Smashing Pumpkins and Chris Stapleton to Headline America250 July 4th Concert in Los Angeles

The troubled rollout of Donald Trump’s Freedom 250 concert series has left a void that another July 4th event is now positioned to fill. The series, which was set to feature Martina McBride, Young MC, the Commodores, Bret Michaels, and Morris Day & The Time, saw those artists exit the lineup. Organizers replaced them with Trump himself and country singer Lee Greenwood.

America250, a nonprofit group established by Congress a decade ago, has announced its own event. On July 4, Smashing Pumpkins and Chris Stapleton will headline a concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, hosted by Queen Latifah. The show is part of the organization’s America’s Block Party initiative, with simultaneous gatherings planned in New York City, Milwaukee, Charleston, South Carolina, and Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

Rosie Rios, the group’s chair and a former top Treasury official under the Obama administration, framed the effort in contrast to the current political noise. “As we celebrate our 250th anniversary, we have an opportunity to bring Americans together around the values that continue to unite us,” she told the New York Times.

The framing is quiet but clear: a concert not organized by the sitting president, held in Los Angeles rather than Washington, with a lineup that draws from a different corner of American music. Tickets are priced at $17.76 and go on sale June 16. Proceeds will benefit Feeding America, and 5,000 tickets will be given to first responders, veterans, and active-duty service members.