YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The promoters of the Y-Live concert always figured the annual event would eventually grow into a two-day affair.
JAC Live finally made the leap this year – and sooner than they planned.
The Y-Live concert has been the biggest show of the year in the Mahoning Valley since it started in 2017, attracting 20,000 fans every year.
It will double in size this year, with two massive headliners over two nights.
Mellow rocker John Mayer will perform Friday, with openers Charles Kelley – of Lady A – and The Clarks.
Country music icon Tim McGraw will headline Saturday, with The Band Perry and Chase McDaniel.
The shows will take place in Wean Park, downtown, which is being temporarily transformed into an outdoor venue the size of any big-city amphitheater.
The story of Y-Live’s sudden expansion has its roots in last year’s concert, which was canceled because of the explosion at Realty Tower and the subsequent razing of the building.
McGraw was to be the headliner in 2024, and JAC had to refund a lot of tickets after the cancellation.
Fortunately, the country superstar agreed to a makeup date.
“McGraw was a special circumstance,” said Ken Bigley, COO and vice president of JAC Management. “He was gracious enough to give us a rescheduled date.”
McGraw is not on tour this year but has played a few select shows that he really wanted to do. “We were one of them,” Bigley said.
So with the headliner already sewed up for 2025, the Youngstown-based promotion company saw the opportunity to make this the year they expand to two nights.
Putting up the stage and infrastructure is a daunting task, and getting more use out of it is just good business, according to Bigley.
“We always wanted Y-Live to be two nights,” he said, “and we had been building up to it. So we reasoned that Tim McGraw was Y-Live 2024 and said, ‘Let’s also do a Y-Live 2025.’”
Second Headliner
JAC originally planned for this year’s Y-Live to be just one day, as it has been in the past.
But with this year’s event taking place later than usual, the promoters had a lot more time to think about the possibilities.
The first job was to find a second headliner.
“We looked at it and thought about which artist would make sense,” Bigley said. “Do you go with the same genre or a different genre? We knew it had to be an artist who was somewhat special. We didn’t want to underplay the second headliner.”
Bigley and Eric Ryan, JAC president and CEO, looked at which artists would be on the road in September and started talking to tour representatives.
“We ended up talking to John Mayer’s people, and that was when we [realized] how elusive of an act he is,” Bigley said.
The last full-blown arena tour for the artist – who is also in Dead & Co., the successor to The Grateful Dead – was in 2023. It was a solo tour that included sold-out dates at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh and Rocket Arena in Cleveland.
Mayer didn’t play any shows in 2024 and will do only five or six this year, notwithstanding any Dead & Co. appearances.
His other 2025 dates are a co-headlining show at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor with Zach Bryan, the day after Youngstown; the Pilgrimage Music Festival in Nashville on Sept. 28; the Palm Tree Festival in California on Oct. 5; and the Rise Festival in Nevada on Oct. 5.
The Michigan concert is expected to draw over 100,000 fans.
After giving it a lot of thought, the promoters concluded that Mayer checked all the boxes to maximize sales and please the most people.
They wanted an artist with some crossover appeal with McGraw – but not too much.
“We did a very deep dive on that thought process,” Bigley said. “If you go too similar, will you split the crowd? Will people want to go to both? If you go too far apart, there’s no synergy to share. So we wanted to have some overlap, but not completely.”
Securing Mayer seemed almost too good to be possible at first. Fortunately, he just happened to be on the road that weekend. Still, the news jolted some promoters in bigger cities.
“We got calls from people we know in our network asking, ‘How did you get John Mayer to come to Youngstown?’” Bigley said with a laugh. “He’s a tough one to get. He plays very little.”
Bigley and Ryan were actually in talks with an agent about a different artist when the agent looked at the calendar and suggested Mayer.
“At first we thought, there is no way he’ll play Youngstown,” Bigley said. “But he’s playing Ann Arbor the next day. It’s driveable.”
A Tempting Offer
Mayer and McGraw are not musically similar, but both have fan bases that skew toward the female demographic, Bigley noted.
