Jordan T shakes a fan’s hand at a Levitt AMP concert in Carson City in 2019. (Photo: Melody Hoover)
Carson City’s entertainment is ready to bounce back, and the Brewery Arts Center has announced the Levitt AMP concerts will be returning this summer. There will be eight shows at 7 p.m. on Saturdays at the Minnesota Street Stage from July 10 to Aug. 28, with two flatbed concerts in June to warm up the crowd, all free to the community, presented by The Change Companies.
THE LINEUP
The series kicks off with a double funk headliner with Jelly Bread and Sal’s Greenhouse.
“It’ll be a great funk show, that’s something we haven’t done a lot of yet, a funk show,” said Gina Lopez, executive director of the Brewery Arts Center.
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers is a big draw and Lopez has been trying to book them for years, she said. This year they’ll be playing in front of the Carson City crowd.
Some bands have played in Carson City before, and for some this will be their first time. Other bands included are: Mestizo Beat, The Fire Scottish Music, Southern Drawl Band, Los Coast and Mumbo Jumbo.
“A lot of our bands are just fun,” she said. “Everybody is young and fun and energetic and that’s exactly what we’re going for.”
Los Coast, out of Austin, Texas, re-released a single they recorded with Gary Clark Jr. last summer. They recorded a cover of Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” and the song had gained them more popularity, Lopez said.
“They’ve really come up,” she said. “I thought I lost them because they got too big, but they honored their commitment and they’ll be here.
Lopez said all the musicians for 2021 were booked for the series in 2020, which was canceled.
Mumbo Gumbo closes the series at the end of August. They opened the concert series in 2016 as the first act to play.
There will be opening acts each night, and all are local musicians except one will travel from Sacramento.
SINCE 2016
The free concert series began in 2016 in Carson City after the Brewery Arts Center won a grant from the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation. Every year since, the city has hosted free shows to the public on the Minnesota Street Stage.
In the beginning, attendance was between 800-1,600, and in 2019 it shot to between 1,900 to 3,000, according to Lopez.
Lopez said a lot of the sponsors are back and jumped on board including the presenting sponsor The Change Companies.
VIDEO WALL
Concertgoers will see a new 6’x13’ video wall to the left of the stage this year. Bought with a grant from the Robert Z. Hawkins foundation, Lopez said they got it for safety. She said if attendees do not want to be close to the stage and wish to keep their distance, they’ll still be able to get a close-up of the musicians.
“It is beautiful,” she said. “You can see it clearly out there.”
SENSE OF NORMALCY
Lopez said she is hoping everything feels like it did before the pandemic. Everything the BAC provided at the concerts before will return in July.
“People are coming out and we have that sense of community and people are coming together and dancing and smiling and being healthy,” she said.
The plan for attendees right now is to include pod spaces and facemasks, but depending on government policies, that may change.
“We’re going to do what we’re going to have to do,” she said.
There will be food trucks and a bar. There will be giant Jenga and the musical instruments for kids to play and Lopez said the BAC is working on getting a few other things. They won’t be bringing back the bounce house.
“We’re excited,” she said. “It will feel like old times.”
SCHEDULE
July 10: (Double headliner) Jelly Bread and Sal’s Greenhouse
July 17: Mestizo Beat
July 24: Tommy Castro and the Pain Killers
July 31: Loud as Folk – multi-media showcase of artists, including Vanessa May (Rainbow Girls), Terrier (Ben from Brothers Comatose and Erika from T-Sisters), The Sam Chase Trio and Spike McGuire
Aug. 7: The Fire Scottish Music
Aug. 14: Southern Drawl Band
Aug. 21: Los Coast
Aug. 28: Mumbo Gumbo
