New York’s SummerStage Announces 2025 Season: The Roots, Rhiannon Giddens, Lettuce, Femi Kuti, Ron Carter, Jessica Pratt, Rakim and More
As New York quickly moves into spring, the City Parks Foundation has continued a cherished tradition today by unveiling the Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage’s 2025 concert and entertainment season. The return of the city’s esteemed outdoor performing arts festival will roll out more than 70 unique and free benefit performances in Central Park and 13 other neighborhood parks across all five boroughs. Ranging from household names to rising stars, the 2025 program bridges countless genres and styles, including rock, jazz, hip-hop, indie, reggae, R&B, Afrobeat, soul, alt-pop and more.
SummerStage’s 2025 season will commence on June 4 with a free kickoff performance in Central Park featuring Grammy-winning bassist and jazz pathbreaker Marcus Miller and two of New Orleans’ finest funk powerhouses, soul-fusion ensemble Tank and the Bangas and hip-hop-influenced brass octet The Soul Rebels. Further standouts from the main stage’s calendar include an array of special multi-artist global culture exhibitions, including THE AUSSIE BBQ with Grace Cummings, Nordic Next with Astrid Sonne, New York Sings Yiddish with Frank London’s Klezmer All Stars and a spotlight on Canada’s alternative scene with Charlotte Day Wilson and The Weather Station.
Among the many other highlights slated around the city are free sets from Rhiannon Giddens, Femi Kuti with The Positive Force, The Roots, Lettuce with Styles P, Ron Carter’s Great Big Band, Asha Puthli, Hurray for the Riff Raff and Soccer Mommy, Rakim, Jessica Pratt, Dee Dee Bridgewater with Bill Charlap, MIKE’S Young World V with Roc Marciano & the Alchemist, Big Freedia and Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues, a celebration of classic Delta blues with string backing led by the legendary actor.
Beyond the flagship stage of Rumsey Playfield in Central Park, New Yorkers can catch SummerStage’s 2025 programming at Marcus Garvey Park in Harlem, Tompkins Square Park in the East Village, Herbert Von King Park and The Coney Island Amphitheater in Brooklyn, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in Queens, St. Mary’s Park and Crotona Park in the Bronx and Stapleton Waterfront Park on Staten Island.
“I am thrilled to announce our 2025 SummerStage lineup, a stellar reflection of what makes our festival so unique and beloved,” City Parks Foundation Executive Director Heather Lubov shared in a release. “The huge variety of artists we’re presenting and the parks where we’re located reflect our city’s demographic and cultural diversity, but they also serve to unite us as neighbors and as lovers of music, regardless of our differences.”
Find SummerStage’s full 2025 details and more information on the 39-year New York tradition at cityparksfoundation.org/summerstage/.
