Live entertainment thrives

Dropkick Murphys played to a sell-out crowd at W.D. Packard Music Hall last February.

JAC Live / JAC Management had a big year in 2024, even without its biggest show.

Contemporary country continues to be a top draw in the market, according to JAC’s Chief Operating Officer Ken Bigley, while Packard Music Hall had success with acts in genres that usually bypass the area for larger cities.

Jordan Davis, Sam Hunt and Dustin Lynch were among the younger country acts who filled the Covelli Centre in 2024. Whiskey Myers and Jon Pardi drew big crowds to the lawn at Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre. The industry has taken notice.

“I get the phone calls now, ‘Dustin Lynch is going out. What do you have available in Youngstown?,’” Bigley said. “It’s not is he going to play or should he play here.”

Country shows for 2025 by Rascal Flatts (March 8 at Covelli Centre) and Riley Green (May 29 at Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre) essentially are sold out.

JAC was happy to land Rascal Flatts’ in-demand reunion tour, Bigley said, and it’s satisfying to see Green move up to headliner status after supporting Luke Bryan for Y-Live at Wean Foundation Park in 2022.

“Riley has been selling out areas in the Southeast part of the United States where he’s from,” he said. “Everywhere else is theater or (as a) support act. Now he’s kind of hitting that stride he’s had in the Southeast, and it’s been selling great.”

In addition to Green, JAC has announced shows by Coheed and Cambria and Mastodon (May 31) and Cody Jinks (Sept. 20), and the outdoor venue also will host a benefit for the Rich Center for Autism featuring Lita Ford and Youngstown’s The Vindys on May 31.

Bigley said they’ve decided the sweet spot for national tours at the amphitheater is six to eight concerts a summer.

“Youngstown loves music, but at the end of the day, there’s only so many people and so many dollars in the market,” he said. “We have to be cognizant of that.”

Y-Live, the outdoor concert that has drawn more than 20,000 people to downtown Youngtown in recent years, was postponed in 2024 due to downtown Youngstown disruptions such as the Realty Tower explosion. Tim McGraw now is rescheduled for Sept. 27.

“As much as we dreaded it, we just didn’t have a choice,” Bigley said, while also teasing the possibility of more. “Tim McGraw is the make up for last year. We have that going for Sept. 27, and then we also have some surprises in store for 2025 as far as Y-Live is concerned.”

While the concerts get most of the attention, perennial attractions like Toughest Monster Truck Tour and Professional Bull Riders drew sellout crowds in 2024. Disney on Ice also did well.

Judas Priest almost qualifies as a perennial. The heavy metal icon played its third show in the last five years at the Covelli Centre back in April. The first time JAC booked Judas Priest, Bigley said, they were apprehensive because its sound is harder than the classic rock acts that are a proven success locally. Not only did the show sell out, its subsequent shows in the Valley have been among the best-selling dates on their tours.

The biggest draw of all wasn’t a singer or a monster truck; it was comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, who sold more than 7,200 tickets in November. Bigley said it was the largest crowd at the arena in 10 years and the largest ever for a comedian.

JAC Live is the company’s concert promotion arm, and its reach goes well beyond the Mahoning Valley venues JAC Managements operates. Bigley said JAC promoted events in a dozen states in 2024. In some cases, they handled multiple dates for tours that played locally, such as the extreme sports show Nitro Circus. But they also promoted shows with major acts like Nelly and Godsmack that weren’t possible locally due to routing issues.

JAC Management celebrated its 10th anniversary handling day-to-day operations at Packard Music Hall in 2024. Like its Youngstown venues, Packard had success with country (Gary Allan, Sara Evans) but it also was sold out for the Irish punk rock of Boston’s Dropkick Murphys in February and was near capacity for the folkie harmonies of Indigo Girls earlier this month. The sales for Indigo Girls make it possible to bring in shows appealing to a similar demographic, such as the April 21 show featuring Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone.

“We have a great base there between the Packard Band, Warren Civic Music, Trumbull Town Hall and the dance studios that use it,” Bigley said. “The city is fantastic to work with, and all of those things give us the leeway (to bring in different shows).”