How many concerts are coming to the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview this summer? More than most Upstate New York amphitheaters, but with less diversity on the lineup.
The 2023 St. Joe’s Amp schedule currently has 22 shows booked, up from 20 last year. By comparison, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts has 20 concerts scheduled this summer, Darien Lake has 19, the Artpark in Lewiston has 14 amphitheater shows, and CMAC in Canandaigua has 14; only the historic Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has more total shows with 26.
But the Syracuse venue, formerly known as the Lakeview Amphitheater, has less diversity than its counterparts. Of 22 headlining acts at the Amp, 14 are rock, six are country, and two are pop. Only one artist is female (Shania Twain) and all of them are predominantly white acts. (Pentatonix and Kidz Bop, the two pop headliners, are multiracial groups with some female members.)
None of the performers are hip-hop artists, despite rap emerging as the most popular genre at the nearby New York State Fair in recent years. (You could argue Breland, Twain’s opening act, mixes rap with country, but the “My Truck” singer primarily leans towards the latter.) Of the 14 biggest crowds in NYS Fair concert history, half of them were rap artists, including No. 1-3: Nelly (43,000 in 2022), A Boogie wit Da Hoodie (40,610 in 2018) and City Girls (39,000) in 2022.
Additional genres overlooked at the 17,500-capacity St. Joe’s Amp include R&B, jazz, EDM, Latin, K-pop, funk, disco, swing, and soul. And Foreigner, performing a farewell tour with Loverboy, is the only act representing the 1970s and ‘80s; all of the others at the Amp emerged in the mid ‘90s or later.
Other Upstate New York amphitheaters also lean towards rock and country, but certainly mix it up more: Darien Lake lined up rappers Post Malone and 50 Cent/Busta Rhymes, plus EDM act Odesza; CMAC booked three female-led acts (Tedeschi Trucks Band, Pat Benatar and The Chicks) and two Black headliners (Darius Rucker and Kane Brown); SPAC features 10 artists not appearing at another New York amphitheater (including Guns N’ Roses); and Bethel Woods has more boomer/Gen X nostalgia like Steve Miller Band/Joe Satriani, Tears for Fears, Rod Stewart/Cheap Trick, Joe Bonamassa/Styx/Don Felder, Boy George & Culture Club, and Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival.
The top-selling tours of 2022 have similar diversity: The top 15 highest-grossing artists on tour last year include Latin rappers Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee; country stars Kenny Chesney and Morgan Wallen, pop singers Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, and Lady Gaga; and rock musicians like Elton John, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Def Leppard and Paul McCartney. (Of those 15 artists, only Chesney and Wallen played the St. Joe’s Amp last year; John and McCartney performed at the JMA Wireless Dome, booked by AEG and sold through Live Nation’s Ticketmaster.)
It’s unclear if Live Nation has diversity as a goal at St. Joe’s Amp, but it certainly doesn’t show it. Since the Syracuse amphitheater opened in 2015, the venue has hosted (including this year’s lineup) 135 concerts: 61% rock, 24% country, 6% pop and just 4% hip-hop.
Most glaring is the lack of diversity among performers: 14 of those 135 concerts featured female or female-led headliners, and only one St. Joe’s Amp concert since 2019 has featured a Black headliner (Earth, Wind, & Fire with Santana last year). The vast majority are white men. (Note: No shows were scheduled in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.)
Though many fans travel from other cities to see their favorite artists, the Amp lineup doesn’t reflect the population of Syracuse. According to 2022 Census data, 29% of the Salt City is Black, 9.5% is Hispanic or Latino, and 7% is Asian — while nearly 95% of headliners at the venue are white or white-majority artists.
Shinedown performs at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview Sept. 17, 2022. The majority of concerts at St. Joe's Amp are rock acts. Mark Murphy | Contributing photographer
The Amp was initially promoted as a replacement for the large-scale concerts at the New York State Fair Grandstand, which was torn down in 2016, but they’ve since diverged. Amphitheater tickets won’t get fans free admission to the NYS Fair this year and the Fair — booked by Triangle Talent since 2019 — has a much bigger variety of performers including upcoming shows by Ludacris, Chubby Checker, George Thorogood, Ann Wilson (of Heart), Theory of a Deadman, REO Speedwagon, Tyler Hubbard (of Florida Georgia Line), The Fray, “Peppa Pig,” Yung Gravy/bbno$ and Julio Iglesias Jr.
