Seattle's Gas Works Park adds music festival to summer lineup – The Seattle Times

Gas Works Park is adding another electronic dance music festival to the busy summer festival scene as British record label Anjunadeep’s Open Air Seattle sets up shop on Aug. 24.
Anjunadeep, founded by electronic group Above & Beyond in 2005 as an outlet for its more progressive deep house fare, promises a “curated lineup of label favorites and rising stars” for its upcoming shows. The Open Air series, which started in 2017, kicks off its North American tour in Miami on March 23 and then hits New York, Montreal, Los Angeles and Seattle, ending at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on Nov. 3.
While the lineup for the Seattle show has yet to be announced, the Miami stop plans to feature Anjunadeep artists Anyasa, CRi, Marsh, Nicky Elisabeth and Simon Doty on its main stage. Presale tickets are now available for $75 for general admission, while the public sale for the daylong event begins March 15 with tickets ranging from $65 to $175. Doors open at 2 p.m. and the show is set to start at 3 p.m. (Anjunadeep representatives did not respond to requests for additional details about the Seattle festival.)
Open Air Seattle continues a recent trend of electronic music festivals gracing Seattle parks. Last year, about 10,000 people attended Day Trip at Myrtle Edwards Park on June 16 and Gas Works Park hosted Insomniac’s Everything Always event on Sept. 9, which drew another 10,000 fans. Another major EDM festival, Beyond Wonderland, will come to the Gorge Amphitheatre for the fourth time June 22-23.
Outside of EDM, Seattle already has a competitive lineup of summer music festivals and events, including Bumbershoot, Capitol Hill Block Party, Day In Day Out, ZooTunes at Woodland Park Zoo, and events at Marymoor Park, Remlinger Farms and Chateau Ste. Michelle.
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Seattle Parks and Recreation doesn’t recruit events to its park system but does rely on fees associated with big events to help balance its budget. Open Air will pay a $5,000 permitting fee and must also pay 10% of its gross online ticket sales to Seattle Parks minus the permitting fee. After ticket sales were accounted for, last year’s Everything Always show at Gas Works brought in $128,000.
“There were a few successful concerts that happened in the past and I think that’s where other events organizers are seeing someone else pull it off,” Seattle Parks communication manager Rachel Schulkin said. “We always had a variety of events that happened in park spaces … but event hosting has grown in general and as demand grows to host more and more events, we’re seeing that demand as well.”
Larger concerts hosted at Gas Works over the years include 2023’s Everything Always festival, Allen Stone (2017), Hey Marseilles (2016) and Maroon 5 (2015).
Schulkin said Everything Always proved how smoothly an event of 10,000 attendees could be run. Stage and sound was set up to be less impactful to Wallingford residents, who were required to be forewarned about the event earlier in the summer and were able to call a hotline to voice noise complaints, which is available for every large event such as concerts. Schulkin said the city received about half a dozen complaints from Eastlake residents, a neighborhood behind the stage and across northern Lake Union.
“The noise issues from last year have been identified and we expect it to be mitigated for future events,” she said. That could include adjusting the location of the main stage and how the sound system is set up.
Even as the city learns how best to minimize the impact of these types of large-scale events and demand for park spaces grows, Schulkin said the city is keeping in mind how to best serve its locals, from ticketed event attendees to the average park visitor.
“We consider this type of thing a somewhat exclusive use of a park,” Schulkin said. “If it’s ticketed access to a park, that’s not normal. Parks are public land open to the people every day, so we take things pretty seriously when we’re going to limit access to a park, even if that means ticketed access.”
Demand to use park spaces as concert venues might be rising, but Schulkin said that doesn’t necessarily mean the city will allow many more shows each year.
“This is not something that we do every day, nor do we perceive that would be the best use of the park system,” Schulkin said. “We think it is a great park use, it just has to be done in the right proportion to make sure people have public access to their park spaces.”
However, striking the right balance is key for Seattle Parks as well. Schulkin said part of the stewardship of the parks system is providing opportunities for the public to attend events like Open Air and Everything Always in unique settings. 
“These are iconic spaces where people really get to have once-in-a-lifetime experiences,” Schulkin said. “We’re excited to be able to offer that in the future to the city as well.”
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to clarify that Gas Works Park has hosted more than six concerts.
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