{"id":35028,"date":"2026-06-11T15:55:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:55:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wearememphis.com\/?p=35028"},"modified":"2026-06-11T15:55:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T20:55:40","slug":"the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wearememphis.com\/community\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\/","title":{"rendered":"The Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ninety years after the Works Progress Administration poured its concrete in 1936, the Overton Park Shell remains one of the only active Depression-era bandshells in the country. This fall, Memphis’ backyard music venue celebrates that milestone the only way it knows how: by throwing open the lawn for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From September 4 through October 11, the Shell hosts six consecutive weekends of sound, color, and community across the Orion Financial Free Concert Series<\/a> and the Shell Yeah! Benefit Series presented by Mempho Presents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Lineup That Sounds Like Memphis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The fall slate runs the full range of the city’s musical DNA. Austin guitar phenom Jackie Venson, a Marvin Gaye tribute featuring Larry Springfield, the Memphis Country Blues Festival, Hattiloo Theatre’s 20th anniversary celebration, Gonerfest 23, a Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Opera Memphis marking 70 years, and Shakespeare at the Shell closing things out with Love’s Labor’s Lost. Nearly all of it is free.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Birthday Weekend<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

September 10 through 13 is the main event. Stax legend Booker T opens the 90th-anniversary weekend with a special ticketed performance, followed by three free days: a birthday picnic with the Memphis Youth Symphony; Sounds of the Shell; The Gathering; and the Memphis Studio Superset, a mashup celebrating the studios that built this city’s sound.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Shell has been the stomping ground for rising artists since before Elvis played it in 1954. Ninety years in, the tradition is not slowing down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
see the shell’s full line up<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ninety years after the Works Progress Administration poured its concrete in 1936, the Overton Park Shell remains one of the only active Depression-era bandshells in the country. This fall, Memphis’ backyard music venue celebrates that milestone the only way it knows how: by throwing open the lawn for free. From September 4 through October 11,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":35036,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[53,10,5124,38,3],"tags":[15,5103,117],"class_list":["post-35028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activities","category-central","category-community","category-music","category-play","tag-featured","tag-live","tag-memphis-music"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music - We Are Memphis<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wearememphis.com\/community\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/wearememphis.com\/community\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"We Are Memphis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/wearememphis\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T20:55:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-11T20:55:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wearememphis.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/shell-aerial-blog-1200x628-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"628\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"We Are Memphis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@wearememphistn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@wearememphistn\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"We Are Memphis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/community\\\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/community\\\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"We Are Memphis\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d4a7b095e987e78e7689e5d4c7242068\"},\"headline\":\"The Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-11T20:55:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-11T20:55:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/community\\\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":254,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/community\\\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/shell-aerial-blog-1200x628-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"featured\",\"Live\",\"Memphis Music\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Activities\",\"Central\",\"Community\",\"Music\",\"Play\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/community\\\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/wearememphis.com\\\/community\\\/the-overton-park-shell-turns-90-with-six-straight-weekends-of-free-music\\\/\",\"name\":\"The Overton Park Shell Turns 90 With Six Straight Weekends of Free Music - 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