YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – In his commencement address to the University of North Carolina’s Class of 2026, Eric Church likened the keys of life to the strings of a guitar.
Each of the six strings represents an indispensable element of a chord, so it has to be in tune. If just one string is out of tune, the whole chord falls apart, the country music superstar told the graduates.
The strings, he said, represent each person’s faith, family, spouse, ambition, community and individuality. Church called these ideals the pillars of life and used his guitar to demonstrate the importance of keeping each in tune.
His May 9 speech at his alma mater was one of the best commencement addresses of all time and deserves a listen by everyone.
Fans of the artist will also get a chance to hear Church perform his music when he headlines the second day of the Y-Live weekend concert Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium at Youngstown State University.
It’s safe to say that all of Church’s guitar strings will be in tune that evening.
Joining Church for the 6:30 p.m. concert will be opening acts Ernest and Caylee Hammack. Tickets are on sale at Ticketmaster.com.
Jason Aldean will headline the first day of Y-Live. He’ll perform Friday, with opening act Travis Tritt. That concert will also start at 6:30 p.m.
It will be Aldean’s first appearance in Youngstown and might give him a chance to visit his Aldean’s Kitchen + Bar in Pittsburgh. The restaurant-bar on the Steel City’s North Shore is one of four that Aldean has opened (the others are in Nashville and Gatlinburg, Tenn., and Las Vegas).
Y-Live weekend is moving back to Stambaugh Stadium – it’s original location – this year and will take place the same weekend as YSU’s Summer Festival of the Arts on campus. The event took place at Wean Park, downtown, on its previous three occasions.
Both Aldean and Church are expected to attract capacity crowds of 20,000.
Church, a 10-time Grammy Award nominee, has released eight studio albums, including his latest, “Evangeline vs. the Machine” (2025), which he followed with an IMAX concert film from the tour and a live album (“Evangeline Comes Alive”) that was released in February.
Aldean, who has been nominated for five Grammy Awards, released his latest album, “Songs About Us,” in April.
Unique Artists
Church’s commencement address extended his already considerable esteem, said Ken Bigley, COO and vice president of JAC Productions, promoter of Y-Live.
“It was amazing, and it put a little different spin on him for me,” Bigley said. “He’s an incredibly unique guy, from what I see and hear.”
Church has always put his stock in the traditional ways, and that comes through in his music. As a songwriter, he also sticks to what’s true to him, instead of embracing musical trends.
“What put him on the map, the songs that resonated with non-country fans like ‘Talladega’ and ‘Springsteen,’ is that there is a little bit of nostalgia in them,” Bigley said. “When ‘Springsteen’ came out, it was like you were familiar with the song the first time you heard it.”
JAC Live is expecting huge crowds for both Church and Aldean and expects all of the available 20,000 seats to be filled both nights. Y-Live weekend, in fact, is the only time each year when Youngstown fits into the major-market category for concerts.
It will be Church’s second visit to Youngstown, but the artist has outgrown markets like this one since his initial appearance.
“Church was on his rise when he played here in 2012,” Bigley said. “Brantley Gilbert was his opener, and that show held the beer sales record for Covelli for about a decade.”
Aldean is one of country music’s biggest stars. That’s a position that his opening act, Travis Tritt, is also familiar with.
Tritt last visited the Mahoning Valley in 2022 when he and Chris Janson brought their co-headlining tour to a sold-out Covelli Centre.
“Tritt has had some resurgence over the years,” said Bigley, adding that he has always been popular in the Valley. “His catalog is unbelievable – the amount of hits that he’s had. He was one of the biggest country stars on the planet around 2000.”
JAC Live has brought just about every major country star to Youngstown over the past 20 years – except Aldean. For one reason or another, the artist always slipped away.
“We’ve had holds on him and were close to booking him in the past, but it never happened,” Bigley said. “He’s a good act for Y-Live because Youngstown has supported that class of artists so well. His music and vibe [is in line with this city’s culture].”
Breaking the Mold
With Aldean and Church, this year’s Y-Live lineup is as big as it gets. It will almost certainly break the city’s attendance record for consecutive-night concerts.
The attendance and caliber of artists at Y-Live always raises an eyebrow among concert industry insiders, according to Bigley.
“Y-Live broke the mold,” he said. “Without it, these artists would not play Youngstown just because of population numbers. We get questions all the time from people in our industry who are surprised when we bring them in.”
The strong track record for ticket sales is what keeps it going.
Y-Live concerts always put up attendance numbers that are in line with amphitheaters in major markets. “It’s a unique model,” Bigley said. “It’s not a full-on festival, with like 40 artists that starts at noon each day. But it has a festival vibe.”
The top-selling Y-Live concert so far is Kid Rock in 2023, Bigley said. Kid Rock played Covelli Centre in 2013 but would not play a market of this size in the current era.
The festival vibe will take over downtown Youngstown on both Friday and Saturday, with free outdoor pre-parties on West Federal Street starting at 2 p.m. both days.
Each party will feature a DJ, followed by performances by regional acts at 4:30 p.m. The Conkle Brothers will perform Friday, and Hoss & the Juggernauts will perform Saturday. Admission is free.
Free parking will be available at Covelli Centre.
Summer Festival of the Arts on the YSU campus will take place from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Tailgating parties in the YSU parking lots, or anywhere on campus, will be strictly prohibited throughout Y-Live.
Looking Back
Here’s a look at all past Y-Live concerts:
- 2017: Zac Brown Band, with Midland and Darrell Scott, Stambaugh Stadium.
- 2018: Florida Georgia Line, with Morgan Wallen, Stambaugh Stadium.
- 2019: Blake Shelton, Justin Moore and Tyler Farr, Stambaugh Stadium.
- 2020: No event because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- 2021: No event because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- 2022: Luke Bryan (who had previously been scheduled for the 2021 and 2022 events), with Riley Green and Mitchell Tenpenny, Wean Park.
- 2023: Kid Rock, with Lee Brice and Buckcherry, Wean Park.
- 2024: No event because of the explosion at Realty Tower.
- 2025: Tim McGraw, with The Band Perry and Chase McDaniel; and John Mayer, with Charles Kelley and The Clarks (Y-Live became a two-day affair this year), Wean Park.
- 2026: Jason Aldean, with Travis Tritt; and Eric Church, with Ernest and Kaylee Hammack, Stambaugh Stadium.
Pictured at top: Eric Church will headline the second day of the Y-Live weekend concert Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium at Youngstown State University. (Photo by Robby Klein)