St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview is owned by Onondaga County and managed by ASM Global, which also operates the Syracuse Oncenter and other venues. St. Joe’s Amp concerts are booked by Live Nation.
Live Nation declined to offer any comments about how artists are chosen for concerts at the St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview. Reps for Onondaga County and ASM Global referred all booking questions to Live Nation.
See the 2023 concert lineups for St. Joe’s Amp vs. SPAC, Darien Lake, Bethel Woods, CMAC and Artpark below:
St. Joseph’s Health Amphitheater at Lakeview 2023 Concert Schedule in Syracuse, N.Y.
- June 8: Chris Stapleton (tickets)
- June 15: Luke Bryan (tickets)
- June 30: Falling in Reverse with Ice Nine Kills, Slaughter to Prevail, Crown the Empire (tickets)
- July 1: Counting Crows with Dashboard Confessional (tickets)
- July 8: Shania Twain with Breland (tickets)
- July 16: Kidz Bop (tickets)
- July 23: Phish (tickets)
- July 29: Matchbox Twenty with Ben Rector (tickets)
- Aug. 1: Mudvayne with Coal Chamber, Gwar, Nonpoint + Butcher Babies (tickets)
- Aug. 3: Godsmack and Staind (tickets)
- Aug. 8: Pantera with Lamb of God (tickets)
- Aug. 11: Zac Brown Band (tickets)
- Aug. 12: Disturbed with Breaking Benjamin (tickets)
- Aug. 16: Goo Goo Dolls with O.A.R. (tickets)
- Aug. 17: Yellowcard with Mayday Parade, Story of the Year (tickets)
- Aug. 18: Ghost with Amon Amarth (tickets)
- Aug. 19: Parker McCollum with Larry Fleet (tickets)
- Aug. 24: Pentatonix with Lauren Alaina (tickets)
- Aug. 25: Sam Hunt with Brett Young (tickets)
- Sept. 1: Noah Kahan with Ruston Kelly (tickets)
- Sept. 2: Foreigner with Loverboy (tickets)
- Sept. 13: Shinedown with Papa Roach, Spiritbox (tickets)
Darien Lake Amphitheater 2023 Concert Schedule in Darien Center, N.Y.
- June 14: Dave Matthews Band (tickets)
- June 16: Luke Bryan (tickets)
- July 14: Kidz Bop (tickets)
- July 15: Sam Hunt (tickets)
- July 17: Post Malone (tickets)
- July 28: Foreigner (tickets)
- July 29: Boy George & Culture Club (tickets)
- July 30: Outlaw Music Fest feat. Willie Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff (tickets)
- Aug. 1: Matchbox Twenty (tickets)
- Aug. 3: Jelly Roll (tickets)
- Aug. 4: Fall Out Boy (tickets)
- Aug. 5: 50 Cent with Busta Rhymes (tickets)
- Aug. 6: Godsmack and Staind (tickets)
- Aug. 9: Pantera (tickets)
- Aug. 16: Nickelback (tickets)
- Aug. 20: The Offspring with Sum 41 and Simple Plan (tickets)
- Aug. 21: The All-American Rejects with New Found Glory, The Starting Line, Get Up Kids (tickets)
- Aug. 22: The Lumineers (tickets)
- Sept. 1: Odesza (tickets)
Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) 2023 Concert Schedule in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
- June 16: TLC, Shaggy, En Vogue and Sean Kingston (tickets)
- June 17-18: Dead & Company (tickets)
- June 19: Dermot Kennedy (tickets)
- July 1: Tedeschi Trucks Band (tickets)
- July 2: Tears for Fears (tickets)
- July 3: Big Time Rush (tickets)
- July 5: Counting Crows with Dashboard Confessional (tickets)
- July 7: Goose (tickets)
- July 8: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds and Garbage (tickets)
- July 9: Kidz Bop (tickets)
- July 14-15: Dave Matthews Band (tickets)
- July 16: Jason Aldean (tickets)
- July 28: Gov’t Mule (tickets)
- July 30: Matchbox Twenty (tickets)
- Aug. 1: Foreigner (tickets)
- Aug. 6: The Chicks (tickets)
- Aug. 8: Goo Goo Dolls (tickets)
- Aug. 13: Zac Brown Band (tickets)
- Aug. 22: Brit Floyd (tickets)
- Aug. 23: Pentatonix (tickets)
- Aug. 24: Eric Church (tickets)
- Sept. 1: Guns N’ Roses (tickets)
- Sept. 2: Noah Kahan (tickets)
- Sept. 8: ZZ Top and Lynyrd Skynyrd (tickets)
- Sept. 15: Outlaw Music Festival feat. Willie Nelson, Bob Weir and Wolf Bros. (tickets)
- Sept. 16: Killer Queen (tickets)
Artpark 2023 Concert Schedule in Lewiston, N.Y.
