Free Tickets Released For Queens' Hip Hop-Themed Reopening Show

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — Tickets for a free hip hop concert celebrating the city’s pandemic recovery are now up for grabs.

Shortly after the city released floor-level tickets to see George Clinton and Parliament Funkadelic, DJ Hurricane, and Too $hort — among other hip hop icons — at the Forest Hills Stadium on Aug. 20, all of the passes were scooped up. More tickets will be released, however, on a daily basis through Aug. 7.

"[Early hip hop artists] showed and exemplified that New York grit and resiliency, and now we're going to celebrate that... [as] we're getting out of COVID," said Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. last week, when officials announced that the “Homecoming Week” outer borough shows would be hip hop themed.

The "It's Time for Hip Hop" four-part series precedes a massive homecoming show at Central Park headlined by the likes of Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson and Bruce Springsteen.

All five shows are part of "Homecoming Week" — a citywide cultural celebration from Aug. 14 to 22 marking New York City's resilience through the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the Homecoming Week show in Queens is free, the mayor announced on Tuesday that there is one thing performance-goers need in order to attend: Proof of vaccination.

Vaccinated concert-goers can get into the concerts by showing their vaccination card, a New York City COVID SAFE App, or a New York State Excelsior Pass, city officials said on Monday.

Unvaccinated kids under the age of 12, or adults who are unable to get vaccinated because of a disability, will need to wear masks to the concert, the city announced, adding that unvaccinated adults will also need to show proof of a negative COVID test taken within 72 hours of the concert in order to gain entry.

The vaccination requirement comes as city government leans towards stricter coronavirus vaccination mandates amid the spread of the highly contagious delta variant.

Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a vaccine-or-testing requirement for all city workers last week, effective Sep. 13, followed by a similar rule instituted by Governor Andrew Cuomo on Monday for MTA and New York Port Authority workers. Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi encouraged private businesses and institutions follow suit, too (some of which have).

"Everybody has to get vaccinated," Cuomo said on Monday, adding that if coronavirus numbers don't go down, any number of measures are on the table, including additional vaccine mandates.

About 60,000 people will be able to attend the concert in Central Park, but city officials did not add details about how many tickets are available for the outer borough concerts.

Additional tickets for the currently-sold-out "It's Time for Hip Hop" concert in Forest Hills will be released here at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday Aug. 3, at 9:00 p.m. on Wednesday Aug. 4, at 7:00 a.m. on Thursday Aug. 5, 6:10 a.m. on Friday Aug. 6, and 9:00 p.m. on Saturday Aug. 7.

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