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Live music calendar coming into view at MGM Music Hall in the Fenway

Via Live Nation / Facebook

September down in the Fenway area is usually pretty crazy — the Red Sox pennant race heats up and captivates the city, the late-summer live circuit music stretches up Lansdowne from House of Blues to Loretta’s Last Call, and the volume of new restaurants and businesses see an uptick in activity with all the students swarming back around Labor Day. Now there’s a new entry into the month’s madness: The grand opening of Boston’s latest new live music venue, MGM Music Hall.

Located in place of a decades-old parking lot just over Fenway Park’s bleachers, MGM Music Hall was first announced in 2018, with a name reveal and groundbreaking ceremony a year later. Now, the “state-of-the-art performing arts center” with a 5,000-seat capacity on the corner of Lansdowne and Ipswich streets has unveiled its first batch of live shows, and it starts with a September 3 show headlined by Boston country locals Dalton & The Sheriffs.

UPDATE: New shows have been added to the MGM calendar, including Godsmack playing a benefit for Scars Foundation & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute on August 27 and Chris Stapleton’s All-American Road Show on August 31 and September 1. Keep it locked to the venue page for the latest.

Other shows on the on-sale calendar include Porcupine Tree (September 14); COIN (September 23); The Gaslight Anthem and Jeff Rosenstock (October 4); Sabaton (October 24); Mt. Joy (October 25); and Måneskin (November 26).

Dalton & The Sheriffs revealed last Friday (April 1) that they will be the first act to play MGM Music Hall — and they don’t take the honor lightly.

“We have to clarify, given the date, that this is not a joke (because it certainly feels too good to be true),” writes Brian Scully on the band’s Instagram. “On Sept. 3, we will be the first band to headline the brand new, 5,000-capacity MGM Music Hall at Fenway Park. For a kid who used to sneak into Fenway, this is the most improbable moment of this improbable journey. They are letting us do our ‘Cheap Seats’ sale on my birthday (April 12). The best seats in the house will be $19.80 in honor of the fact that, somehow, 42 years later, it’s all happening. Thank you for every beer and every sing-a-long. It all adds up to this.” 

MGM Music Hall is owned by Fenway Sports Group Real Estate, a subsidiary of Fenway Sports Group, and will be operated in partnership with Live Nation. Booking will be handled by Crossroads Presents, the Live Nation-affiliated and Don Law-managed talent buying agency that books the nearby House of Blues, as well as The Paradise Rock Club, Brighton Music Hall, Leader Bank Trust Pavilion, and other rooms around the city.

The venue’s name comes from a partnership with MGM Resorts International, according to a 2019 statement. “Fenway Park is among the most iconic ballparks in sports, and MGM Resorts is proud to grow our presence there and build on our tremendous partnership with the Red Sox and Fenway Sports Group,” says MGM Resorts CEO and chairman Jim Murren.

The goal of MGM Music Hall is “to create an epicenter for the performing arts community in Boston” by giving local schools, colleges, and other neighborhood organizations a chance to utilize the space. Check out a rendering of the venue below, from 2019: