NEW YORK — New York is back, baby!
The city will stage a massive concert at Central Park, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday.
While many details — including the performers – were still being worked out, he promised it would be “classic” and “iconic.”
“It will celebrate the summer of New York City, the comeback, and it will emphatically make the point there is no stopping New York,” Hizzoner said.
The show was set for Saturday, Aug. 21, subject to change, and will take place on the Great Lawn — home of legendary concerts from the likes of Diana Ross, Elton John and Simon & Garfunkel.
The city is enlisting the services of Brooklyn native Clive Davis, the famous producer who worked with Aretha Franklin, Santana and other greats.
His instructions, in de Blasio’s words, are to set up “the biggest, most extraordinary, all-star lineup you can put together, heavy on New York artists.”
The show will be part of a week celebrating the Big Apple’s return from bleak pandemic conditions and cap what de Blasio has dubbed “the summer of New York City.”
Other events were still in the planning stage, the mayor indicated.
“This is going to be an amazing, memorable, once-in-a-lifetime week in New York City,” he said.
The announcement came as a historic nationwide vaccination effort was still underway.
That’s helped the city reach its lowest COVID positivity rate since the start of the crisis. The latest rate was 0.71%, according to de Blasio.
More than 8.5 million vaccine doses have been administered since December, he said.
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