It’s not easy to fill an outdoor sports stadium for a concert. Most football stadiums hold sixty to seventy thousand people. Even the smaller baseball parks sit in the mid-forty thousand range. To get a sell-out crowd you need to find an act popular with the masses that has enough discretionary income to purchase high-priced tickets.

Wrigley Field has been hosting concerts each summer since 2005. It was an excellent idea that would put the park to use when the Cubs were on the road. It would also bring in extra income that would be used to help make the Cubs a winning team (yes, plenty of sarcasm there).

It started with Jimmy Buffett and since then the acts have included The Police, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Maroon 5.

However, in order to keep those seats filled and keep the big bucks in the owners’ pockets, many popular acts have performed at the Friendly Confines multiple times. Among these include Dead & Company, Pearl Jam, James Taylor, and the aforementioned Buffett. Oh, and what about Billy Joel, who has performed at Wrigley so many times with basically the same show that it hurts my brain to dwell on it.

I have nothing against any of these performers. I like all of them and have even seen them play at Wrigley. I just want to see something new. It doesn’t have to be all-new shows; how about two or three out of the eight to ten concerts each summer? That’s not asking for too much, is it?

I was reminded of this yesterday when it was announced the Zac Brown Band will be in concert at Wrigley this year. AGAIN! Like the earlier acts I mentioned, I like Zac and his band, but how many times do we have to see him at the same venue? Four? Five? Ten? Every year until they retire? ENOUGH!!

So, to the Ricketts family and whoever else is is in charge of Wrigley Field these days, while you’re trying to find some new players that will make your baseball team watchable, how about doing the same with the music at the park?

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