38 Special to open for Toby Keith at 2019 American Family Insurance Championship concert
All proceeds of June 21 event benefit Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation
38 Special will open for headliner Toby Keith at the third annual American Family Insurance Championship concert. The concert will be held Friday, June 21 at Madison’s Breese Stevens Field.
Known for smash hits like “Rockin’ Into the Night,” “Hold on Loosely,” and “Caught Up in You,” 38 Special will bring its classic Southern rock style to this year’s event. A second opening act will be announced at a later date. “We’re thrilled to bring 38 Special to Madison, and we’re sure their many hits and reputation for powerful live performances will draw even more fans and ultimately raise more dollars for charity,” said Nate Pokrass, tournament director.
The concert is part of the PGA TOUR Champions American Family Insurance Championship, with tournament play June 21-23 at University Ridge Golf Course, featuring player/host Steve Stricker.
Proceeds from the concert and championship are donated to the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation for distribution to American Family Children’s Hospital and other local charities impacting families and children. In just its first three years, the championship has raised more than $4.7 million for more than 185 charitable organizations.
DETAILS
Toby Keith with opening act 38 Special
Friday, June 21, 2019 ~ Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Breese Stevens Field ~ 917 E. Mifflin St., Madison, Wisconsin
Ticket locations
Online: www.AmFamChampionship.com/tickets
In Person: The Duck Pond, Mallards Box Office, 2920 N. Sherman Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin
Phone: 608-246-4277
Office hours: Monday-Friday 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Concert ticket prices and golf/concert packages include (Gold Circle tickets are sold out):
- Concert general admission – $49
- Concert general admission plus valid any one day golf tournament ticket – $59
For tournament updates, fans can follow the tournament’s social media channels:
Twitter: @amfamchamp; Facebook: American Family Insurance Championship; and Instagram: AmFamChampionship.
About the American Family Insurance Championship
American Family Insurance, the PGA TOUR Champions and Wisconsin native Steve Stricker launched this professional golf tournament in June 2016. The American Family Insurance Championship, held annually at University Ridge Golf Course in Madison, Wis., features a 78-player field. Past champions include Scott McCarron (2018), Fred Couples (2017) and Kirk Triplett (2016). Championship week includes the three-day tournament, two Pro-Am competitions, 5K run/walk, charity concert and a special exhibition featuring celebrities from the sports and music industries. The 2019 event will be held June 15-23 with all proceeds allocated to the Steve Stricker American Family Insurance Foundation for distribution to the American Family Children’s Hospital and other charities. More than $4.7 million has been donated to charity since the inaugural event in 2016. For more information: Web: www.AmFamChampionship.com; Twitter: @AmFamChamp; Facebook: American Family Insurance Championship; Instagram: amfamchampionship #AmFamChamp
About 38 Special
After more than four decades together, 38 SPECIAL continue to bring their signature blast of Southern Rock to over 100 cities a year. And at each and every show, thousands of audience members are amazed by the explosive power of the band’s performance.
Their many Gold and Platinum album awards stand in testament to the endurance of a legendary powerhouse.
With sales in excess of 20 million, most associate the band with their arena-rock pop smashes, “Hold On Loosely,” “Rockin’ Into the Night,” “Caught Up in You,” “Fantasy Girl,” “If I’d Been the One,” “Back Where You Belong,” “Chain Lightnin’,” “Second Chance,” and more – Timeless hits that remain a staple at radio, immediately recognizable from the first opening chord, and paving the way to their present-day touring regimen.
Guitarist/vocalist DON BARNES says it’s all about maintaining that intensity in their live shows. “We never wanted to be one of those bands that had maybe gotten a little soft or complacent over the years. We’re a team, and it’s always been kind of an unspoken rule that we don’t slack up, we stack up. We go out there every night to win.”
It is that steely determination that lives on in the hearts of these ‘Wild-Eyed Southern Boys.’
For 38 Special onstage, it is a celebration of camaraderie and brotherhood, a precision unit bringing the dedication and honesty to a long history of classic songs, as well as surprisingly fresh new material.
Since 1976, the band has released more than 15 albums. And from the start, they’ve toured relentlessly, bringing their signature brand of ‘muscle and melody’ to fans worldwide.
Barnes adds, “This music keeps our wheels on the road. We’re a band that’s tried to stay honest with what has driven us over the years. We started out with nothing but bold determination to make our own history and to endure. Looking back now, it has been our greatest pride to have persevered and attained that level of success and longevity. For us, it’s the ultimate validation.”
Around the fall of 2009, the notion of releasing a new live album started to take precedent. The band felt that their in-concert offering many years before had lacked in sound quality not yet available in the technologically-advanced decade since. Additionally, a need to showcase a new spirit of 38 Special was growing, a band that had matured into a tighter unit after three decades on the road, with an innate ability to read each other on the stage.
Barnes explains, “Back then, we had been rushed to release something quickly without having the luxury of choosing between different performances. It was a single show in the 90’s that had been recorded at a venue where logistics were a real challenge, the weather wasn’t cooperating, and we ended up not entirely satisfied with what we got.
For LIVE FROM TEXAS, we were able to carry our digital recording equipment with us to several cities, and now had our own private studio for remixing. So this was going to be a real pleasure to put together. The crowds were massive and all of those classic songs deserved a chance to shine in an enhanced live fashion. We were finally able to deliver what we represent onstage.”
Their initial idea was to make a live recording available exclusively at the band’s shows, with an eye toward having fans take home a copy to carry on the party. But what they found as they listened back – after gleaning select tracks from various cities across Texas – was a blistering new set with a distinct difference in performance as well as audio quality than years before. It grew into an excitedly motivated plan to make available to the world 38 SPECIAL – LIVE FROM TEXAS, a collectively proud history of a band that has made the road a part of its heritage.
“And the magic’s still there,” adds Barnes. “It’s an emotional high for us to keep ‘bringing it’ after all these years. That’s what you hear on the new live stuff, that sense of urgency and power.”
“When those lights go down and we all walk up those steps to the stage and hear that crowd roar, it’s a real rush to the head. It feels like we’re getting ready to strap ourselves in and it just takes off from there.”
