{"id":233314,"date":"2026-07-02T00:03:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/233314\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T00:03:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T00:03:19","slug":"phillys-july-4th-concert-expected-to-last-nearly-8-hours-draw-300000-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/233314\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly\u2019s July 4th concert expected to last nearly 8 hours, draw 300,000 people"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Philadelphia is preparing for some 300,000 people to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.audacy.com\/kywnewsradio\/news\/local\/extreme-heat-philly-region-july-4-celebrations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">brave the heat<\/a> and come out to the Ben Franklin Parkway on the Fourth of July for the largest free concert in the country.<\/p>\n<p>Producer Scott Mirkin has built a massive stage at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art steps for the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/july4thphilly.com\/event\/the-city-of-philadelphias-one-philly-unity-concert-for-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">One Philly: Unity Concert for America<\/a>\u201d event, creating a mile-long venue, all the way back to Logan Circle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re very excited,\u201d he said on Wednesday. \u201cYou can see the activity. We\u2019ve been out here about a week with 600 people working.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The concert is free, but the audience has to enter through gates at 20th Street. Mirkin said it will be a long day for everyone, with the concert expected to last nearly eight hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt 3 in the afternoon, the gates open and I\u2019m making a prediction that by 4, you\u2019re going to hear some music, maybe even at 3 when we walk in. We\u2019re turning these bands over quickly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel says the Fourth of July will see the largest law enforcement deployment since Pope Francis visited the city in 2015.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou will see us out there in force. We are prepared for any occurrence,\u201d he said. \u201cThere will be things you see. There are going to be a number of assets you will not see but we\u2019re going to be able to pull those assets if we need them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Christina Aguilera will headline and comedian Wanda Sykes will host the concert. The lineup includes the Roots, Jill Scott, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith, State Property (featuring rappers Freeway and Beanie Sigel) and Seal.<\/p>\n<p>Mayor Cherelle Parker has often said she wants the concert to be the semiquincentennial\u2019s legacy, since there wasn\u2019t enough money set aside for the kind of brick-and-mortar projects past milestone celebrations left behind. <\/p>\n<p>Still, she is spending $120 million on the 250th celebrations, though she would not say how much the concert costs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) \u2014 Philadelphia is preparing for some 300,000 people to brave the heat and come out&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":233315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[35781,7019,77227,69,71,70],"class_list":["post-233314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-ben-franklin-parkway","tag-concert","tag-fourth-of-july","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/233315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}