Bret Michaels, Beach Boys headline Elk Grove summer concert lineup
The Beach Boys, Bret Michaels, KC and The Sunshine Band and Daughtry will perform next July in Elk Grove Village during the village's 12th annual summer concert series, officials announced Tuesday.
The Mid-Summer Classics Concert Series lineup, unveiled during a village board meeting Tuesday night, promises to attract large crowds to the Northwest suburb, which registered a record attendance of 78,000 during five concerts last summer.
The year before, there were 75,000 attendees, with Michaels - the former lead vocalist for classic rock hair band Poison - attracting the largest crowd in the concert series' history.
In a recent survey on the Elk Grove Village website, Michaels was also voted most popular concert the village has hosted.
Here's a closer look at the 2020 schedule:
• Saturday, July 4 - Daughtry, led by American Idol rocker Chris Daughtry, will perform during the Lions Club's annual festival at Rotary Green on Lions Drive. The night concludes with a fireworks display.
• Tuesday, July 14 - Michaels, best known for the rock anthem "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," will be the first to perform in 2020 on the Village Green outside the Elk Grove municipal complex, 901 Wellington Ave. All remaining shows in the series will be held there.
• Tuesday, July 21 - KC and The Sunshine Band, led by vocalist Harry Wayne Casey, will perform their disco hits like "That's the Way (I Like It)," "Shake Your Booty" and "Get Down Tonight."
• Tuesday, July 28 - The Beach Boys, who came to fame with their California surf music of the 1960s, are perhaps the biggest name to come to Elk Grove's classic concert series. Known for "Good Vibrations," "Help Me Rhonda" and "California Girls," the band today is led by co-founder Mike Love, who has rights to the group name. Co-founders Brian Wilson and Al Jardine tour on their own.
The Elk Grove concerts, which are free to attend, have come a long way from hosting Elvis impersonators and tribute bands.
"I never expected it to be completely like this, but when you see people happy, it doesn't get any better than that," said Kitty Weiner of Entertainment Management Group, the Elk Grove-based firm that books and manages the shows.
The village board Tuesday inked a $480,000 contract with the company for the 2020 concerts, which includes paying artists' fees. It's $45,000 more than the year before.
Funds come from the village's hotel tax, video gambling revenues, tobacco licensee fees and sponsorships. The Elk Grove Park District also makes a $50,000 contribution.
All in, it costs the village nearly $600,000 to put on the shows, including payment for insurance, and personnel such as police, fire and public works.