Get Loud! Concert Series

Series: Memphis Magic
Written By Casey Sigler

If Memphians all got together and made a list of some of the things we missed the most last year, it would probably look something like this: 1. Community 2. Grizz and Tigers Games 3. Live Music - and not necessarily in that order. We’re a highly social set and honestly, our city doesn’t quite seem like our city when things are quiet. Last year was ridiculously quiet.

Getting Back Together

Free summer concerts in Memphis have been a tradition for years. You pack up your dinner and your kids, throw on shorts, douse everybody with bug spray and go sit on a lawn for hours, scratchy but happy, visiting and dancing and literally not aware that you ever had a care in the world. After our sad 2020 Summer, we eagerly awaited any news of normalcy from the city’s musical powers this year. And they did not disappoint. Memphis Tourism stepped in with an 11 week concert series in Handy Park just off of Beale. Starting in June and stretching into August on every Thursday night, the Get Loud! Free Concert Series has been offering the cream of the crop in way of musical entertainment; the venue is perfectly Memphis and the experience is just what we love the most.

What Matters Most

We need three things: free music, a family atmosphere, and access to good food. Get Loud! delivers on all three. The magic of the talent lineup is simple but profound...each headliner (sometimes Grammy award winning, always excellent) is opened by a local musician who brings the heat. There is no better way to get a Memphis crowd going than by giving them a Memphian first. My little family was welcomed into Handy Park first by local DJ Bizzle Bluebland, who was spinning classic Memphis Soul and getting everyone ready to party. Concertgoers are invited to bring their own chairs or blankets and by 6:30, small groups had begun to gather and claim their patches of grass in front of the stage. A food truck and bar was set up close by, and of course, all of Beale was at our disposal. This was especially fun for my little girls, who at 8 and 6, had never actually stepped foot on Beale at night before. We sampled some Insomniac cookies between acts and took fabulous photos once the sun had dipped down and the iconic neon signs were aflame.

Talent, Talent, Talent

By the time the opener (Memphis’ Marcus Scott and the band Kemustry) had started to play, everyone was on their feet dancing. Everything about the setup at Handy Park is ideal...the location in the heart of downtown, the modest size of the venue that allows for the audience to feel dense and yet intimate, and the excellent production quality. We partied until our little girls could party no longer. David Ryan Harris was the tremendous headliner that evening and he offered the crowd a slow musical sizzle that kept us dreamy and inspired as we wandered back out onto Beale and made our way home. His band was a blend of talent that had traveled with him from California and some of our very best hometown musicians. The result was perfection. 

The good news is that the Summer isn’t over. The Get Loud! Concert Series continues until August 12th and the talent doesn’t let up as the Summer lingers on. Get back to loving what we love about Memphis...people and music. Take some friends and make some new ones and celebrate getting back to what we’re all about.

Casey Sigler
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