on that and that’s going to be a real fun night,” Lyras-Bernacki said.

According to JAC Live, organizers plan to use this year’s event to continue giving back to the community. Last year’s event raised nearly $35,000 for local non-profit groups, including a $10,000 contribution to the United Way of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley in support of its Success After 6 program.

These non-profit groups raised funds for their organizations with volunteer efforts from their members at concession outposts throughout the event and in satellite parking lots located downtown.