JACKSONVILLE – Big, bold names are slated to perform at downtown Jacksonville's newest entertainment venue.
Friday morning, Bold Events, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jacksonville mayor Lenny Curry and LiveNation Florida combined for the announcement of the first wave of shows for the 6,000-seat Daily's Place amphitheater, under construction at the south end of EverBank Field.
Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Zac Brown Band, Dierks Bentley, Foreigner – they are only a few of the big-name acts from different genres slated to visit Daily's Place.
Many more are in negotiation and have yet to be announced.
The initial announcement included an impressive opening weekend of shows around the Memorial Day Weekend: Tedeschi Trucks Band, Train with O.A.R and Natasha Bedingfield, and then Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds.
It's a perfect start for a venue that will scream "big" and "bold" when it is completed.
"This project… has at its very core the types of things (Jaguars Owner) Shad (Khan) has committed to do to make sure the Jaguars are a strong, financially stable NFL franchise here in Jacksonville for a long, long time to come," Jaguars President Mark Lamping said Friday. "So the tie between Daily's Place and the Jaguars, while it's not necessarily a legal connection – separate entities – there are some connections in what we're trying to accomplish."
The year-round commitment to Jaguars season-ticket members will also become stronger. In the announcement, the team said that season-ticket members will have pre-sale purchasing opportunities for shows at Daily's Place.
"That's a huge benefit of being a Jacksonville Jaguars season-ticket holder, and we're going to do everything within our control to make sure that Daily's Place is busy as many nights as possible throughout the entire year," Lamping added.
An epic opening weekend of shows starts with a hometown feel for the first-ever concert at the venue.
Jacksonville-based blues-rock group Tedeschi Trucks Band will play the first show in the facility Saturday, May 27. The husband and wife team of Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi formed the 12-member "Tedeschi Trucks Band" in 2010 with members of their previous individual bands. The group released their third studio album in 2016, titled "Let Me Get By," recorded in their Jacksonville-area home studio and produced by Trucks.
Trucks formally joined the Allman Brothers Band in 1999 at the age of 19, after working off and on with the group starting in his early teens. Boston-born Tedeschi formed her own band – the Susan Tedeschi Band – in 1993, and met Trucks when she opened for the Allman Brothers Band in 1999. The couple married in 2001, and are Jaguars season-ticket members. Tedeschi even sang the National Anthem at EverBank Field before the 2012 Week 12 game against the Tennessee Titans.
The next night, Sunday, May 28, Train and O.A.R. with Natasha Bedingfield will take the stage at Daily's Place. Train's 2001 album "Drops of Jupiter" was certified double platinum, with the lead single "Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me)" winning two Grammy Awards in 2002.
Rock/jam band O.A.R. has released eight studio albums, including their latest titled "XX," a compilation of performances from their 20 years, along with some new material. The group formed in Maryland in 1996 and cut their teeth playing the Columbus, Ohio, area while members were enrolled at Ohio State University in the late-1990s.
Finally, on Tuesday, May 30, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds will perform an acoustic show at Daily's Place – their only Florida show scheduled for 2016.
"The Dave Matthews Band will not be working this summer, so Dave is doing a few select dates across the country with Tim Reynolds, his touring partner who he has not worked with in ten years," LiveNation Florida president Neil Jacobsen said.
The duo met in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the late-1980s when Reynolds used to play at a bar called "Miller's." Matthews was a bartender at the venue, and as the legend goes, Reynolds urged Matthews to form his own band instead of joining TR3. The rest is history.
Images from today's press conference as Daily's Place announced the first wave of artists to play in the new amphitheater.
Tickets for Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds go on sale to the public February 10. Dates of other shows' on-sale dates will come at a later time.
Later in the summer, on June 11, Third Eye Blind, with special guests the Silversun Pickups, will take the stage for the third show of their Summer Gods Tour, celebrating their 20th anniversary. Third Eye Blind's self-titled album went platinum six times in the late 1990s, with top-ten hits "Semi-Charmed Life," "Jumper," and "How's it Going to Be."
The venue opens the month of July with classic rock legends Chicago – inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 – and The Doobie Brothers on Saturday, July 1.
The first country act of the summer is scheduled for July 13, when Dierks Bentley performs with Cole Swindell and Jon Pardi. Bentley has produced 15 number one singles, including "Come a Little Closer," Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)," and "Somewhere on a Beach."
Classic rock returns to Daily's Place August 3 with Foreigner's 40th anniversary tour along with Cheap Trick – inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 – and Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience.
Finally, country superstars the Zac Brown Band are scheduled for September 21 at Daily's Place as part of their Welcome Home tour.
Other acts agreed to perform at Daily's Place with unconfirmed dates include Bryan Adams, Goo Goo Dolls with a special guest to be announced, 311 and Kidz Bop.
The initial list of concerts is wide-ranging, and will only grow in scope over the coming months.
Big and bold indeed.
