Boston’s only open-air general admission venue is nearly off to the races.
A renewed Suffolk Downs scoreboard and fake starting gate will greet guests at The Stage at Suffolk Downs, a new 8,500-person capacity venue at the shuttered East Boston thoroughbred track. Located at 525 William F. McClellan Highway, the venue is a joint effort between The HYM Investment Group LLC and The Bowery Presents, the parent company of Bowery Boston, which currently operates local venues like The Sinclair and Roadrunner. When Steve Lacy, James Blake, Toro y Moi, and Fousheé christen the park on June 16, it will officially be the largest member of the Bowery Boston family — and a new destination for larger-scale concerts in the region.
The seasonal venue’s unique approach to live music was on display at a press preview of The Stage at Suffolk Downs last week (June 1). Josh Bhatti, Senior Vice President of The Bowery Presents, emphasized the novel setting and show structure, which finds middle ground between typical club shows and all-day festival experiences. The venue’s general admission lawn encourages guests to comfortably sprawl out in the grass, much like an afternoon at Boston Calling’s Harvard Athletic Complex. Yet compared to a music festival, the shows are shorter — featuring three to four artists — and more affordable.
Bhatti describes the experience as a “half-day investment” for concertgoers, and an alternative to stadium shows for national touring acts. There’s no performance area in Boston quite like it; the tent-covered Leader Bank Pavilion in the Seaport, for instance, is outdoors but requires guests to purchase assigned seating, and other open air gathering spaces in the city are not ticketed.
“[It’s] an area where people can come in… spread out, have a blanket, spend a day taking in music,” Bhatti says.
The venue’s unique model for shows comes alive the weekend of June 16 to 18 for Re:SET, a traveling mini-festival that features headlining performances from Steve Lacy, boygenius, and LCD Soundsystem. The opening shows will literally “reset” activity at the historic racetrack, which hasn’t seen a live race since 2019, and has gone decades without hosting a major concert.
“This [place] used to attract 50,000 to 60,000 people for horse races,” Bhatti tells Vanyaland, reiterating the vibrance that Suffolk Downs once brought to East Boston and Revere.
“This neighborhood wants stuff to happen in the area again,” he adds.
The action will take place inside the infield of The Track, where guests can can choose to sprawl out on the general admission lawn, or embrace the action onstage in the standing-room-only section abutting front of house. Tents for VIP ticket holders and vendors dot the perimeter of the lawn, serving cookout favorites (Empire BBQ and The Sausage Guy), Greek eats (Souvlaki GR), and Italian cuisine (Pazza on Porter).
On the outskirts of the grounds, guests can purchase and pick up tickets at a trailer near the revived Suffolk Downs scoreboard. (The Suffolk Downs building is still open for off-track betting, but is not involved with the venue’s operations). When arranging transportation, attendees can buy parking passes for the venue’s 1,500-car lot, take the T to the Blue Line’s Suffolk Downs station, or arrange a ride via Lyft or Uber at the designated rideshare area.
Following the bustle of opening weekend, The Stage at Suffolk Downs will host Breakaway Boston, a two-day festival in September featuring artists like Griz, Lane 8, Porter Robinson, and Madeon. While there are no other events on the calendar for 2023 as of print time, Bhatti says Bowery has already booked numerous concerts for next summer.
Boston-focused shows aren’t out of the question for future seasons, either. “I’d love to put together an event [with] an all-Boston artist bill,” Bhatti tells Vanyaland, noting that ideally the show would be free or “low dough.”
“The idea is to keep music here for as long as possible,” he concludes.
Grab tickets for a 2023 show here, and get a sneak peek at the venue’s layout below.
All photos by Victoria Wasylak for Vanyaland.
