The legendary Mavis Staples will open the 2018 Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival at Point State Park on Friday, June 1 at 7:30 p.m.
The R&B/soul singer from Chicago, who was stellar opening for Bob Dylan at Heinz Hall in November, came of age in her family’s group, The Staples Singers, known for such hits as “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.”
The 78-year-old singer and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, who released the Jeff Tweedy-produced album “If All I Was Was Black” in the fall, joins a TRAF lineup of free concerts that also includes The Mavericks and Valerie June.
Incidentally, June 1 is already one of the biggest concert nights in Pittsburgh history, with Justin Timberlake at PPG Paints Arena, the Dave Matthews Band at KeyBank Pavilion, Frank Turner & Sleeping Souls at Stage AE Outdoors and Code Orange at Mr. Smalls. This is the only one that’s free.
Here is the full lineup of Arts Festival headliners:
Friday, June 1: Mavis Staples (R&B/soul)
Saturday, June 2: Everything Everything (electropop)
Sunday, June 3: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra
Monday, June 4: Banda Magda (world music)
Tuesday, June 5: Mendelssohn Choir: The Times They Are A-Changin’: Words and Music of Bob Dylan
Wednesday, June 6: Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real (roots rock_
Thursday, June 7: Sidewalk Chalk (jazz/funk/hip-hop)
Friday, June 8: Valerie June (soul/roots)
Saturday, June 9: Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (bluegrass)
Sunday, June 10: The Mavericks (roots-rock)
First Published: April 3, 2018, 2:28 p.m.