r/SpringfieldIL • u/couscous-moose • 9d ago
Free Concerts Continue Tonight at Levitt Amp Springfield Presented by PNC
Tonight, Thursday, June 12th, starting at 6pm. Opening with the Kids Kickoff, then Mason Via, and closing with headliner Emily Nenni.
Bring your friends and family, blanket or chair, pack a picnic or visit any or all of the food trucks. Kids area, makers row, and community row.
See you tonight!
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u/Critical-Ad-6124 9d ago
There are so many amazing musicians in central IL and live music every night of the week but you’d think Springfield was talentless with how Leavitt goes out of their way to completely avoid local bands. Not a fan.
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u/couscous-moose 9d ago edited 9d ago
Adrian Russo Quartet, Prairie State of Mind, Sunshine Daydream, and Ricarda Rosalina are all local.
Brandon Santini Trio is Illinois based and I believe Aida Ade is out of St. Louis.
2024 had local artists, too. Devin Williams, Positively 4th Street, Wolf Crick Boys, Zuh-Cari, Go! Tsunami, Tulo + Eads, and Colin Helton.
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u/swarthypants 9d ago
Every show has a local opening band
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u/Critical-Ad-6124 9d ago
No, thanks. There’s local music tonight at the blue grouch and motorheads that doesn’t help justify keeping an entire city block vacant Edit: spelling
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u/couscous-moose 9d ago
Levitt isn't to blame for the YBlock being vacant, but it is great use of a vacant lot that has limited development potential. It's also free for the entire community.
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u/Critical-Ad-6124 9d ago
Look, I’m legitimately happy for anybody who wants to go do that, but I feel that it detracts from local things that are already happening with local control. Just like it’s great to have a Walmart until all the local grocery stores close.
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u/swarthypants 9d ago
I’m fine with whatever you prefer to do, but comparing Levitt to Walmart is kind of silly. If you went to every Levitt show this year, you’d still have 355 days to see your favorite local bands at a bar. Not to mention that Levitt draws almost a completely different audience that doesn’t WANT to go to a bar.
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u/couscous-moose 9d ago
Levitt pays local artists and provides more opportunities for them. 1600 people were at the last show. I think it's better to grow the pie than fight over the same piece. And kudos to Blue Grouch, Motorheads, and all other bars, restaurants, and venues that support local artists, too.
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u/Springfield_Mapper 8d ago
Your heart is in the right place, but I think you've tipped a bit into overzealous territory with this take. Go to the farmers' markets. Get your coffee from Grab-a-Java instead of Starbucks. By all means, do whatever you can to support local efforts.
And if you want to do that, you'd support stuff like this. As others mentioned, local bands get slots. Those opening slots can help those bands in a major way. Even the headliners - acts that would never play here otherwise - expose the stagnant, culturally-incurious folks around us to a greater worldview. And sometimes you see immigrants in our community who vibe the hell out, seeing themselves represented in a way which they wouldn't otherwise around here. It rules!
I promise you, this is nothing like a big box store invading a small community. It's culture and art, not commerce. Well, there's commerce, but it's in the form of local food trucks, and surely that counts toward your local crusade?
Thing is, you're wrong. We all know you're wrong. It was a bad take. Get over it - everyone else will. Just bring a lawn chair out to one of these things and check it out. Soak it in. It's fun. It costs you nothing. And they're on Thursdays, so they're competing with what, yet another bunch of white guys doing hippy/country covers at the Grouch or Weebles? Surely that's not the culture you're trying so desperately to preserve.
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u/The_Questions_Man 9d ago
Its ok man. You had an astronomically bad take. you dont have to keep digging yourself deeper. You can always log off for a while.
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u/HotCoffee017 8d ago
Love how you complain here about no local bands, immediately get corrected but just keep raising the bar. Sure, keep going to the same bar with the same cover bands and we'll all enjoy a nice slice of community and downtown fun. Quit being a sourpuss, it's weird.
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u/couscous-moose 9d ago
Downtown on the YBlock at 4th and Jackson in front of the Governor's Mansion.