For the 13th season, promoter Mike Luba and his crew with Tiebreaker Productions will be hosting a wide-ranging slate of live acts at Forest Hills Stadium, the only outdoor venue of its size and kind in New York City.
A historic outdoor space that celebrated its centennial back in 2023, its history as a live music space has seen it host a mind-blowing array of storied acts ranging from The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors to The Monkees, Frank Sinatra, Rolling Stones and Talking Heads.
Since Luba helped resurrect and started renovating and updating the stadium back in 2012, he’s kept up the quality of booked acts that have included Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, a reunited Replacements, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Chic, Drake, Lil Wayne, Paul Simon, Bette Midler, Santana, The Chainsmokers, The New York Pops, Maxwell and D’Angelo.
This year’s slate is equally impressive. Phish comes in for a pair of dates (July 22 and July 23), as does Mumford & Sons (Aug. 8 and Aug. 9). Reunion tours by Pulp (Sept. 11) and Alabama Shakes (Sept. 17) also swing through. Musical variety gets a nod via shows by R&B singer-songwriter Leon Bridges (Sept. 4), alt-country troubadour Tyler Childers (Sept. 29 and Sept. 30), Canadian pop idol Shawn Mendes (Oct. 3) and a return of the LGBTQ+friendly All Things Go Music Festival (Sept. 26, Sept. 27 and Sept. 28). It’s a line-up the Albertson native is rightfully proud of.
“For sure, the Phish shows are bucket list for me as a human, a fan and as a person who loves music,” Luba said. “The return of Mumford & Sons is going to be epic and emotional. For so many reasons, without them being brave, that first year was huge for them taking a chance on [the stadium] when it was truly a crumbling relic and was completely screwed up. For them to be able to come back and have this beautiful, safe thing they played a big part in is meaningful to them and certainly to us.”
He added, “We just put up a Jon Bellion show. For me, he’s this generation’s potential Billy Joel-type character as the proud Long Islander who never left and is still here, living in the same house. He’s been on my bucket list forever because I think this will be the house Bellion inherits if he wants it. He now has three kids growing up on Long Island and to be able to sell 26,000-27,000 tickets out of the gate in one or two days of marketing is inspirational. But yeah, this year’s schedule kind of runs the gamut.”
All this was being done in spite of opposition by a vocal minority within the Forest Hills Gardens Corporation, a local homeowners association whose members include the West Side Tennis Club, the owners of the stadium.
Led by Anthony Oprisiu and Matt Mandel, the homeowners association has spent seven figures on lawsuits centered on noise complaints and attempts to get the NYPD to pull live music permits, all of which have been defeated by judicial injunctions.
In the meantime, Luba’s company has spent millions soundproofing and renovating infrastructure while putting in place a community liaison program with a full phone bank staffed by people who instantly respond to residents’ complaints. In addition, Luba’s crew attends all community board meetings, scrupulously adheres to local sound ordinances and has a solid relationship with myriad city agencies.
The NIMBY-type actions threatening the millions of dollars of revenue brought into the local economy have brought in attempts at mediation by the likes of Queens Borough President Donovan Richardson and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks. And while Luba is quick to admit he doesn’t know what the future may bring, he does know how special experiencing live music is at this gem situated in the middle of Queens
“My favorite thing is that it was built in 1923 to watch little human beings play tennis in an almost pre-electricity era,” he said. “The distance from the last seat at the top to the downstage edges is half the distance. It’s super intimate and feels like it’s half the size of what it is. I think that it creates mega energy bands feed off of and the fans seeing the bands feed off of.”
Visit www.foresthillsstadium.com or call 888-929-7849 to find out more information about the Forest Hills Stadium summer concert season.
