Jelly Roll to perform at Midland’s Tailgate N’ Tallboys festival next … – Midland Daily News

This is a carousel. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate

Tailgate n’ Tallboys expects to release the rest of the Midland festival’s lineup before the end of November. 

This will be Jelly Roll’s second appearance in the region after performing at Tailgate n’ Tallboys in Auburn on July 29, 2022. Austin Jones, a promoter for Tailgate n’ Tallboys, said around 9,000 people attended that single-day concert. 

“Since then, he has been skyrocketing to the top of rock and country charts,” Jones said. “Our team is beyond excited to bring him back.”

Jelly Roll’s song “Son of a Sinner” won three CMT awards earlier this year. The singer also won four People’s Choice Country Awards last month, including Male Artist of the Year.

“The best way to describe Jelly Roll’s music is it’s real,” Jones said. “Even if you are not a massive fan of his rock, rap, and country mixed sound, you connect with the words and the pain in some of his songs.”

The Midland County Fairgrounds became the Mid-Michigan home for the national, touring Tailgate n’ Tallboys festival this past July after it was moved from its previous location in Auburn. The Auburn Area Chamber of Commerce alleged a fraudulent transfer of 20 acres of property from the chamber to the Auburn Jaycees on June 5. The concert venue was moved to Midland and the community’s annual Cornfest was canceled. 

Midland County Fair Manager Nic Hall said in August that he saw the news on Facebook and had just finished sending an email to USA Concerts when he received a call.

“There’s no way they could have gotten my email that fast,” Hall said in a previous interview. “It was kind of funny that we both had the same idea: ‘Let’s see what the Midland County Fair could do.’”

Wayne Klein, president of USA Concerts, the company that oversees Tailgate n’ Tallboys, called the fairgrounds “phenomenal.”

Jones called the fairgrounds “an amazing facility” providing over 100 acres for parking as well as grandstands and a 12-acre infield for the festival. 

“The Fairgrounds is also very eager to work with us on improvements and updates to the facility,” Jones said. “It’s overall just a great partnership that our team is very excited to be a part of.”

The July 28, 2023 concert with Bailey Zimmerman sold 6,000-7,000 tickets. The July 29 concert with Yung Gravy sold 4,000-5,000 tickets. Although there were camping tickets, only 35 spots were used.

There has not been an official contract signed between the Midland County Fairgrounds and USA Concerts for the future, but Klein wants it to be a “lifetime relationship” that will get better every year. Hall also expressed support for building such a relationship.

Auburn Mayor Lee Kilbourn and other city officials were concerned that the group charged with running the Cornfest, Auburn Improvement Management (AIM), was holding large events such as concerts at a city park that is not designed to be an event center. Those concerns led Auburn to force the music festival to move and to cancel Cornfest.

Parking, noise, security and safety issues are a major concern that AIM did not “adequately address” when putting on concerts, Kilbourn said in a previous interview. 

The massive turnout for Jelly Roll’s appearance at Auburn City Park on July 29, 2022 completely caught the City of Auburn off-guard. Vehicles were lined up and down city neighborhoods and even pulled off on the shoulder of US-10.