16 May 13 Texas Music All Around at Levitt Pavilion

Levitt Pavilion Arlington opens its fifth year of free music under the stars on Memorial Day weekend with the second annual Downtown Center Stage Music Festival and one of its biggest opening weekend line-ups yet!

First on the Levitt stage for 2013 will be Delta Rae at 7 p.m., the up-and-coming alt/pop band that was victim to one of the few concert rain-outs last year. Since they were originally booked for the Levitt, Delta Rae has played an event for First Lady Michelle Obama and appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien and Last Call with Carson Daly. Sarah Jaffe, break-out Indie artist from Dallas, takes the stage after Delta Rae. Their concerts kick off the music festival and the Texas Power 2013 Summer Concert Series on Friday, May 24.

The three-day Downtown Arlington Center Stage Music Festival continues at 8 p.m. Saturday, May 25, with another Dallas band, The Polyphonic Spree, the hard-to-describe 23-member pop choir. Opening for the Spree are Jody Jones at 5:30 p.m. and Calhoun at 7 p.m.

Popular area band Old 97′s takes the stage to conclude the festival at 8 p.m. Sunday, May 26. Ryan Hamilton gets things started before the Old 97′s at 5:30 p.m., followed by Telegraph Canyon at 7 p.m.

The Memorial Day weekend music festival is free and includes Downtown Arlington restaurants at the Levitt to sell food from their menus. Restaurants include J. Gilligan’s, MountainTop Snow, Potager, Coolberry Frozen Yogurt, Freebirds, Fuzzy’s, Maverick’s Bar & Grill, Grease Monkey, Blaze’s Sports Grill, Pho Xpress and Digg’s Taco Shop.

In addition to food and free music, the festival will have a variety of artists selling paintings, watercolors, handmade greeting cards, metal jewlery, glass art and more. The festival is sponsored by Texas Power, Downtown Arlington Management Corp., Experience Arlington, University of Texas at Arlington, FW Weekly and Coors.

The Texas Power 2013 Summer Concert Series runs May 24 through July 14 with no concerts on July 4 or 10. Children’s Concerts on Wednesdays in June are at 9:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. Concerts on Thursday through Sunday are at 8 p.m. Concerts will start at 8:30 p.m. beginning July 5.

The Levitt Pavilion has open lawn seating on blankets and chairs. Audiences are welcome to bring picnics, snacks and coolers with beverages, but no glass containers. The Levitt Pavilion is located in Downtown Arlington at 100 W. Abram St. at the corner of Abram and Center streets. A complete summer concert calendar and information about visiting the pavilion, including directions and a parking map, can be found on the Levitt website, www.levittpavilionarlington.org.

Season sponsors for the Texas Power 2013 Summer Concert Series are Texas Power, Levitt Pavilions, the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation, the City of Arlington, Arlington Parks & Recreation, the Arlington Chamber Foundation, Coors, Downtown Arlington Management Corp., FW Weekly, Pianotex, Bonnie and Alan Petsche, the Star-Telegram, Texas Health/Arlington Memorial Hospital, the University of Texas at Arlington, WFAA, and grants from the Arlington Cultural Tourism Council, the Arlington Tomorrow Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Union Pacific Foundation.

Posted by: Sam Moore

Tags: Levitt Pavilion, Sarah Jaffe, Texas music