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CMAC adds three new shows, vaccination clinic to summer schedule

Blackberry Smoke.
Provided
Blackberry Smoke.

A Southern rock bonanza featuring Blackberry Smoke and two locally grown shows are the first to be added to the summer season at Constellation Brands-Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center.

With coronavirus pandemic concerns dictating the arc of the summer season, the venue’s mainstage will also play host to a COVID-19 vaccination clinic.

CMAC is also requiring proof of vaccination to attend these shows.

The summer concert season opens with the traditional Sousa-filled Fourth of July holiday special at 8 p.m. July 3 with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. William Waldrop will conduct the patriotic evening.

CMAC and Thompson Health will be hosting a 3 p.m. June 10 clinic to get the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, with registration at cmacevents.com. That will get you two tickets to the second show of the season, a 5:30 p.m. July 10 “Welcome Back to CMAC Community Concert” honoring all first responders (proof of your first responder status gets you in free). 

Three local bands -- Shades of Grey, Alyssa Trahan and Brass Taxi -- play the event. All proceeds benefit the Thompson Health Foundation and Canandaigua Emergency Squad. The $20 admission is also good for your first drink, so long as you’re 21 years of age or older.

Blackberry Smoke headlines the “Spirit Of The South Tour: A Celebration of Southern Rock and Roll,” 6 p.m. July 31. It will be joined by The Allman Betts Band (featuring Allman Brothers Band progeny Devon Allman and Duane Betts), The Wild Feathers and Allman Brothers Band percussionist Jaimoe. Additional guests are promised, as well as a show-closing collaboration unique to each event.

The tour also features a mobile version of The Allman Brothers Band Museum at the Big House, the collection of Allman-related material from the museum in Macon, Georgia. Jaimoe will be hanging out at the museum to greet concert-goers.

Tickets for all three shows go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday at Ticketmaster.

Three country shows are already on the schedule, holdovers from last summer, when all CMAC shows were canceled due to the pandemic. As was the case in 2020, Luke Combs will do two shows this year, on 7 p.m. Aug. 5 and 6. Thomas Rhett will play 7:30 p.m. Aug. 22.

Jeff Spevak is WXXI’s Arts & Life editor and reporter. He can be reached at jspevak@wxxi.org.

Jeff Spevak has been a Rochester arts reporter for nearly three decades, with seven first-place finishes in the Associated Press New York State Features Writing Awards while working for the Democrat and Chronicle.