QUEENS — The Grammy-winning country group, Zac Brown Band, will be among the artists performing this summer at the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, which is currently undergoing renovations before the busy season, the organizers announced.
The concert, scheduled for Saturday, June 21, will be one of six events planned for this summer at the stadium, according to Patrick Confrey, a spokesman for the organizers. This season's concerts will be followed by 12 more over the next two years.
New seating, handrails and widened aisles are among the upgrades that workers are currently completing at the historic venue, the organizers said.
Organizers also plan to sell fewer tickets this year in response to complaints following last year's Mumford & Sons show that the gig was oversold.
The stadium, which opened in 1923, used to host the U.S. Open, before it moved to the larger National Tennis Center in Flushing in 1977. It also held numerous concerts, including performances by The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones.
Most concerts stopped by the late 1980s, after opposition from local residents.
The venue later fell into disrepair, but last year the West Side Tennis Club partnered with concert promoters to bring events back to Forest Hills.
Last year, the stadium went through the first phase of rehabilitation, which included building a new entrance on Burns Street that was further from residential buildings than the main entrance on Tennis Place.
The first sold-out concert by Mumford & Sons brought crowds to the stadium, which had a capacity of 17,000 people.
Hoping to address complaints made by some fans, who said the concert was oversold and they were not able to return to their seats after using bathrooms, the organizers said fewer tickets will be sold for this year's events.
The venue did not have seats for the Mumford & Sons show, but it was not clear what the capacity would be after the renovations.
Confrey also said that the organizers, who continue to work on this summer's lineup, “are open to all sorts of entertainment as long as it meets the needs of the surrounding community.”
The concerts will end at a reasonable time and the sound level won’t be too loud, Confrey said.
Tickets to all 2014 Forest Hills Stadium events will be available at ticketfly.com. Fans will be able to purchase tickets for Zac Brown Band concert starting Saturday, March 22, at 10 a.m.
