The Orioles are opening Camden Yards to the concert scene again in 2022, with an announcement this morning that Paul McCartney will perform on June 12 as part of his 2022 GOT BACK tour.
Presented by AEG and Orioles Entertainment, the concert will mark the first appearance in Baltimore for McCartney since 1964, during The Beatles' first North American tour.
Tickets will be on sale beginning Feb. 25 at 10 a.m. American Express Card Members are allowed to purchase tickets before the general public on Tuesday at 10 a.m. through Thursday at 10 p.m.
Birdland Members will have the opportunity to access an exclusive pre-sale on Thursday.
The Orioles made the announcement at the warehouse, with high winds moving the event indoors. A No. 22 jersey with McCartney's name on the back hung in a locker.
"As one of the most illustrious and decorated performers of all time, Paul McCartney has changed the world and transcended generations with his music and storytelling. The Orioles are thrilled to welcome McCartney to our iconic venue for one of the most exciting nights in our ballpark's history," Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos said in a statement.
"This extraordinary event represents another major milestone in the club's commitment to generating tourism and economic growth for the city of Baltimore and state of Maryland, as we continue to develop Camden Yards as one of the region's top entertainment destinations."
On a Zoom call later this morning, Angelos said: "I look back at my first emails with Barrie Marshall, who is Sir Paul McCartney's iconic longtime manager, and they date back to early 2020, so we've been at it for a little while."
"This is something that is extremely important to our partnership group, our senior leadership team, that we will be activating this ballpark more than 81 times outside of baseball season, with events like concerts and other special things," said T.J. Brightman, the Orioles' senior vice president and chief revenue officer.
McCartney, 79, gained worldwide fame as co-lead vocalist, co-songwriter and bassist for the legendary Beatles. He debuted as a solo artist in 1970, forming the band Wings with his wife, Linda.
The many honors for McCartney include induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with the Beatles in 1988 and as a solo artist in 1999, 18 Grammy Awards and an Oscar in 1971 with the Beatles for best original song score for the documentary film "Let it Be."
In 1979, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized McCartney as the "most honored composer and performer in music." He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997 for services to music and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2012.
"I'm going to circle this one on my calendar and make sure I'm not on the road," said executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias. "I'll definitely be here. I got to see him at a similar concert at Minute Maid Park back in (2012) and it was awesome, so I think to have that at Camden Yards is going to be one of the top moments in the long history of this place."
Baltimore mayor Brandon Scott also attended today's news conference and noted how it's the 30th anniversary of the ballpark. The years are flying by, bringing back fond memories but also allowing the organization to make new ones.
"I want to give a special shoutout to the Orioles and the Angelos family for always being a true home team and being a true partner in Baltimore each and every day," Scott said.
"I cannot say how excited I am to say that we're going to have this concert here, Sir Paul McCartney in Baltimore at Camden Yards. I can't believe that it's been 30 years, as I was 8 years old when Camden Yards opened. I was at the last game at Memorial Stadium, the first game here, and this is about continuing to create new long-lasting memories in this ballpark that has meant so much to our city and so much to America, when you think about every single ballpark built after this one was inspired by our great ballpark.
"This will bring tens of thousands of visitors to our city and pump millions of dollars into our economy, and these are the kinds of things that we want to continue to partner with the Orioles and showcase the best of Baltimore. We have the best ballpark, we know that. We're going to have 81 games here every year, but we can do great things with this."
Billy Joel played the first concert at the ballpark on July 26, 2019, after the club announced the launching of O's Entertainment and its partnership with Live Nation.
The Orioles intended to hold similar events in the future, but COVID-19 put those plans on hold.
They've brought in performers for abbreviated weekend pregame and postgame sets over the past few years, including a "Friday Fireworks and Music at America's Ballpark" promotion. The folk rock band The Avett Brothers performed in September after an extra-inning win over the Yankees and the crowd exceeded 20,000. But McCartney's appearance will be the second of this magnitude at Camden Yards.
"He's a great choice," Angelos said. "Another iconic artist who has influenced all of our lives and been part of history and is followed by millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, whatever it is worldwide. ... You can't do much better than Paul McCartney, if you can do better at all. I don't know where you would go for that.
"I did not know the historic significance of (returning to Baltimore) until somebody said to me something about the Civic Center and I thought, 'The Civic Center, we were barely calling it that when we were kids, so that must have been a long time ago,' but I didn't realize how long ago it really was."
Angelos has wanted to bolster stadium revenue by bringing in major shows, and concerts provide a way to attract more fans and positive publicity to the area while the team is rebuilding.
"In so many ways, (concerts) are vitally important, and as strange as this may sound, maybe nothing else in terms of live events could be more important because this is something you can try to influence" Angelos said. "I think it's important because you can go out beyond the baseball schedule if the ballclub wants to be active and proactive and entrepreneurial, which the Orioles do and our management team is focused on, and essentially say we're open for business and say Camden Yards is a world-renowned venue, which it is. And Baltimore is a destination for first-class, live entertainment, which we think it is.
"If you want to do that and you want to put the time and resources behind it, which we do, you can bring in events. And the nice thing is we're all aligned, whether you're the Orioles, the city, the state, and our various stakeholders and partners. Everybody locally wins. And hopefully Paul McCartney wins because it's a great show and he enjoys playing the venue as much as Billy Joel did.
"It's incredibly important. It brings in extra revenue, it's a way a middle-market, a small-market team can also compete in a system as you know where all payrolls are not the same."
I'll file another story later today with more from Angelos and Elias.