- May 25: Mt. Joy (tickets)
- May 26: Noah Kahan (tickets)
- June 2: Styx (tickets)
- June 10: Buddy Guy at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- June 13: Young the Giant with Milky Chance (tickets)
- June 16: Ben Folds at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- June 21: Michael Franti & Spearhead (tickets)
- June 26: My Morning Jacket (tickets)
- June 28: The Australian Pink Floyd Show (tickets)
- July 7: Jeremy Dutcher at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- July 8: Tori Amos at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- July 11: Barenaked Ladies (tickets)
- July 14: Lauren Daigle (tickets)
- July 20: CS5 Philip Glass String Quartets at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- July 27: Larkin Poe and The Allman Betts Band (tickets)
- Aug. 1: Orville Peck (tickets)
- Aug. 5: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- Aug. 10: Richard Marx and Yacht Rock Revival (tickets)
- Aug. 13: Lux: Vivaldi Redefined at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- Aug. 17: Parker McCollum at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
- Aug. 20: Whiskey Myers (tickets)
- Aug. 28: Pixies and Modest Mouse with Cat Power (tickets)
- Sept. 1: Alvvays and Alex G at Artpark Mainstage Theater (tickets)
CMAC (Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center) 2023 Concert Schedule in Canandaigua, N.Y.
- June 22: Santana (tickets)
- June 24: Darius Rucker (tickets)
- June 27: Tears for Fears (tickets)
- July 2: Counting Crows with Dashboard Confessional (tickets)
- July 3: Weezer (tickets)
- July 7: Roc the Lake Music Festival f/ AJR (tickets)
- July 9: Kane Brown (tickets)
- July 11: Tedeschi Trucks Band (tickets)
- July 13: Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles (tickets)
- July 14: Doobie Brothers (tickets)
- Aug. 4: Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo (tickets)
- Aug. 11: The Chicks (tickets)
- Aug. 19: Dan + Shay (tickets)
- Sept. 3: Duran Duran with Bastille and Nile Rodgers & Chic (tickets)
Bethel Woods Center for the Arts 2023 Concert Schedule in Bethel, N.Y.
- June 1: Hollywood Vampires (feat. Alice Cooper, Johnny Depp, Joe Perry (tickets)
- June 29: James Taylor (tickets)
- July 1: Robert Plant & Alison Krauss (tickets)
- July 2: Steve Miller Band with Joe Satriani (tickets)
- July 3: Shania Twain (tickets)
- July 5: Tears for Fears (tickets)
- July 6: Chris Stapleton (tickets)
- July 7: Big Time Rush (tickets)
- July 9: Counting Crows with Dashboard Confessional (tickets)
- July 14: Jason Aldean (tickets)
- July 22: Boy George & Culture Club (tickets)
- July 28: Dierks Bentley (tickets)
- July 29: Outlaw Music Fest feat. Willie Nelson, Nathaniel Rateliff (tickets)
- July 30: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Concert with NJ Symphony (tickets)
- Aug. 3: The Chicks (tickets)
- Aug. 6: Goo Goo Dolls (tickets)
- Aug. 12: Zac Brown Band (tickets)
- Aug. 13: Joe Bonamassa & Styx with Don Felder (tickets)
- Aug. 24: Sam Hunt (tickets)
- Sept. 1: Rod Stewart with Cheap Trick (tickets)
- Also: Catbird Music Festival (Aug. 19-20) at nearby original Woodstock site
Note: All listings as of May 25, 2023. Concert dates and performers are subject to change.