courtesy zztop.com
A & C
With all due respect to our friends and neighbors who are working musicians and who have braved the pandemic to play smaller-scale events, maybe there’s something to be said for having missed live music so bad that the promise of shows from any band with even the slightest name recognition feels like a big deal? Thusly, you’ve gotta hand it to AMP Concerts and its upcoming Taos Summer Music series—the whole thing basically slaps.
We’re talking blues/folk/soul legend Ben Harper (May 28; $61 and $93), electronic trailblazers Thievery Corporation (May 29; $49 and $71), country rock beard aficionados ZZ Top (June 18; $66 and $88) and neo-jam-rock act My Morning Jacket (Aug. 19; $61 and $88), each taking over Taos’ Kit Carson Park for performances that not only go down outdoors, but that will require COVID-19 vaxx proof or a recent negative test (find AMP’s official guidelines here), even as Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has rescinded New Mexico’s mask mandate.
You might recall AMP led the way with COVID-safe concert experiences during the deepest days of the pandemic with outdoor shows at Santa Fe’s HIPICO Equestrian Center. Promoters Neal Copperman, Jamie Lenfestey and Tim Franke also brought us safe and responsible shows with the Santa Fe Bandstand series on the Plaza last year, as well as Southside events at Swan Park. These Taos shows should pretty much operate in the same ways.
“Taos is a beautiful, special mountain getaway, the mystique of which draws concert-goers from around the country,” Lenfestey tells SFR of why he bypassed Santa Fe or Albuquerque. “The Town of Taos has invested in making a really beautiful venue in town that makes it a great place to go for a show.”
Tickets for the series go on sale Friday, Feb. 18 at ampconcerts.org, though there are special $234 VIP tickets available for the My Morning Jacket show right now through holdmyticket.com.