JAC is tempting music festival lovers to go to both shows with a discount ticket offer. For $125 (includes taxes and fees), fans can get a weekend pass that includes a lawn ticket for both shows. Go to Ticketmaster.com.
McGraw has played Youngstown before. His sold-out 2011 show at Covelli Centre was huge, and the artist has only burnished his legacy since then.
“A lot of people have told us that their favorite show ever at Covelli was Tim McGraw,” Bigley said.
Opening Acts
The Mayer concert was announced July 2, which meant the lead time to sell tickets was shorter than usual – less than three months.
To sweeten the pot, two special opening acts were announced in late August: Charles Kelley and The Clarks, who have long been favorites in the Youngstown area.
The Clarks were a perfect fit, Bigley said. JAC has booked the Pittsburgh act several times over the past 25 years. “I’ve never been to a Clarks show where everyone didn’t have a great time,” he said. “If you don’t smile and sing along when ‘Born too Late’ comes on, I don’t know if you should be at a concert.”
With a sound that veers toward country, Charles Kelley will add variety.
“We wanted to make it eclectic,” Bigley said.
Kelley’s appearance is also something of a makeup date.
He and his hugely popular band, Lady A, were originally scheduled to play the Canfield Fair this year but had to cancel because band member Hillary Scott was pregnant.
Kelley released a solo album, “Songs for a New Moon,” in June.
The other big name of Y-Live weekend is The Band Perry, which will open for McGraw. The act returned to action this year after a two-year hiatus to focus on solo careers.
Looking Ahead
Putting so many big names on the Wean Park stage this weekend is a landmark for both JAC and the Youngstown concert market, according to Bigley.
“We always felt that Y-Live could [be transformed] into this,” he said. “The community has always come out and supported it. That’s the one thing that we tell people around the country, at conventions, meetings, wherever we are. The community here comes out and supports big things.”
This year’s two-day event represents a huge jump for JAC, according to Bigley.
“The amount of expense and risk in this for a private company like ours is massive,” he said, “and now everything is being doubled.”
Bringing in an icon like McGraw and a massive mainstream act like Mayer for one weekend will pave the way for other big names to follow.
Both acts play only the largest arenas and are too big for any indoor venue between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
“We are proving that we can do two shows of this size,” Bigley said. “It will open up the future to more and bigger such events.”
Important Info
Tickets for both shows are on sale at Ticketmaster.com.
Friday’s concert will start at 7:30 p.m. Parking lots will open at 4 p.m., and gates to the venue will open at 6 p.m.
Saturday’s concert will start at 7 p.m. Parking will open at 4 p.m., and gates to the venue will open at 5:30 p.m.
The Market Street and South Avenue bridges will close at 7 p.m. Friday and 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Concertgoers are urged to arrive early to find parking.
The designated address for those using ridesharing services such as Uber is A&C Beverage, 45 South Ave., Youngstown.
The will-call window will be in the Covelli Centre lobby.
Parking will be available in public and private lots all over the downtown and university areas.
A preshow party will take place both days on Phelps Street Corridor and in bars and restaurants. The Dora (Designated Outdoor Refreshment Area) will be in effect. Hours are 3-7 p.m. Friday and 2-7 p.m. Saturday. Partygoers can park for free in the Commerce Street lot behind 20 Federal Place.
Some other tips:
- Bring cash to minimize wait times when purchasing concessions or merchandise.
- Mobile ticket holders should add their tickets to their Apple Wallet or Android Passbook. Screenshots are not acceptable. Have the wallet open and ready for scanning when reaching the gate.
- Only clear and see-through bags no larger than 12 inches by 12 inches by 6 inches and clutches no larger than 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches by 1 inch will be permitted (exceptions may be made for medical bags or diaper bags).
- Prohibited items include briefcases, backpacks, luggage, computer bags, binocular cases, professional cameras, recording devices, coolers, strollers, laser pointers, weapons, animals (except service dogs) and other items deemed inappropriate by the venue.
Pictured at top: The stage was erected this week in Wean Park for the Y-Live concerts.